Mac Mini External Drive

cory1848 · #1 June 5th, 2009, 10:13 AM

I have the 2007 intel mini and I am looking for hard drive options. Was thinking of installing a 320 gig 7200 drive in it but they are about the same price point as an external 1 TB 7200 3.5 drive. Is it possible to just run the mini off the external drive via firewire or USB2? Would that be slower than using the internal drive? Looking for options, I do a lot of photo work so storage is a premium.

Thanks

sgould · #2 June 5th, 2009, 11:24 AM

I have a 750GB Iomega drive under my MacMini. The 1TB version has superseded it. It works well and switches on and off with the MacMini. I use it for Time Capsule mostly. Had it a year with no glitches or speed problems.

It has the same footprint as the MacMini and looks good too.

http://go.iomega.com/en/products/ext.../?partner=4735

Satcomer · #3 June 5th, 2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cory1848

I have the 2007 intel mini and I am looking for hard drive options. Was thinking of installing a 320 gig 7200 drive in it but they are about the same price point as an external 1 TB 7200 3.5 drive. Is it possible to just run the mini off the external drive via firewire or USB2? Would that be slower than using the internal drive? Looking for options, I do a lot of photo work so storage is a premium.

Thanks

I always think the NewerTech miniStack looks cool under a Mini.

djackmac · #4 June 5th, 2009, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cory1848

I have the 2007 intel mini and I am looking for hard drive options. Was thinking of installing a 320 gig 7200 drive in it but they are about the same price point as an external 1 TB 7200 3.5 drive. Is it possible to just run the mini off the external drive via firewire or USB2? Would that be slower than using the internal drive? Looking for options, I do a lot of photo work so storage is a premium.

You can do it but it will run slower. If you were doing it on a Mac Pro the speed booting through firewire hit wouldn't be as noticeable, but with a Mini its going to be significant.

**fryke** · #5 June 6th, 2009, 01:01 AM

The opposite is the case. It'll be as fast or faster, since the internal drive is a notebook drive (2.5") whereas the external one is 3.5", a desktop drive. The FW400 port is faster than that internal drive, so booting from external will be perfectly okay.

cory1848 · #6 June 6th, 2009, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fryke

The opposite is the case. It'll be as fast or faster, since the internal drive is a notebook drive (2.5") whereas the external one is 3.5", a desktop drive. The FW400 port is faster than that internal drive, so booting from external will be perfectly okay.

Thats good to know, save me from ripping apart the mini to upgrade the drive.

ElDiabloConCaca · #7 June 6th, 2009, 07:51 AM

Upgrading the mini is delicate, but not difficult -- I replaced the stock 5400rpm drive with a Western Digital 320GB 7200rpm drive that provides better overall access speed. The toughest part was getting the putty knife to release the tabs along the edge of the mini -- you have to bend just slightly harder than, "Damn, I think I'm going to break this thing"-hard. Not to mention the "pops" from the tabs releasing don't sound all that pleasant or benign, either.

Great tutorials for internal drive/RAM replacement available from www.owcomputing.com.

I've also slapped 4 of the Western Digital Elements 1TB USB drives on mine, for a total of 4.320TB of storage.

Now, I've got a fast internal drive with plenty of space, as well as 4TB of external drive space for under $500.

If you choose this route, though, and if you ever intend on upgrading the RAM as well as the internal drive, I would highly recommend doing both (hard drive and RAM) at the same time to avoid having to go through the pain of opening the mini again. It's not difficult, it's just delicate.

djackmac · #8 June 6th, 2009, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fryke

The opposite is the case. It'll be as fast or faster, since the internal drive is a notebook drive (2.5") whereas the external one is 3.5", a desktop drive. The FW400 port is faster than that internal drive, so booting from external will be perfectly okay.

I don't see the logic there. I boot systems from firewire constantly for testing purposes and there is a decreased performance difference. Yes notebook drives are somewhat slower even if they are 7200RPM drives but comparing a 2.5"SATA to 3.5"FW400 the SATA is going to be faster every time. Not to mention I don't think I'd be willing to give up the 1 firewire port that is on a Mini to be my Boot HD.

It isn't too bad upgrading a mini HD. Its about like doing laptop repairs if you have any experience with that. I've done several mini take-aparts and the putty knife thing is somewhat scary if you are squeamish. The biggest thing is don't break the connector on the interconnect board for the data cable when you have to lift the chassis off the logic board. That will be about $150.00-$200.00 repair for a new interconnect board. Had to do several of those because customers have broken them. But if you get butterflies dealing with delicate take-aparts you may want to get it done by an authorized Apple shop. I say authorized because many tech shops won't even install RAM in a mini because they are that scared of them. We had a client in that I was doing a RAM upgrade on his mini that said he had taken it to Geek Squad first before finding us. The Geek Squad manager said they don't do Mini upgrades anymore since a tech hurt themself taking one apart.