Q: Tips for using Mac Mini with NAS for home server?
I can see others have asked somewhat related questions, but I was hoping to find out whether what I am thinking about makes sense. I currently own a Synology NAS DS214, currently hooked up to an aging iMac that is about to die. Have never really used the NAS productively, often not visible as a connected drive on our primary Macbook, and could never get it to work as a Time Machine target.
I'm thinking about getting an iMac mini and using it as a server (replacing the old iMac). Primary goal would be file sharing and media sharing (maybe Plex?). I'd really like to use the server as a target for time machine for several MacBooks.
So my question is, will I be able to reconfigure the DS214 (even one of the drives, using the other for backup) as an external storage for the Mac Mini server? The Mini's have nowhere near sufficient hard drive space. I'd hate to waste the NAS and hard drives inside.
Is this something that could be configured without too much angst for a typical end user?
Thanks in advance for any tips! Or suggestions on where I could find help to set something like this up (happy to hire a constant).
Posted on Jul 27, 2016 7:00 PM
Not sure why you have been unable to use DS214 for TM target, perhaps quickest solution would be to contact Synology support?
With regard to Nas not always being 'visible' as a connected drive, try: From the Mac OS X Finder, hit Command+K to bring up the 'Connect to Server' window. Enter the path to the network drive you want to map, ie: smb://networkcomputer/networkshare and click 'Connect' Enter your login/password and click “OK” to mount the network drive
Posted on Jul 28, 2016 11:50 AM