Replacing Internal HDD

The Mac mini only takes 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, and the 2TB and 3TB HDDs out there are 3.5".
1TB or maybe even 1.5TB is the biggest capacity for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs.

BarkingGhost said:

Thank you for that bit of information. Much appreciated. I take it that most standard laptop HDD will work, then?

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2.5" HDD 9.5mm in height will work. You can even keep the standard hdd in the Mini and add another one: http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/IF171-005

BarkingGhost said:

Thank you for that bit of information. Much appreciated. I take it that most standard laptop HDD will work, then?

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yep it uses laptop parts/drives.

The biggest 2.5" hd you can get is 1tb right now. You can get 2 1tb hard drives and set a RAID0. This will give a 2tb storage and better performance, but you will also need a good and frequent backup solution since if one of the hd fails, you lose access to data on both drives.

mdgm said:

2.5" HDD 9.5mm in height will work. You can even keep the standard hdd in the Mini and add another one: http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/IF171-005

Click to expand...

Wow! Thank you so much for this!!!! I've been bemoaning the idea of building a PC to put dual hard drives in a RAID 1 array so I can have a file server/storage machine to house all of my pictures and media securely. Knowing I can instead buy a Mac Mini and put dual 1GB hard drives in is awesome!

JoJoCal19 said:

Wow! Thank you so much for this!!!! I've been bemoaning the idea of building a PC to put dual hard drives in a RAID 1 array so I can have a file server/storage machine to house all of my pictures and media securely. Knowing I can instead buy a Mac Mini and put dual 1GB hard drives in is awesome!

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RAID 1 is not a backup. It may help with hardware failures, but it doesn't help with software failures. If by some accident files are deleted or damaged, they will be deleted or damaged on both mirrors simultaneously. In other words, they are gone.

There is also the problem that a burglar stealing your Mac Mini will steal both drives. Again, they are gone. The safest way is to have a wireless NAS drive hidden away somewhere, and Time Machine to do backups all the time.

gnasher729 said:

RAID 1 is not a backup. It may help with hardware failures, but it doesn't help with software failures. If by some accident files are deleted or damaged, they will be deleted or damaged on both mirrors simultaneously. In other words, they are gone.

There is also the problem that a burglar stealing your Mac Mini will steal both drives. Again, they are gone. The safest way is to have a wireless NAS drive hidden away somewhere, and Time Machine to do backups all the time.

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Yes I plan on doing the Time Machine backup as well. I just want everyday access to my files and want to be safe from hard drive failure. The RAID 1 option would take care of that while allowing me to do a weekly Time Machine backup on a bigger (and bulkier) external drive. I also like doing occasional clones using Carbon Copy. I just want a system to house my files that I can access over my network and have loss protection. The Mac Mini with dual hard drives would be perfect!

gnasher729 said:

The safest way is to have a wireless NAS drive hidden away somewhere, and Time Machine to do backups all the time.

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That sounds like an ultimate solution, I admit. Since you're at it, what hardware would you recommend then? Couldn't a Mac Mini do the job as a wireless NAS server? Or maybe you use much more expensive professionnal equipment?

you don't need the nas to be wireless if reliability is your goal. wired nas is better. I am in love with synology gear.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108048

it is fast as firewire even faster 110 mb speed. and you can expand it


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108087

it can be found at lower prices and is not too hard to hook up.

1st unit can use 3tb hdds and so can the second unit.

yeah you need a cat 5 wire for best results. but my unit is in my attached garage and hooks up to 2 mac minis a mac pro and an imac. great piece of gear.

There's another helpful thread regarding the fitting of two HD's in a mini: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1264513/