Dock with storage for 2014 MacMini

[Giuanniello]

I will very much probably either upgrade to a Studio next summer or to an M4 Mini but in the meantime I am looking at a dock to expand ports on my 2014 Mini and also capable to host an SSD for storage, I see some options from OWC, Satechi and more, is there any you would suggest that I can still find to buy given the Mini is quite old and now they all seem to be for USB-C connection?

Grazie

 

[weckart]

I will very much probably either upgrade to a Studio next summer or to an M4 Mini but in the meantime I am looking at a dock to expand ports on my 2014 Mini and also capable to host an SSD for storage, I see some options from OWC, Satechi and more, is there any you would suggest that I can still find to buy given the Mini is quite old and now they all seem to be for USB-C connection?

Grazie

The OWC Ministack is possibly your best bet today, although most I have seen on eBay are basically just external USB 3 hard drives in a dock format with no additional ports. I am not aware of any with a Thunderbolt 2 connection to the Ministack. Any you find today are likely to be in the US and are quite expensive for what they are, even used on eBay.

OWC miniStack - Stackable Mac mini Storage Solution

Upgrade your Mac mini / Studio with OWC miniStack. Stackable, quiet, and fast with up to 20TB storage and USB 3.2, it’s perfect for desktops or servers.

www.owc.com

If you are going to use a USB-C dock, you can try connecting via a USB A to C cable. You will be limited to USB 3.0 speeds. Connecting by Thunderbolt would require an Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter and a TB2 cable, which is messy and not guaranteed to work.

 

[drrich2]

...and now they all seem to be for USB-C connection?

Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock​

Lots of posts and Thunderbolt 4 (not just USB-C), and yes it has an M.2 NVMe SSD Slot, but you gotta read that fine print! "Add up to 8TB of storage inside and obtain data transfer speeds up to 800MB/s (SSD sold separately)" (bold emphasis mine).

So, if the reason you (maybe?) were interested in Thunderbolt was the hope of around 2,800 MB/s data transfer rates, sorry, no. I'm not saying you need that, or that it's too slow for whatever it is you want to use it for (I have no idea), but be aware.