Feb 29, 2020 besides adding an ssd, the next best thing to do to give your old mac mini some additional legs for presentday computing is to add more ram. I have some very expensive legacy software that i dont use a lot, but still need from time to time. Easy ssd upgrade to mac mini i purchased this wd my passport ssd drive to use as a boot drive for my apple mac mini 2012. If youre using a mac pro late 20 make sure your displays are connected to the right ports. I did an ssd upgrade on my 2012 mini, but i dont recall having to take the psu out. How to add a fast new ssd to your old mac or macbook for only. How to add a fast new ssd to your old mac or macbook for.
The 2012 mac mini uses 1600mhz ddr3 sodimm modules and can accept up to 16gb across two slots. However, it always is best to buy from a trusted company with mac knowledge for the most troublefree experience. The fusion drive option for the 2012 mac minis can cause some severe data loss if youre not careful. Even though, they are not just good for speed, there are dozens of other advantages that ssd have over hdd. Switching to an ssd could give a mac mini a new lease of life, but at the. Upgrade or install memory in your mac mini apple support. The antenna cable keeps the bottom plate attached to the mac mini. The complete diy upgrade kit to add a second drive into your mac 20112012. The r9 fury xs performance is definitely bottlenecked by the 1st generation thunderbolt connection 10gbps.
Running out of storage space in your mac mini or looking to improve performance with an owc ssd. Macmini 2012 boot up using external ssd apple community. Because a solidstate drive does not have any moving parts, it is more reliable thus safer for the data youll save or create on your mac. As of today sept 11th, 2016, this is the current mac mini available 2014 version. How to give your 2012 or 2014 mac mini a performance boost by replacing the hard drive with an ssd. While the 2010 mac mini limits you to firewire 800 or usb 2. I have a mac mini 2012 i716 gb ram1tb hd and i want to upgrade it. The short answer is that you would give up a lot of performance. The boot time is just a bit faster but once is booted. Check the connections to your mac and external displays. However the casing doesnt have an external power source, it draws its power from the computer. Owc 500gb electra 6g ssd diy upgrade bundle for 2011, 2012 mac mini, includes.
I plan on installing the ssd drive inside, but even through usb connection this mac mini works very well no ram memory upgrade required for speed. The apple mac mini has a loyal fan group around the world. Owc hard drive installation kit for 20112012 mac mini lower drive bay. Thinking of the 120gb samsung drive on amazon for c. Nov 21, 2018 mac mini hard drive or ssd purchase options. Looking at my 2007 mac mini, where im running os x 10.
Otherwise, click i dont have a product key at the bottom of the box. You will be comparing your fast new mac mini with your slow old one, and this will probably have a much bigger impact than the differences between internal and external ssds. Feb 26, 2015 my dell m4800 has an internal dvd drive that i can replace with a drive caddy. Tilt the mini enough to allow the bottom cover to fall away from the outer case. Jul 20, 2016 the bottom line is that, in order to prolong the life of your ssd, you need to make sure trim is running on your mac. The back is open for easy access to all the mac minis ports and power button while front of the bracket remains open to provide access the minis optical drive and to keep the apple remote sensor unobstructed. I have been realising for quite a while that the limitation in my video editing working flow is the very limited gpu intel hd graphics 4000 1. The ssd i chose has firewire 800 to provide a fastenough connection to my mac mini, plus usb 3. How to give your 2012 or 2014 mac mini a performance boost by.
Besides adding an ssd, the next best thing to do to give your old mac mini some additional legs for presentday computing is to add more ram. So the best you can do is grab a 16gb kit made up of a pair of 8gb sticks. The mid 2012 macbook air value equation low end mac. The bottom line is that, in order to prolong the life of your ssd, you need to make sure trim is running on your mac. Drive thats on the top when the mini is turned upside down to open it. David wants a new mac mini but doesnt want to pay apples eyewatering price for a 2tb ssd. Id like to get one of those conversion kits for the twin drive and put a large traditional hdd in for media storage. Replaced the hdd with an ssd in my 2012 mac mini the other day. Regular mid2010 aluminum unibody mac mini models, which have optical drives, support a single 2.
