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NewerTech miniStack MAX

1.0TB 7200RPM
Multi-Interface Storage Solution with built-in hard drive, DVD/CD read/write optical drive, SD card reader, & USB powered hub

Mac / PC / USB 3.0 & 2.0 / FireWire (FireWire 400 Backwards Compatible) / eSATA

The only four-in-one storage, data access, and connectivity solution available!

The Newer Technology miniStack® MAX puts the diverse functionality of a high-capacity hard drive, CD/DVD optical drive, SD card reader and USB powered hub into a single elegant aluminum finish enclosure. A perfect complement for ANY Mac or PC, yet sized to match the footprint of the Mac mini, miniStack MAX offers fully bootable data storage/backup along with three USB ports for powering and charging external devices.

An integrated SD card reader (SDXC) conveniently located on the front of the drive makes transferring photos and video from digital cameras easier than ever. Plus, an internal optical drive offering DVD/CD read/write capabilities completes your digital workflow needs without adding extra cords and clutter.

Looking for massive capacity in a desktop space-saving design or want to give your notebook more functionality while "on the go?" No problem, miniStack MAX can stack upon itself to create a "tower of power", yet is lightweight and compact so you can enjoy the power of desktop accessories wherever you roam. Now you truly can take storage, data access, and connectivity to the MAX!

Professional Level Storage Made Plug and Play Simple

With up to 6.0TB of capacity, the miniStack MAX is ready to handle the demands of extended storage or backup. It's also great for intensive data access such as professional audio and video editing. A multi-interface allows you to choose the data connection that suits your workflow-USB 3.0/2.0, FireWire® 800/400 or eSATA-with data transfer speeds up to 300MB/s. It's the perfect solution for storing your entire music, photo and video libraries, and even burning backups via the internal optical drive.

Restores Optical Drive Capabilities

The miniStack MAX provides modern optical drive capabilities for all users, and more so with systems that no longer even include an optical drive. The miniStack MAX returns the convenience of installing software from a CD or DVD, loading music into iTunes, accessing archived photos, or watching DVD movies on their computer without extra cords or clutter.

Reads SD Memory Cards in a Flash

The integrated SD card reader (SDXC) on the front of the miniStack MAX makes transferring photos and video super-simple-no more fumbling around the back for the SD slot. Plus, it helps keep your desktop clean by eliminating the need for an external card reader and yet another cable.

Connect and Charge Digital Devices

Three powered USB ports on the back make the miniStack MAX a convenient digital hub for connecting external devices like iPhones, mice, or keyboards. One of the USB ports is a high-powered 2.1Amp slot, making it ideal for charging an iPad or other devices that require more power than provided by standard USB connections.

Note: Apple's DVD Player application only works with an internal optical drive or the Apple's external SuperDrive. To play DVDs with your drive, we recommend the free VLC Player, which can be downloaded from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Includes the Powerful SpeedTools Utility Suite for Mac

The comprehensive Mac utility used by professionals for accurate Mac diagnosis and maintenance. Click the SOFTWARE tab below to learn more »

Gallery

OWC's A Closer Look

Take a closer look at
NewerTech's miniStack MAX.

Features

Fully Bootable and ideal for Backup, Audio, Video, Photography, and general storage needs.
Durable aluminum finish complements Mac models as well as aluminum finished PCs
Front panel easy access SD card reader (SDXC)
Optical read/write CD/DVD
USB 3.0/2.0 powered hub:
- Two ports for powering/charging common desktop accessories and digital devices
- One port with 2.1Amp power for higher charging power required devices like the iPad
Multi-Interface:
- FireWire 800/400 (100MB/s / 50MB/s)
- USB 3.0/2.0 (300MB/s / 60MB/s)
- eSATA (300MB/s)
MagLev fan (same as used in the Mac mini) offers frictionless, whisper-quiet operation
Integrated Kensington Security Slot for theft prevention
Smart Power switch - in switched on position, the hard drive powers up and down in tandem with computer*
High quality double-shielded connection cables included ( eSATA sold separately)
Identical footprint to 2010 and later Apple Mac mini (measures 2.3 (H) x 7.7 (W) x 7.7 (D) inches)

*Via FireWire and USB connections only. Fan will run continuously unless unit turned off.

