Mac Mini Server

[mfaoro]

Another Mac Mini question - arggg . Searched for an answer to this one...

 

As we all know, the Mac Mini Server model supports two hard drives internally.

 

Lets assume I upgrade both drives to SSD. One drive would hold the system. The other would hold music.

 

My question: Would this be equivalent to having a regular mac mini with an internal SSD for the system and an external SSD for the music?

 

Or am I missing something about the way everything is connected, etc?

 

Thanks,

Michael

 

[Sonic]

Michael,

 

not sure if they will be seen as one drive or as two separate drives but would expect you can easily change that using drive utility.

 

However not sure in what format you will be ripping your audio files but if you will be ripping to FLAC/WAV or AIFF you will quickly run out of disk space with the current generation of SSD drives. Have a 2010 mini myself and went for a normal one with 8gb memory and swapped the hard drive for an 120 GB SSD OCZ Vertex2 anything larger or faster and the price rises exponentially. using a 4TB NAS in x raid on 1gb ethernet connection and its lightning fast. And if any of the 4 disk crash I can just swap it out and the others will restore the data.

 

 

good luck

 

 

 

[mfaoro]

I have a 6tb Drobo connected to a Mac Mini in my 'media closet.' The closet is adjacent to my home theater room and downstairs from my music listening setup.

 

I do all my ripping (AIFF etc) to the Drobo and then transfer what I want to the Macbook Pro via wireless.

 

I tend to limit the contents of the Macbook Pro to what I am currently listening to so I am not as worried about the size of the drives.

 

I am most interested in feedback about the sound quality implications of this approach.

 

A question though. If I connected said MacMini to my ethernet network downstairs would I get the same great sound quality you are describing? Is this a superior solution to connecting a SSD drive directly?

 

I really dont want a NAS near my system. Too much noise.

 

Michael

 

[Sonic]

Nor would I, I have my NAS in a different room as well connected to the home network via ethernet. Both Pure Music and AyreWave can first load the song in memory before playing and the player can get exclusive rights to the DAC.

 

With regards to your question regarding ethernet or SSD directly is a tough one as an SSD is already much better then an normal hard disk. The question probably boils down to which solution uses the least processor power?

And if the song is first loaded in memory then this question becomes even less relevant.