Comments on: WD Raptor + Mac Mini Intel = external 10k rpm SATA madness http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2006/10/16/wd-raptor-mac-mini-intel-external-10k-rpm-sata-madness/ Chaotic solutions and random thoughts from the restless mind of a notorious problem solver (TM), by Andre Beckedorf Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:42:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Meme http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2006/10/16/wd-raptor-mac-mini-intel-external-10k-rpm-sata-madness/comment-page-1/#comment-22740 Meme Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:15:19 +0000 http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2006/10/16/wd-raptor-mac-mini-intel-external-10k-rpm-sata-madness/#comment-22740 Now the hard drive to get is the Velociraptor Western Digital (either the 150gb or 300gb). Few people even know about the 150gb. Its a shame they don't come out with a small version for just the OS and Apps. It would cost much less, and have most of the performance as you don't need a performance hard drive when accessing things like text files and movies (unless its HD maybe). C'mon Western Digital, how about a 36gb version of the Velociraptor! Could sell for less than $100. Now the hard drive to get is the Velociraptor Western Digital (either the 150gb or 300gb). Few people even know about the 150gb. Its a shame they don’t come out with a small version for just the OS and Apps. It would cost much less, and have most of the performance as you don’t need a performance hard drive when accessing things like text files and movies (unless its HD maybe). C’mon Western Digital, how about a 36gb version of the Velociraptor! Could sell for less than $100.

]]> By: Meme http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2006/10/16/wd-raptor-mac-mini-intel-external-10k-rpm-sata-madness/comment-page-1/#comment-22713 Meme Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:52:00 +0000 http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2006/10/16/wd-raptor-mac-mini-intel-external-10k-rpm-sata-madness/#comment-22713 I also did the 10k Raptor experiment with excellent results. As you said, only the seeks are a little noisy at times but that can be easily muffled with a vertical framed column for the hard drive(s): Air comes in at the bottom and vents out at the top) with a heavy blanket wrapped around it. I power the Raptor and my large firewire drive with an ATX power supply (silently cooled with a 120mm fan running at 5 volts). I just realized today one can sleep the main system and then turn off the ATX power supply for dead quiet and almost zero electrical consumption. When I come back, I switch on the ATX, jiggle the mouse to wake up the system and POOF! I'm back. I never realized one could drop power to the hard drive when its in sleep mode and then recover so easily. Now if only someone would figure out how to overclock a Core 2 Duo CPU on a Mini! For better cooling, use a nice heatpipe designed chipset cooler like this one: http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/cooling/Thermalright_HR-05_SLI_IFX_1.html You're have to modify the CPU mounting brackets but that shouldn't be so difficult. It sure would be great to get rid of that ridiculous toy heatsink the Mini uses. I'm presently using a 120mm fan cooling the entire Mini. Its ugly but it really works well. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9433215@N03/ Temps here: I'm at the top and am by far the coolest.....:) http://www.intelmactemp.com/list?v_model=mac-mini&sort=hddsize I also did the 10k Raptor experiment with excellent results. As you said, only the seeks are a little noisy at times but that can be easily muffled with a vertical framed column for the hard drive(s): Air comes in at the bottom and vents out at the top) with a heavy blanket wrapped around it.

I power the Raptor and my large firewire drive with an ATX power supply (silently cooled with a 120mm fan running at 5 volts). I just realized today one can sleep the main system and then turn off the ATX power supply for dead quiet and almost zero electrical consumption. When I come back, I switch on the ATX, jiggle the mouse to wake up the system and POOF! I’m back. I never realized one could drop power to the hard drive when its in sleep mode and then recover so easily.

Now if only someone would figure out how to overclock a Core 2 Duo CPU on a Mini!

For better cooling, use a nice heatpipe designed chipset cooler like this one:
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/cooling/Thermalright_HR-05_SLI_IFX_1.html
You’re have to modify the CPU mounting brackets but that shouldn’t be so difficult. It sure would be great to get rid of that ridiculous toy heatsink the Mini uses. I’m presently using a 120mm fan cooling the entire Mini. Its ugly but it really works well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9433215@N03/
Temps here: I’m at the top and am by far the coolest…..:)
http://www.intelmactemp.com/list?v_model=mac-mini&sort=hddsize

]]> By: The Mac Mini external SATA hack at Katastrophos.net Blog http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2006/10/16/wd-raptor-mac-mini-intel-external-10k-rpm-sata-madness/comment-page-1/#comment-980 The Mac Mini external SATA hack at Katastrophos.net Blog Thu, 02 Nov 2006 03:15:42 +0000 http://katastrophos.net/andre/blog/2006/10/16/wd-raptor-mac-mini-intel-external-10k-rpm-sata-madness/#comment-980 [...] So, finally as promised, here is my short picture walkthrough on how to do the Mac Mini external SATA hack. I’ve added quite a few comments to the images. And before you start complaining about the bad picture quality, I’ve shot the whole procedure with my non-HD DV cam, sorry. The pictures are from several takes, so they might differ at some stage. Anyways, just click on the first image below to start the slide show - navigate by clicking the left or right side of the photo. I hope you like it and please leave me a comment afterwards. Thanks! Ah, one more thing if you want to try it yourself: Don’t blame me, if you screw things up - even if you’ve followed the method described here precisely. It’s your fault. I won’t take any responsibility for any damage. It’s your fault. You have been warned. [...] [...] So, finally as promised, here is my short picture walkthrough on how to do the Mac Mini external SATA hack. I’ve added quite a few comments to the images. And before you start complaining about the bad picture quality, I’ve shot the whole procedure with my non-HD DV cam, sorry. The pictures are from several takes, so they might differ at some stage. Anyways, just click on the first image below to start the slide show - navigate by clicking the left or right side of the photo. I hope you like it and please leave me a comment afterwards. Thanks! Ah, one more thing if you want to try it yourself: Don’t blame me, if you screw things up - even if you’ve followed the method described here precisely. It’s your fault. I won’t take any responsibility for any damage. It’s your fault. You have been warned. [...]

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