Mac Mini expansion drive options after usb ports are full?

jmichael99 · Jul 27, 2016

Background. I use my Mac Mini as a Plex Movie server. I am about to use my last usb port for an external drive.

So what options do i have?

I have heard about thunderbolt enclosures that can hold 4 or more drives. Will they show up as 4 separate drives or one large drive? I don't want raid, i can manage separate drives. If i need to add more can i daisy chain these?

I don't want to spend a huge amount of money so what would i be looking for?

ferrarr · Jul 27, 2016

Best option would be to add a powered USB Hub. Firewire or Thunderbolt can be daisy chained, but not USB.

jmichael99 · Jul 27, 2016

ferrarr said:
Best option would be to add a powered USB Hub. Firewire or Thunderbolt can be daisy chained, but not USB.

why would this be better than a thunderbolt setup? Just wondering

ferrarr · Jul 27, 2016

Better is subjective. I went with your last line comment "I don't want to spend a huge amount of money so what would i be looking for?".

MikeFromMesa · Jul 27, 2016

ferrarr said:
Better is subjective. I went with your last line comment "I don't want to spend a huge amount of money so what would i be looking for?".

And powered usb hubs can be amazingly inexpensive. You can find some of them on Amazon for about $15-$30.

You might also check on the back of your monitor as some have additional usb 3 connections. My Dell 24" ultrasharp has one that I use from time to time as I am almost out of usb 3 ports on my Mini.

jmichael99 · Jul 27, 2016

MikeFromMesa said:
And powered usb hubs can be amazingly inexpensive. You can find some of them on Amazon for about $15-$30.

You might also check on the back of your monitor as some have additional usb 3 connections. My Dell 24" ultrasharp has one that I use from time to time as I am almost out of usb 3 ports on my Mini.

my mac mini is headless.. i log in remotely...

i did find a 10port hub for $40 that got great reviews. I will keep researching

gahmck · Aug 20, 2016

I just got a Sabrent 7 port powered hub when my mac-mini was reporting "a usb device is drawing too much power and will be turned off" even with tiny flash drives. Got hub with switches and can run 1 TB usb hard drive ,USB flash drives ( and boot from one), External CD/DVD burner along with my keyboard , mouse and USB fan. They all work fine so far; I switch on the ones I want to use. Not sure how many will work at one time, but no problem so far.