Mac Mini - Using an external HDD as primary?

[simplymuzik3]

Okay, i just have a simple question:

if i hook up an external 7200rpm drive via fw800 to my mini, will this drive be faster to boot from than the internal 5400rpm drive? Could I use the external drive as my primary drive? And will the speed difference be (noticeable?)? Thanks.

 

[Hellhammer]

Yes you can, but it'll be slower than your internal. FW800 max out at 800MB/s and Sata max out at 3GB/s, it's almost 4:1 ratio

 

[simplymuzik3]

Are you 100% sure about that? I was reading macworld magazine july 2009 issue, and one of the articles says that the mini runs faster with an external fw800 as the primary drive/boot drive.?

 

[Cave Man]

Are you 100% sure about that? I was reading macworld magazine july 2009 issue, and one of the articles says that the mini runs faster with an external fw800 as the primary drive/boot drive.?

On the previous gen Mini that I have (1.5 gb internal SATA and external FW400) using a FW drive (3.5"/500 gb/7200 rpm/16 mb cache) was slower for most uses than the internal SATA drive (2.5"/120 gb/5400 rpm/8 mb cache). Testing was done with Intech Speedtools. Still, I preferred booting from the external drive.