Hey all,
I use my Mac Mini primarily for using XBMC and have it connected to my TV. Currently, I have an Icy Dock with my own 3TB HDD connected via USB 3. It works a treat and I'm veery happy.
However, I'm looking to experiment a bit further and would like to buy a USB 3.0 rack (or Gigabit, more on that later) so I could slot in 4 x 3TB drives. I use the WD Caviar Green ones which run really quiet, so noise isn't really a problem.
Back on topic though, I've been doing some research and I'm really not sure how to go about this. It's unfortunate that Thunderbolt is so expensive, but USB 3.0 is plenty fast enough anyway as I run OS X from an external USB 3.0 SSD
Another option would be a NAS. I'm really not sure how these work to be honest. I would have thought that connecting hard drives via an Ethernet cable as opposed to USB 3 would much slower? I don't want a RAID setup either as my data isn't valuable enough to warrant such a setup.
Could somebody kindly give me some advice on what to do? What I really want is an empty 3.5" rack with a USB 3.0 connection ( or a high speed Gigabit/Ethernet connection?? ).
I already have a powerful tower PC but am reluctant to use that as a NAS as it consumes a ton of power, not to mention the noise it generates - and it would defeat the purpose of buying a Mini for my HTPC really
Advice please guys
I use my Mac Mini primarily for using XBMC and have it connected to my TV. Currently, I have an Icy Dock with my own 3TB HDD connected via USB 3. It works a treat and I'm veery happy.
However, I'm looking to experiment a bit further and would like to buy a USB 3.0 rack (or Gigabit, more on that later) so I could slot in 4 x 3TB drives. I use the WD Caviar Green ones which run really quiet, so noise isn't really a problem.
Back on topic though, I've been doing some research and I'm really not sure how to go about this. It's unfortunate that Thunderbolt is so expensive, but USB 3.0 is plenty fast enough anyway as I run OS X from an external USB 3.0 SSD
Another option would be a NAS. I'm really not sure how these work to be honest. I would have thought that connecting hard drives via an Ethernet cable as opposed to USB 3 would much slower? I don't want a RAID setup either as my data isn't valuable enough to warrant such a setup.
Could somebody kindly give me some advice on what to do? What I really want is an empty 3.5" rack with a USB 3.0 connection ( or a high speed Gigabit/Ethernet connection?? ).
I already have a powerful tower PC but am reluctant to use that as a NAS as it consumes a ton of power, not to mention the noise it generates - and it would defeat the purpose of buying a Mini for my HTPC really
Advice please guys