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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / November 2007External drive for Mini
Considering purchasing an external drive for my Intel Mini for use as media depository and backup drive. I want to create bootable volumes for experimenting with other OSes (XP on one, Linux variant on another, Leopard on a third, perhaps Panther on fourth) for my work as tech support. I'm currently using Tiger as my main OS, since it came with the Mini. (I would also appreciate advice on how-- or if it is even possible-- to run and switch between multiple OSes simultaneously if possible.) I'm pretty sure a 500 GB drive should do the trick, and thus far, my best choice looks like the NewerTech MiniStack, followed closely by the Iomega MiniMax for the combined small footprints, their matching Mini styles, FW 400 bootability and their integration with the Mini's power switch. The fewer decibels, the better. I hope to draw some ideas, reviews or criticisms of my choices. Any links, reports or advice welcomed and TIA. > Considering purchasing an external drive for my Intel Mini for use as > media depository and backup drive. I want to create bootable volumes for [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > possible-- to run and switch between multiple OSes simultaneously if > possible.) If its a PPC G4 you'll need firewire if you want to be able to boot from it. Otherwise any USB will work if using an Intel Mini. Parallels should enable switching but you'll run a little slower I think than if you had a "fresh start" with Boot Camp. > I'm pretty sure a 500 GB drive should do the trick, and thus far, my > best choice looks like the NewerTech MiniStack, followed closely by the > Iomega MiniMax for the combined small footprints, their matching Mini > styles, FW 400 bootability and their integration with the Mini's power > switch. The fewer decibels, the better. For a small footprint, just place it on its side if you're sure it won't get knocked over during operation. Watch the heat - some cases are horrible at keeping things at near room temperature. Sometimes just removing the bottom (where most of the heat comes from in a hard drive) does a world of good and then you may not need any cooling fan at all. Though you'll have to distance yourself from the whine of the hard drive unless you've lost your high frequency hearing. High frequencies don't go around corners well so by careful positioning of your workspace may render that hard drive inaudible. Remember that you're buying 2 things: an external case and a hard drive. Separate specs. When people combine things in purchasing they usually compromise and wind up with something not quite that they need. > I hope to draw some ideas, reviews or criticisms of my choices. Any > links, reports or advice welcomed and TIA. The weakest link in the Intel Mini is the speed of that tiny internal hard drive. Rid yourself of it and use a full size Sata drive powered by the power supply of an external case. For the money you can sell the notebook drive for, you should be able to buy a 300gb or larger 7200 rpm full size drive. Hopefully you've got 2 or 3 gb's of 667mhz ram stuffed in there. And if you're burning a lot of DVD's sell off the slot loading drive (they don't last very long) and buy a $15-$20 used dual layer DVD drive that will last a long time. But remember if you're using a PPC Mini it will be have to be firewire. In article <replytogroup-E6A7B8.11391805112007@news.lga.highwinds-media.com>, > The weakest link in the Intel Mini is the speed of that tiny internal > hard drive. Rid yourself of it and use a full size Sata drive powered > by the power supply of an external case. For the money you can sell > the notebook drive for, you should be able to buy a 300gb or larger > 7200 rpm full size drive. If I understand you correctly, you mean to eliminate the internal disk, and use an internal SATA cable to conect the mac Mini to the externally powered SATA disk. That would mean leaving the Mac mini open or drilling a hole in its case for the cable. Efficient, but not very elegant... _x. -- Only one "o" in my e-mail address > > The weakest link in the Intel Mini is the speed of that tiny internal > > hard drive. Rid yourself of it and use a full size Sata drive powered [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > and use an internal SATA cable to conect the mac Mini to the externally > powered SATA disk. Exactly. > That would mean leaving the Mac mini open or drilling > a hole in its case for the cable. Efficient, but not very elegant... Well if you want to improve the cooling of the tightly packed Mini, obviously leaving it open will drastically lower operating temperatures. As long as you're not operating in a very high dust environment its an improvement. Ridding yourself of the optical disc is another huge benefit. And if you want access to the ram you have it. But if you're determined to operate it looking stock you can cut off the end of a sata cable, thread it through one of the bottom vents, and then resolder the cable. So it can be done. For some of us, there are so many advantages of not having everything packed in like a sardine can, its a no brainer. Your mileage my differ. > I'm pretty sure a 500 GB drive should do the trick, and thus far, my > best choice looks like the NewerTech MiniStack, followed closely by the > Iomega MiniMax for the combined small footprints, their matching Mini > styles, FW 400 bootability and their integration with the Mini's power > switch. The fewer decibels, the better. It looks like the NewerTech MiniStack and the Iomega MiniMax enclosures are the same thing with different name plates. I tried a MiniStack v3 but didn't like it. The fan was fairly loud, running even when the drive was spun down, but still didn't keep the drive from becoming quite hot to the touch. For low noise, take a look at a vented fanless enclosures such as AddLogix' FireXpress or OWC's Mercury Elite-AL. <http://www.welovemacs.com/fxu2eb35l.html> <http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/400+USB2/> > > I'm pretty sure a 500 GB drive should do the trick, and thus far, my > > best choice looks like the NewerTech MiniStack, followed closely by the [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > <http://www.welovemacs.com/fxu2eb35l.html> > <http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/400+USB2/> Exactly......if the case designer isn't a total idiot and provides avenues for the heat to escape, who needs some silly fan? Especially as hard drives aren't so sensitive to dust. |
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