Am I missing something in your post? Couldn't you still unplug the Apple SuperDrive connected to the Mac Mini and plug it into your computer?
Yes, with an hours work or more to disassemble/reassemble everything. You haven't seen my work area
. Network sharing is (was) a LOT quicker and easier and requires nothing but a network connection (until Catalina that is).
The Apple document you reference in your original post seems to talk about network sharing, not sharing by picking it up and moving the drive.
Yep, you got it in one! That is exactly what I have done for many years now and it worked perfectly until Catalina. I have even shared the drive with my iPad, but that took a bit of a work around.
