Data Doubler. Yes or No?

tonyt76 said:

I never thought about that good point... Adding the second drive will increase the noise, heat and power useage.

Click to expand...

No, not necessarily.

One WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB 12.5 mm needs 2.5 Watt (5 Volt/500 mA). The WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB 9.5 mm needs only 1.4 Watt. Newer Samsung SSDs (840 & 840 Pro) need also much less power, compared to older SSDs, like the Samsung 830. So if you replace your old HDD with a combination of a newer HDD & SSD, you should not see a reduced battery life.

----------

Darby67 said:

Minimally, unlikely you would ever notice it

Click to expand...

iAgree 100 %.

----------

mwhities said:

I don't believe a 5400rpm drive would use more power and/or be noisier. I could possibly see that in a 7200rpm drive but, I can't see it with the slower one.

Click to expand...

iAgree 100 %.

I finally took the plunge and installed a 250GB Samsung SSD using this kit. It took an hour, and it made me very nervous, but I did it.

A bit of background: I'm a rank amateur who has done a fair bit of hardware hacking, including taking apart a 2010 iMac when the hard drive failed and building a couple of PCs, but I'm never completely comfortable and always need instructions.

I used the OWC video, and it was very helpful. The procedure is straight forward, and the biggest challenge was maneuvering around the small spaces and figuring out the best angles to pull pieces out and put them back in, etc. The vid was a huge help in that degree.

Overall, I'd recommend anyone with sufficient courage give it a try. Just be patient.

I'm still playing with my new Fusion drive set up, but so far, it's a huge boost in performance.

I just got a new mini. I kept the stock drive & memory and with money saved splurged on the processor (i7 2.6ghz) and third party ram (16gb).

I don't upgrade often, at least 5 years or so, because when I'm gonna upgrade I really want to see a BIG difference in power.

So I don't plan on busting open the mini and adding an SSD till the warranty+apple care expires in three years and a 500gb SSD costs 150 bucks.

BingClawsby said:

I just got a new mini. I kept the stock drive & memory and with money saved splurged on the processor (i7 2.6ghz) and third party ram (16gb).

I don't upgrade often, at least 5 years or so, because when I'm gonna upgrade I really want to see a BIG difference in power.

So I don't plan on busting open the mini and adding an SSD till the warranty+apple care expires in three years and a 500gb SSD costs 150 bucks.

Click to expand...

The speed bump is discernible, and my mini feels like a different machine. You can always add one externally if you don't want to crack it open, or wait five years for 1TB SSDs.

tonyt76 said:

I recently purchased a data doubler from OWC for my 2012 mac mini mid model. I'm now having second thoughts on installing it.

I plan to install a 512GB ssd and use the stock 1TB 5400RPM along with it. Is this even worth the hassle? Trying to get some opinions before I commit.

Click to expand...

Yes.

I am a bit concerned about the heat that would come off pacing the drive back in together with the SSD.
Can anyone tell me if the mini gets much warmer with the two drives ?

Wedlock said:

I am a bit concerned about the heat that would come off pacing the drive back in together with the SSD.
Can anyone tell me if the mini gets much warmer with the two drives ?

Click to expand...

The Mac mini server comes with two 1TB drives from the factory. SSDs run cooler than traditional hard drives. This is a non-issue.

I had the data doubler in my 17" MBP until last week. Never had any trouble with it. I had a 27" 3.4 i7 iMac on order. When I decided to switch up and go with the Mini/TBD, I was able to order (2) 512 GB m4's and STILL come in cheaper than the iMac. So I followed the OWC video and instructions to put 1 m4 in the Mini. It was really easy and I was done from start to finish in probably 20-30 minutes. The only part that was different from the instructions for me was the way one cable was routed over by the power supply. I had to take it off a little out of order as I couldn't get to it when they said to do it. Aside from that it was a breeze. The doubler in the MBP was totally worth it, but once I had a 512 GB SSD in my MBP I decided to ditch the 750 GB drive and put the Superdrive back in. I never noticed any difference in heat or battery life in the MBP. I don't have much point of reference with the mini. I booted it up to make sure it worked, then shut it down and tore it apart.

I don't have a bad thing to say about either data doubler and would recommend either.

I, also, just used OWC's data doubler kit to put a 256gb Samsung 840 pro into the empty spot in a new 2.3ghz 2012 mini. I had an external FW800 enclosure I could use to pre-clone my data from the 1tb drive to the new SSD and once installed I just booted it up (defaulted to the 5400rpm spindle drive) and selected the SSD as the boot disk. Once booted I just wiped the data from the 1tb and re-symlink some directories (e.g. Downloads, Music, etc) to my larger external usb3 drive.

The only issue with the kit is the tool to remove the wireless grate is a tad too small for the torx screw. It will work but be VERY careful not to strip the screw. May be best to have a set of torx to find a bit that fits exactly to minimize the risk of stripping the screw. The tool that comes with the kit will work with a light but firm touch as to not strip the screw

jeffsaha said:

The only issue with the kit is the tool to remove the wireless grate is a tad too small for the torx screw. It will work but be VERY careful not to strip the screw. May be best to have a set of torx to find a bit that fits exactly to minimize the risk of stripping the screw. The tool that comes with the kit will work with a light but firm touch as to not strip the screw

Click to expand...

Interesting. I didn't notice that in my use. I thought the video showed them being 2 different screw sizes while mine turned out to be the same. The 2 screws that held the hard drive on that silver grate were so tight I couldn't break them loose with just the tool. I found a larger nut driver that fit on the back side of the torx driver and was able to loosen them then.

The screws are very similar in size but just a tiny bit different. The information is mainly just a precaution as just the slightest wiggle in torx bits can easily strip the screws. And YES the screws were in there pretty tight which is why I caution if there is a little wiggle room between the bit and screw. It did turn out ok though using the given drivers. Even after two disassemblies due to an extra screw in the end I forgot to put in

----------

Also I opted to put the SSD in the empty space instead of where the original spindle drive was because I figured there is more air flow where the spindle drive initially was as it is not sandwiched in between another drive and the case itself. I slightly recall there may be issues with formatting/partitioning if in the second empty slot, but I went ahead and pre-formatted/partition the drive externally before installing it in the mini.