Does New Mac Mini Support Native Command Queing (NCQ) Hard Drives?

I have noticed the NCQ spec present in certain hard drives, like some Seagate drives. Does Apple support this in the 2009 Mac Mini?
Info available through Googling "Native Command Queing." Thanks.

Hi,
In most cases, if NCQ is enabled with a direct connect RAID configuration (like the internal Mac Pro bays) it does not provide significant additional performance. With some hard disk models having NCQ turned on will actually provide slower overall performance. You can see this when testing the HighPoint and Areca RAID controllers in the Mac Pro as they allow the user to turn NCQ off or on.
If you read the NCQ spec, it ibdicates performance will be significantly higher with NCQ enabled. I have grown to believe that most of this is in theory, as in real use NCQ usually provides overall negative performance results with a direct connect RAID set.
The one configuration that enabling NCQ provides a slight overall performance increase is with port multiplier (PM) enclosures.
While the Apple Mac Pro will support a hard disk with NCQ turned on. I have found hard disks with NCQ enabled will not provide measurably higher performance results than if the HD has NCQ turned off while mounted in the Apple Mac Pro.
Have fun!

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New Mac Mini OS X Server - 2 monitors & hard drives?

I'm considering a Mac Mini for my next Mac and am looking at the OS X Server version. I currently use 2 monitors on an old Mac Pro and would like to keep that set up. I also like that the Server version of the Mini has 2 hard drives, where I would probably install 2 SSDs.
My main question is about if it's possible to connect 2 monitors to the current 2013 Mini and if so, what's the best way to do so?
Also, how difficult is it to install a second hard drive if I purchase the Mini with just one to start with?
I'm also thinking maybe I should wait a little while in case a new Mac Mini is announced in the next few months.
Thanks

Hi, not quite sure why you're considering Server, but...
ideo Card:
HD Graphics 4000
VRAM Type:
Integrated
Details:
This model has an Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics processor that shares memory with the system. Also see: What type of video system is provided by the Aluminum Mac mini models? Which are integrated and which are dedicated? Can the video be upgraded?
Standard VRAM:
512 MB*
Maximum VRAM:
768 MB*
Display Support:
Dual Displays
Resolution Support:
1920x1200*
2nd Display Support:
Dual/Mirroring*
2nd Max. Resolution:
2560x1600*
Details:
*This model simultaneously supports 1920x1200 on an HDMI or a DVI display (using the included HDMI-to-DVI adapter) and2560x1600 on a Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort display or even a VGA display (with an optional Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, which is compatible with the Thunderbolt port).
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.6-late-2 012-server-specs.html
Rather than rely on the slow internaldrives... lest you replace them with SSDs, I'd opt for external mTB drives to boot from.
I'm also thinking maybe I should wait a little while in case a new Mac Mini is announced in the next few months.
Personally, I wouldn't buy a Mini with Intel HD4000 integrated graphics, I'd wait to see if the HD500 is twice as bad, or Apple incluses a real Video card option in the next release... but I hold little hope for that.

Mac mini server: Hardware test error on Hard Drive

Mac mini server: Hardware test error on Hard Drive
'checking for slow read failures': ERROR - Target device access failure - Test failed.
CAN I ACCESS HD (which is our data server) EVER AGAIN? IF SO, HOW?
Meanwhile we wonder if this is really a hardware error. It all happened during writing a time machine backup.
Probably while writing it, some data was relocated by accident, but we can not 100%-sure remember the sequence of actions :/
This is our trauma history:
- time machine got increasingly slower in writing a backup
- we quit the backup
- we switched off the mac mini (on power button)
- we switched on the mac mini
- we stopped time machine to the rules
- we shut down mac mini via command
- we booted the mac mini in save mode
- we see a loading bar
- no progress after 10th of loading bar
- switched off (power button)
- when we now switch on the loading bar below the apple-logo is all we see + the little wheel
- we started with cmd+alt+p+r pressed
- mac mini restarted but showed the loading bar scenario without progress again
- we started with 'd' pressed and did the hardware test (see above)
- we started with 'alt' pressed but it does not give us the recoverydrive to run the last backup
ANY IDEAS?
IS IT A SOFTWARE- OR HARDWARE ERROR?
THX IN ADVANCE!

