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MacMini Server 1.5TB max or can we goto 2TB?

I

ichaddy

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 15, 2008
78
2
South of England
So before today we were speculating how to cram two 750GB drives in the MacMini.

It looks like Apple has paved the case design to fit two tall drives in the MacMini. What height do you think they are? 9.5mm or 12.5mm. If it's the latter, do you think we can get two 2.5" 12.5mm WD drives in there to make a whopping 2TB?

I want to use this as my media streaming service as my current 2008 MacMini isn't cutting the mustard anymore.

Any thoughts?
 
Apple didn't change the case design. The dual-drive design is the same as in the previous generation Mini Server.

Yes, you can have 2TB, but only by using Samsung Spinpoint M8 1TB drives - they are 9.5mm height.

I am running 2TB configuration with these drives in my C2D Mini Server. The upgrade of the drives is a DYI process, and is a pain.
 
Last edited:
hitekalex said:
Apple didn't change the case design. The dual-drive design is the same as in the previous generation Mini Server.

Yes, you can have 2TB, but only by using Samsung Spinpoint M8 1TB drives - they are 9.5mm height.

I am running 2TB configuration with these drives in my C2D Mini Server. The upgrade of the drives is a DYI process, and is a pain.
Click to expand...

Hello,

I have recently purchase two samsung 1tb spinpoint drives to have the same setup as yourself however when booting my mac mini server it simply comes up with a black screen no option to boot from anything is there something I have done wrong? Do I need to have any jumpers on the drives?
 
Ramone001 said:
Hello,

I have recently purchase two samsung 1tb spinpoint drives to have the same setup as yourself however when booting my mac mini server it simply comes up with a black screen no option to boot from anything is there something I have done wrong? Do I need to have any jumpers on the drives?
Click to expand...

Boot with and external MacOS media (DVD or USB stick), run Disk Utility, and see if the drives are recognized. If not - you didn't install them correctly, maybe SATA cables aren't attached properly.
 
hitekalex said:
Nope, they are 5400rpm. However, in my RAID-0 setup, the disk I/O is probably faster than what you'd get with 7200rpm drives.
Click to expand...

Why would RAID-0 on 5400 drives be faster than a 7200?

Unless you meant Raid-0 5400rpm is faster than a normal 7200 drive set-up, but that wouldn't make sense as he's talking about getting two drives anyhow.
 
I'll take it I'm correct then?

I really just wanted some clarification in case I'm missing something here.
 
with the release of the new 9.5mm 1TB drives, I was able to make a 2TB Mac Mini. they are 5400rpm but provide better i/o than 7200rpm drives because of the platter density. I do get slow downs, but nothing too pressing. of course I compare this to daily use of my MBA which is lightning fast. For a media hub though, the slower drives are perfect.
 
Mr. Retrofire said:
Because some 9.5 mm, 1 TB , 5400 rpm drives have a higher storage density than some 7200 rpm drives, which means that the drive can read and write more data per second.

More info:
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/1TB-WD-Scorpio-Blue-25-HD-QuickTake/
(look at the benchmarks)

and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_storage_density#Effects_on_performance
Click to expand...

all about density of the new 1tb platters. a pair of them in raid0 up to about 1.2tb of the 2tb are as fast as a pair of 750gb scorpio blacks in raid0 up to about .9tb.

if you pack them with more info the scorpio black starts to win out.

but at a 60 percent fill rate or less the samsung wins. frankly I order the server with the optional 750gb scorpio blacks . because it was only 90 bucks more for the federal worker discount program. I plan to add ssds via t-bolt later on.
 
I'll have to look into this, thanks for the info!

However, if all things were equal and some 7200rpm drives have the same platter density wouldn't you still be better off with one of those?

Not sure if they exist yet though.
 
So, I'm still weighing up using this 2011 mini as a ultra-fast home-sharing server.

I've just seen Seagate do a 14mm thick 1.5TB drive. Will this fit? or is 9.5mm or 12.5mm max?

From the pictures on iFixit, it looks pretty roomy.

Also, iFixit now sell the cable and kit to fit a second hard drive for those that have already purchased a non-server model.
 
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