Mac Mini auto disconnects external drives

Disconnects external drives using USB 3.0 drives were attached to Windows XP machine drives have no password/lock. Genius Bar tried as well same results, tried using new MacBook Pro same result suspect software OS X issue looking for work around to transfer data/pictues etc. to new Mac Mini?

I have a late 2012 Mac Mini with 10.9.2 and use a WD drive in a Macally enclosure running on the USB3 port and have no issues. The drive sleeps when the Mac sleeps but stays on when the Mac shuts down (some Mavericks issue I guess). Not sure why your drive would disconnect. Do you have the setting to not piut hard drive to sleep? Not sure this would fix anything or not for you.

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Can I use my late 2006 mac mini as an external drive for my late 2012 mac mini?

I have a (late 2006) Mac mini that I would like to use as an external drive for my (late 2012) Mac mini. Is this possible and can anyone suggest what cables would be needed. I am aware that the ports are very different i.e firewire and thunderbolt. Thanks in advance!

- You can boo the old Mac in Targe Disk Mode and connect the two via FireWire (FW) You will need a FW 400 to FW 800 cable or a FW 800 or FW 400 cable and appropriate adopters
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode - Apple Support
- Use the old Mac normally and setup Disk Sharing and access the old Mac via the network. The old Mac's disk will show up under Devices on the new Mac. One you set up the old Mac yo do not need mouse or keyboard or monitor. You can also setup Screen sharing and actually use the old Mac from the new Mac.
- Remove the HD from the old Mac and place it in an external USB enclosure of dock and connect it to the new Mac

Mac Mini and Smartdisk external drive

I just got around to connecting my Smartdisk external drive to my new Mini and I couldn't access it. Disk utilities came back with an Invalid Node Structure error. It says it can't fix it and I have no idea what is going on.
John

jraeyre wrote:
Invalid Node Structure error.
have a look @ [this|http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070204134513557] article.
JGG

Mac Mini 2012 formatting external drive takes forever

Just recently, I attempted to back up the primary drive with Time Machine, this took several hours. Note, in the past the back up only too a few minutes. I tried several other drives, it too took hours to back up. Additionally, to format a drive with either firewire 800 or USB, this takes more than an hour for only 250gig. The drives are either Gtech or Lacie, which in the past have worked properly and there have been no changes to the operating system. Any suggestions?
Mac Mini Late 2012
4 gig ram
Maverick / Intel 10.9.5

I set at test: 250 MB, this took just under an hour with no errors. To format a 250Gig drive, 3 hours, this was never the case a week ago. The system and applications perform fine, no changes, just the formatting and TM backups. Also, I installed CCC, it works just fine, only it takes 8 hours to clone the first time, and 2 hours to backup the second. Interesting.
Primary drive is 500GB

I have an existing mini mac and 4 tb external drive. My iTunes library exists on the external drive under /itunes... I have purchased a new mini mac and I want to leave the library where it is but move to new mini mac.. what do i need to do ?

I have an existing mini mac and 4 tb external drive.
My iTunes library exists on the external drive under /itunes...
I have purchased a new mini mac and I want to leave the library where it is on the external drive but move to new mini mac and have it show as it did on the old mini mac..
what do i need to do ?
I have found multitude of articles about moving itunes to external drive or other similar things but I don't want to move itunes from the external drive, just change mini mac machines and have everything in itunes the same..
Thanks

I had already tried that one and got this...
below is screen shot of what is on the new mac mini
and what is on the external drive now connected to the new mac mini..
There are no media files on the mac mini just the library files and on external just media files..
Do I need to copy anything over from the old mac mini ? xml files ? .. the itunes folder on old mini is about 840mb in size which looks to have artwork ect ? .. I am fairly computer literate, but this one has me stumped.. ?
thanks for help

What's the easiest way to add storage to a mac mini. (1TB hard drive but only 32G of real storage). External device, internal or partitioning?

What's the easiest way to add storage to a mac mini. (1TB hard drive but only 32G of real storage). External device, internal or is there some way to partition? I tried doing so but received a message that there wasn't enough free space to partition. Seems like a 1TB drive should have more storage than my Ipad

Its worth confirming what free space you have on your drive:
go to: Apple Menu > About this Mac > More Info > Storage
The bar chart shows how much free space there is on the drive:
Please realise that partitioning does not create extra space so this wont help you.
If your free space is less than 20 % you should get extra storage with an external USB or Firewire drive, any make or model will work.

Mac mini as an external hard drive

Can I use a mac mini as an external hard drive? if i can how do I make the connection?

You would restart the mini while holding down the T key on the attached keyboard. This puts the mini into Firewire target mode. Assuming the mini is attached to a monitor, you will see a moving Firewire logo on the screen indicating the mini is in target mode.
From there, all you have to do is plug it into the FW port on a second computer and it will look just like a hard drive to the other computer.

How can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive?

HHow can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive? Thanks.

Normally you should be able to drag and drop them onto the drive, provided the drive is Mac formatted. Have you already tried that?
Matt

Mac mini as an external optical drive

Can the mac mini intel be used as an esternal optical drive. can i hook it up to my ultra portable laptop (which doesn't have an optical drive) and use my mac mini as an external dvd and a dvd writer?