Includes

Newer Technology miniStack MAX external storage solution
High-quality double-shielded connecting cables
- High Quality Double Shielded FireWire 800 connecting cable (9-9 Pin cable)
- High Quality Double Shielded USB 3.0 connecting cable
UL Listed U.S./International Auto Switching 100 ~ 240v 50/60Hz input, 12 Volt 5 Amp output Power Supply (adapter plugs for International use sold separately)
miniStack MAX Owner's Guide (4MB PDF)
Pre-installed Backup and Utility software
- Intech® SpeedTools Utilities™ OEM (For Mac OS 8.6 - X only)
- Prosoft Engineering® Data Backup for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later
- NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows 2000 or later
Over 1.5GB of Freeware/Shareware/Public domain software pre-installed
NewerTech 3 Year Solution Warranty with 48-Hour Turnaround Time
Optical drive mechanism covered by 1 year warranty
Complimentary 1 Year Level 1 Data Recovery

Gallery

360 Gallery

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Product Specifications:

Standard Mechanism

1.0TB Toshiba / HGST Deskstar 7K1000.D Specifications:

Specifications

Form Factor

3.5″ HDD

Interface

SATA 6.0Gb/s

Capacity¹

1.0TB

Formatted Capacity²

931GiB

Rotational Speed

7,200 RPM

Cache / Data Buffer

32MB

Manufacturer Model Number

HDS721010DLE630

Format

Unformatted (Instructions on formatting here)

Physical

Height (max)

26.1mm (1.027″)

Width (max)

101.6mm (4.0″)

Length (max)

147mm (5.787″)

Weight (typical)

450g (0.992 lbs.)

Bytes per Sector

512

Areal Density

569Gb/in²

Reliability³

Contact Start-Stops

300,000

Nonrecoverable Read Errors

1 per 10¹⁴ bits read

Warranty

2 Year Warranty

Performance

Transfer Rate (Max)

3.0Gb/s

Power

Maximum Start Current, DC

2.0 Amps

Idle Mode

3.7 Watts

Environmental (Operating)

Shock

70 G max at 2ms

Ambient Temperature (°F)

32°F to 107°F

Ambient Temperature (°C)

0°C to 42°C

Vibration

0.67 G (5 to 500 Hz)

Relative Humidity (non-condensing)

8% to 90%

Altitude

-304.8 m to 3,048 m (-1,000 ft to 10,000+ ft)

Environmental (Non-Operating)

Shock

350 G max at 1ms

Ambient Temperature (°F)

-40°F to 158°F

Ambient Temperature (°C)

-40°C to 70°C

Vibration

1.04 G (5 to 500 Hz)

Relative Humidity (non-condensing)

5% to 95%

Altitude

-304.8 m to 12,192 m (-1000 ft to 40,000+ ft)

Acoustics

Idle (Typical)

2.5 bels

1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending upon operating environment (typically 5-10% less). The actual total capacity will depend on your own defined file settings/preferences.

In terms of standard gigabytes, 1GiB ≈ 1.074GB and refers to the actual formatted capacity of shown under Mac OS 10.5 or earlier and Microsoft Windows OS.

Specific application environments such as temperature and duty cycle will affect the overall reliability rates.
1.0TB* Toshiba/HGST Deskstar™ 7K1000.D Hard Disk Drive**
*1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending upon operating environment (typically 5-10% less). The actual total capacity will depend on your own defined file settings/preferences.

**OWC reserves the right to replace or upgrade to equivalent or better components.

Drive Rotation Speed

7200 RPM

Drive Cache Size

32 Megabytes

Read Speeds*

DVD: up to 8X
CD: up to 24X

Write Speeds*

DVD: up to 8X
CD: up to 24X

Standard Optical^{1, 2}

Hitachi-LG GA31N Specs:

General

Drive Type

Internal Slim DVD/CD Writer

Form Factor

12.7mm Laptop

Interface

SATA

Loading Mechanism

Slot

Bezel Color

N/A

Buffer Memory

2MB

Mounting Orientation

Horizontal / Vertical

Manufacturer Model Number

GA31N

RoHS Compliant

Yes

Performance

Supported Formats

DVD-ROM, DVD-ROM DL, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM (Ver.2), CD-DA, CD-ROM (Mode 1 and mode 2), CD-ROM XA (Mode 2, form 1 and form 2), Photo CD (Single and multiple sessions), CD Extra, CD-R, CD-RW and CD-TEXT

Capacity

Data Capacity

8.5GB : DVD General Use Double Layer
4.6GB : DVD General Use
700MB : 79 minute CD
650MB : 74 minute CD
550MB : 63 minute CD

Physical

Height (max)

12.7mm (0.50")

Width (max)

128.0mm (5.04")

Length (max)

129.0mm (5.00")

Weight (typical)

0.18kg (0.50lbs.)

Environment

Operating Temperature

5° C to 50° C

Non-Operating Temperature

-40° C to 65° C

Operating Humidity

5% to 90% R.H.

Non-Operating Humidity

5% to 95% R.H.

