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castaway
Senior Member
Joined: 21 May 2005
Posts: 461
Location: UK
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 Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:47 am Post subject: |
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| Does anyone know what the shipping fees are for OWC to ship the MiniStack to the UK? |
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boatj
Junior Member
Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 47
Location: U.S.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:18 am Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: | | ...though the added fan noise is somewhat annoying. I'm still looking for temperature monitoring solutions (for the Mac mini CPU, the Mac mini GPU and the drives inside each miniStack). Yes the fans turn on/off automatically, but I'd like to know the temperatures... |
I agree about fan noise...I didn't notice it initially as I purchased a naked stack (version 1) and put a Fireball HD in it that was almost as loud as the fan, but more annoying. Now with a new HD in it, the fan is much more noticeable.
The problem as I see it is a design flaw with the case. The air intakes are at the back so the fan doesn't draw cool air past the HD. Also the heatsink doesn't really contact the HD except at the mounting screws.
Now stack a MacMini on top which radiates heat down into the Stack and ya got a lot of heat telling that heat probe to kick the fan on more often.
Not putting intakes at the front of the Stack was probably an aesthetic decision. Putting them at the front/bottom (hidden) might have been better, but maybe they thought then it would draw hot air off the heatsink and back through the case. I wonder if putting vents underneath with the fan reversed (intake instead of exhaust) might keep things cooler?
I think maybe a thermal pad (like what is in the Mac) placed between the HD and heatsink might make it more efficient (can't do it w/ ver.2 as it has no side walls and the HD is now flipped).
For those using the 2.5 drives, adhesive backed thermal pads would be better than foam tape I think.  |
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Yvan256
Veteran Member
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Quebec, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:58 am Post subject: |
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| boatj wrote: | | [...]The problem as I see it is a design flaw with the case. The air intakes are at the back so the fan doesn't draw cool air past the HD. Also the heatsink doesn't really contact the HD except at the mounting screws. |
The miniStack does have small air intakes at the bottom, just like a Mac mini. Granted, they're a lot smaller and look more like slots than holes.
| boatj wrote: | | [...]For those using the 2.5 drives, adhesive backed thermal pads would be better than foam tape I think. |
My guess is that a 2.5" drive won't even be able to heat up all the air around it, so all I need to do is fix it so it won't move around if I take up the miniStack. |
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boatj
Junior Member
Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 47
Location: U.S.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:15 am Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: |
My guess is that a 2.5" drive won't even be able to heat up all the air around it
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Maybe true in the Stack although the 2.5 gets pretty warm in the Mini.
I've been booting from my Mini today and I'll have to say it is so much more peacfull w/out the Stack's fan kicking on all the time. I'm just trying to figure out how to keep the drive in the Stack cool enough w/out the fan...until its really needed this summer.  |
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boatj
Junior Member
Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 47
Location: U.S.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:19 am Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: |
The miniStack does have small air intakes at the bottom.. |
Those two screwdriver slots? Not very big, and they're in the back away from the HD. |
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Yvan256
Veteran Member
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Quebec, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:45 am Post subject: |
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| boatj wrote: | | Yvan256 wrote: |
The miniStack does have small air intakes at the bottom.. |
Those two screwdriver slots? Not very big, and they're in the back away from the HD. |
No, the vey small slots at the sides and the front. Look at the miniStack from the side, not from the bottom. They're really, really small. That's why I call them slots instead of holes.  |
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boatj
Junior Member
Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 47
Location: U.S.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:58 am Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: | | No, the vey small slots at the sides and the front.. |
OK.....I see 'em now 
Like in this pic
Ya know, I think mine has some flash from the molding process partially blocking them....I may just have to open it back up a clean them out.
Last edited by boatj on Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:53 am; edited 2 times in total |
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nascar42
Member
Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 50
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| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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I ordered one mainly for the extra USB ports. I have a monitor with a USB hub but sadly it is an unpowered hub and will not operate my external floppy drive and 2.5 hard drive.
When I install a hard drive I am sure I will find use for the extra storage. |
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dakota650r
New Member
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 8
Location: West Virginia
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| Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:33 pm Post subject: Re: nice but... |
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| Devo wrote: | | was also thinking about picking up one or two of these instead of the miniStack. Another member here recommended them a while back. A few of them would look cool lined up too. |
I have one of those except mine is just USB2.0 and Firewire 400!!!!!!! I got it about a year ago from newegg and I have a 320GB WD drive in it now. I had my 400GB Seagate drive in it but when I got my ministack I put the 400GB Seagate drive in it and got the new 320GB WD from newegg for the rosewill. It uses almost the same chipset as the ministack (Oxford) and has served me weell. I only use it for backups so it is only connected and turned on when needed to preserve it.
Dakota650r |
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BJNY
New Member
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry if I asked this in another thread:
Any chance they'll be a version of miniStack for SATA hard drives? |
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curt
Veteran Member
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Posts: 1411
Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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| BJNY wrote: | Sorry if I asked this in another thread:
Any chance they'll be a version of miniStack for SATA hard drives? |
You could use a SATA to IDE adapter if you can find one that will fit inside the enclosure.
_________________
1.42GHz Mac mini
1.66GHz Intel Mac mini
2.0GHz 2009 Mac mini
46" Sony LCD
50" Sony KDS-50A2000
EyeTV 250 Plus
My Setup |
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devo
Veteran Member
Joined: 23 Jan 2005
Posts: 5273
Location: Dunwoody, GA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 8:21 pm Post subject: Re: nice but... |
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| dakota650r wrote: | I have one of those except mine is just USB2.0 and Firewire 400!!!!!!! I got it about a year ago from newegg and I have a 320GB WD drive in it now. I had my 400GB Seagate drive in it but when I got my ministack I put the 400GB Seagate drive in it and got the new 320GB WD from newegg for the rosewill. It uses almost the same chipset as the ministack (Oxford) and has served me weell. I only use it for backups so it is only connected and turned on when needed to preserve it.
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They look awesome! I would like to buy two and put 250-300GB hard drives in each of them. I just can't find the silver ones with just Firewire 400 and USB on Newegg anymore. Right now, they only have black in stock. I would be using them for storing and watching MTR and Handbrake movies. I still worry a little about heat with the miniStack. The Core Duo Mac mini seems to run a little warmer than my G4 did. The bottom of it is much warmer. I figure these won't heat up the Mac mini since they are free standing. Do they run cool? |
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Weee
Veteran Member
Joined: 30 Sep 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I ordered the miniStack V2 kit this morning. My Intel Mac mini only has 8-10GB left space after moving all my files over and creating a few tracks in GarageBand. I plan on using a 120GB Maxtor from an old dual boot computer. |
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picaman
Veteran Member
Joined: 16 Aug 2005
Posts: 1444
Location: NYC
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devo
Veteran Member
Joined: 23 Jan 2005
Posts: 5273
Location: Dunwoody, GA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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No price drop on the kit sans the drive 
But... I know how we can get them to drop the price on it....
Have me order one!
They will lower the price next week. It happens every time!  |
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