First Look: Micronet miniMate

DellApple · Member Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 158

I ordered one of these babys from MacZones over the weekend. Although looks like I won't see it until the end of the month.

Where did you guys get yours from?

Brendan · Member Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 199

I have to agree on the noise. It is exaggerated by the fact that you now have it on your desktop instead of under it in a tower. If I have the radio on or a cd playing, I don't notice it as much, but it does ruin the stealth aspect of the mini. As far as heat goes, I have the unit under the mini and don't hear the mini fan kick on at all. Perhaps separating the units with the new Belkin hub would help the heat issue (although I'm not that keen on the Belkin unit, either).

Brendan

James T. Kirk© · Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 12:52 pm Post subject:

blazer · Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 2:36 pm Post subject:

James T. Kirk© · Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 5:48 pm Post subject: Competition for Minimate!!

http://www.macpower.com.tw/news/hot/2005/04/25/948
but this is a pity: "High quality aluminum coloured plastic", but one CAN PUT IN ONES OWN DRIVE Probably way cheaper than the mini mate! Cool

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____________________________Jim
~ Registered Linux user #310054 ~
made in Xandros 3.0 (Linux)

blazer · Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:10 pm Post subject: Re: Competition for Minimate!!

James T. Kirk© · Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 5:06 am Post subject: Re: Competition for Minimate!!

Brendan · Member Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 199

blazer · Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 7:44 pm Post subject:

Dec 2003!

I have the MM160 as well. Could post any pics of the inside of the miniMate? How do you go about opening it? Putty knife? Does the new drive still spin/run all the time?
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mac.com · New Member Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 17

Is there a chance to see an upgrading in FW800 ? Especially, since Intel is casting a glance at 1394b … Wink

James T. Kirk© · Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 11:58 am Post subject:

mac.com · New Member Joined: 22 May 2005 Posts: 17

xmen65 · Veteran Member Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 620

Why doesn't someone include some audio features in one of these things? How about a headphone jack, audio-in and volume control! Cool

James T. Kirk© · Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 1:51 am Post subject:

jdryyz · Junior Member Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 46

I have been using my MicroNet miniMate for about a month now. As others have already mentioned, it is the hard drive mechanism itself that accounts for the noise and vibration. Everything else about the enclosure is excellent. So, to eliminate this unwanted element, I immediately swapped out the noisy drive and replaced it with the quietest mechanism I know of at the moment-- right here:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=10

The included 80GB drive also appeared to be a Western Digital built unit but very OEM looking and probably a couple of models behind the above link. I'm sure it was fine when it was introduced years ago and placed in a typical noisy tower configuration, but it was certainly a poor choice for a modern drive enclosure like the miniMate. I have seen other photos of an open miniMate, though, so I am aware that some people are receiving better drives than others.

I was also a little bummed to discover that the included drive only had a 2MB buffer. When I queried MicroNet, they said the drives they use are 7200 RPM with 8MB buffers. Perhaps what he meant to say is that is what they are "now using". I could've got some old stock.

Needless to say, I am very happy using the upgraded WD drive. It is super quiet and it doesn't generate a lot of heat so it works just fine right underneath the MacMini. The original drive will be tucked away in case I need a warranty repair. Smile

I realize 80GB's won't be enough for a lot of folks, however, and my experience with larger drives size suggests that 80GB is the largest mechanism you can obtain using a single platter. Once you go above 80GB, you will be using more than one. This will automatically introduce more noise and heat as a result, but probably not much and I'm sure if a modern drive is used, it won't be anywhere near as bad as the bundled drives. Fortunately for me, 80GB is enough for my purposes. I am using my MacMini as a music server with my SlimDevices Squeezebox2. Works great so far!

On the subject of "sleep", I want to mention I that I am receiving just the opposite behavior that others have posted. My drive not only spins down when I put the Mac to sleep, it also goes to sleep all by itself! I haven't yet timed exactly when this happens, but it is definitely happening before my specified sleep time of 3 hours. Anyone have any clues what might be causing this? Could it be the drive itself or something about the enclosure? I checked my energy saving preferences and the box to "put my drives to sleep when possible" is unchecked. Damaged prefs file perhaps?


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