Maximum Read Speeds

DVD-R

8X

DVD+R

8X

DVD-R (Dual Layer)

6X

DVD+R (Dual Layer)

6X

DVD-RW

8X

DVD+RW

8X

DVD-RAM

5X

DVD-ROM

8X

DVD-ROM (Dual Layer)

8X

CD-ROM

24X

CD-R

24X

CD-RW

24X

Maximum Write Speeds

DVD-R

8X

DVD+R

8X

DVD-R DL

6X

DVD+R DL

6X

DVD-RAM

5X

DVD-RW

6X

DVD+RW

8X

CD-R

24X

CD-RW

16X

Disk Labeling

Disc Labeling

No

Reliability

Warranty

90 Day OWC Warranty

Hitachi-LG GA31N
Internal Slim DVD/CD Writer

* Click for all supported formats and specific mode speeds.

¹ Slot loading optical drives are sensitive and care must be taken to not damage the disk loading armature. Only use slight, gentle pressure when inserting a disc into the miniStack MAX optical drive slot.

² In order for the optical drive to function, the miniStack Max must be connected by an active USB connection.

Bridge Chipsets

JMicron 355 chipset with eSATA & FireWire 800 (1394B)
JMicron 539 chipset with USB 3.0/USB 2.0

Interface/Ports

USB 3.0 hub with (3) USB 3.0/2.0 ports:
- (2) for data transfer or powering/charging devices
- (1) with 2.1Amp power for charging devices like the iPad
(1) eSATA port (cable sold separately)
(2) FireWire 800/400 ports (backward compatible with FIreWire 400 via connector or cable sold separately)
(1) Built-in SD card reader

Maximum Data Transfer Rate

USB 3.0/2.0 (up to 300MB/sec)
eSATA (up to 300MB/sec)
FireWire 800/400 (up to 100MB/sec)

Power Supply

UL Listed U.S./International Auto Switching 100 ~ 240v, 50/60Hz input, 12 Volt 5 Amp output Power Supply (adapter plugs for International use sold separately). For replacement power supply, click here.

Material

Aluminum finished body and glossy plastic black top

Form Factor

Identical footprint to 2010 and later Apple Mac mini

Enclosure Dimensions

7.7 in (W) x 7.7 in (D) x 2.33 in (H)
197 mm (W) x 197 mm (D) x 59.182 mm (H)

Enclosure Weight

Empty case 2.25 lbs (1.02 kg)

Compatibility

Compatible with any computer that can support a USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA, FireWire 800 or FireWire 400 connection.
Bootable**

Mac System Requirements

Mac OS 8.6 or later
Support for drives over 2TB requires Mac OS X 10.2 and later.

Windows System Requirements

Windows 98SE or later
Windows XP 32-bit does not support 3TB and larger drives.
Support for drives over 2TB requires Windows XP 64-bit and later.

Linux Requirements

Linux OS versions

Software Included

Intech® Hard Disk SpeedTools Utilities™ OEM (For Mac OS 8.6 - X only)
ProSoft Engineering® Data Backup for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later
NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows 2000 or later
Over 1.5GB of Freeware, Shareware, Public domain software installed

Product Manual

miniStack MAX Owner's Guide
(4MB PDF)

Operating Environment:

Temperature

(operating) 5°C - 55°C (41°F - 131°F)
(non-operating) -40°C - 65°C (-40°F - 149°F)

Relative Humidity

(operating) 8% - 90% RH (Non-condensing)
(non-operating) 5% - 95% RH (Non-condensing)

Shock

(operating) 65G 2mS
(non-operating) 175G 2mS

Vibration

(operating) 1.0G (5 - 300Hz)
(non-operating) 5.0G (5 - 500Hz)

MTBF

More than 300,000 power-on hours

Warranty

3 Year NewerTech Solution Limited Warranty*

The best warranty is one you never have to use - but should the need occur - we're proud to provide a superior level of support and service coverage to our customers. OWC and NewerTech storage solutions come fully backed by an Industry-leading 48-hour turnaround time which includes complimentary Level 1 data recovery for the first year, plus additional data recovery options available throughout the three year limited warranty period, for complete peace of mind ownership confidence.

View more information about the 3 Year NewerTech Solution Limited Warranty

*The installed optical drive mechanism is covered by a 1 Year NewerTech Enclosure Limited Warranty.
Note: Do not disassemble or otherwise open your NewerTech solution prior to the conclusion of 3 Year NewerTech Solution Limited Warranty's period. Doing so will void the remainder of the NewerTech limited warranty.

*Native SATA interface speed of the Newer Technology miniStack enclosure is SATA 3Gb/s,
but is compatible with SATA 1.5Gb/s, 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s drives.

**Not bootable over USB 3.0 when used with FileVault encryption or when formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted).

