OWCminiStack STX Stackable Storage Enclosure with Thunderbolt Hub Expansion, USB-C 40GB/s 4 Ports, Supports 3.5" and 2.5" SATA Drives

I bought this enclosure to put with my Mac Mini server. I had an external USB drive, but it wouldn't mount quick enough, which resulted in file sharing sometimes breaking. This enclosure being thunderbolt; it mounts more quickly. I have to admit, I haven't worked with file sharing yet, so I can't speak to that, but supposedly thunderbolt won't have this issue.The enclosure is a solid build and installing the drive was pretty straightforward and easily accessible once the top is removed. A couple screws on the bottom were a bit on the tight side, but didn't pose any real issue. I only have used the hard drive portion and not the NVME slot. So I can't speak to that part. But it too is easily accessible and should be easy to install an NVME into.The fan hasn't been very loud that I have seen, but it is audible in a quiet room. The 10TB Seagate drive is louder. That said, I haven't really put it to the test to see how loud it gets.It looks great with my Mac Mini and Satechi hub in the stack. With the new Mac Mini format, this is now quite a bit larger. I also love the additional Thunderbolt ports on the back of the enclosure.This isn't my first OWC product. In fact, I use their dock with my MacBook and I've had accessories for my old Mac Pro. In my opinion, OWC makes good, solid products.

I was impressed with the build quality of the STX, and even while unboxing it you can tell that a lot of thought and care went into this piece of equipment.The MiniStack STX will hit the stated 770MB/s read/write speeds for the NVMe SSD drive slot (the HDD drive won't hit those speeds because of limitations of those drives, not because of the STX). The HDD I used averaged about 270MB/s read/write speeds.After moving from an old 2011 iMac with USB 2.0 and seeing external drives transfer at 25MB/s, when I got my new computer with much faster ports, I wanted drive speeds to match that. So I ended up initially buying the Trebleet hub, which with the same NVMe drive I have, will do 2800MB/s read/write. It also has some useful ports on the front which my computer lacked (as a video editor, I mostly use the extra SD card slot).I decided to buy the STX mainly as a backup hub. After years of lots of small external drives scattered around my desk, I love that it stacks neatly with my other hub and Mac Studio, and can handle a high-capacity HDD drive, in addition to the NVMe SSD.As a video editor, I saw others mention the noise, and can say that the fan is not really audible, but the HDD makes a tiny hum when spinning (not the STX's fault, would happen with any HDD enclosure). Overall it's super quiet and I can tell you it would not affect my video editing. You can eject the HDD disk on your computer and it will stop spinning, which is also an option. The NVMe drive in the STX does not make any noise as it has no moving parts.I was concerned about speed limitations for rendering video, but even with a new fast computer, I rendered a video on my NVMe, moving the drive between the Trebleet and the MiniStack STX. The final file rendered in 1 minute, 9 seconds in both scenarios (the computer was the limiting factor) and the file was 254.3MB. So when rendering to the external NVMe, it had to move 3.69MB/s onto the drive, far under the 770MB/s or 270MB/s the STX is capable of.Speed geeks may have trouble pairing it with a Mac Studio due to a "max performance" obsession, but in reality the 770Mb/s of the STX is far and above what is actually needed day-to-day in the real world, in my opinion. The STX will transfer a 5 Gigbyte file in 6.5 seconds. Pretty fast. Pair that with the ability to put up to a 24TB HDD in addition to the NVMe SSD, and you have a powerful combination. It also provides extra Thunderbolt 4 hubs as well, which I am using to run my display.Overall, if you want to pair blazing SSD speeds with a massive HDD storage capability, as well as additional Thunderbolt 4 ports, the MiniStack STX comes highly recommended!

I purchased this to use as a backup device for my data. I bought only the enclosure and got a 20TB WD Red Plus and a 4TB Crucial P3 Plus M.2 SSD. It's my first SSD purchase so I can't comment on speed vs other brands but I can say that Crucial is a good middle of the road option. It balances Speed with Cost and Reliability. It performs much better than I expected. Very fast transfers compared to using the WD HDD. This is the second MiniStack that I've purchased over the years. The first one I bought didn't have nearly the versatility of this one and although they claimed it was supposed to be silent it wasn't. Same goes for this one but I'm pleased to report that this generation uses a larger radial fan and it's whisper quiet. The HDD spinning makes more noise than the fan. Installing the HDD and SSD were relatively easy if you take your time. On the front of the enclosure is the OWC logo. When your computer is powered on the logo changes to blue and when the computer is off it changes to white but stays lit continuously. Overall I am very happy with this purchase. I did save some money by populating it with my own HDD and SSD. I'm not sure what brand of drives OWC uses but I'm sure the SSD will be capable of higher speeds and larger capacity than what Crucial offers. You just have to be willing to pay the price for it.

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This will give your Mac Mini greater storage and 4 more thunderbolts ports.