Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2011 mini SSD upgrade - its not the size that counts.

N

Non-Euclidean

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 21, 2012
43
3
Houston, TX
OK, I have a mid-11 upgraded to 8G RAM. I have been looking at getting an SSD for the boot drive, I already bought an OWC drive kit, and am checking what is at NewEGG. I think I will go with a Samsung. I was reading here that it is better to get an underdeclared capacity SSD (120 vs 128).

My question is, how much do I really need.

As a boot/app drive, I dont think I am currently using more than 40G or so on my existing HDD. Thats ML, XCode, MKVCreate, Handbrake and a few other things. OH, and my iTunes music files. Videos are on an external Lacie 2TB.

So I would think 120G would do me fine.

A number of you have already done this. Anyone running into issues with an 120G SSD boot/apps only and HDD other crap setup.
 
P

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
In My 2011 Mac Mini I had 128GB SSD and the stock 500GB mechanical drive. It worked pretty well. I sold my 2011 mini, but recently purposed a 2012. This time I'm going with a 240-250GB drive. Not because I necessarily need the space, but largely because the drive costs have come down so much and generally in the past the 240-250GB drives were faster than their 120GB counter parts (since generally the 120GB drives had half the amount of Flash Chips). Further, if I am going to risk damaging my Mini by adding an SSD (and thus possibly voiding my warranty), I'm going to make sure I put something large enough in that I don't have to do it again!

This is just my .02 worth. Many are more than happy with a 120-128GB SSD. It's the only option in the Apple Fusion setup....
 
dasx

dasx

macrumors 65816
Jun 18, 2012
1,107
18
Barcelona
Bear in mind that the higher the disk capacity the better speed performance you'll get.

If you were planning on getting, for instance, a Samsung 830, this would mean: (see attached image)

As you can see, writing speeds in the 256GB model are almost 3x times the speeds in the 64GB model.
 

Attachments

  • MZ-7PC512B-WW-29-1.jpg
    MZ-7PC512B-WW-29-1.jpg
    64.6 KB · Views: 147
N

Non-Euclidean

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 21, 2012
43
3
Houston, TX
dasx said:
Bear in mind that the higher the disk capacity the better speed performance you'll get.

If you were planning on getting, for instance, a Samsung 830, this would mean: (see attached image)

As you can see, writing speeds in the 256GB model are almost 3x times the speeds in the 64GB model.
Click to expand...

Ouch, I hadnt realized there was a speed issue. In that case, it seems far wiser to get a 256 drive or so...
 
53x12

53x12

macrumors 68000
Feb 16, 2009
1,544
4
Non-Euclidean said:
Ouch, I hadnt realized there was a speed issue. In that case, it seems far wiser to get a 256 drive or so...
Click to expand...

Prices of SSDs have dropped so much that you can get a good 250GB Samsung 840 for ~$170-180. Less if you find a great deal.
 
Santabean2000

Santabean2000

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2007
1,882
2,043
Non-Euclidean said:
Ouch, I hadnt realized there was a speed issue. In that case, it seems far wiser to get a 256 drive or so...
Click to expand...

Anandtech also suggests keeping approx 25% space free to maintain speed and consistency in your SSD.

Aim for a bigger drive, i.e. 240GB +
 
jwjsr

jwjsr

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2012
335
0
Fairhope, Alabama
Either 120 or 240, Newegg, I see 840 samsung 250gb for 149 via coupon AFTBEXC123 , or Tiger Direct- Sandisk 128gb for $79 after $30 rebate. Size shouldn't be problem for me right now as I don't really do anything but surf, I just want one.
I should mention this will be going in a 2012 mini so I will at least need the sata cable, I think I have the tools
 
N

Non-Euclidean

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 21, 2012
43
3
Houston, TX
Huh, I maybe spent too much, I got the OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) from NewEgg for 229.

I chose it because it had the highest MTBF (2M as opposed to 1.5M for the 840), great random read/write (90K/120K IOPS as opposed to 96K/62K IOPS for the 840), twice as fast sustained write (510 to 250 MB/sec for the 840) and a 5 year warantee.

Now, of course, it will arrive DoA! :)

Anyways I also did upgrade the internal HDD to a Western Digital WD Blue WD7500AZEX 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive. I am a little paranoid about heat in my little mini, and figured the Black would be spinning more...

That will complete the upgrade of the mini. Now I am regretting only getting 8MB RAM, but heh. will be plenty happy with this.
 
jwjsr

jwjsr

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2012
335
0
Fairhope, Alabama
No, u did right , the oc4 just wasn't in my budget and I hope I will never know the difference. I went over budget anyway by stepping up from from 128gb to 250gb.
 
Amrives

Amrives

macrumors newbie
Dec 25, 2012
18
0
With most SSD's the bigger you go the faster you get, up to a certain point. I was stupid and bought a 128gb 840pro only to realize if I had spent a little more money I would literally be able to read/write any format video that could possibly come my way.
 
jwjsr

jwjsr

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2012
335
0
Fairhope, Alabama
Amrives said:
With most SSD's the bigger you go the faster you get, up to a certain point. I was stupid and bought a 128gb 840pro only to realize if I had spent a little more money I would literally be able to read/write any format video that could possibly come my way.
Click to expand...

That's good t know, I've been watching these sad threads for a couple of months and can' recall that being discussed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom