Guys - I have the most basic Mac mini M2 with 256gb SSD which is enough for all my basic needs with web browsing, Outlook, Excel, etc. However, I also have an external 18TB for all my family photos/videos that keeps growing (currently using 12TB). I initially connected using an Anker USB 3.1 SATA hub but looks like it's gone bad and I need to replace it. Can you review my 2 options and recommend something?
1) Buy a good hub like OWC and connected to Thunderbolt 4. Previously, I had to run a script every 58 seconds to keep the drive active and if I wouldn't, there would be a 5 second lag to access my files if I hadn't accessed it within the last 1 minute. I never eject and the external HDD automatically showed up in Finder through reboots after software updates, etc. If I go with this, using a hub with 2 USB-C ports and a card reader will be useful
2) Buy a 1 or 2 drive NAS and access all my files through the network. One benefit is other folks can access it and work on my Photo library for example from their Mac when I don't have the library open on my computer. However, that's soon going to be 12tb too after I import everything in - would that even open up over the network? I do have a solid almost enterprise-grade network and everything is wired ethernet
Is Option 1 going to be faster and more reliable? Backup isn't a concern since I do Time Machine to an external HDD that's kept at another location and I have a few other smaller HDD's I keep at different locations too. I don't use cloud services much and if I do, I'll encrypt and upload. In either option, if can recommend a decent make/model that I should purchase, that'll be nice
Thanks
1) Buy a good hub like OWC and connected to Thunderbolt 4. Previously, I had to run a script every 58 seconds to keep the drive active and if I wouldn't, there would be a 5 second lag to access my files if I hadn't accessed it within the last 1 minute. I never eject and the external HDD automatically showed up in Finder through reboots after software updates, etc. If I go with this, using a hub with 2 USB-C ports and a card reader will be useful
2) Buy a 1 or 2 drive NAS and access all my files through the network. One benefit is other folks can access it and work on my Photo library for example from their Mac when I don't have the library open on my computer. However, that's soon going to be 12tb too after I import everything in - would that even open up over the network? I do have a solid almost enterprise-grade network and everything is wired ethernet
Is Option 1 going to be faster and more reliable? Backup isn't a concern since I do Time Machine to an external HDD that's kept at another location and I have a few other smaller HDD's I keep at different locations too. I don't use cloud services much and if I do, I'll encrypt and upload. In either option, if can recommend a decent make/model that I should purchase, that'll be nice
Thanks
