mLogic Debuts mBack External Hard Drive That Attaches to iMac and Apple Displays

iThinkIt · Sep 4, 2013

great gimmick for attachment.. but what about Thunderbolt????

hogo · Sep 4, 2013

That price is funny.

CelestialToys · Sep 4, 2013

fictionaldeity said:
The image clearly shows the iMac power cable coming through the hole while the Hard Drive is attached,
also if you look at the mBack you'll see a triangle shaped notch that will allow for cabling to be passed through

Also with most of these types of hard-drive caddies it's a basic case with a sata connection. meaning you could potentially change it to an ssd

My previous replies to others that didn't read my previous replies in this thread stated the following

yes I can see that there is a notch for the power cord, I just don't think you'll get any other cables through there without stressing them. I currently have my power cord plus 4 USB cables, 1 Firewire cable and 1 Thunderbolt cable going through the hole in my iMac to keep my cable routing tidy, this wouldn't be possible with this drive attached.

mungo2k · Sep 4, 2013

DJLC said:
For the education market? Awesome. Like to see a kid steal or break that external drive without someone noticing first.

Except for these problems:

1. Only a poorly run educational establishment would use external disks rather than network storage.

2. Our "TopTec" iMac security cables go right through the hole this is blocking.

DJLC · Sep 4, 2013

mungo2k said:
Except for these problems:

1. Only a poorly run educational establishment would use external disks rather than network storage.

2. Our "TopTec" iMac security cables go right through the hole this is blocking.

Unless they're doing something not well suited to a 10/100 network like most public schools have. Video capture comes to mind especially. That said, I run a 1:1 with MacBook Airs, so I won't be ordering this thing anytime soon.

davidoloan · Sep 4, 2013

ovrlrd said:
Sorry to derail the velcro train, but velcro is terrible because you need adhesives on both sides. Guess what happens to adhesives when they get hot? The glue becomes unstuck and your hard drive falls right down. Boom dead hard drive.

Have an Apple TV3 velcro'd to a wall behind a hot Plasma. Been there since they were launched and it hasn't budged.

gnasher729 · Sep 4, 2013

09sroyal said:
Such an ingenious answer, would prefer thunderbolt although speed wouldn't be a huge difference and the cost would shoot up.

Then why would you prefer Thunderbolt?

aolbites · Sep 4, 2013

I can get a Western Digital Passport 2GB for $120, looks just as sleek, is smaller, and weighs as much. At that point, I'm looking at paying $140 for a plastic connector to attach it to my iMac. Not sure if it's 54 or 72, but either way, it's significantly cheaper.

zorinlynx · Sep 4, 2013

CelestialToys said:
Nice idea, but it looks like it prevents you from using the hole as a cable tidy.
Plus being as it's designed specifically for an iMac thunderbolt would have been more appropriate than USB3, as would SSD

Why would you want to waste a valuable Thunderbolt port on a slow-ass 2.5" external drive?

USB 3.0 is much better suited to this task. Thunderbolt ports are lot more useful for monitors, firewire and disk systems that have a lot more bandwidth.

Ma1Garv · Sep 4, 2013

velcro

I use velcro and stack two drives.

flottenheimer · Sep 4, 2013

Nice idea/design. I really like it.

I'd much rather have an empty box though and fit it with a SSD. I'm worried that any noise and vibration coming from a HDD will be amplified when mounted to an iMac. (Yep, I have great hearing and I have been annoyed by the noise from all of the external 2,5" HDDs I have ever owned including the one inside my 2012 MacBook Pro).

mdelvecchio · Sep 4, 2013

DJLC said:
... they were saying velcro is a much cheaper solution. Standard external HDD + velcro = cheaper mBack with more flexibility.

ah yeah -- because i want to tape a bunch of velcro to my computer and gear. how elegant.

