Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 8, 1:26 pm, Dan dantear...@gmail.com wrote: At 10:47 AM -0700 7/8/2010, t...@io.com wrote: By freezing/lock up, it doesn't lock up the computer. The copy just stops progressing and the drive stops responding. The host computer is fine. And when that happens, what error messages are being thrown in the system log? OS X rarely does anything quietly. *Always* check the logs! Dan, thanks for the suggestion. That is an interesting question. Unfortunately, I am quite unskilled with OSX. Back in the day I was accomplished with the various pre-X operating systems, but I've never had the time and interest to do all the magazine and book reading and fiddling to acquire the same skills in X. Anyway, that's all a long way of saying: where do I find the system log? Would it make sense to check it in a terminal window? I'm a reasonable Unix user (nothing resembling a Unix administrator though). Does the Unix on OSX have vi? How far back does the log go? Should I bring up the log and then induce the error or can I check back a week to see the old error? Thank you. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 8, 2:52 pm, Jim Scott jesco...@gmail.com wrote: That's the good. The not-so-good: Even though the fan speed can be adjusted somewhat, my only dislike is cooling fan noise, which they all have. Blessedly, my v3 turns off the fan when the drive isn't being used. That helps. But when the drive is being used on my MiniStacks, the cooling fan is the noisiest thing on my desktop. I'm talking a multi-function printer/etc., a couple of Intel iMacs, non-fan cooled external drives, a NewerTech SATA Voyager, and various and sundry Macs being refurbished also running at the same time. I *always* notice when the MiniStack cooling fan/fans are running. YMMV. Thank you to all who replied. It sounds like reliability won't be a problem, but noise might be. I guess I'll just have to try it out to see if the noise is an issue or not. While it is true that the fan is doing its job, a different case design might not need as much fan activity to provide cooling. So other enclosures could probably be quieter, but also take up more space. The ministack case concept is kind of thermally challenged from the get-go. But the tiny footprint is seductive. I recently bought a G4 Mac Mini to use as my iTunes server for the house. I have a bunch of Roku Sound Bridges. The Mini's internal 2.5 PATA options just aren't going to be quite big enough. I bought the Mini so that the server won't use much space, so it would kind of defeat the goal if the external storage take up a lot of space. On the other hand, I'd like it to be unobtrusive in the noise department as well... Jeff Walther -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 8, 2:21 pm, Bill Connelly billycarm...@verizon.net wrote: I believe they suggested a particular partitioning scheme to forego any issues with size ... IIRC, less than 1TB for the largest. May have changed with a later firmware. Got it from owcomputing on or about August 2009. Hmmm. I was planning to put a 2 TB drive in the thing. Anyone know if this is still an issue? Perhaps it will say on Newer Tech's site... -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 9, 2010, at 7:55 AM, t...@io.com wrote: Anyway, that's all a long way of saying: where do I find the system log? Would it make sense to check it in a terminal window? I'm a reasonable Unix user (nothing resembling a Unix administrator though). Does the Unix on OSX have vi? How far back does the log go? Should I bring up the log and then induce the error or can I check back a week to see the old error? Yes to all of the above, but the easiest way to view the logs on a Mac are with the Console app, in the Utilities folder. By default it shows the console messages (in the unix meaning of the term 'console') If you click the Show Log List icon you can navigate to all the logs on the system. You can click 'clear display' then do whatever's failing to get just what goes on when that happens, or you can search, copy/paste, etc. Very useful. You can do it in Terminal as well, the system log and console log are /var/log/system.log and /var/log/messages respectively, just as you would expect. OS X IS a full fledged Unix, yes vi is there. You need to install the Developer Tools (available for free at developer.apple.com) to get gcc, header files, etc to compile programs. It's NOT a Linux, but a BSD flavor. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 9, 2010, at 7:55 AM, t...@io.com wrote: I'm a reasonable Unix user (nothing resembling a Unix administrator though). A good book to find, if you want is O'Reilly's Mac OSX for Unix Geeks, http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596003562 which may be generally useful, albeit quite old. Many things have changed slightly (OS X now uses bash instead of tcsh as the default shell, etc) but a a general guide it's useful. (And if you're anything of a Unix geek, you're used to this...we used to have a sign above our server bench that said You are in a maze of twisty little Unixes, each slightly different 8-) The main biggies for Unix geeks moving to OSX is that root is NOT a login user (if you need a root shell, do sudo -s), OSX doesn't use conf files (daemons and the like are managed via plists, and started by launchd not inetd), and Apple doesn't play well with stuff YOU install in /usr/local...System updates tend to replace the whole directory, rather than a file-level replacement. Fink and Macports get around this by putting things in /opt which Apple leaves alone. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
