Right now my Mac Pro is virtually nothing more than a iTunes Server and runs 1 Virtual Machine 24x7 (that's running a Windows DVR program). It works. Just sorta power hungry. I want to consolidate to my 2012 Mac Mini. My biggest issue is what to do about all my hard drives hooked to it!
Right now internally I have 2 SSD's (1 for OS, and 1 for VM's) and 2 - 3TB hard drives in RAID 1. Externally, I have 4 4-Bay eSATA enclosures with a total of 32GB worth of storage across all the enclosures. I would love to be able to keep all of them, but the problem is that the enclosures require eSATA with Port Multiplier. The Lacie eSATA to Thunderbolt does not have Port Multiplier. I also tried a USB3.0 to eSATA "dongle". While it recognizes the drives, it has all sorts of issues with streaming data. It works, but not well (seems to almost take a nap at times).
So my options as I see it right now....
1. Pull the two 2-port eSATA cards from my Mac Pro and install them into a Sonnet Echo Express II Thunderbolt to PCIE chasis. Cost: $510 from BHPhotoVideo.
2. Buy a since Sonnet Echo Express SE + 1 4-Port eSATA card. Cost $450. ($350 for Echo, $100 for 4-port eSATA eSATA card)
3. Dump eSATA and go with 4 - 4-bay USB 3.0. Cost $400 (Approx $100 per enclosure)
4. I pre-ordered a Sonnet Thunderbolt dock that has eSATA with port multiplier, but only 2. So I guess if I could consolidate to just 2 4-bays, then my cost would only be the $450 for the Thunderbolt Dock. Would mean giving up 16GB worth of storage.
5. Accept that there is no "cheap" solution and just continue to use my Mac Pro until it dies.
Right now internally I have 2 SSD's (1 for OS, and 1 for VM's) and 2 - 3TB hard drives in RAID 1. Externally, I have 4 4-Bay eSATA enclosures with a total of 32GB worth of storage across all the enclosures. I would love to be able to keep all of them, but the problem is that the enclosures require eSATA with Port Multiplier. The Lacie eSATA to Thunderbolt does not have Port Multiplier. I also tried a USB3.0 to eSATA "dongle". While it recognizes the drives, it has all sorts of issues with streaming data. It works, but not well (seems to almost take a nap at times).
So my options as I see it right now....
1. Pull the two 2-port eSATA cards from my Mac Pro and install them into a Sonnet Echo Express II Thunderbolt to PCIE chasis. Cost: $510 from BHPhotoVideo.
2. Buy a since Sonnet Echo Express SE + 1 4-Port eSATA card. Cost $450. ($350 for Echo, $100 for 4-port eSATA eSATA card)
3. Dump eSATA and go with 4 - 4-bay USB 3.0. Cost $400 (Approx $100 per enclosure)
4. I pre-ordered a Sonnet Thunderbolt dock that has eSATA with port multiplier, but only 2. So I guess if I could consolidate to just 2 4-bays, then my cost would only be the $450 for the Thunderbolt Dock. Would mean giving up 16GB worth of storage.
5. Accept that there is no "cheap" solution and just continue to use my Mac Pro until it dies.