4 bay enclosure

sequitur

I'm thinking of getting this enclosure:

 

Sans Digital 4 Bay eSATA Port Multiplier JBOD Tower Storage Enclosure (no eSATA Card bundle) TR4M+BNC

 

What would I need to connect it to and function with my 2 yo iMac? 

 

Thanks

Marvin

Your iMac should have a Thunderbolt port but an eSATA TB adaptor would be around $200:

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10574

You can get a USB adaptor:

http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Support-Multiplier-Patent-Pending/dp/B005DCCMII

but only having USB 2 would limit the speed to about 35MB/s, which is about 1/3 of what it would be capable of.

You're probably better off getting a drive that supports multiple IO ports such as:

http://www.amazon.com/Mobius-trade-5-Bay-FireWire-Enclosure/dp/B00CH94GMK

That way you can at least run it off FW800 for now and on a newer Mac, it would benefit from USB 3.

sequitur

Thanks,

 

The iMac doesn't have TB, but the other two suggestions should work.