How to upgrade your mac mini with an ssd 2019 updated. My dell m4800 has an internal dvd drive that i can replace with a drive caddy. Thunderbolt 3 external drives thunderbolt 3 docks thunderbolt 3. A box with a fast processor and macos with a thunderbolt interface to hook up an external ssd drive for the audio files. Speed up your mac with an external ssd robin monks. Press on the cover to pop up the opposite side, and then remove the cover. Sounds like what i should do is have a mac shop install the samsung ssd in my mac mini.
Works great to add a secondary drive to a mac mini. Owc hard drive installation kit for 20112012 mac mini. Get help with video issues on external displays connected. Place your thumbs in the depressions cut into the bottom cover. Owc 500gb electra 6g ssd diy upgrade bundle for 2011, 2012 mac mini, includes data doubler, 5piece installation toolkit 4. Install windows 10 using boot camp with an external drive. Owc hard drive installation kit for 20112012 mac mini lower. I bought this brand new in 2015 from apple and it is running mohave, latest version but it is painfully slow to boot up and also slow to use when compared to my 2015 mbp. The t2 security chip consolidates several controllers into one, and includes a secure enclave coprocessor that provides the foundation for encrypted storage and secure boot capabilities.
I use a usb3 drive dock to connect the drive to my macs. The other method is to do a fresh install of both osx and windows under bootcamp onto the ssd. Think twice if your computer is rather old, say a 2011 macbook pro, and only. Transfer speeds of up to 540mbs let you save and share larger files easily, and the lightweight design fits into your pocket or bag. If it is still under warranty or have applecare, getting it installed by an authorized. How to speed up your mac with a solid state ssd drive. I am just curious how future macos updates via app store will be installed. With a mechanical hard drive it runs superslow, but with the ssd flies as the newest pc you can buy. I wasnt interested in paying a premium on a mac pro or mac book, butinsteadget away with an affordable display, affordable peripherals and so on, which is what the mac mini lets you do. They are a hackers delight, in the true sense of the word.
In theory, just about any hard drive or ssd that meets the minimum requirements should work in the mac mini. This 512gb ssd drive is essentially the same size as the drive already in my mac mini. How to install windows 10 on your mac using boot camp. Because the maximum throughput of any port on the imac 5k late 2015 is only 10gbps thunderbolt 2, no external storage solution can match the internal ssds speeds. Back up your system or move data between computers with this 500gb samsung portable solidstate drive. Aug 14, 2014 after testing the external ssd on the mac mini, this time i tested on the late 20 21,5 imac. External hard drive usb storage for your imac, mac mini, mac. Once connected, open up disk utility located in the utilities folder within the applications folder. The mac mini stylized with a lowercase mini is a desktop computer made by apple inc. According to lucas mearian from pcworld, the price computer makers paid for solidstate drives ssds declined by as much as 12% over the last quarter, he noted later ssd. Still its a huge improvement over the intel hd 3000 igpu which came stock in this mac mini if youre a lucky owner of the quadcore late 2012 mac mini, pairing it with an egpu is a nobrainer. Select the ssdexternal drive as your boot drive and continue. Because the maximum throughput of any port on the imac 5k late 2015 is only 10gbps thunderbolt 2, no external storage solution can match the internal ssd s speeds.
Make sure the external displays power cable is securely connected and that your display is turned on. Mac mini late 2012 hard drive replacement ifixit repair guide. In my case it was a mac mini late 2012 model, with the original drive being in the lower position ie. If youre using an apple notebook, try connecting its power adapter. The external drive enclosures for normal hard disks should also work with an ssd. Which will allow al of the oss and apps run faster. It is a very fast little machine, i use it primarily with final cut pro x. How to upgrade the 2012 mac mini for use in 2020 imore. Get everything you need to upgrade your 2012 mac mini server ssd for a total system performance and capacity boost. Lay your mac mini upside down on a soft cloth or towel, and then rotate the bottom cover counterclockwise to the unlocked position. The only thing id like more is a 2tb one or more, and a much lower price still. Differences between late 2012 and late 2014 mac mini models.
