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Kikaida · Mar 9, 2006, 02:00 PM

I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini soon. Could anyone recommend a HD enclosure that a) matches the Mini's form factor and b) have had a good experience with? Thanks in advance.

xcaliber · Mar 9, 2006, 03:08 PM

Check this out:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/

hickey · Mar 9, 2006, 03:10 PM

man If i had a mini, I would definitely get that. Its got loads of ports!

Kikaida · Mar 9, 2006, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by xcaliber

Check this out:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/

That looks pretty close to perfect. Did you buy one? Have a good experience?

Tuishimi · Mar 9, 2006, 05:04 PM

I'd be interested in knowing how noisy the fan is...

Blizzake · Mar 9, 2006, 05:04 PM

http://www.buy.com/prod/LaCie_250GB_.../10359999.html

great deal, and super quiet

iREZ · Mar 9, 2006, 06:17 PM

lacie also makes a HD in the shape of a mac mini footprint...my cousin has it and the three times ive seen it in action, its been whisper quiet.

quiklee · Mar 9, 2006, 07:35 PM

449 for a 500GB . . . . . how does it connect? via firewire? how much faster is firewire compared to USB 2.0?

mduell · Mar 9, 2006, 09:28 PM

Do you want an enclosure that looks like the Mac mini, or is just the same size as the Mac mini?

Whatever you do, avoid LaCie like the plague; high prices and low quality hardware.

Tuishimi · Mar 9, 2006, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by quiklee

449 for a 500GB . . . . . how does it connect? via firewire? how much faster is firewire compared to USB 2.0?

While USB 2.0 is theoretically faster, Firewire 400 offers higher SUSTAINED rates of transfer. At least that is what I remember.

Tuishimi · Mar 9, 2006, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Do you want an enclosure that looks like the Mac mini, or is just the same size as the Mac mini?

Whatever you do, avoid LaCie like the plague; high prices and low quality hardware.

I had the Porsche drive... lasted 6 months and died on me.

iREZ · Mar 10, 2006, 12:41 AM

ive had the porsche drive (usb 2.0) for 8 months and its still chugging along nicely. i dont think its fair to call an entire company bad from one bad experience, but i do have to mention lots of complaints about lacie. i took the poison and lived, so did my cousin...i guess everybodys milage varies.

$92 for 200gigs... not THAT pricey.

Tuishimi · Mar 10, 2006, 12:50 AM

Originally Posted by iREZ

ive had the porsche drive (usb 2.0) for 8 months and its still chugging along nicely. i dont think its fair to call an entire company bad from one bad experience, but i do have to mention lots of complaints about lacie. i took the poison and lived, so did my cousin...i guess everybodys milage varies.

$92 for 200gigs... not THAT pricey.

I have to admit that it was speedy. I used it as my startup drive for my mini... ran quite quickly! Then I used it as a backup drive with my iMac.

MaxPower2k3 · Mar 10, 2006, 01:05 AM

LaCie is definitely not the most reliable brand. G-Tech makes much better quality drives, or if you've got the money, get a Glyph. Neither one has a mac mini form factor, but if you're worried about the reliability of the LaCie, it's definitely worth it.

Kikaida · Mar 10, 2006, 07:43 AM

My 120gig Lacie d2 died recently, too. It had performance issues for almost the entire time I owned it. I'm definitely going to steer clear of Lacie in the future.

packetattack · Mar 10, 2006, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by Tuishimi

I'd be interested in knowing how noisy the fan is...

I have one of these and it is a very nice unit. The fan can be noisy, it is variable depending on the temps and when it first starts up. The drive itself is pretty quiet. I bought mine with the 160gig drive since I dont need storage per say, I'm putting server on it and then booting off it with the Mini. It also has a gig or so if "free" software loaded on it. Nothing you can not get elsewhere but it is convient and for a newbie, a real help.

MikeS
hackamac.packetattack.com

packetattack · Mar 10, 2006, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by iREZ

ive had the porsche drive (usb 2.0) for 8 months and its still chugging along nicely. i dont think its fair to call an entire company bad from one bad experience, but i do have to mention lots of complaints about lacie. i took the poison and lived, so did my cousin...i guess everybodys milage varies.

$92 for 200gigs... not THAT pricey.

My Porsche drive is three years old and still working well. It does run hot and it has "failed" a few times where I had to whack it and start over, I think it's from the heat. So now I keep it out in the open by itself and not put anything on top of it. It does look nice but if you take it apart, it is a bit cheesy given how much I paid for it. There is virtually no cooling airflow so be warned. I used it for a year on USB (PC) and then moved it to the Mac (firewire).

MikeS
hackamac.packetattack.com

RussS · 05:11 AM

Four external HDs that match the Mini's form factor:

Newer Technology miniStack

LaCie mini

Micronet miniMate

iomega MiniMax

Haven't had any experience with any of them though.

harrisjamieh · Mar 11, 2006, 05:27 AM

I always thought the cheaper LaCie drives were fine (NOT speaking from experience), however I do regulary use one of the bigger disks, a 1TB drive, and it is terrible! So unreliable, always waiting for it to catch up and for the damned blue light to stop blinking so I can carry on with what I am doing. Its damned noisy too, at LEAST 3x louder than a single prc 1.8 PM! And it makes horrible clicking and squeaking noises to... UGH!

MaxPower2k3 · Mar 11, 2006, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by harrisjamieh

I always thought the cheaper LaCie drives were fine (NOT speaking from experience), however I do regulary use one of the bigger disks, a 1TB drive, and it is terrible! So unreliable, always waiting for it to catch up and for the damned blue light to stop blinking so I can carry on with what I am doing. Its damned noisy too, at LEAST 3x louder than a single prc 1.8 PM! And it makes horrible clicking and squeaking noises to... UGH!

well, the fact that there are four hard drives in there that all need cooling (as well as producing their own noise) may have something to do with that. Can't expect it to be as quiet as a little single-drive enclosure.

Eriamjh · Mar 12, 2006, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by quiklee

449 for a 500GB . . . . . how does it connect? via firewire? how much faster is firewire compared to USB 2.0?

The ministack can connect via FW OR USB (there's a switch). It's both a firewire and a USB hub. I'm thinking of getting one for my other HDs to connect to my Intel iMac.