*** The official 2023 and 2024 Mac mini thread (it has the M2 chip, the M4 chip and everything!) ***

Raymond Lin said:
Also I just realised….those WD drives are Thunderbolt 2.

So I will need Tb2 to Tb3 adaptors. That past is not the problem, the problem is I don't know if it will work on the M4 Mac. Tb4 is backwards compatible with Tb3 but I don’t think it is to Tb2.

People who have the Ultra M2 cannot get it to work, not without some really silly work around.
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Protocol-wise, TB3/4 ports are backwards compatible with TB2, any adapter should work.
 
HACO said:
Protocol-wise, TB3/4 ports are backwards compatible with TB2, any adapter should work.
Click to expand...

There is a long Reddit thread where people are having problems with it.

The solution is £50 for the adaptor to take a chance or £150 to get a 8tb HDD and move everything over and guaranteed to work.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
There is a long Reddit thread where people are having problems with it.

The solution is £50 for the adaptor to take a chance or £150 to get a 8tb HDD and move everything over and guaranteed to work.
Click to expand...

Probably cheaper to just open up the old HDD and move the actual disk to a simple USB enclosure, should probably end up cheaper and more reliable than dealing with these expensive adapters.
 
HACO said:
Probably cheaper to just open up the old HDD and move the actual disk to a simple USB enclosure, should probably end up cheaper and more reliable than dealing with these expensive adapters.
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My problem is the WD Duo drives are running in Raid, so I don’t know how it would work if I just take 1 out.
 
Raymond Lin said:
My problem is the WD Duo drives are running in Raid, so I don’t know how it would work if I just take 1 out.
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They're most likely just generic drives (if in RAID then probably NAS drives), just copy the contents somewhere, add them to new enclosures and set them up. If you have several 3.5" drives then consider a NAS.
 
HACO said:
They're most likely just generic drives (if in RAID then probably NAS drives), just copy the contents somewhere, add them to new enclosures and set them up. If you have several 3.5" drives then consider a NAS.
Click to expand...

That's the plan, to copy them off to a different drive, will figure out how to reconnect the files in Lightroom's icat catalogue so I have all the photos edits settings back onto them but I have formatted my iMac before and it was just pointing them back to the root folder. There are lots of travel photos on these drives that I still want to access from time to time so having to boot up this old iMac just for that would be annoying.
 
Raymond Lin said:
That's the plan, to copy them off to a different drive, will figure out how to reconnect the files in Lightroom's icat catalogue so I have all the photos edits settings back onto them but I have formatted my iMac before and it was just pointing them back to the root folder. There are lots of travel photos on these drives that I still want to access from time to time so having to boot up this old iMac just for that would be annoying.
Click to expand...

Honestly if you have a lot of storage devices (sounds like you do) around just set up a proper NAS with large drives. Makes everything accessible everywhere and opens up all the ports from your machines. And your files will be better protected with redundancy, and use your old drives to take additional backups of important folders.
 
HACO said:
Honestly if you have a lot of storage devices (sounds like you do) around just set up a proper NAS with large drives. Makes everything accessible everywhere and opens up all the ports from your machines. And your files will be better protected with redundancy, and use your old drives to take additional backups of important folders.
Click to expand...

I do have a NAS for my photos but it has only 2.5TB free and I need to store 6TB of photos. I basically need a new NAS.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I do have a NAS for my photos but it has only 2.5TB free and I need to store 6TB of photos. I basically need a new NAS.
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Actually have the same problem right now, my 4x22TB are almost full (only have ~3TB left). Need to buy an 8-drive one and just add more drives to it.
 
Raymond Lin said:
This NAS is a drobo which is no longer supported. It is a 5 bay Drobo which has like 2/3/4/4/4 or something in it. I am not even sure how large HDD it supports.
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I’m sure it’ll still allow you to put in larger drives and it’ll rebuild.

Or buy a new NAS and move everything over your network. 6TB over 1 GbE shouldn’t take too long.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
This NAS is a drobo which is no longer supported. It is a 5 bay Drobo which has like 2/3/4/4/4 or something in it. I am not even sure how large HDD it supports.
Click to expand...
I had one of those, I bought it because of Cali's advertising!
My word it was slow. I bought one of the faster models but even so, it was awful. The best thing that ever happened to it was that it packed up and I moved to a Synology (fortunately without data loss).
 
Feek said:
I had one of those, I bought it because of Cali's advertising!
My word it was slow. I bought one of the faster models but even so, it was awful. The best thing that ever happened to it was that it packed up and I moved to a Synology (fortunately without data loss).
Click to expand...

I don't use it much, it is literally a data dump. I boot it up once a year or so, move stuff into it, then I power it down again.

A year ago one of the drives died and I had to replace it and rebuild the RAID.
 
So we've seen the 3D printed plastic Mac mini (Mac Pro) cases, you can now get a metal one.

I've seen 2. I particularly like the first one. Especially as I will be getting a Caldigit dock anyway, using both standing up would look great and it solves my annoyance with the on button.

edit - ordered the 1st one.

www.ulanzi.com

Ulanzi QT01 Mac Mini Aluminum-alloy Case X088

Elevate your Mac Mini with the QT01 Aluminum Case! Its sleek design maximizes airflow for cooling, while the rugged shell and soft foam ensure safety!
www.ulanzi.com www.ulanzi.com

zeerawireless.com

ZEERA MacForge Gen2: CNC Aluminum Cooling Case for 2024 Mac Mini M4 & M4 Pro with Mac Pro Enclosure Design

Refined Design,Inspired by Mac Pro ZEERA MacForge Gen2 maintains its signature Mac Pro-inspired aesthetic, crafted entirely from CNC-machined aluminum. This premium material delivers exceptional durability and a sophisticated, modern feel. It deeply replicates the metallic texture of Mac...
zeerawireless.com zeerawireless.com
 
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  • Haha
Reactions: LiE
This is some massive joke that I'm not understanding, isn't it? Putting a Mac into a case?
 
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