Should I buy the new time capsule?

[[)roi(]]

Mine's got numerous external drives tucked in the cupboard - no space in my mini for another hdd - maybe if I removed the CD/DVD drive but then I wouldn't have a CD/DVD drive.

I just use mine for iTunes as well as all my downloading, streaming Netflix, ripping, encoding, etc. All our other machines are laptops so it's nice having at least one machine that's running 24/7. It's old but it gets the job done without a fuss.

I love my minis; for their size. flexibility and longevity; nothing better IMO. I now just use an external DVD drive (just had too many issues with Apple's internal ones; I was happy to see them go)

 

[[)roi(]]

I see your previous post - quite an impressive setup. I didn't know that the mini's could take in two drives (so you have raid-0/1 on the mini?). I guess for me the biggest issue would be to have individual drives with no redundancy attached to the mini (all USB or FW?) unless OS X server is somehow able to stripe across them (don't know how this would work). Do you then have all the external drives and the mini UPS'ed and if so, how do you avoid any storage issues, since a UPS would eventually run out of juice and pull power (I guess the OS X server would unmount file-systems properly and do a proper shutdown).

I treat the Synology as a server-/storage-tier - so the Synology does the Timemachine backups, Squid, DHCP, DNS, network shares, iTunes libraries as well as web applications for cloud services (photos/video I share with relatives via the web). I then run gigabit across the house (for media playback) and a number of wifi hotspots.

I guess the mini will scale out to a certain level but will never have true redundancy. With the current Synology I run 15TB of raided storage and go transparently (without major rebuild) to expansion modules or rackmount if I choose. I think it really just depends on the OP's budget and short/mid term plan.

Yes they can, 2nd drive was always in place of the DVD.

For a new technically oriented buyer I'd always suggest buying a single low capacity drive, and do the upgrade yourself; quite easy and way cheaper, the same goes for OSX Server, rather buy this from the Mac App store.

I essentially have:
Older mac mini has a FW & USB connected multi drive storage units, newer mini has Thunderbolt and USB 3 storage units. To ensure I loose nothing, I have shell scripts that ensure content backups; these scripts are triggered by changes in a folder; for example: change or add a file triggers a copy to the backup location.

However if you prefer your version of 'true redundancy', then nothing prevents you from connecting the mini to an external Thunderbolt raid controller with fibre channel which the affords it to be wired into a fibre channel SAN of any size. Apple also has a tried and tested XSAN solution (which btw comes with OSX server). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xsan.

Btw I don't agree, the mac minis don't scale out so easily, especially the new ones with Thunderbolt, and Google has many examples of how the minis are used in a rack environment with large SANs

The point I'm trying to make is that the mini affords you a lot of flexibility; it is essentially another mac computer and therefore won't be limited to only an initial set of features (that where I feel the synology fails in comparison); remember any Mac (computer) can be easily enhanced beyond basic use through the addition of software, hardware, custom scripting, ...

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Yes they can, 2nd drive was always in place of the DVD.

For a new technically oriented buyer I'd always suggest buying a single low capacity drive, and do the upgrade yourself; quite easy and way cheaper, the same goes for OSX Server, rather buy this from the Mac App store.

So let's say you can not get a 2nd hand mac mini and would need to start from a clean slate - which value proposition would be better:
(1) Mac Mini for about 7K with 500GB HDD + 3 x 1TB USB drives @ R 800ea = total of about 10K vs
(2) Synology DS411Slim - 4Bay for 4K + 4 x 1TB SATA @ R800ea = total of 8K

If you add a RaspberryPi with OpenElec for 600 bucks to option (2) you have a full fledged NAS where you can via a web-based admin interface install DHCP, DNS, Sickbeard, SABZNBD, CouchPotato and any other services one might want to use.

I am an Apple fanatic myself, but I just don't see the value proposition on a Mac Mini, considering that QNAP, Synology (and then there is FreeNas / HTPC) have more cost effective options. I rather prefer a NAS to be tucked away with UPS and having resilient storage - no overhead with backup scripts or extra monitoring of the health of the device - the NAS's raid-controller and management software takes care of it. I just need to worry about managing storage/content and run some basic maintenance (it almost feels like a home-appliance similar to a toaster or microwave - lol).

BTW: I did not consider firewire or USB3 drives in the mini example, as those are super expensive. In fairness all fairness, you would have to consider USB2 connected drives to be slower than SATA (i.e. SATA = 6Gbps, USB2 = 480Mbps, USB3 = 5Gbps)

 

[[)roi(]]

... I am an Apple fanatic myself, but I just don't see the value proposition on a Mac Mini, considering that QNAP, Synology (and then there is FreeNas / HTPC) have more cost effective options. I rather prefer a NAS to be tucked away with UPS and having resilient storage - no overhead with backup scripts or extra monitoring of the health of the device - the NAS's raid-controller and management software takes care of it. I just need to worry about managing storage/content and run some basic maintenance (it almost feels like a home-appliance similar to a toaster or microwave - lol).

BTW: I did not consider firewire or USB3 drives in the mini example, as those are super expensive. In fairness all fairness, you would have to consider USB2 connected drives to be slower than SATA (i.e. SATA = 6Gbps, USB2 = 480Mbps, USB3 = 5Gbps)

We going to have to disagree on this one; I really don't think it's a fair comparison (for you :erm.

The Synology is limited to a few features, which by your own admission meant that you had to extend your investment to a xtreamer for HD content.

The mini like all PCs / Servers is only limited by your imagination, software you can buy / download and / or programming ability; hence IMO I think you'll lose on feature comparison alone, and then when used in conjunction with one or more Apple TVs becomes a seamless multi-room home entertainment experience.

Speed is irrelevant for 2 reasons:

• A standard USB2 connected drive can support multiple Apple TVs requesting HD streams.
• The fastest HDDs tend to max out at 120MB/s reads; SATA 6Gbps equates to a top out at ~700MB/s... So unless you're installing SSDs... speed vs interface discussion doesn't really count for much.

Note:

• the script / coding complexity to which you refer is not even within the capabilities of Synology, as I use these to automatically obtain the latest TV episodes, convert and catalogue within iTunes (no buttons required )
• Disk raid, XSAN, ... functionality has to of course be configured (as would be the case for Synology; hence your point is mute)
• The Synology / Xtreamer combo is not significantly cheaper; but sadly is significantly less flexible.

The minis don't really need much management; I think Bwana mentioned his is tucked away in a cupboard; mine is at the back of a room unit, behind some decor items.