How Apple managed to get an entire G4 computer into a 6.5” square design remains an engineering feat, no matter how you slice it. Given such a small design, third party developers have answered the call to replicate the look and feel while extending the mini’s functionality beyond its normal out of the box configuration. Enter the miniStack, an external hard drive and port replicator for Mac mini. In doing this review, I actually requested the do-it-yourself version that allowed me to install the drive of my choice (and therefore write a more complete review of the product). Several flavors exist for those wanting to receive a pre-configured miniStack for immediate use. Models come in varying capacities starting at 0GB (the aforementioned “do-it-yourself” kit), 80GB, 160GB, 250GB, 3320GB, 400GB and 500GB configurations. All models contain the same number of I/O ports, so the only difference is the capacity of the HDD (and the HDD cache in the case of the 80GB version). Here are the specs and pricing for miniStack as listed at www.otherworldcomputing.com:

0GB - $99.95
80GB - $139.99 (2MB cache)
160GB - $179.99 (8MB cache)
250GB - $229.99 (8MB cache)
320GB – $289.99 (8MB cache)
400GB - $379.99 (8MB cache)
500GB - $499.99 (8MB cache)

Each miniStack has the following selectors, connections and I/O ports:

On/Off Switch
Power Input
Fan Control
(3) USB Ports (A-style connectors)
(1) USB Uplink Port (B-style connector)
(3) FireWire Ports (6 pin)
Mode connection switch (USB or FW)
Security Slot

When it comes to the FireWire chipset, in my experience, the Oxford 911 controller is far and away superior to the Prolific chipset, which had difficulty in a daisy chained environment. In fact, my Vantec Nexstar FireWire enclosure sits on the shelf collecting dust due to the misfortune of having a Prolific FireWire controller. Fortunately, NewerTech chose to go with the Oxford controller, so daisy chaining the miniStack is not a problem.

Now keep in mind that my version is the do-it-yourself kit, so the contents of this package versus the pre-configured miniStack would obviously be different. Opening the miniStack box reveals the miniStack enclosure, the miniStack cover, the power supply and power cable, a 15” USB cable (A-to-B) and a 15” FireWire cable (6 pin). A loose set of screws for mounting your own HDD are also included. Finally, there are instructions to run you through the installation process.

As you can see from the pictures, the fins to the heatsink protrude from the bottom of the enclosure, which allows the heat to move away from the internals and on towards the outside of the miniStack. You may wonder if the heat that’s trapped beneath the enclosure poses any problems. In the several days of testing and using the miniStack, aside from the obvious heat generated beneath the enclosure, I found nothing that alerted me to an overheating miniStack or hard drive. I’ve built PCs that have reached far hotter temperatures than this, so my perspective is that there are no red flags to speak of with this design. And for what it’s worth, my Mac mini does not sit in a climate controlled room, which might otherwise have some kind of cooling effect.

Port replication automatically occurs when the patch cables are plugged in. The miniStack offers three FireWire ports, and one port gets occupied from the uplink between Mac mini and miniStack, leaving you with two free FireWire ports. On the USB side of things, miniStack offers three standard USB ports with an additional uplink port to make the connection to Mac mini. In the end, this gives you three usable USB ports on miniStack. And since Mac mini offers two USB ports (one being used for the uplink), you’ll also have one more USB port on the Mac mini itself for a total of four available USB ports when used in conjunction with miniStack. Just one gripe, though: I’ve got an iSight and an iPod, and although there’s room for both on miniStack, having just one more FireWire port would have been a welcome addition. I wouldn’t have minded if it was at the loss of a USB port, but that’s just a small complaint.

Situated on the back of the miniStack are dipswitches for setting the fan mode. By default, it is set to automatic so that the fan will compensate in speed based on the ambient temperature of the enclosure. The dipswitches allow for a permanent “high” setting or “low” setting as well. As far as noise from the fan, in the time that I’ve used miniStack, I never found the noise to be bothersome. But take that with a grain of salt – I do most of my work in a somewhat noisy environment, which tends to drown out any smaller noises coming from general vicinity of the Mac mini. I am aware, however, that the miniStack does produce more noise than my near silent Mac mini. Yes, the noise is louder than Mac mini but not annoying by any means, and certainly well within an acceptable range for me.

Mac mini 1.25Ghz (512MB RAM)
NewerTech miniStack with Maxtor 160GB 7200.8 HDD

Startup was measured from the time the power button was pressed on the Mac mini until all the icons appeared on the desktop. Although the chart implies a large differential in time between the miniStack and the Mac mini internal HDD, the fact of the matter is that the startup time between the two are nearly identical. Five consecutive tests were conducted and the results were recorded. The median startup time for the Mac mini HDD was 51 seconds while the miniStack came in with a median startup time of 49 seconds, producing only a 4% increase in speed. Admittedly, I expected much different results, so I was a bit disappointed that I did not get killer startup times with my Maxtor and the miniStack. I can only guess that part of the problem was the double partition on the drive itself, which may have caused OS X some delay in finding the proper startup drive. Or perhaps my methodology needs to be re-examined (your comments are certainly welcomed!).

Fortunately, the next test would produce more satisfying results.

Conclusion
Although the startup times didn’t produce the stellar results I was hoping for, at least seeing tangible results in the file copy times put to rest any doubt about the benefits of a faster 7200RPM drive, and ostensibly the 8MB cache. In real world use of a faster drive, your results may certainly vary, but it was nice to see such impressive results from a no-frills Maxtor hard drive.

If you’ve been looking at dwindling hard drive space on your Mac mini and contemplated various solutions, let me recommend NewerTech’s miniStack. It blends almost seamlessly with Mac mini in a reasonably priced package. If you’re opting for the pre-configured system, my money is on the 160GB version for the best bang for your buck. But if you’re the do-it-yourself type, and like the flexibility afforded by this design, then you will certainly find a better deal in purchasing your own hard drive and configuring the miniStack yourself (my last perusal of hard drive deals on the ‘net showed $50 for a 160GB HDD after rebates). But either way you decide to go in expanding the capacity and functionality of your Mac mini, you’ll definitely be satisfied with NewerTech’s miniStack.

Final notes: If you’re salvaging an HDD that was previously used on a Windows PC, or any other non-OS X computer, it’s probably a good idea to do a zero-out format within OS X (and be prepared for a LONG process especially with today’s larger drives). If you don’t do this, the HDD will appear to work but during a subsequent reboot, OS X will likely report an error about initializing the drive, and a complete loss of your data results. No doubt a disheartening error to receive especially if you spent an hour backing up your Mac mini to the new HDD. My guess is that the Master Boot Record (MBR) needs to be wiped clean of any data it previously held.

For more information on miniStack pricing and availability, visit www.otherworldcomputing.com