Which mini mate type accessory is best for me?

[anthonymoody]

Now that there seem to be some other competitors on the market, I'm wondering which is best? In terms of features, I want the following:

-highest drive capacity (at least 250 if not 400)
-fastest drive speed (at least 7200rpm, at least 8mb cache)
-usb and fw ports are not as important to me though I'd like at least a couple of each

I need it b/c I want a large scratch drive for working with video.

TIA,
TM

[greg]

The miniStack (M9) can be purchased with or without a drive. That was a big selling point for me since I already had a spare drive I wanted to use. Like you, I also intend to use the external drive as a video scratch drive. The fact that you can purchase without a drive should at least address your first two criteria by allowing you to choose the drive make/model, capacity, speed and price. The other models I have seen thus far lock you into purchasing certain drive configurations. Whether this is good or bad may depend on your needs (i.e. whether you already have a drive or not).

Although not mentioned as one of your criteria, another nice feature of the miniStack is the fact that it will power up/down with your mini. The tighter the integration with things like this, the better, as far as I'm concerned.
_________________
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
miniStack 500GB
Dell 1905FP
Logitech Wave Cordless Desktop

[Susurrus]

What Greg said. Also, the miniStack is the nicest of all of the Mini-type external hard drive cases, which is why it is also the most expensive.
_________________
Computer Engineer
Junior, Brown University
15" NC8430 HP Laptop
1.42Ghz PPC Mac Mini, 1Gb RAM, 1st Gen
40GB G4 iPod
2GB Black iPod Nano

[anthonymoody]

Thanks guys. I think this is the direction I'll be going in. I don't have another drive to repurpose so I'll probably just order one of their pre-configured drives, even though it's a price premium vs buying the enclosure and the drive separately.

Thanks,
TM

[Susurrus]

There are thousands of good deals out there for a hard drive if you want to go that route. I can post some links to great deals for 160gb drives and up if you'd like.
_________________
Computer Engineer
Junior, Brown University
15" NC8430 HP Laptop
1.42Ghz PPC Mac Mini, 1Gb RAM, 1st Gen
40GB G4 iPod
2GB Black iPod Nano

[anthonymoody]

Thanks. To be honest (and sorry I didn't say this from the start) I'm more of a turn key guy. I don't mind tinkering but I'm just as happy paying a premium for someone else to do the work. Sometimes my idea of being handy is knowing who to pay to do it for me

TM

[Susurrus]

Then go for the pre-configured hard drive enclosures. They're still not a bad deal, especially since they're starting to go on MIR sales and stuff. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing related to Apple besides commodity products like RAM and hard drives ever go on sale.
_________________
Computer Engineer
Junior, Brown University
15" NC8430 HP Laptop
1.42Ghz PPC Mac Mini, 1Gb RAM, 1st Gen
40GB G4 iPod
2GB Black iPod Nano

[anthonymoody]

I've sort of noticed that. And if stuff is on sale, it's $5 under MSRP Gee thanks guys!

TM