Oct 24, 20 thanx for the article, really, really helpful. Owc hard drive installation kit for 20112012 mac mini lower drive. Mac mini late 2012 hard drive replacement ifixit repair. Hi there, thank you for the insightful sharing and i am terribly tempted to build an egpu for my mac mini 2012 i7 2. Plug the ssd into the enclosure, and then into the mac, and it should appear on the desktop as an untitled drive. How to move bootcamp windows to additional ssd mac. Mac mini features the apple t2 security chip secondgeneration custom mac silicon designed by apple to make mac mini even more secure. Mar 02, 2020 hey chris i have a apple macbook pro mid 2012 laptop thats currently has a raid dual ssd hardrive setup and im looking to upgrade from 512gb between the two ssds to one ssd hard drive with either 1tb or 500gb so i can partition it and install windows 7 on it to run a car program that isnt on mac os and still have mac os on the.
Owcs stepbystep video of how to install a hard drive in the apple mac mini 2012 with model id. The late 2012 mac mini i73615qm paired with the r9 fury x would likely. Oct 30, 2018 to bring the mac mini even closer to fullyfledged desktop workstations, the new pcs are outfitted with up to 64 gb of ddr42666 memory, up to 2 tb ssd, four thunderbolt 3 ports to connect an. To bring the mac mini even closer to fullyfledged desktop workstations, the new pcs are outfitted with up to 64 gb of ddr42666 memory, up to 2 tb ssd, four thunderbolt 3 ports to connect an.
I have an ssd that i put into an external enclosure to use for data backups. Disconnect the power cord and all other cables from your mac mini. Differences between late 2012 and late 2014 mac mini. Attach the enclosure or cableconnected ssd to the mac mini, via usb. External hard drive usb storage for your imac, mac mini. How to give your 2012 or 2014 mac mini a performance boost. Select the external drive in the lefthand column, right click, and select erase. I have been trying to decide how i can upgrade my late 2012 mini to an ssd drive.
Whatever your use of the mac mini, be it media server or desktop computer, the one upgrade that will make the biggest impact is a ssd. It is one of four desktop computers in the current macintosh lineup, serving as an alternative to the allinone imac, and sits below the performance range imac pro and mac pro the mac mini is apples only consumer desktop computer since 1998 to ship without a display, keyboard, or mouse. Can an external ssd match the mac minis pricey inbuilt storage. The single drive was in the inner slot, not the one on bottom on top when the unit is flipped over for service, which cannot be removed without. I consider installing mavericks on an external ssd drive connected via thunderbolt to my mac mini late 2012 and booting macos x from it. External hard drive macbook air inch, early 2015 2017. There are many options in upgrading a mac mini, and.
Sep 29, 2017 while the 2010 mac mini limits you to firewire 800 or usb 2. Its a bit of a perfect storm, but its worth noting if youre adding an ssd as a second drive in your mac mini. The nushelf mount for 2010, 2011, 2012 to current apple mac mini is secured to the bottom of your desk with four included screws. The tools worked to take everything apart and get access to the bracket to install my ssd in the upper position. The internal ssd can transfer data at about a couple gbs. After testing the external ssd on the mac mini, this time i tested on the late 20 21,5 imac. Mac mini late 2012 hard drivessd installation video youtube.
Enlarge image heres how you check to see if the trim command is running on. The best thunderbolt 3 ssd and hard drives for your macbook. Both lines could be configured with a hybrid drive which combines a traditional hard drive and an ssd together to offer the capacity of a hard drive with performance closer to an ssd but it became a default on the late 2014 mac mini core i5 2. I prefer to keep my boot drive external, so that i can quickly boot using another mac if my primary mac fails. How to upgradereplace the main drive in a 2012 mac mini.