OWC Mini Stack V3 Problem

[chad2323]

I just bought this Hub-External Hardrive from OWC to go with my New Imac 2.93 and been having problem's with it since I hooked it up. The system freezes at times and I have to do I hard reboot and then the Imac will not boot up until I unplug the Mini Stack. I called the company up and he first sent me a firmware fix but I couldn't get the file to load to do the firmware fix then I called back and the guy says well you will just have to send it back for repair I told him it was only 2 weeks old and you have to repair it already not a good feeling about this company and after researching on the net and found allot of complaints about this product and the company. Does anyone have experiance here with this product? Any info would be appreciated.

Thank's

 

[skcskcskc]

Many issues with Ministack v3 and MacMini

I purchased mine from OWC and returned it once for repair. It now works, but somewhat erratic. They want me to return again, but I wanted to swap for something that I could have more confidence in. They will only swap for the same model. For now, I will keep and see if I can get it to work good enough to do what I need. Problems have mainly been disappearing from desktop with warnings that removed improperly (or something like that). After going to Snow Leopard, my finder freezes when Time Machine tries to find drive. All in all, this unit has been a pain! As you have discovered, many others have reported similar problems. In theory, this should be a great unit, but in practice is a different story.

 

[gwerhart0800]

I have had one for about a year. I have not had any of the issues that you have reported. For mine, the fan was incredibly loud ... like the fan blades were hitting something. I finally opened it up and removed the fan. The bottom of the fan housing had a web of protective metal struts leading to a central circle of metal under the fan hub. The fan spindle was just a fraction tilted off center, so the blades were hitting one of the metal supports. I snipped out the entire "protective" struts and central piece. It is now much quieter.

This was the first FW external drive housing I had purchased. I now have 3 others and chose to go with passively cooled metal enclosures. I hate fans and I really did not need the extra ports.

 

[Gen]

I bought just the V2 shell - for like $50. And I couldn't be happier, best back-up hub for the price. You get a bunch of FW400 and USB2 connectors, awesome heatsink for the HD, as well as built-in fan and heat sensor - all that for only $50? That's a sale.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/FWU2MSVS2/

Regardless, I opted to get just the shell since Newegg had WD 1TB.7200RPM - 32MB drives for like $79.

Everything seperate ran me about $130 with shipping - and OWC wanted like $200 for the same config.


So far; the hub has been great - it runs all night - I directly download my torrents to the external drive. It does get a little noisy after a few hours, but it's not bad. The performance is superb, though.

 

[Wee Beastie]

I bought the Mercury Elite Pro from OWC. I had similar problems with the drive. I sent it back and it came back broken. I asked customer service if I could get a brand new unit this time, and was told that they could not guarantee that. Their techs would have to decide that. A reasonable answer, but not the one I was looking for. I needed a backup system right away and didn't want to keep sinking money into the faulty hard drive, so I cut my losses and got two Seagate Freeagent Desk HDs and have been pretty solid ever since. Very pleased with the drives. OWC gets some glowing reviews around here, I am just giving them the benefit of the doubt—I got a dud, could've happened to anyone.

The link is to a 500GB model. I got that one and a 1TB. They also sell them on Amazon. Anyway I hope you can get that one working, but if not, have a look at the Freeagent Desk.

 

[chad2323]

Thank's all for the replies it's much appreciated.I guess I will just send it in and just hope they fix it and it works. I'm looking at other external drive's and seen one that is called macally G-S350SUA and then there's another one that has firewire 800 that's 40.00 more. Is it worth the extra money to have the firewire 800 or does the firewire 400 is just as good?

Thank's

 

[skcskcskc]

Same problem with ministack v3 after two returns

After the second repair of my ministack v3 1 TB, everything looked good for a week or two. Then, the same issues with periodic un-mounting or freezing of some aspects of machine (like shutdown). This has been the worst piece of equipment that have ever purchased for a Mac in about 25 years! I could return again, but that is getting old. I could try to live with it, but that should not be the case. I could toss and find something else which might just be my best option.


Steve

 

[Val-kyrie]

NewerTech Alternative

I am assume that you want FW800 on your enclosure based on the fact that you purchased the NewerTech Ministack V.3, but if you are willing to forego FW800, I would suggest the NewerTech Ministack V.2.5. I purchased it and have had no problems with it running OS X 10.5.8. I purchased the enterprise version because it has a higher rated hard drive (MTBF) and I could not purchase the HDD and enclosure separately for less. It has been plenty fast for me over FW400 and I also use the built-in USB hub, but to use the USB hub you must use the FW400 AND the USB connectors with your Mac. Also, I believe it comes with a FW800 to FW400 cable so if you have FW800 only, then you should be set. Cables are not overly long, but sufficient for a compact setup.

 

[jamesdmc]

I returned a 1TB ministack V3 to OWC recently, but for different reasons. I purchased one to use as external storage for my mac mini HTPC. My issue was a humming sound that was always present. I spent more than half a day trying to track it down and finally realized it was coming from the ministack. I returned it for a $200 store credit that I have one year to use. I buy enough stuff from them that I preferred that over the refund minus a 15% restocking fee.

OWC gets some glowing reviews around here, I am just giving them the benefit of the doubt—I got a dud, could've happened to anyone.

That's a great attitude to have. The typical forum (any forum) response would have been "I'll NEVER buy from them again ". I'm one of the people who gives OWC glowing reviews because my experience with them and their customer service has been all positive.