# For Mini owners - Mac Mini form-factor external hard drives



## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I have recently seen reference to a number of different hard drives and/or enclosures that match the Mini form factor and I thought it would be useful to list them here.
I can update this first post with new products like that and people who own any of them are free to comment.

Right now I know of five companies that offer these:

*Newer Technology* - Largest variety of any vendor, with or without hard drive and enclosures that include USB 2.0 (all the others do as well) plus firewire 400, Firewire 800 and eSata
Newer Technology, Inc.® External Hard Drives
Sold by OWC in the US
NewerTech miniStack FireWire and USB Hub and Hard Drive up to 750GB at OtherWorldComputing.com

*LaCie* - Two versions, 320GB and 500GB both with USB and firewire hubs
LaCie - mini Hard Drive & Hub - USB 2.0 & FireWire 400

*Vantec NexStar GX* - Enclosure only (add your own 3.5 inch IDE drive) and three USB 2.0 ports
Nexstar GX
Vantec also has a model NST-375LX; it has the Mini form factor and provides both a USB 2.0 and Ethernet interface for NAS drives, but it has neither a USB hub not firewire ports.

*G-Technology G-MINI* - Several versions from 250GB to 1000 GB all with three USB ports and three firewire 400 ports
G-MINI - Storage Companion for Mac mini and Airport Extreme

*ElephantStorage* - A wide variety of different drive sizes and interfaces, but no enclosure without a drive is being offered. Available exclusively from Carbon Computing in Toronto.
:: MAXIMIZE YOUR DIGITAL WORLD ::


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## pictor (Jan 29, 2007)

I have a Lacie, a 260GB model (which is *not* a USB hub...my fault, since that's part of why I picked it, I got confused on models)

However, I don't have a mini anymore, so it's just a single drive on my disk with that form factor.

No complaints.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

I have the Vantec and its been very reliable for me.


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

I have the OWC miniStack v2. I've had it for a year. No issues, works well.


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## nick24 (Jul 11, 2006)

Ottawa mini owners - PC Cyber has the Vantec for $70 - this one has an ethernet connection too.

PC CYBER CANADA - For All Your Computer Needs BETA


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Thanks Nick, I added that Vantec unit to my original post.
Good if you want Network access to your drive, not good if you are looking for an integrated USB hub as part of the package.


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## smashedbanana (Sep 23, 2006)

*PC Cyber*

FYI - I tried to get the Vantec from PC Cyber 1 week ago, they told me it was discontinued and unavailable. 

Ed


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

What will happen if they drastically change the size of the MMs???


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## BigDL (Apr 16, 2003)

I bought an enclosure similar to this unit http://www.wiebetech.com/products/maxelerate.php My enclosure has the oxford 911 chip set and put a Western Digital 250 gb ide drive in it use it as a Fire Wire Drive.

I've been using it for 10 months and it works great.


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## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

krs said:


> OWC - Larest variety of any vendor, with or without hard drive and enclosures that include USB 2.0 (all the others do as well) plus firewire 400, Firewire 800 and eSata
> NewerTech miniStack FireWire and USB Hub and Hard Drive up to 750GB at OtherWorldComputing.com


NewerTech is maker of Ministack. NewerTech® Products
They link to a few Canadian resellers from their site. Got mine <ver. 2) from Mac Station It works great!


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## Demosthenes X (Sep 23, 2004)

Dr.G. said:


> What will happen if they drastically change the size of the MMs???


Then the manufactures will change their products to compensate...  What happens every time someone updates a product? Accessories change along with it. We're not trying to cram iPod Classics into original iPod cases...


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

We stock them. Just about zero issues I can recall with the NewerTech stack and nice features too.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

smashedbanana said:


> FYI - I tried to get the Vantec from PC Cyber 1 week ago, they told me it was discontinued and unavailable.
> 
> Ed


It was still on Vantec's website today when I checked - that's why I added it to the list even though it doesn't really meet the criteria I had set in my mind - a Mini form factor hard drive enclosure with at least a USB hub of some sort.
Seems I can never get enough USB 2.0 ports on ant Mac.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

darkscot said:


> NewerTech is maker of Ministack. NewerTech® Products
> They link to a few Canadian resellers from their site. Got mine <ver. 2) from Mac Station It works great!


