[Housteau]

I have a n early 2009 Mini that I purchased refurbished around 2011.  It is a simple system running OSx 10.6.8.  It's only function is to act as my music server hub for Amarra and a few other music playrs.  The iTunes storage is via Firewire on an external HD and my Time Machine backup is on another eternal HD.  Everything is also backed up online using Backblaze. 

I am away from home on an average of 6 months a year due to work and when I am home I only keep this set up powered up for actual use.  It doesn't run 24/7, just the days and partial days I plan on using it.  I have never had any issues with this set up over the years, but nothing lasts forever.  Although I have had this for many years I do not know a whole lot about Macs.  When things don't break and when one is not a tweaker and tends to leave well enough alone, you don't get to learn a lot about things.

So, I was wondering when that day comes and I need a new Mac, how difficult is is to get up and running on a new computer keeping my old music library intact?  Is there anything more I can do now a head of time to prepare for that day if it comes?

Dave

[wgscott]

I have two 2009 mac minis that have been powered on and running and doing computer stuff (non-AV) since I purchased them in 2009 and they are still going strong.  You aren't going to burn them out.

What I did find is that they run best on 10.6.

It is dead easy to transfer everything to a new one.  Just use migration assistant.  But if your stuff is on an external drive, it is even easier. 

There really is no need to tweak a mac mini running 10.6.  Probably the only thing I would do is turn off spotlight indexing.  For the newer operating systems, I would turn off that and the Notification Center.  The rest of the tweaker claims are dubious at best.

[jparkhur]

Wgscott is right on. I have a dozen macs running all sorts of OS and the only thing you have to watch out for is a bad new os put out by apple, one with glitches or a dead HD. Always have a back up or two.  This wY you are good no matter what. I have a back up in time machine of the os and music then another drives has a back up of music.   Mini s are the way to go.  Just waTch out for clicking drives. Maybe at 5-7 years of heavy use. You are fine.  Also. I unplug my back up of my back up in case of a random power surge from the heavens.  I know, weird but getting all those CDs back on there would take months.

[Housteau]

Thank you for your replies.  I feel better about my Mac and the future of my server.

[brooklyn]

I’m a Mac Mini user for about ten years now, I’m on my third one during that time ..
I sold the others on ebay when I upgraded, they were still working fine. The one I
have now is a 2012 model with the Yosemite OS.

I do automatic back ups with Time Machine with a external hard drive. I recently
bought a Mac Book Pro and connected the external hard drive to it and all my files,
music, internet data, etc, transferred perfectly..  You can’t go wrong with a Mac Mini.

[planet10]

I am on my 2nd macMini, not because there was a problem with the 1st, but because i got given one with a dead HD. I installed an SSD and upped the RAM to 8 GB. As it was older than my other with built-in optical drive i installed it, afterwards attributing the small improvement to the SSD. The other is on the shelf downstairs awaiting a use.

I cannot recommend the mini high enuff.

Used with a TC Electronics 24/192 Firewire DAC and an external USB storage device.

dave

[KR500]

My 2009 Mini was upgraded as far as it could go in 2010 .
Just bought a new Mini in May 2015 and was surprised how slow the previous one was in comparison . It was a gradual thing. Seems like 8 years was about as much as I could get to stay on the web productively.
Right now i use the 09 for digitizing cassette tapes and minidiscs of live stuff . Still works great , just not on the net.
Two external  WD drives both pooped out over the 09-15 time period.