New to mac! :)

[nmavra]

Hello all,
I'm a user switching from Wintel, I found someone who's selling his late 2009 mini and decided to give it a go.

I've read somewhere that the late 2009 has a 320gb drive running at 5400rpm, but it has 2 platters of 160gb each. The reviewer said this is almost as fast as a 7200rpm drive but I haven't come across this assumption anywhere else, nor have I seen that it does in fact have 2 platters to begin with.

My PC currently has a WD Raptor (not velociraptor, I have the 2006 model) at 10000rpm, so I believe I will need a faster HDD. I just don't want to spend money on a drive that has similar speeds as the one my mini will have, if the statement of 2x160gb platters is correct. HDD space wise I'm not concerned since I'll be using external drives anyway.

Whats your experience with late2009 models regarding the HDD?

[philiparcario]

okay I have put in over 50 hdd upgrades to 2009 mac mini's. The best you can do for money, speed, reliable, storage size is a western digital scorpio black. here is a link


http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HD-WD32BET&title=Western-Digital-Scorpio-Black-320GB-WD3200BEKT-7200rpm-SATA2-16MB-Notebook-Hard-Drive-2-5-inch

60 bucks free shipping
_________________
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

[philiparcario]

now if space is not a concern I would look into an intel 80gb ssd. they can be had for about 200 and are truly very fast. I use them and find them to be really nice ssds. best of all they work they are stable they do not brick
_________________
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

[philiparcario]

this is a good deal if it come back in stock.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=dane+elec+ssd


it is an intel ssd inside the case. I have two they are in a raid they smoke.
_________________
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

[edgardito]

Intel SSD is the best.
I have a Crucial 64GB SSD and have no complains about it.
I do not feel it slow. I am pretty happy with it.

64GB is pretty low. I have to keep ALL my music, videos and photos in external storage (this is not a problem for me since since I am moving into a NAS philosophy).

If you use iMovie, or iDVD, a 64GB limits you to a few projects on disk, the rest on external storage.

I would not pay a 250GB SSD over 600 bucks.
At this moment, I would go for a 64GB SSD once again, and a nice DROBO with a couple of 1TB disks.

[nmavra]

philiparcario thanks for your advice on the WD scorpio, thats the one I'll get!
The SSD looks nice, I read a couple of reviews about it as well but its quite expensive since its SSD, I think I'll stick to the scorpio, the money saved can be later invested into a NAS!

Thanks again!

[philiparcario]

No Problem. here is a link for a low cost Nas that I use.


1 bay unit add your own drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108042&cm_re=synology-_-22-108-042-_-Product


2 bay unit add your own drives

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108041&cm_re=synology-_-22-108-041-_-Product


I use the 1 bay unit with a 2tb samsung hdd


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152202&cm_re=samsung_2tb-_-22-152-202-_-Product

it links to my pair of mini's and my iMac. It lets me move info from machine to machine.
_________________
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

[nmavra]

I like the NAS you use, I'm looking for something that holds at least 2 disks, I never seem to trust single disk setups. I want something that makes me sleep relaxed at night, since I lost data from the ONLY (out of 7 in that system) disk that I hadn't backed up!

200 bucks is fine for the job, however for starters I'll probably use my old machine with a few disks inside in raid setup.

Also I dont really trust that Samsung tbh.. I tend to prefer WD but that comes down to personal preference I guess!

Once again, thanks for your time, the NAS system is in my wishlist

[nmavra]

Just posting to say I got the WD black, installation was very easy after watching a video on youtube and the mini feels fast enough during the first couple of days of playing with it.

I'll be starting to use it as a primary computer by the end of the week when I will have sold my old PC and therefore will be forced to work on the mini 100%!

[philiparcario]

the wd scorpio black is a decent drive just about the fastest 7200rpm notebook on the market good luck with it.
_________________
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

[MlNlME]

I've heard nothing but good things about the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive. Good balance between price/performance if you're not willing to sacrifice cost and capacity for pure speed that an SSD provides.