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Did I order the wrong kit? SSD upgrade from iFix

Cassady

Cassady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
567
205
Sqornshellous
Hello all.

Bought a new 2012 i7 2.3 a few months back. Been wanting to upgrade by installing a SSD.

Now I'm thinking I was a bit hasty. I ordered the iFix kit, since it came with the extra toolkit (already have the screwdrivers etc. from the OWC kit I used to upgrade my MBP).

It's only after reading through these forums that I now realise that the HDD could be in the top or bottom bay. I didn't realise that one might need to order a specific kit, depending on whether its top or bottom? Is that true? Does the adapter for the one not fit properly for the other?

Any clarify would be appreciated!
 
C

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
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NH
If you are talking about the kit that adds a second drive, the top drive uses a different SATA cable between the drive and mother board than the bottom drive. ifixit will send you the right cable if you find you have the wrong one, I think. You can open the mini cover and peek in and see if the drive is in the bottom slot.
 
M

marclondon

macrumors 6502
Aug 14, 2009
360
82
London
About this Mac > System report > Sata/sata express will show you the lower or upper install.

Some say the sata cable in the kits can fold/bend to either connection - they are next to each other on the main board.

M.
 
jbarley

jbarley

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2006
4,023
1,893
Vancouver Island

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hallux

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
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And, for the record, I believe the iFixit kit is for installing in the "upper" bay as I didn't specify and got the correct cable.
 
Cassady

Cassady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
567
205
Sqornshellous
Many thanks. Will have a look, and pop something up.

----------

Shucks. HDD is in the lower bay, according to Disk Utility... Will see what I can find out over on the iFix site.

As an aside, which position has the easier SSD install? Is it with the HDD in the lower or upper bay?
 
M

marclondon

macrumors 6502
Aug 14, 2009
360
82
London
Cassady said:
As an aside, which position has the easier SSD install? Is it with the HDD in the lower or upper bay?
Click to expand...

Not quite the right question - it depends if you want to keep the HDD and add an SSD. The lower bay is much easier to get at so you can replace the HDD if it's there or if it's not then you just add the SSD there. If you want to keep the HDD that's already in the lower bay you'll have to install either it or the SSD in the upper bay, which means a complete disassembly.

M.
 
G

gpspad

macrumors 6502a
Feb 4, 2014
686
45
Didn't I also read that when adding a SSD to use as a boot up and keeping the old drive for storage, your better off putting the SSD in the original position and the old drive in the empty space?

So my drive is listed in the "lower bay"; I will put the old boot-up drive in the "upper bay" and the new ssd drive goes to the "lower bay"?

Sorry this gets confusing, I also got the iFix kit, hopefully I got the right one.
 
M

marclondon

macrumors 6502
Aug 14, 2009
360
82
London
It doesn't matter where you put the drives. They are identical Sata connections but you do have to specify the startup disk you want to use.

M.
 
hallux

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,437
1,005
Cassady said:
Many thanks. Will have a look, and pop something up.

----------

Shucks. HDD is in the lower bay, according to Disk Utility... Will see what I can find out over on the iFix site.

As an aside, which position has the easier SSD install? Is it with the HDD in the lower or upper bay?
Click to expand...

I got my kit from iFixit, my original drive was in the lower bay. My SSD is now in the upper bay.

gpspad said:
Didn't I also read that when adding a SSD to use as a boot up and keeping the old drive for storage, your better off putting the SSD in the original position and the old drive in the empty space?

So my drive is listed in the "lower bay"; I will put the old boot-up drive in the "upper bay" and the new ssd drive goes to the "lower bay"?

Sorry this gets confusing, I also got the iFix kit, hopefully I got the right one.
Click to expand...

My Mini shipped with the drive in the lower bay, I installed my SSD in the upper bay and haven't run into any issues.
 
Cassady

Cassady

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
567
205
Sqornshellous
Did I order the wrong kit? SSD upgrade from iFix

hallux said:
I got my kit from iFixit, my original drive was in the lower bay. My SSD is now in the upper bay.







My Mini shipped with the drive in the lower bay, I installed my SSD in the upper bay and haven't run into any issues.
Click to expand...


That's good to hear!

[Edit:]

Reading up a bit more - seems there have been a few problems reported where people left the HDD in the default position, and popped the SSD into the available bay. Seems that where the SSD was placed into the present HDD bay, with the latter being shifted - all was golden.

Much bigger procedure apparently, but I'm thinking I'll go this route... Moving very, very slowly... :)
 
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