2012-2014 mac mini's are the best. I specifically collect the 2014 mac mini (8gb ram) just to turn it into a portable NAS/wireless drive. Mine have a 2tb sata + 2tb nvme drives. Using VNC and Jump Desktop/Client makes the mac mini headless. Screen Sharing with an ipad and macbook is near flawless. If there's any hiccup of if I want better audio and absolute lag free desktop, I'll switch to Jump. If the mac mini isn't connected to wifi, like a cafe, lightning cable with iphone or ipad gets you desktop access to configure wifi. Great use for an old computer.
In my opinion OMV is over complicated. I use a MacMini2018 (i7 variant with 32GB RAM, two 500GB SSDs in RAID0 and two extra Thunderbold NICs with an external UBS-C 5bay RAID5 enclosure). So far I have used Proxmox and have now switched to TrueNAS-Scale. I tried it with OMV at the beginning, but I find my current constellation to be much easier to handle and definitely more powerful. (also than Proxmox)... I have the following running at the same time: the NAS function, Syncthing app, PiHole Container, Plex app, FortiOS VM and a Gira VM, including a PfSense KNX router for all my smarthome devices (window shutters, air conditioning, underfloor heating, light, presence sensors, Control4, etc.). The main problem was that the other operating systems always had problems with resource allocation (both hardware and network), now everything runs smoothly.
Hey, I have the same Mac mini configuration. Do you mind sharing what did you do to install truenas? I'm gonna replace this mini with the new m2 pro and I don't want to sell the old one. Thanks.
I was trying like mad to get an old Mac Mini Server operating as a file sharing server for my bandmates. I had tried a lot of different MacOS options, but nothing worked. I decided to go the Linux route. Got it installed no problem. Went into OpenMediaVault and set things up. The UI is quite different from in this video, so I imagine there were some updates over the past couple of years. I must have done something wrong because I cannot get into my files to save my life. Would really appreciate some help as I've now occupied over 12 hours trying to fuss with this and my bandmates are getting irate.
Dude, your glasses rock! Can you install and boot OMV from a Usb drive on a macmini, then format the local hdd for storage? The reason is that if OMV crapifies and it needs to be reinstalled, all your media will be gone if it is on the same drive as omv.
Can this process be applied in the same way but using an old MacBook pro instead? Specifically, 2011 or 2012 MacBook Pro with upgraded RAM and 2 internal SSD drives?
Great Job! Turned my 2012 mini into a server. Was using Arch and basically file sharing. Openmediavault is a better option for a home server. Thank you!
Hi, Thanks for the video, I want to use the server as a storage for imovie projects, so I can save and reader projects to the mini nas will I need to format the drive APFS, if so how can that be done. Cheers
Of the 2 installation options you described, I couldn’t tell which path you took. Since I never saw you download Debian, I’m assuming you installed OMV directly and added the ONV Extras after (which I did see you do). Is that correct? Thx. Great video.
Wanted to ask a question. If I ran parallels would the performance drop by too much? I'm wondering if it's worth completely switching to OMV vs using mac os x with OMV running in parallels.
@@TechnoDadLife yes I understand that this is the free way. I have the same generation but i7 processor. I guess it won't do much better than this. I'll try dualbooting first. I want to have mac os x just in case.
hello, did the whole process on an intel iMac and now i want to go back to OSX. i got a bootable USB but i dont get any option to boot from usb to reformat the drive and install the OSX. do you know how can i do it? at the moment the iMac is pretty much paper weight . thank you
what speed can data transfer achieve by adding a disk array, DAS or other, through thunderbolt 2 connection? would it even be worth considering the consumption? thank you
I’ve been having issues during boot up of an OMV Mac mini install whereby it presents the script /dev/sta2: clean ***** files, ***** blocks Utterly stumped as to what to do
found the solution. reboot the machine. In boot menu, I pressed e to get to the boot options. scroll until you find the word "quiet" and changed it to "nomodeset" (both without quotation marks)
2012-2014 mac mini's are the best. I specifically collect the 2014 mac mini (8gb ram) just to turn it into a portable NAS/wireless drive. Mine have a 2tb sata + 2tb nvme drives. Using VNC and Jump Desktop/Client makes the mac mini headless. Screen Sharing with an ipad and macbook is near flawless. If there's any hiccup of if I want better audio and absolute lag free desktop, I'll switch to Jump. If the mac mini isn't connected to wifi, like a cafe, lightning cable with iphone or ipad gets you desktop access to configure wifi. Great use for an old computer.
Any reason I shouldn't use my 2011 Mac Mini 8gb memory for OMV?
@@matthomewood I'm not sure. I've only ran Plex servers.
In my opinion OMV is over complicated. I use a MacMini2018 (i7 variant with 32GB RAM, two 500GB SSDs in RAID0 and two extra Thunderbold NICs with an external UBS-C 5bay RAID5 enclosure). So far I have used Proxmox and have now switched to TrueNAS-Scale. I tried it with OMV at the beginning, but I find my current constellation to be much easier to handle and definitely more powerful. (also than Proxmox)... I have the following running at the same time: the NAS function, Syncthing app, PiHole Container, Plex app, FortiOS VM and a Gira VM, including a PfSense KNX router for all my smarthome devices (window shutters, air conditioning, underfloor heating, light, presence sensors, Control4, etc.). The main problem was that the other operating systems always had problems with resource allocation (both hardware and network), now everything runs smoothly.