Right! Corrected that.
I left OWC as a US reseller since their link has a nice summary of most of the models available.


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## Pelao (Oct 2, 2003)

We have 2 of the Ministacks's - though no Minis!

We like them because of the hub. It's tidy to have a good backup drive and hub all in one. So far they have been quiet and without issue.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Too bad MMs don't have an eSATA port...what a sweet deal that would be.
Stacked Tornado with an MM.

Cooper Mini mitz V8...


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Has anyone ever come across what I would call a "Mini Shell"?

Basically just a mechanical arrangement to hold these stacked Mini form factor products, about an inch or inch and a half deeper to hide the interconnecting cables between the various modules and a raised base high enough to hold the Mini power supply.
That way one could build ones own Mac Mini tower and end up with one solid unit rather than a set of modules that slide back and forth.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

It's called an iMac


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## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

wouldn't it be more of a Powermac? Kinda hard to add modules to an iMac.


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## coreLlama (Aug 5, 2005)

Thanks everyone, this has probably been the most helpful post I've come across on ehMac.


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## Chris Knight (Mar 12, 2005)

Love the MiniStacks, have 2 v2s and a v3. Bought from OWC.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Just bought a Newertech MiniStack v2. with 0 gb kit for $69. from OWC , 
I'm planning on installing a 500 gb Seagate into it this weekend.

Dave


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

One note: the vantec usb 2.0 drives don't sleep properly on the mac.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Got the NewerTech MiniStack all together with a Seagate 500 gb h.d. inside of it,
I'm doing a Time Machine backup on a 150 gb partition of the h.d.

The rest of the drive I'll use for my image and movie files.

Dave


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I take it that's a Seagate IDE drive not a SATA drive.

Does the basic MiniStack come for SATA drives yet?


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

krs said:


> I take it that's a Seagate IDE drive not a SATA drive.
> 
> Does the basic MiniStack come for SATA drives yet?


Yes, The V3 MiniStack can be used with SATA drives.
I like the ATA drives because I can swap them easier.

Dave


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## ramopara (Apr 6, 2004)

Hey Guys, 

I bought the Vantec GX and dropped in a 500GB/16MB cache Seagate. It wasn't that difficult to do but one corner of the white "lid" doesn't sit flush. Total Price 48.99+119.99 before taxes. 

The problem i'm having is that I'm new to Mac and do not know how to detect the hard drive temperature on my new unit. I positioned the thermal probe in front of the hard drive as per the instructions but still nothing is being detect by iStat or any of the other temp widgets I try to run. Any help would be appreciate. 

Thank you


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## flybenjefly (Feb 15, 2005)

I've got a VanTech NexStar: GS external drive for my mini. I've recently upgraded to a 320 GB ATA 7200 Rpm drive. It works great. 

Only 3 criticisms: 
1. The 3 port USB 2.0 hub just isn't enough, could use 1 or 2 more and with its dependance on USB connection to the mini, another USB port on the mini is blocked; 

2. I wish 1 or 2 ports were on the front or near the front for convenience;

3. I would like the drive to power down when the mini goes into sleep mode because I currently have to switch it off to stop spinning when the mini is sleeping overnight.


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## VictorDTarsus (Sep 12, 2007)

All I know is that I want a couple of those 1.0TB drives for my Mac Mini. I'm designing games and chewing up hdd space with video editing and a couple of those will do nicely.


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## harzack86 (Jan 30, 2005)

I own a Vantec 375LX, and since the upgrade to Leopard, I'm unable to browse the content when using the network. I can only access it through USB. All was working well with Tiger, and still working well from a laptop with XP...
Anyone else seen that issue with NAS and Leopard?


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