Advice needed: Replace failing drive on Mac Mini 2014 will it increase performance?

[ptjulie]

I have a spare Mac Mini (Late 2014), running MacOS 10.13.5 and 16GB of RAM, 3GHZ i7 processor. I also have a Fusion Drive with a S.M.A.R.T status of failing for the last few years. I am unable to upgrade past High Sierra due to the fact I have a failing drive and refuses to install.

I use it as my Plex media server.



I tried to upgrade at one point and thought it was working but my machine would not boot up so recovered using TM.


My questions are is my machine running a bit slow due to fact it has a failing drive? Would that reduce performance? As stated previously it has been failing status since mid 2017. I attempt to do a first-aid repair on the drive but did not work. My memory stats on any particular day are:


Physical Memory: 16.00 GB

Memory used: 9.20 GB

Cached Files: 6.78 GB

Swap Used: 622 MB


When I run Windows 10 Parallels it is dreadfully slow.

I am entertaining to purchase the OWC 1.0TB Auro Pro X2 NVM3 Flash Add-on solution for Mac Mini.

Will that help out? Will I see a significant improvement?

I did search this forum for any answers to performance issues due to a failing drive but could not locate an answer.

Thank you in advance.

 

[kohlson]

Almost certainly a failing drive will degrade performance. If the OS is trying to retrieve data from the disk and it takes several tries, that slows things down.

SSD would be best. But ifixit and your wallet will tell you how easy this is.

 

[honestone33]

This shows how to remove the Fusion Drive:

Mac mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement

Use this guide to replace the hard drive in your hard-drive-only or Fusion Drive Mac mini Late 2014. This guide was made with a Fusion Drive Mac...

www.ifixit.com

That Mac Mini also came with a "blade type" SSD drive. So, not sure if you san install a "non-blade" type SSD drive. It seems like you could, but someone else needs to answer that.

 

[Boyd01]

I have a 2014 mini that is a step down from yours (mine is a 2.8ghz i5/8gb with a fusion drive). The Fusion drive is actually a 128gb SSD and a 1TB hard disk that are logically treated as a single drive. I split the ssd from the hard drive and boot from the SSD. It's acually a pretty responsive little machine running this way. Yours should be a lot better than mine, since you have 16gb RAM and the i7 CPU.

So, I think you would be pleased if you convert to a SSD-based mini. Here's a thread about splitting the SSD from the fusion drive that might help. You could do a fresh install of MacOS on the SSD after splitting and then eject the hard drive as a test to see how fast your Mini would be. Obviously, you will want to make multiple backups of everything on the Mini before doing this.

Split the fusion drive on my "new" 2014 Mini?

Couldn't resist any longer and just ordered a new 2014 2.8ghz/8gb/1tb fusion Mini on sale at B&H Photo for $529. Have been using a base 2014 1.4ghz/4gb/500gb HD mini as an iTunes server for the past 3 years and have been concerned about what I might replace it with when it inevitably dies (it...

forums.macrumors.com

If you're happy with performance, then I guess you need to find a way to physically remove the bad HD or disable it somehow. You could then either replace the 128gb SSD with a larger blade-type drive, or you could just connect an external USB 3 SSD and use it as a data disk. That's basically how I use my 2014 Mini, which is a media server. I have the operating system on the 128gb SSD and an external 4tb SSD with all my media.

 

[ptjulie]

Thank you for everyone's advice and I now have a plan. I will purchase the OWC 1.0TB Auro Pro X2 NVM3 Flash Add-on solution as this is a simple job and should not take me more than 10-15 minutes. I will still have the old drive in place (without the fusion part) even though it is a failing drive. I intend to run the OS and all applications including Windows Parallels on the NVM add-on to take advantage of the speed and use the old drive for storage. After I get things going with the new NVM3 add-on I will replace the other drive much later down the road and rely on backups. After the backup is done it will be running High Sierra than will do the upgrade to Catalina. As honestone33 stated in his post for me to replace the other failing drive with an SSD I understand it can be anywhere between a 30 minute to 2-hour job so I may just bring it to a PC maintenance shop for someone more capable to accomplish. After all you need to remove most components from the mac mini body to install that drive and knowing myself; I am sure I will break something. I'd rather spend a bit more knowing it is done correctly by someone more experienced than me buggering something up and ending paying much more to fix my mistakes.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Boyd01]

I could be wrong, but I *think* you need to split the fusion drive apart before you install the new SSD. Before buying or installing anything, you might try my suggestion and split the SSD and see how it works as a boot drive. I also think you could be headed for trouble if you just leave the defective drive in place. Since you know the hard drive is failing, what sense does it make to use it for anything?

I setup a 2012 mini with a SSD and gave it to my daughter's family a few years ago, leaving the old hard drive in place for Time Machine backups. After awhile, they started having lots of problems and I even had to talk them through a MacOS re-install. When I finally came for a visit, I saw lots of errors coming from the internal drive. I turned off Time Machine but they continued having trouble and finally just gave up on that mini.

Regardless, good luck with the Mini, I'm sure you'll get it all sorted out and end up with a much faster computer.

 

[ptjulie]

Boyd01, you could be right. To be honest, I am not quite understanding it all and will need to open up the mini to see all the components. When I physically see it; I will have a better understanding. I did ask OWC sales if the old fusion drive is removed can the HDD failing drive remain? They responded with, “The SSD part of the fusion would be removed and replaced with the APX2 SSD. The HDD part will remain”

Then I asked about the difficulty level replacing both and they said, “The APX2 blade install is super easy however, the HDD replacement is difficult, but the package should come with a packet guide.”

So not sure what you mean is to “split the fusion drive apart before you install the SSD”.

 

[Boyd01]

You already have a 128gb SSD installed in your Mini, but the software makes it appear to be a "fusion drive". You can type some commands into Terminal to separate the SSD from the hard drive, then you can install MacOS on the SSD and boot directly from it. This can be done without opening your Mini and you don't need to purchase anything.

But can also remove the original 128gb SSD and replace it with a larger one, as you plan to do with OWC.