Manufacturer provided specifications for Newer Technology p/n NWTMSMXDW1.0TB7 UPC#: 811643014640

Software

Prosoft Engineering® Data Backup 3 for OS X v10.2.8 or later

Backup Made Easy. Data Backup makes it easy to backup to FireWire and USB drives, network drives, CDs and even DVDs. Make schedules so you don't need to 'think' about backing up... It does it for you.
A $59.00 Value! View detailed software info, or click here to purchase softwareseparately from solution

NovaStor NovaBACKUP® Solution for Windows®

NovaBACKUP has been helping millions of users recover from data loss and disasters for over 18 years. Feature rich, NovaBACKUP provides a powerful backup solution. Built-in support for hundreds of the most popular storage devices and a step-by-step backup and restore wizard makes NovaBACKUP extremely easy to use. Requires Windows 2000 or later.
A $49.95 Value! View detailed software info

Intech® SpeedTools Utilities™

Intech SpeedTools consists of a suite of utilities managed by an application which controls the launching, documentation and version control of each individual component utility, such as Disk Defrag and QuickBack. An easy-to-use installation and removal application is provided to make installation a snap, yet powerful enough to allow you to customize which utility component set you would like to create.
An $89.95 Value! View detailed software info, or click here to purchase software separately from solution

Reviews

"...If you need one box with a lot, then the miniStack MAX is hard to beat." — Adam Turner, Macworld Australia
October 2013 Issue
"... expands connectivity options and storage capacity in a stylish form factor at a reasonable price." — Josh Shaman, Storage Review
"... a whopping amount of hardware in a sleek aluminum body..." — Asher Weisberger, MyMac.com
"... very versatile product ... does everything I hoped for ... whisper quiet..." — Janet Cloninger, The Gadgeteer
"The miniStack MAX is hard to beat... [it] features a Blu-ray/DVD/CD burner, SDXC memory card reader and USB powered hub." — Adam Turner, MacTalk
"... the miniStack gave me the ability to still watch DVDs on my computer. And its 4TB of storage is eight times more room than iMac ever offered." — Terry Gardner, Chicago Tribune

Customer Ratings

Write a Review 4.4 / 5 32 out of 34 (94%) reviewers would recommend this product

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: nmassello Location: Texas Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 A good product, but with a few poor design choices August 11, 2016 From its style, footprint, and features, Newertech's miniStack MAX is clearly meant to go with recent (2011 and later) unibody Mac minis, providing them with an external hard drive and optical drive as well as a USB hub and SD card reader. It performs most of these functions fairly well, but some bad design choices diminish its value.

The case is sturdy and well made, and the combined pilot and hard drive activity light is unobtrusive. The optical drive is bootable, and hard drive installation is fairly simple, although it does use cables rather than an easier backplane-style connector.

The fan is quiet, like the ones in recent minis, but it can't quite handle hot drives. A WD Black 3TB 7200rpm drive became very hot after a brief period of use, so I replaced it with a cooler WD Blue 5400rpm drive.

Unfortunately, this unit requires an external power brick. I would have preferred an internal power supply, even if that meant that the unit itself had to be larger (taller). An additional insult is that the rear power switch is not on the same side as the power button on a Mac mini.

The FireWire port does not pass through unless the miniStack is turned on, but the USB 3 hub does. There are only two full USB ports, both on back. One or more USB ports on the front would be most welcome, but front space is instead devoted to a poorly designed SD card slot. Because its design makes it difficult to pull out an inserted card, this slot is actually harder to use than the one on the back of a mini.

The USB charging port on the back is somewhat baffling, but much less so than the inclusion of an eSATA connection for the hard drive. I can't imagine that many Mac users, few of whom even have eSATA adapters, would use the miniStack MAX as their external drive enclosure. For Mac mini users, an eSATA port is useless.

A little less baffling, but only a little, is the inclusion of a FireWire 800 port. It only connects the hard drive, not the optical drive. The only unibody mini that has neither USB 3 nor an optical drive is the 2010 Server model, so the FW port is also wasted space for most of the users that the miniStack MAX seems to be aimed at.

But the worst design flaw of the miniStack MAX is not in its superfluous ports but in its firmware. Like many external hard drive enclosures, it spins down the drive after a period of inactivity. This is a good idea, but it's badly executed: the time setting is much too short. I am constantly having to wait to access the drive after only a short period of inactivity. This is hard on the drive as well as on the user. Drive spindown timeout should be closer to ten minutes than two.

The miniStack MAX does everything it's supposed to. It's a good product. If its design had a better focus on its target market, it would be a great product.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 0GB Newer Technology miniStack MAX w/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included).. Customer Videos:

