In search of a Mac-friendly media server

Question

In search of a Mac-friendly media server

I'm hoping there are people here who have some experience with this. I have been researching media servers and what I have found is skimpy and/or confusing...

I'm looking to buy a home media server to run on my home network, which is full of Mac laptops, a tower, and many media-savvy TVs and receivers connected directly to my ethernet network.

This server should have the following capabilities:

1. Mac-friendly and connects to the network via ethernet

2. Storage of all our photos (to be accessed by any Mac in the house with iPhoto)

3. Storage of movies (to be accessed by any Mac in the house, and by ethernet-connected TVs in the house)

4. Storage of all music (to be accessed by any Mac in the house with iTunes, and other media devices in house)

5. Compatible with TimeMachine backup

6. Easily-configurable by remote desktop or web site

7. Ability to add additional storage

8. USB ports to add printers to

Are all of these wishes realistic? If so, I'd appreciate any advice on which product out there does it all with a smile.

I've looked at two products from Iomega: StorCenter ix2-200 and the Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition,

and one from HP: The MediaSmart Server LX195. I've also been told a Mac Mini can do this.

Thanks for any advice!

Posted on Jun 27, 2011 3:09 PM

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Answer 1

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D7

Level 2

300 points

Jun 28, 2011 9:11 PM in response to Robert Amoroso

I have a mac mini serving such functions.

It is connected via ethernet to my router.

Has four harddrives connected -- 1 USB 2 TB, 1 USB 3 TB, 2 FW800 2 TB. One drive is used for TimeMachine backup for all my other Macs, One is used as a TimeMachine backup for it's drive containing all my music, movies, and photos. One drive obviously contains the main source for all my music, movies and photos. All are accessible over the wireless (and wired) network. It is easily configured via ssh and VNC. I can obviously add more storage as I like. There are more USB ports available, but I use a wireless HP printer that acts as its own server. Additionally it is connected to my HD TV and supports full 1080P. I often play movies using FrontRow. To allow a bit better structure for movies via front row, I replaced the Movies directory in my home directory with a symbolic link to one of the connected drives. By doing this I can organize my videos into different directories and Front Row mimics that structure.

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