Mac Mini Docking Station for SSD Storage

BillN_33

BillN_33

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I'm thinking about getting a MacMini - say one in the middle price point - I need 2TB + of storage which presumably I can achieve through a docking station that takes SSD storage.

There seems to be quite a od docking stations on Amazon from about £60 to £200

Has anyone got one which they can recommend - maybe with 2 "slots" for TB storage

Thanks

(of course I have the which screen dilemma being used to a 27" 5K iMac)
 
I looked into these when i was debating between a Mac Studio and a Mac Mini. The main issue with them seems to be reliability and speed. Most seem to only run at 10gps, when in an ideal world I wanted one that supports TB5 speeds. Even the most expensive options for those docks with built in NVME seem to max out at 40gps..

For me I wanted it to be as fast as the internal drive so I went with a Samsung 990 and an external TB5 enclosure, although i ended up going with the Mac Studio over the mini so these weren't an option anyway. I would have still made the same choice if I had of went with the Mini though. The external TB5 drive is pretty small anyway and the one I have is ridiculously fast.

For monitors I debated getting the Apple display and a few others but in the end decided that there was nothing really on the market at the moment that was a big improvement over the Benq SW272U that I already have in terms of colour accuracy without getting into the cost of the Apple Pro Display XDR etc. For me colour accuracy was more important than having 5k instead of 4k resolution. Good 5k monitors get expensive very fast.
 
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f/2.8 said:
I looked into these when i was debating between a Mac Studio and a Mac Mini. The main issue with them seems to be reliability and speed. Most seem to only run at 10mps, when in an ideal world I wanted one that supports TB5 speeds. Even the most expensive options for those docks with built in NVME seem to max out at 40mbs.

For me I wanted it to be as fast as the internal drive so I went with a Samsung 990 and an external TB5 enclosure, although i ended up going with the Mac Studio over the mini so these weren't an option anyway. I would have still made the same choice if I had of went with the Mini though. The external TB5 drive is pretty small anyway and the one I have is ridiculously fast.

For monitors I debated getting the Apple display and a few others but in the end decided that there was nothing really on the market at the moment that was a big improvement over the Benq SW272U that I already have in terms of colour accuracy without getting into the cost of the Apple Pro Display XDR etc. For me colour accuracy was more important than having 5k instead of 4k resolution. Good 5k monitors get expensive very fast.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tommy

so the "enclosures" are faster than the docks?
 
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I have a dock with my Mac Mini M2. It provides extra sockets and I have added a SSD but the the speed is on the slower side and does not accept NVME SSD. I use it for Word docs and similar and have external enclosures with faster NVME SSDs for photos and similar. There are some threads on here covering these enclosures.

Of course you may not need fast storage.
 
BillN_33 said:
Thanks Tommy

so the "enclosures" are faster than the docks?
Click to expand...

If you buy a TB5 enclosure they are twice as quick as the highest spec docks currently available and you will be able to get the full speed of your NVME.
 
Brentor said:
I have a dock with my Mac Mini M2. It provides extra sockets and I have added a SSD but the the speed is on the slower side and does not accept NVME SSD. I use it for Word docs and similar and have external enclosures with faster NVME SSDs for photos and similar. There are some threads on here covering these enclosures.

Of course you may not need fast storage.
Click to expand...

f/2.8 said:
If you buy a TB5 enclosure they are twice as quick as the highest spec docks currently available and you will be able to get the full speed of your NVME.
Click to expand...

I need it mainly for LR/PS - to store the images plus back up the stored images - I currently use a Crucial 2TB X9 Portable SSD plugged into an 27" iMac 3.8GHz i7 from 2020 with 64GB and 1TB

Looking at the speeds using Black Magic
Internal is 2500 MBS R 2300 W
X9 = about 420 both
 
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BillN_33 said:
I need it mainly for LR/PS - to store the images plus back up the stored images - I currently use a Crucial 2TB X9 Portable SSD plugged into an 27" iMac 3.8GHz i7 from 2020 with 64GB and 1TB

Looking at the speeds using Black Magic
Internal is 2500 MBS R 2300 W
X9 = about 420 both
Click to expand...

Yeah external SSD drives are a poor option compared to using an NVME in an enclosure speed wise, I found this myself.

I use my NVME in the TB5 enclosure for all of my catalogues and working files before eventually backing up to a 28TB raid set up I have. Eventually I will swap out the Raid for NVME as well as the speed is just crazy good. The speed of the TB5 enclosures is just unbelievable really blew me away when I first started using it how big the difference was.

I forgot to mention when I was doing my research I did comes across a couple of negative things about those docks for the Mini as well. Some people were saying that due to the material they are made from their wifi wouldn't work. Others were saying that because of the heat generated by the NVME it was causing their Mini to run a lot hotter and the fans were coming on a lot more often.

I haven't noticed any negatives with the TB5 drive myself as yet in terms of performance and reliability or read any online other than cost, but to be fair I haven't been running it for that long.

These seem to be the two most popular options for TB5 enclosures.

This is the one I have.

If I was buying again I might go for this one though as while I while i have no issues with mine the NVME is a very snug fit as a few of the reviews mention,
 
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BillN_33 said:
I need it mainly for LR/PS - to store the images plus back up the stored images - I currently use a Crucial 2TB X9 Portable SSD plugged into an 27" iMac 3.8GHz i7 from 2020 with 64GB and 1TB

Looking at the speeds using Black Magic
Internal is 2500 MBS R 2300 W
X9 = about 420 both
Click to expand...

If your current speeds are acceptable to you I would suggest that you consider enclosures slower than TB5 as long as they accept NVME drives. They will be considerably faster than your current drives and cheaper than TB5. However read the reviews and avoid the cheap ones as they can suffer with connection and heat issues.
 
Hmmm the main advantage of most of these docks is not so much the SSD capability but the fact they place the usb etc slots at the front making actual use far easier .. I’m still running a M1 chip and find it fast enough at the moment ..but it will probably be my next big upgrade
 
Thanks for all your replies, really appreciated
 
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