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: new brunswick n.b. canada Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 this product works great with y mac mini January 1, 2016 I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 500GB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ DVD Burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: canada Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 4/5 product works great with my mac pro January 1, 2016 I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 0GB Newer Technology miniStack MAX w/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Ohio Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 3/5 An overall OK MacMini Add-on December 28, 2015 I'm using this with a 2012 MacMini Server running 10.8.5. It's an attractive match to the Mini and it works great for data backup. However, as noted in small print at the bottom of the Specs on the web page, this unit is NOT bootable over USB 3.0 if the drive is formatted as standard Max OS Journaled. To boot, you have to use the FireWire 800 connection. With a 3TB HGST drive installed, I can achieve data read/writes of up to 190 MB/sec over USB 3.0, but it barely runs at around 100 MB/sec over FW800 (as confirmed using diglloyd Disk Tester Fill Volume). I'm using this for both data storage as well as backup of the boot partition on my Mini. So I normally leave it connected with the USB 3.0 to keep the speed up for data transfer; if I have to boot from the backup, I have to connect the FW800 cable. Leaving both cables connected all the time causes the harddrive to default to the FW800 connection which results in slower transfer speeds.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ DVD Burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Response from MacSales.com, Technical Support December 30, 2015 To clarify the miniStack MAX is not bootable over USB 3.0 when used with FileVault encryption or when formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted). Not booting over USB 3.0 is specific to encrypted drives as opposed to the standard Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatting option.

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: San Francisco Bay Area Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 3-4 months

Rating: 4/5 Excellent Feature Set. Fan A Bit Loud. December 14, 2015 Excellent Feature Set. Fan A Bit Loud. Top of enclosure is made of black plexiglass... and scratches easily.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX SSHD Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Verified Buyer Top 250 Contributor

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Washington, VA Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Excellent add-on to my Mac Mini October 5, 2015 This is an excellent add to my Mac Mini. The quality of the drive unit is excellent. I bought the bare unit and installed a 1TB drive as a backup for my Mac Mini and gives me an easily accessible SD card slot, as well as the DVD burner. It is quiet. I do hear the fan, but it is not unacceptable. I like the design and how stacking the Mini on top makes it look sleek on my desk. I could easily see using the miniStack MAX with a larger drive with a Mac Mini in a server application. Just buy one, you'll be happy.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 0GB Newer Technology miniStack MAX w/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Dublin, CA Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Works advertised, but USB connector not tight August 7, 2015 This Mini Stack works great. I use it as my Time Machine backup storage, and have used it to play dvds and blurays. My only two comments are: the on light is under the unit so it is hard to tell if the unit is powering on. I was told by OWC that they are looking at different ways to do this without being overly annoying with the light. I can see where it would be a problem in a dark room to have this light on all the time. The second comment is an issue that is not unique, and has a history. The USB connection is not tight fitting. It is very loose. Slight pressure and the connection is lost between the mac and the ministack or is enough to register as a problem with Time Machine. I worked with OWC on this and had very good support but no solution could be found. I tried different cables, but the problem persisted. I was just about to resort to using a self setting rubber to hold the cable in place when my son had the simple answer that worked. He put a square shaped pen under the cable. This first attempt was going in the right direction but needed refinement, as the pen was a tad too high. The bottom of the mini stack did not sit firmly on the table. I found a watch wristband container that was exactly the height needed. Now my USB cable connection is snug, and can survive almost any slight repositioning movements of the mac or mini stack, and putting things on the cable like a bag of cherries (my husband did this and started this search for a solution) doesn't move the cable at all. My Time Machine hums along doing its thing, and I can happily watch DVDs and Blu rays on my iMac. Additional note: I also bought bluray player software as well as software to handle burning CDs. The Mini Stack will provide the physical means to play your blu rays but you need software on your Mac to complete the action. This is my 3rd mini stack from OWC. Never any problems. Looks great, and works like a charm!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Arcadia, Fl Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Matches Mac Mini Perfectly July 28, 2015 Looks like it was made by Apple to match the Mac Mini. The hybrid 2 gb drive is fast and quiet. It is a great addition to any Mac Mini system.

This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX SSHD Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Las Vegas, NV Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Hobbiest Owned Product: over 6 months

Rating: 4/5 Love the functionality! July 24, 2015 Love this product for its various uses! My only issue is removing media cards from the Media Card Reader. Cards are difficult to extract from the device.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 0GB Newer Technology miniStack MAX w/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Dublin, CA Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Dependable Optical disk combo with Storage June 6, 2015 NewerTech does it again with the miniStack line. These look cool, and they are so dependable. This is my third purchase. I bought this for my husband's iMac upgrade. A few months ago, my sister and I each bought one for ourselves. My first purchase was the original white mini Stack storage only for my MacBook many years ago. I have had no problems with the white one, nor with the new one. They work as advertised. The descriptions on the web site are a little confusing where it says "Plus, an internal optical drive offering DVD/CD read/write and choice of Blu-ray read only or Blu-ray read/write capabilities completes your digital workflow needs without adding extra cords and clutter." After talking with customer service, they told me this referred to when you add your own hard drive. These are the best looking drives with storage and no one else offers such variety. You choose how much storage you want. You get DVD only or DVD/Bluray RW.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Jupiter, FL Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 Great All-in-one Blu-ray and backup solution May 24, 2015 This is a great combination product, a Blu-ray burner and backup drive in one device. I chose the "No hard drive" version because I had a spare SSD that I installed myself. The Blu-ray drive works great, and the SSD I installed works perfectly with SuperDuper! for creating a bootable backup. The only drawback is that this USB 3.0 device does not support UAS (USB Attached SCSI) for optimum speed because NewerTech went with a cheap JMicron USB chipset. An excellent device, but minus one star for lack of UAS.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from NewerTech miniStack MAX w/BD Writer/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: NB, Canada Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 3/5 very good overall, but oversold May 13, 2015 I just purchased a new IMAC retina and wanted to get the optical drive feature and an external drive so this was a good compromise with the benefit of a SD reader. Unfortunately the keyboard eject function does not work with the optical drive which is kind of a nuisance, but not terrible, I can live with this.

