Sensible Way to Access Data Locally

TidBITS Talk
1

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:

  1. 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…
  2. 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)
  3. 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.

2

Apple’s Time Machine/Airport system would have been perfect for your needs. There doesn’t seem to be anything with similar easy of use in a Mac system (in fact 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.

1 Like
3

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.

1 Like
4

What I did:
Raspberry Pi 4 plus a huge hard drive, or a bunch of SSD’s on a dock.

Add NextCloud server. Access from anywhere, any machine.

1 Like
5

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.

1 Like