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2012 Mac Mini - What MacOS Version To Use?

I'm wondering the same thing, but from what I've learned, the 2012 supports Metal and is fully compatible with Big Sur, even though Apple chose not to support it. Now that Catalina's support is over, I'm really considering moving to Big Sur for a year and then I will switch to Monterey.
 
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I've got the 2012 i5 but upgraded myself (16gb ram, 2tb SSD) and debating if I want to use OpenCore and try a newer OS. I don't actually use the Mac mini for anything other than as a device to do iOS device backups and Time Machine onto my NAS. I like that it's a cold backup once I've done what I do, I turn it off and put it back into the closet. I have newer backups on cloud/etc but this was more just for peace of mind hence the 2tb SSD.

Are there any other risks/issues I should be aware of if I were to try and upgrade the OS?

(note this is not my main Mac - I have a MacBook Pro 14" for my actual computing usage)
 
jace88 said:
I've got the 2012 Mac mini i5 but upgraded it myself (16GB ram, 2TB SSD) and debating if I want to use OpenCore and try a newer OS. I don't actually use the Mac mini for anything other than as a device to do iOS device backups and Time Machine onto my NAS.
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What NAS do you have? I just bought a Synology DS1621+ and am mounting it onto my 2012 Mac mini (Mojave) via NFSv3 and am having problems with things like chmod (on certain directories housed on the NAS) wedging and then I have to reboot the Mac mini to get out of it. :confused:
 
Hmm… I have a late 2012 Mini currently running 10.13.6 (17G14042). It has 8 gigs of Ram and the 1TB fusion drive. I have occasionally tried to upgrade to 10.14, but the upgrade says I have the latest OD. Is there some trick to upgrade safely? Thanks…philip
 
chrfr said:
A 2012 mini natively supports Catalina (And Mojave.) why is the patch needed?
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The app store won't let you download the installer on a Mac Mini late 2012. Says it's damaged. So how can one get Mojave for the Mini? Can I download it on a later iMac and use that to install it on the Mini? If you search the app store for Mojave from the Mini you don't even see Mac OS Mojave. All very confusing.
 
Windows 10.

Why? It's still supported with security updates for another two more years (another six more years if you have access to Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC) and you're not reliant on hacks to make it work.

Otherwise, try to get up to Monterey using hacks. For legacy support purposes, Mojave has my vote for its stability and being the last macOS release compatible with 32-bit Intel binaries.
 
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There was a lot of great info in this thread which was a great help when updating my Mini late 2012 to Mojave, so I am hoping maybe there is some help for my issue below after the update. All is working well btw.
I have a 2004 G5 running OS10.4 on an HFS+ SSD and a Mac mini (late 2012) that I just upgraded from OS10.12.6 (Sierra) to 10.14.6 (Mojave). With the Mini at OS10.12 on an HFS+ SSD I was able to network the 2 computers, swapping files and even running MIDI from one DAW to another on one machine to the other via my router/ethernet.
I installed Mojave OS10.14.6 on the Mini and it automatically converted the Volume to AFSB.
My G5 no longer sees that drive so it can't be networked.
2 questions:
1- Is there a way to have an HFS+ system drive see/read an AFSB drive
2- Can Mojave be installed on an HFS+ drive? How? and will it impact the Mini's performance?
 
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A4orce84 said:
Hey Everyone,

I recently resurrected my 2012 Mac Mini, as it stands it has the following specs:

2012 Mac Mini Running MacOS Big Sur (DosDude Patched)
2.5Ghz Intel i5
16GB Memory (Max I believe)
500GB SSD (Main Drive)
1TB SSD (Data Drive)

I stopped using it since I got a work MacBook Pro, and I basically unplugged it and put it in a closet for a few years. I am switching jobs and decided to dust it off and start using it again and wanted to know what is the 'best' version of MacOS to run on it? I haven't done any research, but I imagine there is a DosDude patch to run up to MacOS Monterey (latest version). My goal is to have a decent performant mac as a secondary machine (and maybe a few home server tasks), since most likely I will be getting another MacBook for my new job.

Question:
What is the best version of MacOS to run on my 10-year old (wow!) Mac Mini so I can still use it as a functional secondary computer?


Thank you in advance to everyone for your time and help, it is greatly appreciated!
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Won’t go above Catalina, since everything since then just introduced more bugs.
 
rdtguitar said:
There was a lot of great info in this thread which was a great help when updating my Mini late 2012 to Mojave, so I am hoping maybe there is some help for my issue below after the update. All is working well btw.
I have a 2004 G5 running OS10.4 on an HFS+ SSD and a Mac mini (late 2012) that I just upgraded from OS10.12.6 (Sierra) to 10.14.6 (Mojave). With the Mini at OS10.12 on an HFS+ SSD I was able to network the 2 computers, swapping files and even running MIDI from one DAW to another on one machine to the other via my router/ethernet.
I installed Mojave OS10.14.6 on the Mini and it automatically converted the Volume to AFSB.
My G5 no longer sees that drive so it can't be networked.
2 questions:
1- Is there a way to have an HFS+ system drive see/read an AFSB drive
2- Can Mojave be installed on an HFS+ drive? How? and will it impact the Mini's performance?
Click to expand...

You could ask this on PowerPC subforum here. (Why 10.4 on a G5 though?)
 

2012 Mac Mini...​

my same unit ran mountain lion perfectly last summer,
then the graphic card went!
i would suggest Mojave since that has 32bit support and airplay and icloud-ness as well.

i hoped this helps
 
2- Can Mojave be installed on an HFS+ drive? How?

Yes. Use carbon copy cloner to clone your Mojave install to an external drive. Then reformat the internal to hfs+ and clone it back to the internal from the external clone. Works great.
 
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