External drive for 2012 Mini?

[DFWHD]

I've got the ministack and have been using it for a few years now. While it is a nice looking unit, it's bus speed is not as high as other USB 3 enclosures (ministack max data transfer is 300 mb/s vs for example the OWC Elite Pro Mini USB 3 version at max rate of 500 mb/s). I had planned on using an SSD in mine, but when I added the SSD to the ministack, the actual throughput was about 200 mb/s average. I ordered the Elite Pro Mini and put it in there and got that SSD moving at an average of 400 mb/s. I ended up adding an 3 TB 7200 rpm HDD to the ministack and use it for backups and storing mkv files. With the HDD I'm getting an average of 110 mb/s.

While I like the form factor of the ministack and it is a solid reliable unit that has never given me issues, it's lower bus speed was a little frustrating. And OWC has still not updated the unit for higher throughput.

 

[k3lee]

miniStack speed

aHA! I wondered about that. The thing that makes me think it's solid (been around for a few years, no real issues) is also the thing that makes me think it's dated (not improved recently).

Once I get it going and have a chance to test it, I will report on the speeds I get.

 

[k3lee]

Black Magic: new Hitachi drive in miniStack

For my new Hitachi drive in my new miniStack (connected via USB 3.0), the Black Magic speedometers topped out at about 133 and 189.

For my native internal hard drive, both speeds were in the mid 90s.

Hmmm.

I will run it again once I've upgraded my OS.