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- Jul 28, 2020
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Hi, everyone,
Just joined, first post. I was given an old Mac Pro tower, I believe mid-2010 model. I don't need another Mac, but the machine itself would be ideal to create a NAS (network attached storage, file server) using the XigmaNAS operating system (based on FreeBSD). My plan would be to install 5 hard drives as file storage (the 5th being in the unused optical drive bay), and either boot it from a USB flash drive, or a small SSD I have laying around.
My question is this: Is this even possible with this Mac? Can I set a particular USB or SSD as the default boot drive without having any MacOS installed at all? With a PC I could just set the boot drive in the BIOS, but I don't know of a way to do so with a Mac.
Thanks in advance for your help!
~Gooberhead
Just joined, first post. I was given an old Mac Pro tower, I believe mid-2010 model. I don't need another Mac, but the machine itself would be ideal to create a NAS (network attached storage, file server) using the XigmaNAS operating system (based on FreeBSD). My plan would be to install 5 hard drives as file storage (the 5th being in the unused optical drive bay), and either boot it from a USB flash drive, or a small SSD I have laying around.
My question is this: Is this even possible with this Mac? Can I set a particular USB or SSD as the default boot drive without having any MacOS installed at all? With a PC I could just set the boot drive in the BIOS, but I don't know of a way to do so with a Mac.
Thanks in advance for your help!
~Gooberhead