External firewire hard drive to go with Mac Mini and USB DAC.

Dracule1 · « **on:** 29 Apr 2010, 09:34 pm »

Hope someone could help me out. I'm getting the Tranquility USB DAC. I ordered the Mac Mini and looking to get external 1 or 2 TB firewire hard drive to store my music. Can anyone recommend a QUIET, RELIABLE external hard drive for the Mini? Thanks.

Audioclyde · « **Reply #1 on:** 29 Apr 2010, 11:12 pm »

I have both a 1.5 TB Ministack (the first one I received was horribly noisy and they had to replace the fan & pwr supply) and a 1.0 TB GTech (fan less). I don't hear a difference in SQ, but the GTech is much quieter. I use the GTech for music file storage & the Ministack only for backup duty.

pardales · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 Apr 2010, 11:34 pm »

Remember that the new MINI's only have a Firwire 800 port. Mine came with a cable that had a Firewire 400 connector on one end and and 800 connector on the other.

I have a 500 GB Lacie drive that is shaped like a black rectangle works fine and is quite. Key is to find a drive without a fan, that runs quiet, and that has the right size and connections for you. I'm not sure brands matter all that much.

I have found the MyBook drives to be very quiet as well.

K Shep · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 Apr 2010, 11:38 pm »

Quote from: Dracule1 on 29 Apr 2010, 09:34 pm

Hope someone could help me out. I'm getting the Tranquility USB DAC. I ordered the Mac Mini and looking to get external 1 or 2 TB firewire hard drive to store my music. Can anyone recommend a QUIET, RELIABLE external hard drive for the Mini? Thanks.

This is my Mac Mini sitting on top of an iOmega minimax 1TB external...same foot print, search Amazon. With this unit you'll need a FW 400-800.

skunark · « **Reply #4 on:** 29 Apr 2010, 11:51 pm »

I prefer mobile HDDs for the mac mini as there are no power warts to deal with, but they are all typically USB.

WD 1TB USB Mobile Drive -- Fanless, USB powered (no power wart)
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=807

WD 2TB FW800/USB Desktop Drive - Fanless
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=756

G-Tech(Hitachi) 1TB FW800/USB/SATA Desktop Drive - Fanless, stacks real nice
http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-drive.cfm

Theme here is they are all fanless if you want it to be quiet, the next option would be SSDs but they are pricey when you are in the 1-2TB range.

Keep in mind that you should get "two" of whatever you get for backups (Apple's Time Machine), or use an offsite backup solution (i.e. backblaze)

Crimson · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 01:17 am »

Quote

I prefer mobile HDDs for the mac mini as there are no power warts to deal with, but they are all typically USB.

I prefer them as well, but only use FireWire. macsales.com (OWC) has a good selection of FireWire drives.

jtwrace · « **Reply #6 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 01:30 am »

Like many, I use them as well.

Dracule1 · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 04:27 am »

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Do the Iomega drives have FW connection or USB only? Audible performance difference between FW 400 versus 800 - like data drop outs heard as clicks with the slower FW connection? What is Apples Time Machine?

K Shep · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 04:34 am »

Quote from: Dracule1 on 30 Apr 2010, 04:27 am

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Do the Iomega drives have FW connection or USB only? Audible performance difference between FW 400 versus 800 - like data drop outs heard as clicks with the slower FW connection? What is Apples Time Machine?

Quote from: K Shep on 29 Apr 2010, 11:38 pm

This is my Mac Mini sitting on top of an iOmega minimax 1TB external...same foot print, search Amazon. With this unit you'll need a FW 400-800.

I hope this link helps.

http://www.amazon.com/Iomega-MiniMax-Hard-Drive-FireWire/dp/B0019C4OLY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272602028&sr=8-1

skunark · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 04:49 am »

Quote from: Dracule1 on 30 Apr 2010, 04:27 am

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Do the Iomega drives have FW connection or USB only? Audible performance difference between FW 400 versus 800 - like data drop outs heard as clicks with the slower FW connection? What is Apples Time Machine?

Only difference I can make between USB, FW400 vs FW800 are speeds data rate for music is so slow that they don't bottle neck. It might make ripping a CD or updating tags slightly faster.

Apple Time Machine is set it and forget type backup program that comes free with Mac OS. Even allows you to restore from a back up if you ever needed to re-install the OS. For any Linux fans out there it mimic snapshot style backups.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/time-machine.html

The time and effort that it took me to rip all of my CDs really encourage me to get a backup and something that is automated.

Dracule1 · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 03:22 pm »

Thanks again for clearing up my confusion. So I think I will either go with the Iomega or the G-tech drives. How quiet is the Iomega? Can you hear it from few feet away? Anyone have any experience with G-tech? How quiet is it?

Audioclyde · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 03:27 pm »

I have a 1.0 TB G-Tech; it is quieter than the 1.5 TB Ministack that I also have. My G-tech sits in an equipment cabinet (with door closed) around 10' away from the listening position---not detectable at all. With the Ministack (the repaired one), I could sometimes hear its fan in the same setup, although barely after Macsales replaced the fan and pwr supply.

Dracule1 · « **Reply #12 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 06:04 pm »

I'm glad to hear the G-Tech is undetectable in your set up. But it being in an enclosed rack and listening from 10 feet, one would expect not to hear the drive. I was worried because one review suggested it is not that quiet for a fanless drive.

skunark · « **Reply #13 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 06:19 pm »

If i was going to rank my external HDDs (10 being unacceptable):
(fan noise)
10.0 Laci Mini drive
10.0 G-Tech Raid 2TB: <-- Loudest, meant for video editing though
9.5 Drobo (USB model) <-- 3 drive configuration (4th drive is too loud)

(hdd head noise)
2.1 G-Tech Drive 2TB <-- I think it's slightly louder than the WD
2.0 WD Desktop External 1TB
1.0 G-Tech Mobile, WD mobile drives <-- least amount of noise
(and no noise for funnies

)
0.2 Vinyl
0.1 CD
0.0 SSDs/Flash

All is out in the open on a desk...

Dracule1 · « **Reply #14 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 09:18 pm »

Thanks Skunark, your list is very helpful. How does the Iomega rank on your noise scale? The largest G-tech mobile drive comes in at 500 GB according to their website. Where did you find a 1 TB version?

skunark · « **Reply #15 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 10:48 pm »

I haven't heard the Iomega drive so I'm not sure. The "1.0" was just the noise ranking not TB size. I believe only Western Digital have 1TB mobile drives out now current offering is only USB..

Dracule1 · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 Apr 2010, 11:02 pm »

Oh I see. That makes more sense. So I'm leaning towards the G-tech...your rating is based on these drives out in the open on a desk...with you sitting next to the desk? Sorry for the detailed question. I just want to know if you would be able to hear the G-tech drive from 6 feet away during quiet music passages. Thanks.

skunark · « **Reply #17 on:** 1 May 2010, 01:10 am »

Yeah they are just a foot or two away and when I work I rarely have music on these days.

skunark · « **Reply #18 on:** 1 May 2010, 01:14 am »

If you do plan to get a time machine drive you could get two different brands and compare. Make the louder of the two drives the time machine drive which you could turn off during a listening session. I do like how the gtech drives stack.

skunark · « **Reply #19 on:** 1 May 2010, 11:02 pm »

This morning I'm thinking I should have gave the g-tech drive a higher noise rating. When the mac wakes up the gtech spins up and that is noticeable unlike the WD desktop. I would want to give it a 3 ranking because of that.