Moosbrugger Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 I've got about 600 gb of music files on my Mini hard drive. My wife and I have started to use the Mini for work, and the Mini's 1TB drive is almost full. I'm considering a 3tb Thunderbolt backup drive. No SSD, I don't have the funds. When I first started reading this site, I recall people saying that moving music files to an external backup using USB would be noticeably slower. Should I be able to use a firewire drive without any downsides? Does it matter what type as long as it's Thunderbolt 2? I use iTunes, and the signal goes out the Mini through usb to a Peachtree Nova (with DAC). Thanks in advance. A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
kumakuma Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 13 minutes ago, Moosbrugger said: I've got about 600 gb of music files on my Mini hard drive. My wife and I have started to use the Mini for work, and the Mini's 1TB drive is almost full. I'm considering a 3tb firewire backup drive. No SSD, I don't have the funds. When I first started reading this site, I recall people saying that moving music files to an external backup using USB would be noticeably slower. Should I be able to use a firewire drive without any downsides? Does it matter what type as long as it's firewire 2? Thanks in advance. A Firewire 800 drive is going to be a lot faster than USB during the initial move and will put the storage on a different interface than the DAC which many folks think is important. This assumes you are using a USB DAC, of course. I own a bunch of these enclosures and have been very happy with the results: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ME3QHKIT0GB/ I put Western Digital Red drives in them. I also own one of these for backups: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/NewerTech/Voyager/Hard_Drive_Dock I have two backups of each music drive. One is stored on-site and one off-site. I use Carbon Copy Cloner 5 on a weekly basis to backup my music drives. CCC could also be used to copy the files from the internal drive to the external drive when setting it up. Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby Edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley Through the middle of my skull Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 Sorry -- I meant Thunderbolt, not Firewire. My bad. A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 What is the benefit of using an enclosure with a drive installed vs buying an all-in-one drive like this LaCie? A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
ElviaCaprice Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Ver 14 minutes ago, Moosbrugger said: What is the benefit of using an enclosure with a drive installed vs buying an all-in-one drive like this LaCie? Versatility, space in storage/travel, choice of enclosure for the type of connection you make now or in the future. I always go with internal HDD's. Can also be slid into a PC for SATA connection. (JRiver) Jetway barebones NUC (mod 3 sCLK-EX, Cybershaft OP 14) (PH SR7) => mini pcie adapter to PCIe 1X => tXUSBexp PCIe card (mod sCLK-EX) (PH SR7) => (USPCB) Chord DAVE => Omega Super 8XRS/REL t5i (All powered thru Topaz Isolation Transformer) Link to comment
kumakuma Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 16 minutes ago, Moosbrugger said: What is the benefit of using an enclosure with a drive installed vs buying an all-in-one drive like this LaCie? You have control over what's in the enclosure rather than letting LaCie's cost accountants pick a drive for you. Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby Edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley Through the middle of my skull Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 Got it. Thanks. A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 Are there Thunderbolt enclosures at similar (<$100) prices? I'm only finding Thunderbolt enclosures for larger units. Is a USB 3 connection on the Mac Mini sufficient? A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
look&listen Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 On 4/8/2018 at 1:41 PM, Moosbrugger said: I'm considering a 3tb Thunderbolt backup drive. I recall people saying that moving music files to an external backup using USB would be noticeably slower. Should I be able to use a firewire drive without any downsides? Does it matter what type as long as it's Thunderbolt 2? Problem with ext HDD on USB bus is contention with USB connection to DAC. I have Firewire2 chain for ext HDDs (music library, backup disk) & USB for DAC. Work fine for years now. 9 minutes ago, Moosbrugger said: Are there Thunderbolt enclosures at similar (<$100) prices? I'm only finding Thunderbolt enclosures for larger units. Found one at eBay for nice price. Early LaCie unit missing stock internal HDD. Very rare but possible. When searching not find any products like that sold empty. Happy for luck, and waiting for time to swap out Firewire enclosure to test any SQ changes, But many projects behind Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 So, I guess I've got these general options: 1. An enclosure like one recommended above by Kamakura with a 4 tb WD Red SATA drive connected to the Mini by USB 3. About $200 total 2. For about $250 I can get a La Cie 4tb Thunderbolt 2 drive. 3. About $300 will get a 4 tb Thunderbolt 3 drive -- but that will have to plug into one of the USB 3 ports on the Mini. Will that create the same SQ issues with the USB bus? 4. I've got a 4 year old 3 tb WD My Book, usb connector. Should I just use this? Am I overthinking things? A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
kumakuma Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Try 4 and see if having the DAC and drive on the same interface (USB) has any effect on sound quality. If it doesn't, there is no real need to use the Thunderbolt port. BTW, I assume that your Mac Mini is one of newer ones and therefore doesn't have a Firewire port. Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby Edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley Through the middle of my skull Link to comment
look&listen Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 20 minutes ago, Moosbrugger said: Am I overthinking things? High probability. Suggest do #2. LaCie very good brand, designed for Macs. (& middle $$$ level) Suggest use #4. for backup drive (power off between backups) My BU HDD also 3tb WD My Book but Firewire port. CCC is good suggestion, I use long time & for many things beside backup. Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 14, 2018 Author Share Posted July 14, 2018 thanks everyone. Yes, it's a late 2014 Mini. No firewire. I've been using the My Book as one of my back ups drives. For some reason, I don't trust it to hold the music. I think I'll go with option 2 and get the La Cie. That should at least cover my storage needs for years to come. A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 I used CCC to clone my iTunes folder onto the new drive. I went into iTunes and changed the iTunes media folder location to the new folder on the new drive. For some reason, iTunes can't locate many of the songs on the new drive. I assume I can go one by one to locate them, but is there a way to have itunes index the entire media folder? I see an option to have iTunes "organize" the folder, but I'm not sure this is what I want. A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
Moosbrugger Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Never mind. Figured it out. A Hudson Valley Home: Kichels -- A Recipe from the Old Country Link to comment
abulr Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 On 7/24/2018 at 7:59 AM, Moosbrugger said: Never mind. Figured it out. what was the answer please? need to do something similar Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now