The HD and software work seamlessly with the IMAC, I partitioned the drive with the software included and made a backup(synced with TimeMachine) and storage drive which is great.

The big downside is that they label this drive to turn on and off with the computer (saving energy and the drive), but the fan NEVER turns off and it is relatively noisy compared to the IMAC which is silent.

I would recommend this product, but beware the definition of "whisper quiet fan" is left to interpretation.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ DVD Burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Response from MacSales.com, Technical Support May 13, 2015 Try an Option-Eject on the keyboard which is often used for external optical drive ejection. For information on how to map the eject key to work with that drive, see our article here: http://blog.macsales.com/10850-give-me-my-eject-key-back The hard drive does indeed spin up and down with the computer via FireWire and USB only. As stated, to turn off the fan, the power switch must be used. Whisper quiet isn't actually subjective and open to interpretation - it is a tested measurement between 25-35 dB from a working distance of 2 feet.

Verified Buyer

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Los Angeles, CA Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 does everything it's supposed o February 9, 2015 The blu ray burner works great, fits right on top of my Mac Mini and looks good. Seems sturdy... the only drawback is the disc drive is a bit noisy.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Cuyahoga Falls OH Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Nice add-on for Man Mini. January 29, 2015 Since Apple no longer provides built-in optical drives, this product was an ideal choice. Plus, it contains a hard drive, which I use as a Time Machine back-up device. Unit worked well right out of the box.

NOTE: For optical drive to function, it MUST be plugged into a USB port on CPU. Otherwise, unit will not recognize disk inserted into unit. (This was in the instructions, which -- at first -- I failed to read!) USB cable is included with in box with device, as is an 800 FireWire cable, which I use for Time Machine data transfer.

I would recommend this item to a friend!

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Reviewer: Anonymous Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 3/5 Good but not great January 29, 2015 Drive is a great companion to my mac mini. Operates fine, looks good however, the "whisper quite" drive is not that quite compared to the mac.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 0GB Newer Technology miniStack MAX w/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

Response from MacSales.com, Technical Support January 30, 2015 It is the same whisper quiet fan as found in the Mac mini. The drive noise would depend entirely on the noise level of the hard drive that you installed into the enclosure.

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Hong Kong Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 An elegant and smart way of ext. storage January 16, 2015 Since there is no official reseller in Hong Kong for this product which I order it on OWC. I like it as a smart way for combine an external drive, DVD Rom (I am using 2012 > iMAc which do not have DVD-Rom built in), card reader and several USB hub. It works brilliantly and quietly with elegant design. I will definitely recommend this to all Mac user.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ DVD Burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Fort Worth, Texas Age: Over 65 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 Outstanding Companion to the Mac-mini January 12, 2015 All I can say is this is a good companion to the 2012 and 2014 Mac-mini. While I am not a particular fan of slot loading optical drives this one has been very reliable, the SD slot has proven very useful, and as an enclosure for the 2TB Toshiba HD I installed it has proven ideal.

