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Dazed and Confused Mini SSD upgrade

sean barry

sean barry

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 3, 2012
152
9
Belding, MI
I know this is extremely scatter brained. The more research I do, the more confused I become :(
I need a mentor to guide me thru this and I will gladly PayPal gift for that!

I am upgrading my late 2012 mini. i7 x 4 @ 230mhz, 16 gig RAM, 1 TeraBite 5400 HD (EveryMac # I7-3615QM)
Basically stock but for the RAM upgrade I did.

I have3 external HD's. FW800 2T for Time Machine with 815.05G open, FW400 250G with 63.81G open (Also has Mavericks installed)
and a 200G usb2 with not much space left (the complete Law&Order series).
I am going to add an SSD (120 or 240)? from OWC. With the data doubler kit and discounted Parallels 10.
US$134.00 with free 7 day shipping or 2 day shipping at US$9.80. I have a new copy of Win 7 Home Premium (legal)
I have many questions.
1. Will cold weather hurt the DVD and SSD in transit?
2. Is this a good deal? I have been looking for a legal Parallels 10 discounted.
3. I think I can do the physical installation of the SSD
4. I am intimidated by the software stuff to do. How do I transfer OS Yosemite and apps to SSD Including Win 7 and parallels?
5. Than there is the Trim Enabler and Yosemite deal?

I have more questions but as I stated I'm scatter brained.
So this is a start.
Please forgive me for any rules I may have fudged.
Thanks.
 
S

scottsjack

macrumors 68000
Aug 25, 2010
1,906
311
Arizona
sean barry said:
I know this is extremely scatter brained. The more research I do, the more confused I become :(
I need a mentor to guide me thru this and I will gladly PayPal gift for that!

I am upgrading my late 2012 mini. i7 x 4 @ 230mhz, 16 gig RAM, 1 TeraBite 5400 HD (EveryMac # I7-3615QM)
Basically stock but for the RAM upgrade I did.

I have3 external HD's. FW800 2T for Time Machine with 815.05G open, FW400 250G with 63.81G open (Also has Mavericks installed)
and a 200G usb2 with not much space left (the complete Law&Order series).
I am going to add an SSD (120 or 240)? from OWC. With the data doubler kit and discounted Parallels 10.
US$134.00 with free 7 day shipping or 2 day shipping at US$9.80. I have a new copy of Win 7 Home Premium (legal)
I have many questions.
1. Will cold weather hurt the DVD and SSD in transit?
2. Is this a good deal? I have been looking for a legal Parallels 10 discounted.
3. I think I can do the physical installation of the SSD
4. I am intimidated by the software stuff to do. How do I transfer OS Yosemite and apps to SSD Including Win 7 and parallels?
5. Than there is the Trim Enabler and Yosemite deal?

I have more questions but as I stated I'm scatter brained.
So this is a start.
Please forgive me for any rules I may have fudged.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Lots of questions here and lots of good answers on this forum. When I ran Windows and Mac on the same 2012 mini I used separate boot drives so if one installation ran into trouble the other would be untouched. Unless you need to run Windows at the same time that is what I would do.
 
B

BeatCrazy

macrumors 601
Jul 20, 2011
4,960
4,279
scottsjack said:
Lots of questions here and lots of good answers on this forum. When I ran Windows and Mac on the same 2012 mini I used separate boot drives so if one installation ran into trouble the other would be untouched. Unless you need to run Windows at the same time that is what I would do.
Click to expand...

Is there really a trouble-free way to boot from a Windows external drive, i.e. No Bootcamp partition at all?
 
DaveN

DaveN

macrumors 6502a
May 1, 2010
906
757
I'm in the same state of confusion but maybe I can help anyway.

1. The cold shouldn't affect your DVD or SSD. Just be sure to let the equipment warm to room temperature before you use it.

2. I don't know as I'm not in the market for parallels. That said, add up the individual prices. Is the combined price substantially discounted? Don't spend too much time looking for the very best deal. Your time also has value. I fall into the trap of forever looking and never buying so you are not alone.

3. You probably can. Look at the OWC videos. It doesn't look hard at all. Just be careful and take your time. You can use the time you saved by ending your deal search!

4. See this review on Amazon. Different SSD but I think he answers your question.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1YC7T...e=UTF8&ASIN=B00LMXBOP4&nodeID=541966&store=pc

5. Yeah. Big question. Like you, I may go with the OWC SSD because it uses the Sandforce controller which has built-in garbage collection and doesn't need TRIM. That said, if you look the recent SSD deal topic in this forum you see that some people think the TRIM issue is overblown. I'm guessing that most future SSDs till have built-in garbage collection. But I want a SSD sooner rather than later.
 
sean barry

sean barry

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 3, 2012
152
9
Belding, MI
Thanks DaveN. I checked out the link and copied it to a document. I am well organized to do the physical SSD install,Wrist band, anti static pad, Tupper containers to put parts and hardware in chronological order, bla bla.

I have done hardware upgrades before but with old crap Win machines. Without wrist or pad, just touch the chassis to keep at the same potential.Tearing apart my beloved Mini is a different story.

I have to do more research on software transitions. The SSD, parallels, Win 7, and the doubler kit are in the mail. Thanks for the input! Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
 
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