NewerTech Announces Quieter miniStack V2

[James T Kirk]

One of the bad things of the (my?) Ministack is, when I shut the V2 down, it also shuts down the FW/USB hub. For the rest, because it broke down a few weeks after purchase (no more connection to Firewire) and I had to send it in to OWC, it costed me more than half of the price for shipping (I live in Europe) to have it repaired. So people who live far from the place of purchase: beware! Luckily after repair it did not gave me more problems anymore, besides that the hub does not work without the whole drive being activated. All in all, a "great" product. When this thing breaks down again, it will be a LaCie or something else, this feels not like an Apple-quality product at all, LaCie, the MiniMate and even the cheapy Sabrent do. (sturdy aluminum)
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___________________Jim©
Now on Hackintosh in G5 case!

[grayskyz]

For those who do want the ministack v2 without the drive NOW is the time to get it. It's on clearance clarence. Rodger, Rodger. Its only 59.99 which is a price difference of 15.00. Shipped mine is : 66.00

I figure I'd wait to find a good drive deal and make my own. I hope it's quiet but, if not I can swap out a fan. Anyone of us should be able to.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/FWU2MSV2OB/

C.


postscript///

you can get a 500gb drive for 155.00 also!

[James T Kirk]

No thank you, I already paid that amount to get mine fixed
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___________________Jim©
Now on Hackintosh in G5 case!

[Fox]

[James T Kirk]

[Fox]

[grayskyz]

Okay guys daddy did the deed. I bought the ministack v2 or 2.1 is sounds like. I bought just the case to eliminate the fanless adaptec molton lava external fanless case that housed my 300GB maxtor drive. I can't really hear the ministack's fan at all. I copied large files over to it and its very quiet. So far so good. I'm happy with my purchase. Not super happy about the plastics but its fine.

C.
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Mac Mini 1.83 • 2 GB RAM • 80GIG STOCK HD
36" Samsung TV • 750GB MINISTACK V2
.• MACBOOK PRO 2.33• AIRPORT EXTREME N STATION• MAC OCTO PRO

[James T Kirk]

[SOCOMRAIDER]

Mostly plastic wouldn't bother me. As I basically have all my external drives hidden. But with a Ministack, that thing is meant to be out in the open. I just think the plastic would irk me too much.
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[grayskyz]

It doesn't look like plastic but know it is fine of bothers me. I'm just glad I got a deal on it. It wouldn't be worth it to me to get an 80.00 plastic case. I got mine on clearence.

C.
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Mac Mini 1.83 • 2 GB RAM • 80GIG STOCK HD
36" Samsung TV • 750GB MINISTACK V2
.• MACBOOK PRO 2.33• AIRPORT EXTREME N STATION• MAC OCTO PRO

[karlfranz]

I bought a V2 about 3 months ago. What I noticed is that if I stack the MacMini on top of the V@, the fan in the V2 makes a horrible buxxing sound which seems to be caused by the lid pressing down on the fan assembly. I finally solved the problem by putting the MacMini below with the V2 on top, although I don't prefer this configuration. Will the "newer" v2 (2.1?) fix this?

[Tuishimi]

...All in all my feelings about it are... mixed.

I bought a 250 gb disk (included). I won't beat around the bush, here are my thoughts:

1. Not stackable. The heat buildup between the miniStack and mini is incredible. Both fans eventually went to cyclone mode. I placed spacers between the two so now they do not look "as pretty."
2. Noise... the miniStack fan is pretty loud and runs constantly (at least for me - and compared to the mini itself).
3. Speed... O.K. I had thought about buying the enclosure and picking out my own disk to place in it, then I thought "why bother" since the speed of the disk is still limited by transfer rates (which aren't bad with firewire).
4. Ease of setup... piece of cake. It has also replaced two other external drives for me, and the convenience of the extra firewire and USB ports are worth their weight in gold!
5. Quality of construction... I include two points in this one. First, the miniStack vibrates enough that the shelf it was on picked up the vibration and amplified it. I had to rearrange my computer/desk last night because the sound drove me nearly insane. Took care of that. The second is that (as I type the fan for the drive just stopped, ahhhh blissful silence again) the plastic top is sort of squishy-movable. maybe it is meant to be like that, I don't know, and one of the USB ports does not sit correctly in the hole in the case.

That seems like a lot of negative stuff to say, but I really do like the form and the usefulness of it. I just wanted to mention some points so that anyone else thinking about buying one will have a little more information.
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Mac mini core 2 duo 2.33/2 GB RAM/160 GB 5K160, Dell 20.1" wide-aspect
24 inch iMac 2.4/4 GB Ram/320 GB/VESA
Shuttle Glamor, core 2 quad 2.4/4 GB RAM/2x250GB SATA 2, BENQ 24"

[James T Kirk]

It seems that the LaCie's are nicer constructed, but I hear that they (the ones with the bigger discs + fans) are very noisy. I think the older ones and then the Hitachi drives replaced by more silent Seagate's, might do the trick. Another option and not a bad one, a LaCie D2 case on it's side. Not quit the same form-factor, but overall it fits not to bad together. By the way, I have the D2 and the NT V2 stacked + my Mac mini on transparent rubber feet and that does the heat trick (about 1/3 of an inch space)
_________________
___________________Jim©
Now on Hackintosh in G5 case!

[Tuishimi]

[James T Kirk]

Try those cheap plastic or rubber self adhesive doorstoppers (for walls) small, but effective
_________________
___________________Jim©
Now on Hackintosh in G5 case!