Hey, I have the same Mac mini configuration. Do you mind sharing what did you do to install truenas? I'm gonna replace this mini with the new m2 pro and I don't want to sell the old one. Thanks.
I'm new to this NAS system. I found that macOS file sharing is less complicated and it works well for my use.
Love your glasses. Thanks for the tutorial. Cheers.
Wow you read my mind . I just did this last month
I never thought that was possible. I definitely want to try it!
Great video, I have a Mac Mini 2012, I will use it as nas once I buy the M1, thanks.
had no idea Kiefer Sutherland was such a wiz. good video!
I was trying like mad to get an old Mac Mini Server operating as a file sharing server for my bandmates. I had tried a lot of different MacOS options, but nothing worked. I decided to go the Linux route. Got it installed no problem. Went into OpenMediaVault and set things up. The UI is quite different from in this video, so I imagine there were some updates over the past couple of years. I must have done something wrong because I cannot get into my files to save my life. Would really appreciate some help as I've now occupied over 12 hours trying to fuss with this and my bandmates are getting irate.
Dude, your glasses rock! Can you install and boot OMV from a Usb drive on a macmini, then format the local hdd for storage? The reason is that if OMV crapifies and it needs to be reinstalled, all your media will be gone if it is on the same drive as omv.
You should be able too. I was thinking of doing that.
Can this process be applied in the same way but using an old MacBook pro instead? Specifically, 2011 or 2012 MacBook Pro with upgraded RAM and 2 internal SSD drives?
Great Job! Turned my 2012 mini into a server. Was using Arch and basically file sharing. Openmediavault is a better option for a home server. Thank you!
I have a Mac Mini A1126 2006 is it possible with it?
@@anthonyj748 I would think so. It's a very small Os
@@robmack4010 how can I boot it up? Would it be form a flash USB? The Mac has no OS at all I’ve been trying to restore it but haven’t been able to.
You're an awesome dad!
Thank you sir.
How about combining Mac mini computing speed and Symnology NAS file management?
You could. Let me know how it gores.
Hi, Thanks for the video, I want to use the server as a storage for imovie projects, so I can save and reader projects to the mini nas will I need to format the drive APFS, if so how can that be done. Cheers
Of the 2 installation options you described, I couldn’t tell which path you took. Since I never saw you download Debian, I’m assuming you installed OMV directly and added the ONV Extras after (which I did see you do). Is that correct? Thx. Great video.
Correct, though either works
Wanted to ask a question. If I ran parallels would the performance drop by too much? I'm wondering if it's worth completely switching to OMV vs using mac os x with OMV running in parallels.
This is the free way to do it. This Mac had the spinning wheel after clicking more than two things in thirty seconds.
@@TechnoDadLife yes I understand that this is the free way. I have the same generation but i7 processor. I guess it won't do much better than this.
I'll try dualbooting first. I want to have mac os x just in case.
Thanks. this my be a push for me to move to OMV 5 from 4. looking forward for next video's.
Would Plex run well on this machine along side OMV or is it best to keep plex on a separate server?
You can have it on your OMV server. I have videos on that.
Any ideas why my Mac Mini 2012 running OMV keeps loosing network?
Replace your ethernet cable.
@@TechnoDadLife Tried that.. did not help.
hello, did the whole process on an intel iMac and now i want to go back to OSX. i got a bootable USB but i dont get any option to boot from usb to reformat the drive and install the OSX. do you know how can i do it? at the moment the iMac is pretty much paper weight . thank you
try holding Option+Command+R at boot time, it should go into internet recovery mode
Can this be done with the m1 chip? Probably not I’m guessing. I’m running plex off of mine at the moment hooked to 2tb ssd lol
Not currently.
Why wouldn't you just install plex on OSX or run FreeNAS if you're going to wipe the whole thing.
This is a slow dual core OSX doesn't run well on it.
what speed can data transfer achieve by adding a disk array, DAS or other, through thunderbolt 2 connection? would it even be worth considering the consumption? thank you
www.macworld.com/article/222636/what-you-need-to-know-about-thunderbolt-2.html#:~:text=Thunderbolt%20has%20a%20maximum%20throughput,as%20fast%20as%20USB%203.0.
@@TechnoDadLife thanks
I’ve been having issues during boot up of an OMV Mac mini install whereby it presents the script /dev/sta2: clean ***** files, ***** blocks
Utterly stumped as to what to do
Try a different USB drive and do a clean install.
found the solution. reboot the machine. In boot menu, I pressed e to get to the boot options.
scroll until you find the word "quiet" and changed it to "nomodeset" (both without quotation marks)
I am curious, why are you saying “Balena ANNA Etcher” instead of “Balena Etcher”? Am I missing something or is this an inside joke?
What do I do if I keep getting "Bad Archive Mirror"?
Hide in the bin…..
Sorry, but Yacht is unusable.
Post your problems to the Yaht forums.