Im looking to add a 3.5" 500Gb esata (taken from the PC the mini replaced). I was about to order a USB 2.0 enclosure, however, not sure how this would perform in real world usage. Does anyone have a setup like this? Is it practical or should I get a FW 400/800 enclosure? Thanks,
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Add external storage
- Thread starter Appletvgk
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For most applications, USB 2.0 would probably work fine. If you're streaming movies, for example, you may want something faster, like FW800 or USB 3.0.
Even streaming videos will not max out USB 2.0 (even a blu-Ray rip). The only thing you will notice is that you will max out at about 30MB/s on USB 2.0. That is the same max speed for FW400 (roughly). You could go FW800, but the cost is astronomical to upgrade to FW800 (compared to go old USB 2.0).
I have a buddy with a 2009 Mac Mini who uses several Rosewill Aluminum USB 2.0 enclosures. I think he paid less than $20 for them at newegg.
USB 2 does work perfectly fine. Personally I prefer to utilize firewire when streaming. It utilizes less system resources. I can still use the system for other things while still streaming HD without any hiccups at all. If you can get an enclosure for a decent price I would go firewire, but again, i'm not saying USB is bad, just not as good as firewire.