M9DX2/Samsung F1 1 Terabyte does not allow MacMini to boot

[Coldfire]

The 1 TB HDD is partitioned into two volumes, the first of which I used to install MacOS 10.5 from a MacMini C2D 1.83GHz via the FW port. All went fine until I restarted the MacMini after specifying the Startup Disk to be the M9DX2 volume.

After the customary "boing", the MacOS showed the grey background with spinning wheel while the M9DX2 began to spin up. Suddenly, the latter spun down, as if it was going to sleep. The MacMini continued with the grey screen and spinning wheel...with no further progress, even after the M9DX2 has spun back up again.

Any one else with similar observations?

[devo]

Did you turn the M9DX2 off (on back with button) between startups? I haven't used my MiniStack (same as M9DX2) as a boot drive in a longtime, but I found that leaving it on gave me the best results. Otherwise, it would occasionally skip right over it I would even have to go back into Startup Disk as reselect the drive.

[Coldfire]

No, it was left on all the time from restarting the MacMini to allowing the latter show the grey screen.

I am inclined to treat this as a M9DX2 bug since a friend's NewerTech miniStack (v2) works fine.

[Smithcraft]

Can these be found in the US market?

SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.

[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8

[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)

Make sure it has pins!

[Coldfire]

Not sure. The M9DX2 is from Macpower - and there are claims the NewerTech ministack's are just re-badged versions.

[Smithcraft]

That is what I've read, but I haven't seen a model like the M9DX2 at Newer, or OWC's(OWC being Newers official shop) product pages. Unless I'm extra blind or something!

SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.

[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8

[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)

Make sure it has pins!

[devo]

[Coldfire]

The fault lies with the 1TB HDD - a Samsung HD103UJ (Rev. A). When I swap out the HDD in the M9DX2 for a stock 2.5" Apple stock 60GB HDD, booting up from the M9DX2 is successful.

I came to suspect that the Samsung HDD is giving this problem when I chanced upon a review of a NAS - where it was claimed that Samsung HDDs failed to allow the NAS to startup.

Hate to think that I have to think of an alternative use for my 1TB HDD...perhaps the Samsung HDD's firmware can be updated?

[philiparcario]

is that a spinpoint samsung? I had one in a ministack v3 with 1 volume partition worked fine I sold it off a few months ago and the buyer did not complain. did you format it as guid for an intel mac? or did you format it as apple partiton map? or worse yet master boot record. before freaking out I would try to format it with 1 partiton as a guid table
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2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

promise pegasus r6 3x 3tb + 3x 4tb =21tb hdds
lacie little big disk 2x 512gb ssds
synology 2tb disk station

[Coldfire]

Yes, it is a Samsung Spinpoint F1, model HD103UJ.

For a Intel Mac and for the HDD to be bootable, GUID is the only option. And exactly the same problematic behaviour exists after I re-formatted the HDD with one partition.

[philiparcario]

I can only say that the same disk worked for me on my mac mini v3 I went on to sell the ministack to a FORUM member and it has worked fine for him. if the disk is under warranty try to get a replacement. 1 other question does your stack(m9dx2) work with other disks and is it using the bridge chipset ( Ximeta NDAS 2011 Network Enabled ) if it uses this chipset my ministack v3 used the

bridge chipset:
(Oxford OXUF924DSb - High performance FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, eSATA to SATA-II with Native Command Queuing (NCQ) for optimum drive performance)

try a google with ximeta samsung spinpoint maybe something will show up
_________________
2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

promise pegasus r6 3x 3tb + 3x 4tb =21tb hdds
lacie little big disk 2x 512gb ssds
synology 2tb disk station

[Coldfire]

The ministack(v3) uses the Oxford 924DSb chip while the M9DX2 uses the 924DSa. There are eBay sellers who claim there are no problem with the M9DX2 with the concerned Samsung HDD, but certainly a google with "problem nas samsung HD103UJ" resulted in several complaints of trouble with the HDD.

I am going to have to try out another large HDD (at least 500GB) and see what happens.

[Coldfire]

Chanced upon a couple of Western Digital drives (GreenPower) - a 1TB WD10EADS and a 750GB WD750AACS. Perfectly fine with the M9DX2, plus it is cooler.

[Ex-spurt]

I bought an M9DX2-500 in 2007 and had nothing but trouble with it. Using the USB2 and Firewire hubs resulted in frequent "lock-ups" and file transfers would mysteriously stall half way through, requiring me to power the damn thing off and on then start the copy process again. Thank goodness I didn't try to use it as a boot drive; it was bad enough just for backups!

I consigned it to a cupboard for 3 years and just came across it today. I extracted the Samsung 500GB drive and tested it in a caddy. It works fine. So it seems to me that the electronics in the M9DX2 housing are faulty. Or is it simply an incompatibility?

[Ex-spurt]

I just emailed the supplier and got this reply:

"We did have problems with those Mac mini enclosures, with a higher
than normal return rate, but the majority were fine. I did find that
with some of them it was the data lead... that just unplugging and
replugging the red SATA lead suddenly made it work again when
previously it locked up and was unreliable. This suggested the
connectors or cable itself had a quality/reliability issue.

So it would be worth re-assembling you disk back into the enclosure,
and removing the red SATA lead from the motherboard, and re-inserting
it, to see if this fixes it for you."