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Plex Server on Mac Mini M1

 1 year ago
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Plex Server on Mac Mini M1

ZMA15

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Apr 9, 2022

Hello,

im currently running a plex server for three users (mostly direct streams with some encoding streams) on my intel nuc. The nuc is starting to show its age and is incredibly loud even when it’s not doing anything.
I have a Mac Mini M1 (8/256) that is not getting any good use and I’m thinking about moving my plex server to it.
I have a large HDD that I use for our personal content/media.

my questions are:
1- has anybody been successful in moving there plex server from a windows machine to a Mac silicon? Plex says it’s basically near impossible.
2- do you run into the occasional problem or is it smooth sailing? I will occasionally be traveling and will not have access to my server.

thank you!

dorrellkc

macrumors newbie

Dec 30, 2020

Hello,

im currently running a plex server for three users (mostly direct streams with some encoding streams) on my intel nuc. The nuc is starting to show its age and is incredibly loud even when it’s not doing anything.
I have a Mac Mini M1 (8/256) that is not getting any good use and I’m thinking about moving my plex server to it.
I have a large HDD that I use for our personal content/media.

my questions are:
1- has anybody been successful in moving there plex server from a windows machine to a Mac silicon? Plex says it’s basically near impossible.
2- do you run into the occasional problem or is it smooth sailing? I will occasionally be traveling and will not have access to my server.

thank you!
I use an M1 Mac mini to run my Plex server. I have not had any problems. The server software updates every few weeks. What I could recommend is running real RealVNC server on the Mac mini and then you could use anything from a computer to an iPad or an iPhone to connect to your Mac mini just in case anything was to come up. I utilize this solution all the time. Depending on where all your data stored, you could use your hard drive formatted in NTFS using NTFS for Mac, or I might recommend a second hard drive again utilize the NTFS drive and NTFS for Mac and transfer the data from one hard drive to the second one.

Reactions: ZMA15

edivalentin

macrumors newbie

Jun 27, 2019

hi,

i actually did it 2 months ago using the below, and runs great
  • Installed PMS on my Mac
  • Shutdown Plex on my Windows Server
  • Zipped my PlexData folder from my Windows server (Mine was C:\PlexData\Plex Media Server)
  • Copied zip to my mac
  • Unzipped folder and replaced my Mac's PMS folder (~/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server)
  • Start up Plex on Mac
  • Go to settings in plex and update the share mappings (as long as you keep the internal folder structure in tact it doesn't really matter what folder you're pointing to)
  • Run a full scan
  • Profit

teksurv

macrumors regular

May 25, 2008

San Diego, CA

I moved my Plex server from an intel mini to my current M1 mini (16/512) and it has been flawless. I only stream mkv/mp4 to local devices, I don't have users outside of the home.

GDF

macrumors 6502a

Jun 7, 2010

When you guys are running Plex server does it transcode 4K movies with no issues? I thought about moving from my late 2012 iMac with 512gb SSD to a M1 mini or even the new Studio. Mostly would use it for Plex, Channels App and some home office stuff.

Reactions: opuscroakus

BeatCrazy

macrumors 68040

Jul 20, 2011

3,242

1,974

Plex says it’s basically near impossible.
Why would they say that?

ZMA15

macrumors newbie

Original poster

Apr 9, 2022

Why would they say that?
I meant moving my plex server from a windows machine to a Mac. I know it works well on a max but moving is a different story…

opuscroakus

macrumors newbie

Aug 27, 2001

When you guys are running Plex server does it transcode 4K movies with no issues? I thought about moving from my late 2012 iMac with 512gb SSD to a M1 mini or even the new Studio. Mostly would use it for Plex, Channels App and some home office stuff.
I'm curious about this also. I have a 2013 iMac with a 3.4 i5 and my Plex library is housed on a ThunderBay4 TB3 RAID drive connected via a TB3/TB2 adapter. On my LG tv, higher bit rate 4K rips buffer a lot. I'm almost positive its the i5 at fault, just wondering how well M1 Plex servers handle the load.
Last edited: Saturday at 9:05 PM

