G-Technology G-DRIVE Mini 750GB HDD Review

G-DRIVE Mini – Closer Look

As we mentioned in the introduction, the similarities to the design of the G-DRIVE Mini to the Mac Pro are evident except for the large ‘G’ on the front, er, grill. Ostensibly, the circular vent holes are to assist with heat dissipation but aesthetically it doesn’t hurt either.

More of the same around the side with an arched cut where the outer and inner aluminum piece overlap.

The rear is really the business end of things. Two FireWire ports (400 or 800) as mini USB 2.0 port, a power switch and the power cord receptacle all reside in line across the back panel. Simple enough.

The bottom features a ridged surface to facilitate cooling as we all know that excessive heat and hard drives aren’t a good combination. The ridges create more surface area and increase the cooling efficiency.

As usual, we can’t help but tear things apart and void the warranties in the process. The G-DRIVE Mini is no exception. While the enclosure may look like one piece, the entire thing is comprised of three. The outer top shell is attached to the bottom of the drive and the ridged heat sink sits against the top of the drive. The surrounding bottom piece holds it all together.

A closer look at the drive itself shows it to indeed be of Hitachi manufacture with a SATA /Gbps interface, 750GB capacity, 2.5″ form factor and spinning up to 7200RPM.

The drive is connected to a PCB board with the brains of the operation being an Oxford Semiconductor OXUF934DSB storage controller for bridging between the SATA interface and FireWire, USB and eSATA – although the latter is not available on this product.