BDAqua wrote:
I thnk Intenal 2.5" Drives for servers is silly, & Ithink the Minis & iMacs re poorly cooled.
I'd get Temprature Monitor & see what temps they're running.
Is Temperature Monitor an app or a device? If it's a temperature problem then that is essentially a design problem. Two drive failures in the same Mac mini server in four months combined with the fact that they're not really user serviceable already has me 90% on the way back to more pragmatically designed Linux servers. I think it would be foolish to waste any more money on these minis for my business hosting.

I'm an avid Mac enthusiast who works in a creative field. However, I simply cannot afford a new Mac after my old one's internal hard drive failed. Can anyone recommend an affordable Mac option? I don't want to consider a non-Apple product.

I'm an avid Mac enthusiast who works in a creative field. However, I simply cannot afford a new Mac after my old one's internal hard drive failed. Can anyone recommend an affordable Mac option? I don't want to consider a non-Apple product.

Macs with a FireWire port will also boot happily from an External drive. You don't even need to open the MacBook.
Some users buy a drive they would like to have as a future Internal drive, and also buy an external enclosure. They get the External set up the way they want it, then swap with the Internal drive.

HT1338 how much is the mac mini A1347,i7,4GB RAM,1TB hard drive ?? and wat maximum upgrading for the ram ? thannks :D

how much is the mac mini A1347,i7,4GB RAM,1TB hard drive ?? and wat maximum upgrading for the ram ? thannks

go to Apples website and look. That's what anyone else here would do.

Can New mac mini supports SATA III harddisk?

The new mac mini is used "Hitachi HTS545050B9A302" as harddrive. I don't know it is a SATA II or SATA III harddisk.
Can anyone tell me.
Thanks.

wongcp wrote:
The new mac mini is used "Hitachi HTS545050B9A302" as harddrive. I don't know it is a SATA II or SATA III harddisk.
Can anyone tell me.
Apple are likely to use different batches and makes even in the same model Mac. However I believe the above Hitachi drive to be a SATA II which is 3.0Gbps.
You should not pay too much attention to that however. Not only is this only a 5400 rpm drive (slow) but any single physical hard disk cannot come even close to fully loading a SATA interface. You only need to worry about this if you get a SSD drive and even then you might need to have a RAID0 stripped array to merit a SATA III 6.0Gbps interface.

New iMac or new Mac Mini... and iPhoto Library separate drive?

I have a 2007 iMac Intel Core Duo 2.4Ghz (4 meg RAM) with a hard drive in need of repair, according to Disk Utility (and repeated by DriveGenius 3.) The Repair option is not available. I have had occasional difficulty with this particular Mac, and this is actually my second hard drive,and it is out of warranty. I had already planned to replace this computer later this year.
In attempting to download and install Lion OS, the install failed, and the computer became essentially inoperable. I was able to use Time Machine to get it back running, but cannot repair what is surely a damaged HD. Apple Support came to the same conclusion.
I have become interested in a few goals: (1) To purchase a Mac Mini along with an Apple Thunderbolt monitor (when available) in order to separate my CPU from my monitor. (2) I want to separate my media files from a CPU hard drive for safety, for the very problem I am experiencing now. (3) I want to make my iPhoto library and iMovie library available to my wife – perhaps on an external dedicated drive - for her newer iMac, to various iPhones and iPads, and to two Apple TV units.
We have a home network with an Airport Extreme, and several Ethernet outlets. Both iMac’s currently use Western Digital external drives for Time Machine backups. I have another external Seagate drove solely for my iMovie files. I just purchased a Time Capsule 2TB (but have not yet opened) with the idea that this would be where the “shared” iPhoto library resides.
My questions –
Would you recommend using a Mac Mini + monitor, or go with a new iMac (my current iMac is my third and the only one that has given me some problems.) I do not have any specialized use of my computer beyond the common iLife applications.
I want my photos and videos to be easily available to my family on their Apple devices (I’m the only one with the significant family photo library) and I haven’t quite devised a plan to accomplish that. Can you make suggestions?
Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

