NewerTech Announces Quieter miniStack V2

[Ted13]

I urgently need a 750GB drive for my Mini and am considering the new V2 MiniStack, but am very concerned about fan noise.

I currently have a fanless OWC Mercury Elite Pro drive, and am very satisfied with its noise level. It has no fan, and is totally quiet when not spinning. It spins down within a couple of minutes of the last time it gets accessed (or when the Mini goes to sleep).

I am tempted by the MiniStack due to the Firewire hub and the form factor, but I'm very concerned about the contradictory fan noise comments. Will it at least be off when not in use? How will the noise level compare to the Mercury Elite? http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MAU4F7750G16/

Thanks,
Ted

[Tuishimi]

[dvenardos]

I got the 250GB model yesterday and the fan is loud, way too loud to be usable for me (I like quiet) and runs constantly until the drive is ejected (whether the drive is being used or not). The drive has plenty of air and is not stacked. Mine probably has a defective heat sensor, but in no way can you say this fan is quiet. I have put in a tech support call, we'll see...

[Tuishimi]

[papa13wg]

I have had a NewerTech Mini Stack v2 for close to a year and am very happy with it. The extra USB and Firewire ports are very nice for connecting peripherals. Periodically, I would get fan noise, sounding like something was interfering with it, especially if the Mac Mini was on top of the unit. I essentuially left them side by side, rather than stacking them. Being an engineer, I took it upon myself to investigate the cause (nullifying my warranty, but it was almost up anyway).

What I found was poor wire management inside the case that was allowing a wire bundle to touch the moving fan, ever so slightly, but enough to make an audible and annoying noise. With the weight of the Mac on top of the stack, it could push the fan cae down into the wire bundle making the noise louder. I carefully rerouted the wires and have had no issues with noise since, even pushing down on the case. I would NOT recommend a novice computer user or anyone unfamiliar with computer internals to do this. I am 100% certain this was the issue and it's probably what NewerTech advertises as a more quiet v2. Overall, I am very pleased with this product, but if you order one, be sure to ask about the wire management and possible fan interference. They should know about this issue and should have fixed it.
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1.66 GHz Mac Mini (Intel)
2.0 GHz 13" MacBook
2.53 GHz 15" MacBook Pro

[Fox]

Thanks for that posting, pappa13wg. I suspected something like that would be the explanation why some people are pleased as punch with the unit whereas others complained about fan noise. But if the problem is poor quality control, a buyer is taking a big chance by purchasing this if they can't fix the problem him/herself. This is especially true of a buyer outside the U.S. because shipping charges from OWC are horrendous, and if you have to send it back, you'll pay for shipping again. But the other problem would be if OWC doesn't consider fan noise a problem and therefore won't fix or replace a noisy unit. This would affect American buyers, too. I seem to recall seeing one post where an unhappy Mini Stack buyer sent one back for fan noise and got it shipped back with an indication that nothing was wrong with it.

Would someone just pushing the wires to a different position likely fix the problem?
_________________
Mini 1: 2.3 ghz Core i5; 8 gb RAM, Corsair 240gb SSD, 500 gb Seagate XT
Mini 2: 2.26 ghz Core 2 duo, 8 gb RAM, 500 gb Seagate
Also a Cube, 13" MacBook Air, 20" 2.66 ghz iMac & 11.6" Acer 1810TZ running Ubuntu, Mint & openSuse

[papa13wg]

[YoMo]

[papa13wg]

[devo]

Interesting. I'm going to take a closer look at the wiring and routing in my original miniStack.

[devo]

I took a closer look at my original (not the V2) miniStack tonight and noticed the same thing. The wires were touching the fan. The black cable on the drive's power cable even looked a little chafed in one spot. I'm not sure if the circuit board is the same as the miniStack V2, but I was unable to reroute the cables. I tried stretching them around some capacitors, but they wouldn't go far enough. So I decided to leave the fan out. I also decided to leave the temperature sensor cable running to the hard drive just in case there is a shutdown failsafe in place. Problem solved!

[papa13wg]

[/quote]

That's very similar to what I observed. I ran the wires over the top of the hard drive. On a business trip now, but I will take a pic of my repair and post when I get home later this week.
_________________
1.66 GHz Mac Mini (Intel)
2.0 GHz 13" MacBook
2.53 GHz 15" MacBook Pro

[devo]

[papa13wg]

[papa13wg]

As promised, a pic of my fix. Fan at right, front of case to the left.


_________________
1.66 GHz Mac Mini (Intel)
2.0 GHz 13" MacBook
2.53 GHz 15" MacBook Pro