I started writing this and it got too long. This hack I’ll try to cut to the main issues.
I’m would like to get easier access to old/archival data on multiple Macs & external storage from my primary Mac, an Air on 26.4, Apple devices and a Linux laptop. I tried networking by wifi or Thunderbolt cable with my old primary Mac, an Intel touchbar MBP on Sierra, but it has been unreliable. Might be time to retire or recycle the MBP.
Some ideas have ocurred to me on this, and I’m no networking or data practicality expert, which is why I’m asking:
get a large SSD (and a backup for it) and pile the data from the old MBP and any other old data I come across into it, connect it to the wifi router so it’s contents are available to household macOS and Linux machines. Downside is I don’t know how to protect devices attached to the router from evil internet forces (is there an ‘occlumency’ app for that?) , and that the router is in another room, so if data transfer turns out to be too slow I’d need to move the router to be in cable range…
get a Mac mini with minimal internal storage, set it up where the MBP lives now and attach the SSD(s) to it in over-the-back-of-the-sofa cable range, keep it off the Internet (wifi on though)
At least for the data on the MBP, somehow move it as a VM to a new Mini (maybe not possible with the OS/processor mismatch)
So, I suppose it’s hard to say what’s sensible without knowing more. Briefly: I’m just a longtime ordinary user, would like to be able to access accumulated data in a simple and local way, without fancy networking gear that requires lots of tech knowledge and administration.
For those who’ve trod this path, please let me know if these have obvious downsides or one is better than the others, or keywords I can search for to learn about potentially better options. Thank you.
Apple’s Time Machine/Airport system would have been perfect for your needs. There doesn’t seem to be anything with similar ease of use in a Mac system (in fact I still keep a Time Capsule for backing up, using erhernet).
I ended up with a Synology NAS for local network data storage/sharing. A little tedious to set up but now it is working with minimal effort. The remote access features have been handy at times.
Update: Apple is closing down user ablity for managing (ageing) Time Capsules:
Even more disappointing:
“Today’s news comes just days after reports highlighted that macOS 27 would drop support for the file-sharing protocols used by Apple’s discontinued Time Capsule, preventing it from serving as a Time Machine backup destination…”
I’ll also note that Tailscale runs great on Synology servers (and mine is from 2011, so even one that old) so you don’t need to use Synology’s online service to access it remotely.
If I were facing a similar situation, I would buy an external CD/DVD burner, burn all the data onto discs, and, finally, connect the burner to my current Mac. The time invested in burning the discs would be more than offset by the total lack of networking requirements and online security risks.
I saw a Mac Mini on the refurbished store so impulsively sprang for it, aiming to use it as a “File Server”, I have several open tabs on that to read to make sure I know how to do it.
Next step is to copy the data from my previous ‘main mac’ to the Mini or to an attached SSD and I’m contemplating how to do that. I used to do bootable copies (later Data Only when bootable got tricky) with SuperDuper and CarbonCopyCloner and use them or Migration Assistant to move to new Macs, but this situation is different.
Bootable copy not needed, and that seems to be SuperDuper’s specialty.
I don’t need settings, apps and all (might be trouble anyway–source Mac is on Sierra), so looking mainly at two other softwares I have already, CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSync, for the job of copying the files in my user folder, or possibly a subset of them. Would appreciate any feedback from those who’ve done this. Thanks.
Is it strictly going to be a file server - where you mount its exported volume(s) from another computer? Or are you also going to be logging in and working from that computer?
If it’s a dedicated file server, then don’t “migrate” anything. Log in to the old computer, mount the server’s volume and drag/drop all your documents. Let it run for as long as it takes. Cloning will run the risk of migrating a lot more than your documents, which may mess up your server.
At present yes I’m thinking the Mini with two attached SSDs, one with the contents of my previous main Mac (more or less archival data) and perhaps other older data as I discover it in cleaning up the basement, and the other a backup to that. No plan at the mo to use the internal storage of the Mini, as that would make things more complicated for me. I’ll check how much data the old primary Mac has, maybe it fits internally to the Mini and then I just back that up with one SSD. Could save a lot of dough that way.
I would also try to offload images, movie clips and stuff like that from the storage of the current primary Mac, a MBAir with only 1TB internal storage. The concept is still unfolding for me. I haven’t done much this tricky stuff in a long time, if ever.
Don’t plan to log in and work from the Mini, no. Maybe in future I discover useful things that way but now keeping it simple.
Aha! ok then just let Finder do its thing. Yes perfectly fine, it could take its sweet time as the old machine and the Mini are not the everyday computing devices now.