If this enclosure had a Thunderbolt interface and slots for a second or third HD for a RAID array, it would be beyond perfect.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from NewerTech miniStack MAX w/BD Writer/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: philadelphia Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 great product January 9, 2015 Started using a macmini for consolidating my music library. I use Apple Lossless for everything, so my 500 gig external drive was filling up and I was making sketchy backups. Ordered the 4TB ministack Max with BluRay to hold music and video. Also purchased 5TB ministack which I partitioned to back up both my macmini and my new capacious media drive. Setup was a snap, especially with OWC's phone support which has always been there for me. Macmini and ministacks stack on top of one another--look great. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to run automatic weekly backups. Extremely happy with this solution. Works great.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 4.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Chocolatetown, USA Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Great all in one storage and DVD player January 2, 2015 I wanted to play multi formatted DVD's that would not run well on the DVD drive that came with my mac, so I found this offering at OWC. All I can say is this, Awesome!. DVD's play flawlessly now, I can us the memory card drive easier now instead of going to the back of my iMac, and the 4TB storage is very handy. Installation is simple, plug it in to your USB 3 port, plug the power into the back of the unit, and your mac will find it and install. The added software included on a partition on the hard drive is easy to use and install. (I do not use this software routinely, but did try it out and it all works well). Very quiet and has a nice low level white light that shines down on the desktop so there is no light pollution. Well done OWC.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 4.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Great Capability Combination December 29, 2014 This was the perfect companion to my new Retina 27" iMac. 3TB drive for my nightly Carbon Copy Cloner or hourly Time Machine backups, the optical drive that iMacs no longer have internally, and a Smart Card slot out front where it's easily accessed. And all with only one box and one power supply/power plug. Apple should have such a great product available.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ DVD Burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Washington DC Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Great buy! December 27, 2014 I purchased this unit for a new iMac 27" Retina as a means of having a blu-ray DVD reader/writer available. While I haven't yet taken advantage of that feature, and likely will need some software to support playing Blu-ray DVDs on my mac, I'm very satisfied so far. The only feature which surprised me was the inability to daisy chain Fire-wire drives when using the USB 3.0 connection to my new computer. To make this work you also need to purchase a $29 FireWire 800 to Thunderbolt converter from Apple (or elsewhere?). I've done that and is seems to be working like a charm. Compared with my 1TB SSD, the hard drive is a bit noticeable, but really makes noise when spinning a DVD (about the same as the old internal apple drive in my old iMac). Needless to say, I only use it that way when I need to and I likely won't keep the disc running except for backups.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Brisbane, Australia Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 5-6 months

Rating: 5/5 An excellent product October 10, 2014 I use the 4.0TB ministack storage-Blu-ray burner for my Time Machine backups and disk burning. I have had no problems with this unit and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is considering buying one. If a CF card reader was included it would be ideal for my photographic needs. EL, Australia.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 4.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Round Rock, TX Age: 55-65 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Great device being used in a non-traditional way October 5, 2014 I purchased this device when looking for a blu-ray burner to hook up to my 1st Gen MacBook Pro w/ Retina display. When coupled with my Apple Thunderbolt display the device essentially becomes a power doc to give me USB3 ports plus, Blu-ray, plus a Time-Machine/"scratch" disk when working at my desk.

Esthetically is matches the MBPw/Retina and the Apple Thunderbolt display and look great. Functionality has been great!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Los Angeles

Rating: 4/5 Good product September 23, 2014 I recently retired my MacPro from 2007 and upgraded to a new iMac 27 inch with SSD internal drive. My dilemma was what to do with all the HDD I had from my MacPro. I looked for enclosures that would also work as a hub and this even doubled as a DVD drive. The installation was easy and set up super fast. No issues here. I have this drive connected via USB3 and the read and write speeds are great. The additional 2 USB3 ports are very helpful as well. I only found that in the product description, it was left out that the FireWire800 connection was only to be used as an alternative connection to the usb3 and not an additional input. bummer.... I heard that some customers complained about loud fan noise but I don't find that the fan makes much noise at all and I am running a recording studio, so any extra buzz or hum would be noticed. I'll be getting another ministack in the future.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 0GB Newer Technology miniStack MAX w/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: San Mateo, CA Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Excellent marriage of necessary features September 13, 2014 I purchased a Mac mini, which has limited storage and no CD/DVD capability. The NewerTech unit not only provides the storage, CD and DVD link but also extra USB connections and Blu Ray. Great product.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: College Station, TX Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 3/5 Was a pain to get mine setup September 1, 2014 They don't have a "try" option for my recommendation, but that is what I would give it. Once you get through some of the issues its not bad. It would have been nice if the drive was already partitioned and formatted; I had a heII of a time getting the drive to be recognized. The Blu-ray works, but be ready to catch the disc when you eject it I had one shoot across the desk.

The drive is stable; I've been running it as my backup drive for the past month with no issues. I like the SD reader in the front; makes is easy to offload my pictures. It would like more than 2 USB outlets, if you are going to be called a USB hub I think it needs to be 4+ outlets

This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Bristol, CT Age: 55-65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 I purchased MiniStack MAX for my new MacMini August 23, 2014 AWESOME Works great. Looks great with the MacMini. Love it!

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous

Rating: 4/5 Seems to do All that it is suppose to August 10, 2014 I have had it only a few months so I have not used it extensively except as a backup drive. I like the Card slot and usb 3 capability, as well as the auto start up feature. Have not yet used the bluray capability but have made DVDs. All in all I am well satisfied.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 3.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Costa Mesa, CA Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Great Product July 28, 2014 Lots of storage space, sleek design, great connectivity options. Came with all cables needed, arrived on time and in perfect operating order.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Bonita Springs, FL Age: 35-44 Experience Level: IT Professional Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 Secondary storage device with plenty of options July 26, 2014 While I got this for the hard drive, I'm liking it for the immediate access to my SD media cards and the additional USB plugs in the back. I haven't had a chance to use the eSATA header in the back, but I'm sure at some point I will.