At 7:55 AM -0700 7/9/2010, t...@io.com wrote: On Jul 8, 1:26 pm, Dan dantear...@gmail.com wrote: At 10:47 AM -0700 7/8/2010, t...@io.com wrote: By freezing/lock up, it doesn't lock up the computer. The copy just stops progressing and the drive stops responding. The host computer is fine. And when that happens, what error messages are being thrown in the system log? OS X rarely does anything quietly. *Always* check the logs! where do I find the system log? The logs are stored in a number of places. Console.app (in /Applications/Utilities) will view them for you. Set it to show the Log List and you'll the whole list. Of interest here is system.log - at the top of the list. Peruse as much as you want. It's all read-only. You'll need to be doing this from an admin account, to see the protected logs. How far back does the log go? The logs go on forever, unless they've been purged. The system maintenance scripts, that run overnight, rotate compress and purge them, so, normally... system.log will contain everything since its 3am rollover. And console.log will contain everything since you logged in. Should I bring up the log and then induce the error or can I check back a week to see the old error? Easiest is to display the log in Console.app, then cause the error and note what gets thrown into the window (it's a live r/o view). Or you can scroll away... but so much gets sent there, it's tuff to find old stuff. - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 9, 10:07 am, t...@io.com t...@io.com wrote: On Jul 8, 2:21 pm, Bill Connelly billycarm...@verizon.net wrote: I believe they suggested a particular partitioning scheme to forego any issues with size ... IIRC, less than 1TB for the largest. May have changed with a later firmware. Got it from owcomputing on or about August 2009. Hmmm. I was planning to put a 2 TB drive in the thing. Anyone know if this is still an issue? Perhaps it will say on Newer Tech's site... Nope, nothing I could find either under Product or under Support (checked the manual) on their site. I'm going to assume that isn't an issue any more, I guess. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 8, 10:47 am, t...@io.com t...@io.com wrote: Would anyone care to share their experiences with Newer Technology's MiniStack? Specifically version 2.5? I have three (actually now four) two 2.5 Mini stacks and whatever version came before that. I boot from the older one (80 G) and have a 1T drive and 250G drive daisied to it. I agree with the fan issue. seems to run than I'd like and is significant white noise. In general they work for me, but I'm interested in the problem you report. Here's my version. I've been using the 1T drive mostly to boot from when doing AV big file stuff so that I'd have sufficient scratch disc space. Occasionally when booted from the (lets call it a 2.0 mini) things freeze up with the spinning ball. If I eject the 1T drive the problem disappears. Maybe an address problem or something. I'll have to remember to find the Log next time. Otherwise I've been happy with the Mini Stacks and just bought another 2.5 with a 1T Seagate drive so that I can back up one to one. I also took advantage of a recent (current?) Seagate deal (see their site) on their 500G FreeAgent firewire drive. hth Cliff -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 9, 12:54 pm, Cliff Rediger redicl...@yahoo.com wrote: In general they work for me, but I'm interested in the problem you report. Here's my version. I've been using the 1T drive mostly to boot from when doing AV big file stuff so that I'd have sufficient scratch disc space. Occasionally when booted from the (lets call it a 2.0 mini) things freeze up with the spinning ball. If I eject the 1T drive the problem disappears. Maybe an address problem or something. I'll have to remember to find the Log next time. If I remember to check the log files this weekend, I'll post about it in a new thread. This sounds like an issue which might be worth chasing in its own thread. if you beat me to it, why don't you start a new thread for it? Something along the lines of: USB Drive Losing Connection During Large Transfers or some such. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
I've got three Ministacks, each with a Seagate 1.5 Tb drive. About 6 months old, with no problems. I bought several other fanless cases with Firewire 800 and usb 2, but the 1.5's were running too hot, and doing things like freezing the iMac on bootup, or freezing during long writes, when the cases would get to hot to touch comfortably. The ministacks also have the added bonus of turning off power when the 'puter is off. The downside is a small amount of background fan whisper. Regards Santa And what, you ask, was the beginning of it all? And it is this.. Existence that multiplied itself For sheer delight of being And plunged with numberless trillions of forms So that it might find itself innumerably Sri Aurobindo -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