Reactions: GDF

GDF

macrumors 6502a

Jun 7, 2010

I'm curious about this also. I have a 2013 iMac with a 3.4 i5 and my Plex library is housed on a ThunderBay4 TB3 RAID drive connected via a TB3/TB2 adapter. On my LG tv, higher bit rate 4K rips buffer a lot. I'm almost positive its the i5 at fault, just wondering how well M1 Plex servers handle the load.
That is the same issue I have on my late 2012 iMac with upgraded SSD. Hope someone with a M1 responds. Tempted to just get a Studio, as can’t imagine would have that issue then, but then again if a M1 mini with 16gb Ram would work, that would be fine too.

Reactions: opuscroakus

turbineseaplane

macrumors G4

Mar 19, 2008

10,558

18,235

Rather than create a new thread, I have a related question I'm hoping folks here could chime in on..

My old old xeon server is starting to become a nuisance and, for several other reasons also, I've been pondering a switch to a Mac mini instead.

My plan is a Mini + software mirrored externals disks now that disks exist that are much larger than my total need (14/16/18 TB single drives are reasonable now)

Of course there's a premium for doing this with Mac minis, but what I'm more wondering about is if I should be getting one of the final Intel Mini's for the QuickSync (and can save probably $200 doing it) -- or if the M1 mini's are already better at this than even an i5/i7 from the 2018 Intel Mini run.

Any tips from anyone are appreciated!

iSightG5

macrumors member

Mar 28, 2008

I'm curious about this also. I have a 2013 iMac with a 3.4 i5 and my Plex library is housed on a ThunderBay4 TB3 RAID drive connected via a TB3/TB2 adapter. On my LG tv, higher bit rate 4K rips buffer a lot. I'm almost positive its the i5 at fault, just wondering how well M1 Plex servers handle the load.
How high of a bit rate are these rips? I’ve been running PLEX off a raid 5 enclosure attached by FW800 to my 2010 i7 iMac and never had any buffering issue on 4K (only 20-30Mbps bit rate though) content

Kaikidan

macrumors regular

Jul 3, 2017

I have a cheap dedicated plex machine at home, a Lenovo m70q with 8gb of ram and a I310100T, same size as the mini, consumes 10-15W on average, I would recomend something like this over the mini for the following reasons:
  1. Plex Great benefit from Intel CPUs as it can use Vsync to transcode without huge performance penalties, Plex server currently is not optmized for the M1 and so even being drastically more powerfull than the i3 on the lenovo performance will be on par or worse in general in transcoding tasks.
  2. Mini M1 has 2 USBA gen 3.2x2 10gbs and 2 Thunderbolt 40gb/s, m70q has 4 USBA gen 3.2 5gbs and 2 USBA gen 3.2x2 10gbs You have more ports to connect drives and docks for cheaper unless you have a setup to take advantage of the thunderbolt ports which is pretty overkill.
  3. the m70q is cheaper to fix if something breaks and can be upgraded just as easily if the need arises (can go up to 64gb of ram and a i9, also it has both a nvme slot and a sata.
So if you plan to use it long term I would search for a lenovo/HP/dell mini pc, it will be worth more in the long run, if i's just a stop gap the mini will be ok, but not optimized at all for the task, when (and if) plex updates to support native transcoding on M1 then the story changes and the M1 becomes a AMAZING server. but for now... I would go with a mini pc.

Also, for your second question: this is more a problem I created for myself, but I installed some misbehaving apps and docker containers on it (running linux server but it can run windows no problem) and somethimes the system freezes, until I do a clean reinstall the system I connected a cheap sonoff wifi switch to the power outlet so if it freezes while I´m alway from home I can force shutdown it (not recomended but it's just for the ocassional freeze until I fix) since the bios is configured to reboot after a "powerloss" it will restart and is good to go again.
Last edited: Today at 6:05 AM

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