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CelestialToys said:
Try getting the power cable plus 4 other USB cables through the slot that's left once that thing is attached, doesn't look to be room to me. I also use the hole to keep currently unplugged cables from escaping down the back of my desk.

looks like plenty of room to me.

dont you think they, you know, tested that prior to engaging in a multiple-hundred-thousand dollar production run?

mdelvecchio · Sep 4, 2013

CelestialToys said:
Doesn't look like you'll get much more than the power cable through there, it's also likely to stress any cables as it forces quite a tight bend.

stress USB cables? are you serious? im looking at my mouse now -- multiple 90-degree angles. have never, ever, worried about stressing USB cables.

nor power supply cables for that matter. in fact i have a duffle bag full of extra power cables (and tons of USB cables too).

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fontman said:
Hey Hello there Velcro works great and it is under a dollar

Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro
Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro Velcro.

so tell me, how much velcro do you have on your home stereo system? how about your car? why use an iphone dock -- just velcro it!

riiight.

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ovrlrd said:
Sorry to derail the velcro train, but velcro is terrible because you need adhesives on both sides. Guess what happens to adhesives when they get hot? The glue becomes unstuck and your hard drive falls right down. Boom dead hard drive.

sshh....mustnt burst the bubble most people have that they could have engineered something better...despite the fact that theyve never engineered anything in their lives.

mdelvecchio · Sep 4, 2013

CelestialToys said:
My previous replies to others that didn't read my previous replies in this thread stated the following

if you think randoms like myself are all about tracking your various posts, thats funny.

yes I can see that there is a notch for the power cord, I just don't think you'll get any other cables through there without stressing them.

stressing USB cables is a joke -- total non-concern in my life experience. in fact i end up with a duffle bag full of outdated cables long before ever stressing any of them out of operation.

I currently have my power cord plus 4 USB cables, 1 Firewire cable and 1 Thunderbolt cable going through the hole in my iMac to keep my cable routing tidy, this wouldn't be possible with this drive attached.

it may not be. or it may. but who said every product is supposed to meet every use case? some things just wont work out for you, and thats ok. doesnt negate the usefulnesss of another use case design.

CelestialToys · Sep 4, 2013

zorinlynx said:
Why would you want to waste a valuable Thunderbolt port on a slow-ass 2.5" external drive?

USB 3.0 is much better suited to this task. Thunderbolt ports are lot more useful for monitors, firewire and disk systems that have a lot more bandwidth.[/QUOTE

why would you spend this kind of money on a slow ass 2.5" external drive?

I might have been interested in something like this if it was SSD and TB, my imac doesn't have USB3 but it does have TB

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mdelvecchio said:

if you think randoms like myself are all about tracking your various posts, thats funny.

stressing USB cables is a joke -- total non-concern in my life experience. in fact i end up with a duffle bag full of outdated cables long before ever stressing any of them out of operation.

it may not be. or it may. but who said every product is supposed to meet every use case? some things just wont work out for you, and thats ok. doesnt negate the usefulnesss of another use case design.

Click to expand...

I don't expect people to track my posts, I do however expect people to have read the two pages of the thread before making the same comment that has been made and explained twice previously.

Perhaps I shouldn't use an internet forum to share my opinions on how a product that I might be interested in could have been made better?

iMacoo7 · Sep 4, 2013

wow....

rdlink · Sep 4, 2013

macpro2000 said:
Yes, it's hdd, yes it's 5400...use it for backup people, then who cares.

I use a Thunderbolt HDD on my 2011 iMac with an internal SSD, and have them configured as a Fusion drive. I unfortunately have to set it on a backpack shelf. I would have bought this as a Thunderbolt 7200 in a heartbeat.

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ArtOfWarfare said:
It looks pretty hideous to me - the stand of the iMac and Thunderbolt Display looks nice and is functional. This makes the stand both hideous (it adds a tumor to it) and takes away the functionality of it decluttering your wires.

I think a nicer solution would integrate into the foot of the pedestal.

Spend much time staring at the back of your computer...?

sentiblue · Sep 5, 2013

I like this deisgn a lot... but here's my question

I have an MBA with USB3. When it plugs into the 27" display, USB connection becomes available through the display.

But the display was made before the USB3 days.

So do I need to plug the drive directly into the MBA in order to get USB3 speed? I dont want to do that. I only want the display connection bundle wired to the Air, then connect everything to the display.

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