[X4U] Home Server Question

[Neil Laubenthal]

I'm about to pull the trigger and buy a Mac mini to hook up to my HDTV for a media center, Internet video device, etc . . .and am torn between a couple of options as to how to set it up.

I currently use an iMac as my file server for my wife and I and in addition have an old G4 mini that hosts my scanners and is a Time Machine destination for our two main laptops. Everything is wired except the two laptops which are both 802.11n.

Option 1 is to leave these as is and use the new mini solely for the HDTV.

Option 2 (based on the sysadmin in me) . . .says to make the new mini both the home file server and media server . . .shift the scanners to the iMac since the G4 mini is pretty dog slow running Leopard, and shift the G4 mini to being solely a backup device.

From a less change is good standpoint . . .option 1 looks better. From a performance standpoint it's pretty clear that the new mini can easily be both the home file server and the media server, that shifting the scanners to the iMac would give much better performance, and that shifting the G4 mini to backup only is a decent use of assets.

Is there anything else I'm missing in this? I considered buying one of the new Server minis originally and using option 2 . . .but decided the hassle of setting up Snow Leopard server wasn't really worth the additional capabilities . . .although I could still see myself doing it that way.

Thoughts anyone?


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There are only three kinds of stress; your basic nuclear stress, cooking stress, and A$$hole stress. The key to their relationship is Jello.

neil