It is a nice match to my Mac Mini cosmetically, and is extremely easy to setup. Over a single USB 3.0 connection, there is plenty of bandwidth to access the HD, SD media and CD/DVD at the same time. Both read/write performance averaged at amount 189 MB/s. To put this into perspective, my SSD measures about the same...

My first unit had a buggy Bluray/DVD drive, and I didn't notice this right away as it wasn't really something I had planned to use it for. I will say, the Bluray/DVD does not eject with the same quality as my Macbook DVD drive, discs pop out slightly askew and can fall out of the device altogether if you don't grab it in time.

While it doesn't seem to have the same quality as my Mac hardware, it's extremely functional and well worth the money. For anyone looking to augment particularly a Mini, I'd recommend this as a good pick.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX SSHD Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Abingdon, VA Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 5/5 Excellent Product July 1, 2014 I bought this product to connect to a new Mac Pro. I installed my own hard drive. The optical drive, the card reader and the installed drive work flawlessly. Very good product.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from NewerTech miniStack MAX w/BD Writer/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Vancouver, BC Age: 25-34 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: 3-4 months

Rating: 4/5 Great product, but things to consider. June 17, 2014 I absolutely love my miniStack. It has so far been a reliable and efficient addition to my workspace. My favourite touch is the powered USB port for phone charging.

The only thing that I wasn't expecting is that you cannot run the disk drive off of Firewire. If you want to use Firewire for the HD, then you have to have both FireWire and USB cables hooked up at the same time. This isn't a big deal as the miniStack comes with USB ports, but it wasn't something I was expecting. My other issue is that the FireWire ports don't feel as solid as I'm used to with other drives, but so far they have operated perfectly, so no complaints.

Other notes: OWC says you cannot run Mac's DVD player with this external drive. I find that as long as you reboot DVD player after the disk is inserted that it works perfectly and have never once had to resort to VLC.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 2.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

Reviewer: Anonymous Location: TN Age: Over 65 Experience Level: Home User Owned Product: 1-3 months

Rating: 4/5 Great drive with one flaw April 19, 2013 This is a perfect match for the newer mini mac except for the location of a power switch. Looking at the mac mini rear the power switch is on the rear left. On the ministack max the power switch is located on the rear right.. Stacked with the mac must be placed to reach the rear requires space for use of both the right and left hand, one to turn on the mac the other for the ministack. A rocker switch would have been nicer than the slider.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 1.0TB NewerTech miniStack MAX Storage Solution w/ Blu-ray burner, USB hub, & SD card reader..

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Reviewer: Anonymous Location: Seattle Age: 45-54 Experience Level: Power User Owned Product: less than a month

Rating: 5/5 Excellent - even without Thunderbird March 6, 2013 When I first heard that this product would not include a Thunderbird connector, I paused and reconsidered purchasing it.

I am glad I did not. The product is an amazing "all-in-one" unit that completes my late 2012 Mac mini. I purchase the "0 GB" model and added an older 1.5 TB drive from my "old" ministack. Installation took all of about 5 minutes and the most difficult part was finding the (included) mounting screws. The HD is almost inaudible in the housing, the BD has very quick read speeds (haven't burned anything yet) and the SD slot on the front allows me to just insert my photo card. No additional cables required to hook up my camera.

The addition of a high-amperage USB "0" charging slot is highly welcome as I am now able to charge my iPad on my computer in a reasonable period of time.

Yes, thunderbolt would be nice for daisy chaining peripherals. But to be honest, with the new Mini Supporting dual displays, the only thing I think it would be useful for in my situation is a Thunderbird RAID. However, with large hard drives becoming so inexpensive and fusion drive available on the Mini, I just decided to hook an large external to my airport extreme and don't really notice the difference.

The product is quiet, looks great, feels extremely well constructed and is reasonably compact. It looks like it is actually part of the Mini. If you are hesitating because of the lack of Thunderbird, I would urge you to reconsider. I am happy I did.

I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from NewerTech miniStack MAX w/BD Writer/DVDRW and no HDD (Speedtools/Backup bundle included)..

NewerTech 1.0TB miniStack® MAX Mfr P/N: NWTMSMXDW1.0TB7 OWC SKU: NWTMSMXDW1.0TB7 7200RPM Multi-Interface Storage Solution with built-in hard drive, DVD/CD read/write optical drive, SD card reader, & USB powered hub 3 Year Newer Technology Limited Warranty Ships: Same Day

Reviews (34)

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NewerTech miniStack MAX

1.0TB 7200RPM Multi-Interface Storage Solution with built-in hard drive, DVD/CD read/write optical drive, SD card reader, & USB powered hub

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1.0TB 7200RPM
Multi-Interface Storage Solution with built-in hard drive, DVD/CD read/write optical drive, SD card reader, & USB powered hub

Reliability³

Standard Optical^{1, 2}