New Mac Mini Setup

[mrprez]

Just moved from an iMac with a bad motherboard to a Mac Mini. Bought a new 2009 base model. I also have 2 external drives (OWC Mini-Stacks v2.5). One is a 500GB and the other is a 750GB. I want to setup one of these as a backup drive and use the 2nd to augment the internal drive. So, I am thinking I would use the 500 as the drive 2 and the 750 as the backup drive. I use SuperDuper to do the backups. I doubt the internal or the 500GB would ever get very full so was thinking about partitioning the 750 so that I could run Time Machine. Any input as to the size of the partitions or even if that would be a good idea? I was thinking a 500/250 partition....

Great forum here, still doing a lot of reading.

John

[philiparcario]

ministacks are not the most reliable piece of gear. the v2.5 version has only fw400. I would not use the way you are doing it. I would use the 500 as a time machine. I would partition the 750 into 3 250gb partitions and clone the internal on partition 1 on the first week then 2 on the second week then 3 on the third week. if you want a fast external as a boot drive. buy this.


http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEPT934AL2C/
_________________
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

[mrprez]

Thanks for the input. I haven't done anything as yet, just thinking out loud. My needs are simple as I am retired and use the machine for mundane tasks. I'll look at your recommendation if I get to the point where I need an external boot drive. What I thought I needed would be more external data storage though.

Would the mini run any faster or cooler if I were booting from an external drive? Any other benefits to an external boot drive?

John

[philiparcario]

the fw800 external i gave you will run faster then the oem mac mini hdd
_________________
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