Would anyone care to share their experiences with Newer Technology's MiniStack? Specifically version 2.5? I'm considering buying one, but I've occasionally run into a specific problem with external drive enclosures, and so I like to check others' experiences first. The problem I've seen with more than one enclosure is that they will lock up after some random amount of data transfer on large transfers. Yes, sleep is turned off, etc. Other enclosures with the same drive installed are fine, and when I have an enclosure with this problem, it happens on every computer in the house that has USB. For example, the cheap Venus USB/Firewire enclosure that Dealmac listed several years ago. As an aside, most of the enclosures that Dealmac reports which have really low prices turn out to be ones that have abysmal reviews. So, I'm careful now when buying a new enclosure. So how is the MIniStack 2.5? Does it do file copies which are tens or hundreds of gigabytes without stalling/freezing? By freezing/lock up, it doesn't lock up the computer. The copy just stops progressing and the drive stops responding. The host computer is fine. Thank you for any helpful or humorous responses. Jeff Walther -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
At 10:47 AM -0700 7/8/2010, t...@io.com wrote: By freezing/lock up, it doesn't lock up the computer. The copy just stops progressing and the drive stops responding. The host computer is fine. And when that happens, what error messages are being thrown in the system log? OS X rarely does anything quietly. *Always* check the logs! - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
On Jul 8, 2010, at 1:47 PM, t...@io.com wrote: Would anyone care to share their experiences with Newer Technology's MiniStack? Specifically version 2.5? I've been using the ministack 2.5 with a 1.5TB SATA Seagate drive in it for CCC backups for awhile now, without issue. I believe they suggested a particular partitioning scheme to forego any issues with size ... IIRC, less than 1TB for the largest. May have changed with a later firmware. Got it from owcomputing on or about August 2009. Thanks ... reminded me I need to do my backups ... -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
I've got 4 different MiniStacks, all of which I bought from OWC as bare refurbs without a hard drive in them. Three are v2.5 models, IIRC. I like the fact they turn on and off with the Mac. I also appreciate all the ports and the special connector cables NewerTech includes. I especially like the v3 with the ports on the side as well as the eSATA, FW400, dual FW800 and triple USB 2.0 ports. It makes a great and fast Time Machine drive with a 1.5 TB drive, as well as an excellent hub for testing other drives -- all while connected to my 27 iMac 3.06 GHz. That's the good. The not-so-good: Even though the fan speed can be adjusted somewhat, my only dislike is cooling fan noise, which they all have. Blessedly, my v3 turns off the fan when the drive isn't being used. That helps. But when the drive is being used on my MiniStacks, the cooling fan is the noisiest thing on my desktop. I'm talking a multi-function printer/etc., a couple of Intel iMacs, non-fan cooled external drives, a NewerTech SATA Voyager, and various and sundry Macs being refurbished also running at the same time. I *always* notice when the MiniStack cooling fan/fans are running. YMMV. Jim Scott -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
RE: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
Would anyone care to share their experiences with Newer Technology's MiniStack? Specifically version 2.5? I'm considering buying one, but I've occasionally run into a specific problem with external drive enclosures, and so I like to check others' experiences first. The problem I've seen with more than one enclosure is that they will lock up after some random amount of data transfer on large transfers. Yes, sleep is turned off, etc. Other enclosures with the same drive installed are fine, and when I have an enclosure with this problem, it happens on every computer in the house that has USB. For example, the cheap Venus USB/Firewire enclosure that Dealmac listed several years ago. As an aside, most of the enclosures that Dealmac reports which have really low prices turn out to be ones that have abysmal reviews. So, I'm careful now when buying a new enclosure. So how is the MIniStack 2.5? Does it do file copies which are tens or hundreds of gigabytes without stalling/freezing? By freezing/lock up, it doesn't lock up the computer. The copy just stops progressing and the drive stops responding. The host computer is fine. Thank you for any helpful or humorous responses. Jeff Walther I've got two Ministack 2.5's that have performed well for me over two years, even running flawlessly throughout the last hot Australian summer. Yes the fans are a bit noisy at times but they do what they are supposed to do - kick in when the temperature climbs to protect the HD. They work as well whether transferring data by USB or FW. I'd also never use an external drive without plugging it into AC power either, especially if you are looking at backing up large Gbs of data - one reason why you may experience lockups. For use with Macs using firewire, the best external cases have the Oxford chipsets too - something else to consider. Stewie _ If It Exists, You'll Find it on SEEK. Australia's #1 job site http://clk.atdmt.com/NMN/go/157639755/direct/01/ -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
Mine has locked up (I had to unplug it and re-plug it) and sometimes whenever I tried to copy stuff to it, my Mac had a window pop-up with a sad old world mac logo and it said The hard drive you are trying to copy to is being an asshole. Kick it so it can work. I made this dialog window possible by modifying one of the .string files in the syste. Sent from my Power mac G4 Sawtooth. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: MiniStack Reviews, Experiences?
It said the external drive was having connectivity problems I replaced the cable. nothing. I replaced the entire thing later, everything was okay. -- Sent from my Power mac G4 Sawtooth. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
