Anyone work with the new Mac Mini Server?

[Trouble]

I'm selling my 2009 Mac Mini (4 GB, 500 GB Drive) and thinking about buying the Mac Mini Server and striping the drives. I've got onsite and offsite backups. Upgrading will get me a faster processor ( 2.5 vs 2.0 ) and a much faster drive with RAID. I already have an external DVD so that's no problem.

I really have no use for OS X server. While it would be cool to run OS X server, the problem is in a year or so when I have to upgrade. Pricey upgrade.

The refurbed Mini servers were in stock Friday, but I wanted to wait until Tuesday to see if the minis were updated along with the MacBooks, iMacs, and whatever else.

Anyone have a 2.5 GHz Mini or work with the Mini Server?

[DRR]

If you have no use for OSX server, I'd say the Mini Server is not a good buy for you.

Just remove the optical from your 2009 Mini and add a second 500GB to it, and RAID it. The 500MHz difference isn't going to be noticeable anyway.

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Mac-m.../660/1#top

[Doc]

Is your Mini one with Intel graphics or with Nvidia graphics? If yours uses Intel graphics then an upgrade might be smart. If yours has Nvidia graphics or if you buy a current Mini then I suggest that you connect a fast drive via FireWire 800 instead of RAIDing.

It will almost certainly be as fast -- or faster -- than an internal RAID and will almost certainly be more reliable.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I do not think the mini will be updated for a while, like maybe August when it will get a Core i3. MacBook Tuesday, then a couple of weeks later for the Mac Pro.

What are you doing with a mini that you are always waiting for the CPU?

[Trouble]

Doc wrote:
Is your Mini one with Intel graphics or with Nvidia graphics? If yours uses Intel graphics then an upgrade might be smart. If yours has Nvidia graphics or if you buy a current Mini then I suggest that you connect a fast drive via FireWire 800 instead of RAIDing.

I have the 2009 model with nvidia graphics. I already have a drobo on the FW. I just read a review and striping the drives give a huge transfer increase; well above a single FW800 drive.

yFilliam H. Muffman wrote:
I do not think the mini will be updated for a while, like maybe August when it will get a Core i3. MacBook Tuesday, then a couple of weeks later for the Mac Pro.

What are you doing with a mini that you are always waiting for the CPU?

Sometimes I'll peg the CPU. The main benefits are 25% faster, much higher data transfers, a new machine, for about couple hundred dollars. I have the opportunity to sell my mini for a good price so I'm thinking about grabbing the fastest mini available.

I appreciate all of the replies.

[Doc]

Trouble wrote:
[quote=Doc]
Is your Mini one with Intel graphics or with Nvidia graphics? If yours uses Intel graphics then an upgrade might be smart. If yours has Nvidia graphics or if you buy a current Mini then I suggest that you connect a fast drive via FireWire 800 instead of RAIDing.

I have the 2009 model with nvidia graphics. I already have a drobo on the FW. I just read a review and striping the drives give a huge transfer increase; well above a single FW800 drive.
Your experience with the Drobo is not a good indicator. They are notoriously slow.

With a fast drive on FW 800 the real-world difference is probably 5-15MB/s at the most and with overhead and fragmentation, there's little or no practical difference at all on a Mini.

If you really need to tweak it that carefully for maximum speed, you should probably be looking at Mac Pros, not Minis.

[silvarios]

Trouble wrote: I already have a drobo on the FW. I just read a review and striping the drives give a huge transfer increase; well above a single FW800 drive.

I was under the impression that the Drobo was no speed demon. Probably not the best comparison. Striping is faster, but is known as scary RAID for a reason.

Edit: My slow typing on the iPod touch allowed me to be bested again. Doc has it right.


Nathan

[Trouble]

silvarios wrote:

I was under the impression that the Drobo was no speed demon. Probably not the best comparison. Striping is faster, but is known as scary RAID for a reason.

Under the Mac, I am getting 50 megs/sec. It isn't as fast as a dedicated drive, but I like the advantages of the drobo. The problem with the drobo is that most are connected to windows and linux machines. Microsoft purposefully provides subpar stock firewire drivers and I'm sure linux support isn't much better.

[Doc]

Trouble wrote:
Under the Mac, I am getting 50 megs/sec.

You should easily be able to break 80MB/s read-times with a single fast SATA drive connected via FW 800.

A WD Caviar Black can hit 140MB/s without RAIDing it. 'Not saying that you're gonna get that because that's under optimal conditions, but if the goal is just to break 50MB/s, almost any modern SATA drive will do.

Here are some drive benchmarks from Tom's Hardware for illustration:

[silvarios]

Oh, I agree that the Drobo offers advantages to certain users, but I do realize speed may not be one of those advantages.

I simply wanted to point out that if you desired an accurate speedtest comparing a FireWire 800 external drive to an internal SATA RAID 0, you may want to pick a faster external drive. The internal RAID 0 will be faster than external FW800, but now you will have better numbers to compare.


Nathan