Mac mini as a file server - wake on lan

[gforce08]

I recently bought an 09 mac mini to use as a media pc, so it is connected up to my lcd for movies, music and such like. I absolutely love plex, and have been gradually working out more and more cool bits.

Getting to the point though, I am playing with using the mini as a file server, connecting an external 1tb drive to serve up everything to my home network. One problem I am having though is that I don't really want to leave the mini on all the time. I tried to enable the wake on lan feature, but using my windows desktop I can see the mini but cannot access it when it is asleep, it refuses to wake up to serve my files.

Anybody solved this issue?

 

[cwick]

Just in case you didn't know, you have to send kit a 'magic packet' in order for it to wake up (i.e. you can't just attempt to access a shared folder on the mini, you have to explicitly tell it to wake up).

There's loads of little utilities to do this, google will find them for you, but this one (for windows) would let you try it out. You'll need the MAC address of your mini - available through System Preferences > Network.

Cheers, Carl.

 

[CamFire]

Not a windoze-type answer, but have you tried using the Apple remote?