for those of you have reinstalled mountain lion do you now have fusion drive?
No, and I did not want it anyway.
for those of you have reinstalled mountain lion do you now have fusion drive?
I read through this thread and it seems like everyone is installing this second hard drive into a regular Mac Mini, but I wanted to just double check for sure.
I was going to purchase the Mac Mini Server for the dual harddrive, but if the regular one can support two SSD's then there is no need for me to fork out the extra money.
I read through this thread and it seems like everyone is installing this second hard drive into a regular Mac Mini, but I wanted to just double check for sure.
I was going to purchase the Mac Mini Server for the dual harddrive, but if the regular one can support two SSD's then there is no need for me to fork out the extra money.
that depends on how much you would have to spend for the second harddrive and the connector kit you will have to buy (+ postage and tax, depending on where you live) if you get the standard single-hdd Mac Mini (to help you with the decision if the mini server is more expensive or not
Hi everyone,
Can I add to this. I am also possibly interested in carrying out this operation (I'm in the UK).
I bought a mac mini on amazon and it's the bottom end one with 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 and I've added 8GB RAM a month ago when I read that was the maximum it supported (yeah, nice one instructions book!). I bought this as I had never used a mac before so decided to go in at entry level first in case I thought it was no good. Needless to say, my plan has backfired slightly!
It's still a bit laggy in adobe fireworks though when working with large images, everything else not actually being that bad (mostly web stuff, xcode/text wrangler/filezilla, stuff like that, not so demanding on the cpu). So I'm wondering if someone could tell me whether an upgrade to an SSD for the operating system/applications and 16GB RAM would make any difference to me (apart from lighten my wallet).
After all, the images would be on the standard hard drive anyway so would be reading/writing to that.
Bearing in mind I haven't got £1700 for an iMac but could sell this for around £380 to put towards something a touch more expensive. Not doing anything yet though until I can get some feedback from people with more experience in this than me.
Thanks.
Sam.
Thanks for the reply, it's very helpful.
How would transferring files be any quicker if the files are held on the standard drive and the OS is on the SSD?
I'm coming from a pc background so I'm used to my phenom II x6 (running at 3.71GHz) and a separate HD Radeon graphics card.
It's a clever strategy from apple as the iMac is superior in power but they tempt you in with the cheaper mac minis! This mini isn't exactly what I'd call 'slow' as I don't do gaming or anything but with multiple programs open, it's certainly slower than the old pc. However, os x is absolutely superb, and this is coming from a dedicated windows user since win95.
The problem with the basic iMac too is the smaller screen. Everything is tailored at you spending more and more, very clever pricing strategy, hats off to them though, they have great products!
Sam.
Thanks for the reply, it's very helpful.
How would transferring files be any quicker if the files are held on the standard drive and the OS is on the SSD?
I'm coming from a pc background so I'm used to my phenom II x6 (running at 3.71GHz) and a separate HD Radeon graphics card.
It's a clever strategy from apple as the iMac is superior in power but they tempt you in with the cheaper mac minis! This mini isn't exactly what I'd call 'slow' as I don't do gaming or anything but with multiple programs open, it's certainly slower than the old pc. However, os x is absolutely superb, and this is coming from a dedicated windows user since win95.
...
I meant transfer speeds in general, for example if you later got an external SSD or replaced the other internal with an SSD.
Hope this helps
Your Mini should turbo up to 2.9GHz if you are just using one core (and with what you're doing it sounds like you're usually just using one core) and that should be pretty comparable to a 3.7GHz AMD core, if not faster.
So the only reason why your Mini should feel slower than your Athlon (unless you're doing multi-core stuff) is because it has a slower (5400 RPM) hard drive. Replace that drive with an SSD and any difference will go away.
And yes, an SSD will make your Mini much faster. True, maybe your big Photoshop files are on a regular hard drive, but all the small files involved with booting and running Photoshop will be on the SSD and you will see a big improvement.
Well, the end product I want is to have the Mac Mini with two SSD's. Money is not really an issue, but of course I want to save where possible. I'm looking to get the 2.6ghz i7, which starts at $899 base. The Mac Mini Server with the 2.6ghz i7 starts at $1099 base. If the connector is not worth $200 then, it should ultimately be cheaper to get the standard Mac Mini.
iirc the OWC data doubler has a spudger. It should help in preventing breaking anything. slowly and carefully
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymGnXdwvabg&t=01m50sI just tried installing the OWC 2nd drive kit in my new 2012 Mini. Didn't get very far -- broke off the fan connector. After reading reports about people breaking off IR connectors, I was being especially careful. I spent about 10 minutes working the fan connector, from different angles and with two spudgers at once. The thing wouldn't budge but then the whole connector assembly snapped off the main board without warning. I've successfully taken apart many Apple laptops and have been done a lot of hardware work. I would strongly warn against using this kit.
I just tried installing the OWC 2nd drive kit in my new 2012 Mini. Didn't get very far -- broke off the fan connector. After reading reports about people breaking off IR connectors, I was being especially careful. I spent about 10 minutes working the fan connector, from different angles and with two spudgers at once. The thing wouldn't budge but then the whole connector assembly snapped off the main board without warning. I've successfully taken apart many Apple laptops and have been done a lot of hardware work. I would strongly warn against using this kit.
I wrote to OWC and here's what they offered:
OWC Dennis: [5:21:25 PM] I am so sorry to hear that. The fan plug on the MM 2012 is very fragile. You will need to contact an Apple authorized dealer to get the [sic] replaced.
So, now I'm left with a brand new, broken Mac Mini plus the embarrassment of going to an Apple store to pay for a main board replacement. After I pay for all that, I still don't have my new SSD installed. So, I get to send it all off to OWC and pay them $100 to install it?
Honestly people, this Apple policy of making their hardware difficult to service is driving me toward building a hackintosh or just running Linux.
2) Does installing an SSD invalidate apple care as they only suggest changing RAM?
I guess it depends on the demand for USB3 ports :\External SSD on USB3 is 90% the speed of internal and costs the price of the SSD + $40 for the case. No warranty issues. Hooked up just as fast as you can plug the connector in. Is it really worth modding the mini??
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1483374/
No problems with shipping but the customs fee was about £13, of which something like £8 goes to Royal Mail for customs handling feeFor the guys in the uk who bought the OWC kit, any particular issues with the shipping at all, or was it fine? I work it out to be about £50 delivered, delivery seems a bit steep, but there doesn't seem to be an alternative.
The low end is good enough for me, but I need more HD capacity. I actually have another 500gb 7200 drive spare, so trying to figure out what to do.
Grateful if anyone in the UK can share there OWC experience.