Can the mac mini intel be used as an esternal optical
drive. can i hook it up to my ultra portable laptop
(which doesn't have an optical drive) and use my mac
mini as an external dvd and a dvd writer?
Why on earth would you want to do that? An external USB2.0 DVD burner for your laptop would be barely more than $100, while a Mac mini with standard DVD burner would cost you $799!
If you have a good reason to want to do this, it's easier to use an external Mac as an optical drive for you laptop if the laptop is a Mac because then the mini can be mounted on the Mac as an external drive using Firewire target disk mode. Hence the mention of firewire in the prior response. However, if the mini is being connected to a PC, it's not so easy. You could simply connect the two via ethernet, and switch on sharing between the two systems, but you would need to control the actual burning of files to the optical drive from the Mac - which would either require a keyboard, mouse and screen for the mini, or software on the PC to control the mini remotely. Very inelegant.

Mac Mini Server w/DVD drive?

I'm considering adding a Mac mini with Snow Leopard server to my home setup, and I have several questions about the mini, since it looks like I might have to do something custom to get the setup I want...
1. Is it possible to change the OS installed by Apple when ordering? They don't offer the Mac Mini with Super Multi drive with an OSX server option, and I'm a little wary of having a server I have to use an external drive for to install from DVD or rip music or movies.
2. How large a single HD will the Mac mini support? If I'd only have one HD, I want to make it a big one...

1. I don't think it's possible to order it that way. You'd have to order the regualar mini and buy OSx Server separately. I recommend getting the server hardware. The faster processor, more memory and an additional 500G disk makes it most cost effective. I have the $99 external superdrive and use it on my MBair as well as the mini. I bought it 2 years ago with the MBair and it works just fine. No failures on either machine. Also, if it did fail, it's $99 to replace and just plug it in.
2. The largest drive Apple supplies is 500G for the mini. There might be something larger by 3rd party vendors but with 1T in my machine, I didn't need to go there.
Hope this helps...

Install snow leopard on mac mini with broken DVD Drive

I want to upgrade the OS on my mac mini but the hard drive keeps kicking out the disk - I read that I "might" be able to fix this by using a DVD cleaner but I am not overly optimistic about this fix. I have an external USB drive and a Windows PC to work with so I am wondering if I can use the DVD drive of the PC to copy the install disks to the external drive and then perform the instal from the external drive. I have been reading posts and can find advice on how to copy the Leopard install discs using another Mac or by using the remote disk feature - but since I don't have another Mac, these are not currently options.
Thanks

1. Clean your drive and reset the > PRAM, then try upgrading with the Mac Mini's drive.
2. Try out that external USB DVD drive, some will work if they are not OS X compatible.
3. Your PC might work, see > DVD or CD sharing: Using Remote Disc

I just bought a new mac mini and an external DVD burner. I want to burn a DVD video and it will not play on the TV but only on the computer? Need this figured out for tomorrow.

I just bought a new mac mini and an external DVD burner. I want to burn a DVD video and it will not play on the TV but only on the computer? Need this figured out for tomorrow. Can anyone help me?

Congratulations on the new Mini. Are you saying you tried burning and it does not play, or do you want to burn it only for the computer to be able to play it?
OS X Mountain Lion: Burn a CD or DVD may help.

Can I use a Power PC non intel Mac Mini as an external HD with my iMac 3.06

Can I use a Power PC non intel Mac Mini as an external HD with my iMac 3.06 Intel Core Duo
I can't figure out how to get this to work. Is it possible?

WildBull wrote:
Will it work if I connect via usb instead of firewire?
No. There is no "USB Target Disk Mode".
Just so we're clear, when you start your Mac mini in FireWire Target Disk Mode (TDM - holding T on startup), do you see a FireWire icon on the Mac mini's display? IIRC, it's not required that the Mac mini be connected to a display for TDM, but it would help diagnose whether or not the mini is actually starting in this mode.

Can I use my old MAC MINI as a hard drive, or do I need to transfer all the data to a new Mini?

I would like to get the new MAC MINI, but I was wondering whether I could somehow just keep my old mac mini as a storage drive and continue to use its DVD drive since the new mini doesn't have one. Has anyone out there done this? If not, what is the best way to transfer data from one mini to another?

See Here for Transferring from Old to New...
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/Setup.html

Using Time Capsule to back up Mac Book Pro and external drive

we're changing our main computer in the house to our mac book pro, which is not currently backed up, so i'm thinking of buying a time capsule. our current main machine is an old pc with two external hard drives connected....one used as the main file storage location and the second as a back up location. the main large files on these drivers are photo's, videos and scanned documents. can i use the time capsule to back up the mac book with an external hard drive connected to it? i'm thinking of leaving all the photo's, videos, documents, etc. on the external harddrive but want to be able to back it up to the time capsule as well as backing up the mac book pro. can backing up the external hard drive be set up to activate automatically daily as I think the mac book can? thanks

This is not as simple as it could be..
Firstly the Mac can read the external drives via the PC if they are shared to the network.. it cannot read them directly plugged into the Mac or the TC.
Also the TC is not really designed to store files.. it is a location for backups by TM..
Read some of the stuff Pondini.. our local Time Machine expert.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Q3 here is relevant. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
The hard drives would have to be plugged directly into the Mac to be backed up and they would have to be reformatted to Mac format. So you would need to offload the files.. format and then load the files back.. no trivial task.

Mac Mini auto disconnects external drives

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