Hi, how did buying from OWC go? I'm wanting to purchase the kit from them, just wanting to know how long delivery took and was there any customs charges?
Thanks
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Dual Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for Mac Mini
- Thread starter milkmandan
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Hi, how did buying from OWC go? I'm wanting to purchase the kit from them, just wanting to know how long delivery took and was there any customs charges?
Thanks
Old World people can buy the OWC kit from macupgrade.eu (in Belgium):
http://macupgrade.eu/catalog/hd-ssd-mountings-mac-mini-c-139_248.html
(I'm not affiliated except having bought from them a few times. Fast delivery to Denmark).
Remember to click the "Prices with VAT" link at the top of the page to avoid unpleasantries.
http://macupgrade.eu/catalog/hd-ssd-mountings-mac-mini-c-139_248.html
(I'm not affiliated except having bought from them a few times. Fast delivery to Denmark).
Remember to click the "Prices with VAT" link at the top of the page to avoid unpleasantries.
An alternative would be iFitIt's dual harddrive kit. There's a German reseller:
http://www.mac-speicher-shop.de/Produkt/iFixit-Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit
http://www.mac-speicher-shop.de/Produkt/iFixit-Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit
I've used one from OWC but there is nothing special about it apart from SATA cable. I've upgraded mine to 500GB Samsung 540 + 1TB HDD. Unfortunately logic board does not slide out as easily as shown in OWC video. I gave up on taking logic board out and simply took HDD out with little bit of wiggle. After that dropped SSD in and connected it to SATA port on logic board and squeezed in HDD back. Hardest part was to get HDD out and back in. But with little bit of patience you could do it. Forget about getting Logic board out as it is shown in OWC video. It didnot work for me.
I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I don't see the need to secure the SSD in a desktop computer. The thought of destroying the Mother Board trying to remove it scares the Be-Jusus out of me. We're you using the OWC tool when you we're trying to remove the MB? I'm thinking if I do it your way of putting some rubber tool box liner between the 2 drives for protection.
Here's a video of a person who installed one without removing the MB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymGnXdwvabg
.
I've not put anything in between two drives, I bought OWC toolkit but to be honest except SATA cable there is not much use with their tool kit.
Once you reach to step where you've access to harddrive (i.e. you can see hdd) after that you dont need to do anything except be patient and try to wiggle it out from that narrow opening.
I'd say follow this guide and go upto step#12
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Dual+Hard+Drive+Kit/11713/2
and once you are at step 12 you can clearly see HDD. It is simply sitting there with other side of HDD pluged into rubber holes. You could simply wiggle it out.
After that put in your SSD connected with SATA cable and plug that SATA cable into logic board.
The more hard part is trying to put hard disk back on top of SSD but trick is to be patient and look inside to see two rubber holes into which HDD will plug into and try to glide it in a manner that it gets back into those holes.
Here is tip on left side of HDD there is SATA cable connected, start putting HDD from right side in first and that will make it relatively easier to glide it in. Once HDD gets back into its rubber holes it stays at its place. I've not put anything extra between HDD and SSD.
Took about a week and no customs charges at all. I went for the cheapest delivery option as normally that's the best way of missing charges I find (US post + Royal Mail vs international courier)
I'm looking at the OWC and iFixit websites and it's cheaper to buy the SSD from someplace like Amazon, etc. The page I looked at on iFixit was selling a Crucial MX300 250GB for $115, the newer MX500 on Amazon is $80. For these types of SSD's, there's no reason to buy the OWC brand over a big-brand name and their 250GB is $108.
Between the kits to add a drive to the Mini, either one is OK - you can see differences between separate screwdrivers for the OWC and the modular type for iFixit and they have different spudgers. I personally like to have both the type in the iFixit kit and the type in the OWC kit.
If you have the 2012 Mini, read the note about the upper and lower bay:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/
iFixit does not appear to sell the "Upper Bay" alternative.
If you have the 2014 Mini, you don't need the dual-drive kit unless your Mini only came with the Apple SSD. If that's the case, post that information to be sure you get the right kit. I think that the standard "Lower Bay" kit is the right one, but I'd want to do more checking to make sure.
