Repurposing Mac mini 2012 as a home server

I use my 2012 Mac mini that is upgraded with dual PNY 1T SSDs and 16GB of RAM as a Media and File Server.

You probable won't do an SSD upgrade at this point, but you can use USB 3.0 HDDs or SSDs to add additional storage space.

Mine is hooked up to an HDMI TV in the den mostly for streaming Xfinity TV with the help of FireFox. It holds a copy of my Music, Photos and home Movies that can also be enjoyed thru the HDMI TV or Stereo. I can access it via a local USB keyboard and mouse setup or via Screen and File Sharing from any of my newer Mac's.

What version of macOS is on the 2012 mini?

What uses do you intend for the mini as a server?

A few suggestions ... but not until thoroughly assessing the Mac and your needs

• Upgrade the mini to Catalina (10.15.7) ... but not if you need to preserve any existing 32-bit apps. The 2012 minis should all be upgradeable to Catalina.
• Use wired ethernet to the mini for best performance as a server
• Add a good external USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) SSD as your server's data drive. The internal 5400rpm HDD is very slow by today's standards.

MM12L wrote:

I intend to use my device as NAS/simple storage for my engineering documents(approx 2TB worth)- STAAD/CAD based with secure access.

AFAIK all the 2012 minis came with either a 500GB HDD or 1TB Fusion drive. Either way you're going to need a 2TB or larger drive to store all those docs. Since you have to buy a new drive anyway, why bother with turning the 2012 mini into a server ... just get a good, new 2TB or larger drive to connect to whatever Mac/pc you are using now.

Should be fine for storage of your engineering documents. I have a 2012 Mac mini Server (yes Apple actually did make a Mac mini server) It came with two 1 TB drives. Since I purchased it in 2012, it runs 24/7. I use it with a NewerTech HDMI Headless Video Accelerator and use screen share to view the Mac mini's desktop on my other Macs, or I can access files using just the finder on the other Macs.

I have other external storage such as a Synology NAS (for Time Machine), and a Unifi NAS Pro, but I still use the Mac mini server.

A problem is that it really old. It might be okay as a "plex" video server. It may be so old to not be viable as a file server.

If it can run Monterey, which I am not sure it can, it can behave as a modern Macintosh.

Fyrdyn wrote:

A problem is that it really old. It might be okay as a "plex" video server. It may be so old to not be viable as a file server. If it can run Monterey, which I am not sure it can, it can behave as a modern Macintosh.

The OP said it's running Catalina (10.15.7) ... and the 2012 minis have Gigabit ethernet, Thunderbolt (10 Gbps), FW800 & USB 3.0 (5Gbps) ports. It will be perfectly fine as a file server whatever drive(s) the OP adds to it.

I have been using a 2010 MacMini for a few years as a home server.

I use it primarily for second backups of my data and photos and is setup for Home Sharing for music and videos.

what feature do you see it serving the clients on your network?

file server?

database server?

Just having your computer "connect" to a server does not make it run faster by itself

I did something similar, but turned out I wasn't really using it. I have iCloud, and that does so much more. I sold the old Mac mini. . .

I have a 2012 Mac mini that I use as a file server, it works fine, no problems.