miniStack v3 enclosure questions

[FatSweatyBlldog]

Just installed a 750GB Seagate (SATA) in one of the NewerTech miniStack v3 enclosures.

Two questions for those familiar with the unit:

1)The manual states the miniStack v3 automatically chooses the fastest connection available, going from Firewire800 down to USB2.0. If I have both the Firewire400 and USB-uplink connection to my macmini, the macmini recognizes the USB2.0. Can this be fixed?

2)The unit isn't quite "whisper-quit." Much louder than the mini, in fact, which is close to silent. The fan in the v3 seems to stay on as long as the drive is not in sleep mode. Is this normal? The instructions seem to indicate the fan only turns on when necessary. Is your miniStack as quiet as your macMini?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Cave Man]

2)The unit isn't quite "whisper-quit." Much louder than the mini, in fact, which is close to silent. The fan in the v3 seems to stay on as long as the drive is not in sleep mode. Is this normal? The instructions seem to indicate the fan only turns on when necessary. Is your miniStack as quiet as your macMini?

I'm not sure about V3, but my V2s come on quite a bit if I'm doing a lot of disk access. Does the v3 come with the thermometer that you have to tape to the drive? If that's working, then your drive is either generating a lot of heat or there's something wrong with the enclosure's sensor. Might be worth an email to OWC (if that's where you bought it) - NewerTech's tech service sucks.

 

[bprice]

Just installed a 750GB Seagate (SATA) in one of the NewerTech miniStack v3 enclosures.

Two questions for those familiar with the unit:

1)The manual states the miniStack v3 automatically chooses the fastest connection available, going from Firewire800 down to USB2.0. If I have both the Firewire400 and USB-uplink connection to my macmini, the macmini recognizes the USB2.0. Can this be fixed?

2)The unit isn't quite "whisper-quit." Much louder than the mini, in fact, which is close to silent. The fan in the v3 seems to stay on as long as the drive is not in sleep mode. Is this normal? The instructions seem to indicate the fan only turns on when necessary. Is your miniStack as quiet as your macMini?

Thanks for any advice!

You aren't alone

http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13900

 

[rds]

The unit isn't quite "whisper-quit." Much louder than the mini, in fact, which is close to silent. The fan in the v3 seems to stay on as long as the drive is not in sleep mode. Is this normal? The instructions seem to indicate the fan only turns on when necessary. Is your miniStack as quiet as your macMini?

I have an Iomega Minimax (basically, a rebranded V2) and it's much louder than anything else I have running. Having said that, I do have it underneath my Mac Mini and Airport Extreme base station; not to mention the messy cabling behind it all.

 

[FatSweatyBlldog]

Thanks for the replies.

Upon further reflection, the miniStack's fan doesn't stay on all the time. While nosier than the mini itself, it's definitely quiet when not in use, and I don't think the fan is on all the time when the drive is on.

The v3 does have the temperature sensor, and I did tape it to the top of the drive, as the instructions indicated. Will a temperature monitor programming be able to read the temp of the external drive?

The link to the 123mini thread at least shows that "whisper quiet" is a relative marketing term with these drives, but its helpful to compare notes.

Thanks for your help

 

[FatSweatyBlldog]

Fan noise IS annoying

Anytime the HD comes on, the fan in the v3 kicks in, and it is way too loud to be sitting next to the mini...all of a sudden it's like there's a desktop circa 2000 sitting right next to my monitor.

Is there any drive enclosure that matches both the mini's form factor AND it's noise profile?

Is there any way to control the fan in the enclosure? And/or get a temp reading on the drive?

The noise would be intolerable if I was using the v3 as a boot drive, and it was always on...