OWC miniStack STX Stackable Storage + Thunderbolt Hub Xpansion Solution
0TB Stackable Storage Enclosure with Thunderbolt Hub Xpansion
Highlights
- Massive capacity: add over 200x greater data storage on top of your Mac mini's built-in storage1
- Mega Thunderbolt: use more accessories and devices with three Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports
- Maximum compatibility: use with Thunderbolt or USB equipped Macs, PCs, iPads, Chromebooks, Android tablets…virtually anything that supports external storage
- More Connectivity: add a mix of up to five Thunderbolt devices, three USB devices, and two displays
- Power while working: 60W of notebook charging power via Thunderbolt or USB-C
- Pro-grade performance: save/access/backup data and edit 4K video with up to 770MB/s real-world-tested performance
- Easy backups: Apple Time Machine and Windows File History ready
- Plug and play: includes Thunderbolt cable
- Whisper-quiet: an aluminum housing with an internal heat sink and high-efficiency cooling fan provides a cool, nearly silent operation
Sized to stack with the mini. The ideal storage and connectivity expansion solution for all.
Mini Sized. Mammoth Possibilities.
Just like great duos Kirk and Spock, Frodo and Sam, or Woody and Buzz, the miniStack and the Mac mini have been the perfect pair since 2005. Now featuring Storage and Thunderbolt Xpansion, the miniStack STX continues its award-winning legacy as the best sidekick a Mac mini can have.
With a universal SATA HDD/SSD bay AND an NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD slot, you can expand your mini’s storage capacity to gigantic proportions. Three Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports enable you to connect to millions of Thunderbolt, USB, and future USB4 drives, displays, A/V mixers, cameras, tablets, and desktop accessories like a keyboard, and card reader, or mouse. The possibilities of how you can use your Mac mini are now only limited to your imagination.
Xpands Notebooks, Tablets, and More
While sized identical to the Mac mini, the miniStack STX is a sleek, complementary companion for MacBook and PC notebook and desktop machines, iPads, and Chromebooks as well. While highly powerful, these machines are often limited in the number and variety of ports they offer. The miniStack STX solves that expansion limitation with a new world of increased connectivity and storage capacity.
The Dual Drive Dynamo
Just like superheroes have an alter ego, so too does the miniStack STX. The universal SATA drive bay holds a hard disk drive or SSD for upstanding data storage performance with big capacity. When you need to support bandwidth-intensive operations, the NVMe M.2 SSD slot reveals miniStack STX’s ferocious power. NVMe was designed to deliver the speed potential of modern flash drive technology by using a direct path to a computer’s processor over PCIe. As a result, you can enjoy near instant access performance with the miniStack STX.
Edit. Save. Access. Like a Pro
With multiple drive configurations available, you can experience up to 770MB/s of real-world data transfer speed. Move 5GB of GoPro footage in about 6 seconds. Transfer 1000’s of photos of that priceless event in mere seconds. Use the SATA drive for Time Machine or File History backups while working off the NVMe drive. With heavyweight performance like this, the miniStack STX is great for multi-stream compressed 4K video editing, photography, audio, virtual machines, and everyday data tasks.
Easily Monitor and Protect Your Data
For even more power and security, add OWC’s SoftRAID software to your miniStackSTX and create a RAID 1 to automatically maintain identical copies of all your data on each drive. For over 25 years, SoftRAID has been the most fully featured and powerful software RAID solution available for Mac and Windows. It starts protecting your data even before you start saving by validating the STX drives are safe for data storage. In the improbable event that you experience a disk issue, your data is still complete and accessible on the miniStack STX’s other drive! SoftRAID then constantly monitors your disks with a combination of S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) attributes along with its own I/O statistics. This deep dive disk health analysis identifies potential problems so you can take preventive action. SoftRAID is available for both Mac and PC making it possible to share the miniStack STX between computers.
Move between Mac and Windows
Transferring data between Macs and Windows PCs has become easier, but can be extremely time-consuming using cloud or email transfers. Now you can do it directly with external drives and take advantage of crazy fast speeds to transfer huge amounts of data in no time at all thanks to OWC’s MacDrive. This seamless Windows software runs in the background, so there’s nothing to launch or learn. Simply unplug your HFS+ formatted drive from your Mac or PC and move it to your other computer. Not only do you have instant-read access, but full write access! MacDrive also includes powerful features that enable you to create and partition and repair basic drive issues.
- Compatible: Works with all types of media including hard drives, SSDs, CD/DVD, etc.
- Access: Read and write Mac disks direct from Windows Explorer
- Manage: Format, partition, and delete Mac disks on your PC
- Repair: Built-in tools can safely fix basic drive issues
- Backups: Browse through Time Machine backups as well as copy those files and folders to your PC
Xpand Your Sonic Journey
Building your music setup can be daunting. With two configurable drives in the OWC miniStack STX, it’s easy to create a storage powerhouse for recording and playback of essential tracks in real-time. You can even store your entire loop and sample libraries on the NVMe SSD for in-a-flash use with near-zero latency.
Xpand Your Connections
You’ll gain newfound freedom by being able to connect to nearly any past, present, or future device and accessory via three Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports. Just like the miniStack STX’s innovative storage capability, these three ports have a second super ability. They reinvent the daisy chain by allowing you to create three independent chains with up to five bus-powered Thunderbolt devices with a USB device on the end of each chain for 8 devices total. You can now also remove devices from one chain without affecting the other chain(s).
Xtend your Investment
If you own a 2018 Intel Mac mini or the latest Apple silicon version, the fact that the internal factory drive can’t be upgraded is no longer a reason to sell your beloved little powerhouse. The miniStack STX maximizes your mini’s investment with a mighty capacity punch for a fraction of the time and money you would spend in buying and setting up a new machine. You’re not left behind if you own a Mac, PC, or device equipped with USB-A only. With a USB-C to USB-A adapter cable (sold separately), you can utilize the miniStack STX’s SATA drive bay to transfer data to/from your machine plus infuse your trusty setup with additional device connectivity.