Currently the Library is on EHD 1 and you want to copy it to EHD2?
Connect them both to the iMac. Make sure EHD2 formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and drag the iPhoto Library from EHD 1 to EHD 2
To open either Library with iPhoto 11: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
It will update the Library to the new formats. Remember once you do this the older versions of iPhoto will no longer be able to read it.
Regards
TD

I'm attempting to transfer files, address book, etc from an external hard drive to my new Mac-mini using migration assistant. The external drive is showing up on my desktop but Migration Assistant is not seeing the drive when searching for devices

I'm attempting to migrate files, address book, maile, etc to my new Mac Mini using an external hard drive and Migration assistant. I followed the instructions on using Migration Assistant to do this but Migration Assistant is not seeing the external drive, which is displayed on my desktop

I've been chasing this problem all afternoon. I had to reformat my internal drive on my MBP and reinstall Mountain Lion Start up assistant wouldn't see my extrnal drive with the Time Machine files on it. After many tries, I skipped the restore there and let the system boot. I could see my external drive from Finder and the files looked OK. I was told to use Migration Assistant and it had the same problem.
I saw a hint on one of these posts that the icon that you see and is label Macintosh HD is actually your backup disk and it is telling you that it has a copy of your internal Macintosh HD. I went ahead and told it to continue and it started to restore my apps, settings, and documents. It's been going for a couple of hours, and is close to being done. I expect to see my old system restored when it is finished.
Wish that Apple would put some type of note that it is seeing the backup. That is most confusing and seems to be a problem for lots of users.
It's been a month or so since your post Did your get it to work?

Does new Mac Mini 2011 have a DVD option?

Will the DVD Air External Superdrive work on the 4 gb Mac Mini running Lion?

stevenfrompalmyra wrote:
Will the DVD Air External Superdrive work on the 4 gb Mac Mini running Lion?
Yes.

Mac Mini Help Please!!! - Hard Drive and Time Machine

Hello everyone,
I return once more seeking your support if I may...
I went down to the Genius Bar today, as my Mac Mini was having the multi-colour circle not-responding icon showing an awful lot, and it was struggling to perform simple tasks.
I bought my mac mini 2 years ago (12-Mar-11), and I was told there was an I/O error; and i needed a new hard drive.
I am currently backing up my machine, onto a WD My Passport 500gb.
When a new hard drive is installed by Apple, can I restore my files with my 'My Passport' backup?
I do also store other items on 'My Passport'; does this make a difference when trying to restore my files to my new hard drive?
One more question if I may...
Has anyone here had a new hard drive installed by Apple before, and if so, has the hard drive 'stood the test of time'
Many thanks in advance for your help
James

What utility are you using to backup your drive?
Apple buys hard drives from major manufacturers like Toshiba, Samsung, Seagate, and Western Digital. The drives will last as long as any drive you would purchase from them. Some last long and some don't.
Suffice to say the drives carry a specific warranty. That should give you an idea how long the manufacturer thinks it will last on average.
You can restore files from your backup pretty easily in Mountain Lion. If you are using Time Machine then you can actually boot from a Recovery HD image that it places on your backup drive. To boot from it you must connect the backup drive, then restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the Recovery HD and then click on arrow button beneath the icon.

