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500GB drives on 2011 Mac Mini Server
- Thread starter amac4me
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The 500gb in my 2011 i7 dual core is a Toshiba. I replaced it with a WD 750gb 7200rpm black and tests show it almost twice the read/write speed as the toshiba was.
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Are there any advantages to upgrading the stock drives to the WD Black Scorpio 750GB drives via a BTO system other than an increase in storage space? As I haven't seen any direct comparisons between the stock Seagate drives and the WD Black Scorpios, I'm wondering if the upgrade is worth it or if the performance is only marginal.
based on what others have said on this forum, it sounds like the stock 500GB 5400rpm drives max out around 60-70 MB/s read/write, the 750GB 7200rpm scorpio black do about 120MB/s, the stock 500GB server drives do about 90-100MB/s, and if you raid stripe the stock server drives for 1TB, they can do 180-190MB/s.
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the scorpio blacks appear to be about 30% faster than the stock server hdd. so if you raid striped 2 black scorpios, you could theoretically get around 240MB/s read/write on a 1.5TB drive vs the 180MB/s or so with the 1TB stock drives.
to me it's a question of paying for the $100 upgrade plus sales tax on the total mini purchase ($1100 + 9% state sales tax) or paying $960 on amazon with no sales tax, so a $239 difference. as 180MB/s is plenty fast enough for me, i went with the amazon purchase, plus i get 3% kickback for using an amazon visa at amazon.com.
Ok so based on these numbers, upgrading to the 750GB drives opens the door to a 20-30% performance increase in a non-raid non-striped comparison.
So what do you all think about the $100 upgrade cost for this performance increase in conjunction with a 50% increase in storage space?
My long-term plan is to eventually upgrade the two drives in my mini server to SSD's at some point later this year as we're likely to see some deals during the holiday shopping season. I would then repurpose the hard drives by placing them in external enclosures and using them for backups / additional storage.
EDIT: I was in the process of creating this reply when 'indg' posted his updated response. I'm of the same thought - would save some $ by going the Amazon route versus the BTO route from the Apple Store. I do have some points from my CC company that I could redeem for an a nice discount on an Apple Store gift card which would help to offset the price difference. Decisions Decisions ...
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Yeah I agree, I started this thread because I didn't know anything about the stock 500 drives. Most likely, I'll stick with the base config.
Thanks for the help!
i used my gov discount 979 plus 90 for the upgrade is 1069 discover card kicks back 5% 51 off is 1018. New Jersey taxed it for 75 so I paid 1093 net.
On Amazon 959 minus 3 percent for the amazon card is 932.
so I paid 160 for the better hdds. I have been lazy so 160 extra was worth it. I plan to use an add-on ssd from sonnet or lacie.
On Amazon 959 minus 3 percent for the amazon card is 932.
so I paid 160 for the better hdds. I have been lazy so 160 extra was worth it. I plan to use an add-on ssd from sonnet or lacie.
Sweet, but there is just no fun in that! The fun is tinkering with these bad boys! hehehe
well I did do two base 2.3's , one 2.5 and one 2.7. plus post the how do on site.
For the server I am thinking of a monster tinkering of some sort involving t-bolt ssds maybe a case expansion to this.
http://www.par-metal.com/product-ttp-20series.php
see thumbnail. Maybe a 2 by 12 by 12 size will work for my idea.
I do agree to tinker is to live. At least for me it is.
For the server I am thinking of a monster tinkering of some sort involving t-bolt ssds maybe a case expansion to this.
http://www.par-metal.com/product-ttp-20series.php
see thumbnail. Maybe a 2 by 12 by 12 size will work for my idea.
I do agree to tinker is to live. At least for me it is.
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