External hard drive for mini

[Leon Kowalski]

Why would you recommend the V3 to someone who only has FW400 and USB?

Neither one would be my first choice, but the v2 uses obsolete IDE drives
while the v3 uses SATA. If I cared about the form factor or the USB hub
features, I'd go with the v3.

OTOH, they're both plastic, noisy, and cost much more than good fanless
aluminum enclosures.

LK

 

[Leon Kowalski]

The only reasons for buying a SATA drive for an external enclosure are

(1) you need eSATA or

(2) you need a TB of storage in a single drive.

(3) Someday, you might want to upgrade to 1TB -- or more!

(4) You want a good selection of modern drives with big caches.

(5) You'd like to use popular drives that often go on sale at good prices.

...can you name ONE advantage of buying an IDE enclosure?

LK

 

[Cave Man]

Neither one would be my first choice, but the v2 uses obsolete IDE drives while the v3 uses SATA. If I cared about the form factor or the USB hub features, I'd go with the v3.

The V3 is more expensive than the V2.

OTOH, they're both plastic, noisy, and cost much more than good fanless aluminum enclosures.

And do those less expensive aluminum enclosures also come with USB2 and Firewire hubs?

If you re-read the part of my post that you edited out, you'd see I'm no fan of the MiniStacks.

 

[Cave Man]

...can you name ONE advantage of buying an IDE enclosure?

1. You need to replace your internal PATA drive and need to clone it.

2. You have a PATA drive laying around that you'd like to use as extra storage.

 

[nhcowboy1]

The v2 and v3 are both plastic, noisy, and cost much more than good fanless aluminum enclosures.

Is there a "good fanless aluminum enclosure" that matches the footprint of the mini?

 

[MacFanBoyIIe]

Is there a "good fanless aluminum enclosure" that matches the footprint of the mini?

First, I'll say again, I have two v3s. I don't have any problems with them. The fans are there, but I don't mind and don't consider them noisy.

Another option, close to the same footprint, would be g-technology's G-Drives.

USB2.0/FW400:
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm

USB2.0/FW800/400/eSATA:
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVEQ.cfm

I have one of the older G-Drives and it works great. I've heard great things about all their other products too. The only caution would be the company was recently bought out. I don't know much more about the situation, but whenever there's a takeover like that the outcome can be good or it can be bad. Anyone have any info on the new owner?