2011 Mac Mini - Boot up on 2nd internal hard drive?

Hi folks,
I just picked up a Mac Mini today, after I lost all patience with my circa 2007 MacBook Pro when it stopped booting up this morning. I ordered more RAM and am planning to install the recently replaced hard drive from my MBP into my Mac Mini. I'm just wondering, will that drive just show up as another hard drive, similar to the way that external hard drives appear? And more importantly, the old hard drive has an older version of Snow Leopard installed, as well as a bunch of software, including my Adobe CS software. I've already jumped through hoops with Adobe to get my software reinstalled on my MBP a few months ago, and I don't feel like dealing with that again. So if the drive does show up as a separate device, can I just run my Adobe software from that drive? Or do I have to reboot but select that old hard drive at startup (if that's even an option) to run all software on it?
Thanks!

I mention "if SL will run" for a good reason. Newer Macs have the EFI (similar to BIOS in PC) set to usually run only the OSX it came with.
I would not bet anything on the SL installation being stable in the macmini, especially as the device drivers are for a MacbookPro (trackpad, keyboard, graphics chips, etc) instead of for a Macmini. Macmini has no built-in keyboard/mouse so has slightly more adaptable installed keyboard and mouse controllers than a macbookpro installation would.
I would not bet any money on anything other than Lion being stable on that macmini.

How can I get my new Mac book Pro to read my external hard drive?

I have recently upgraded to the new MacBook Pro and have a new 2T external hard drive. I used my old MacBook Pro to transfer all my files from my old 1T hard drive of the same make to the new one. This all worked without isssue and I can open the ne external hard drive on my old Mac but my new Mac is reading it. It does not show up in finder at all but it does show up in Disk Utility. Any suggestions? Do I need to do something on my new Mac for it to be read? The new Mac has no problem with the smaller USBs I use.

How do you have Finder Preferences set?
Ciao.

Help with setting up mac mini w/keyboard,mouse and external hard drive

OK, first, I filled my mac mini with photos and music, so I bought an exteranl hard drive and thought I copied over my library, but only half of it shows up. (Another questions)
But, now that I have 3 things using the USB ports and only 2 USB ports available, how do I set this up. I tired a 4 port, but what ever I plug into the 4 port USB does not work.

If I understand the problem, you have a 4 port USB hub that is not working.
The obvious suspect is the hub. I trust it is a powered USB hub, i.e. one you have to plug it into an external power source. A hub that draws its power from the Mini is not a good idea, since that would be asking the Mini to provide power to the two built-in ports as well as four external ones.
(I have a Keyspan usb 2 four port externally powered hub hooked up to my Mini. It works flawlessly.)
Even if your hub is powered, it is still the first suspect.

My bran new Mac Pro, won't recognize my external hard drive?

Hello,
I just got the new mac pro about a month ago (the cylindrical kind) it has 16 MGs of ram and 250 GBs. I got a 2 TB external hard drive for time machine, and i already have a 500 GB portable hard drive for transferring files. They worked fine initially, but the computer has stopped seeing them all together. I've already restarted my computer several times. I plug them in, they light up, but the icon doesn't appear on the desktop or finder or even in disk utility. I've tested my portable drive on my laptop and it works fine, so its not the external hard drive or the cords. I also tested a flash drive and an external CD drive in the USB ports and they work fine, so i've deduced that its not a hardware issue. The best i can come up with is that its a softwear issue, but i have no idea how that would even work. Has anyone else heard of this?
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Neither hard drive is working on the mac pro. They do not appear in disk utility.
My chords seem fine. I don't have another cable to try on the Mac Pro. but both cables worked on my 2011 macbook pro with my external hard drive. my 2TB didn't work on my macbook pro however... it didn't even appear in disk utility. I wonder though if that has to do with the usb 3. I know my laptop has USB 2 and my external hard drive is USB 3 and i'm not sure if its backwards compatible.
I have tried all of the USB ports on the Mac Pro, the hard wear seems fine.
I will try resetting the SMC shortly and see if that works.

Connect mac mini to macbook to use as hard drive

I have a older mac mini that I would like to use as an external hard drive. How do I do that?

Need more details
What model Mac Mini?
What model of Mac are you connecting to?
what version of OS X on each?
Allan

Does New Mac Mini Support Native Command Queing (NCQ) Hard Drives?

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