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Best SSD for Mac Mini 2011?

V

vandoorn

macrumors regular
Original poster
Hi There,

I just ordered a 2011 Base model Mac Mini because i'm tired of waiting and this one will do just fine.

I want to upgrade it with a SSD, but which is the most suitable?

I've found the following ones:

- Samsung 830
- Corsair Force 3
- Kingston SSD V+200

Which one or maybe an other one will be the most suitable?

Thanks in advance!
 
I was about to ask the same. Unless I hear any different I will purchase the Samsung 830 basedon the excellent ratings on newegg and amazon. I have another question that might be of interest to you. How do you install mt lion on a clean drive since it is a downloadable OS? How do I add my iPhoto pictures and music to the new SSD?

Thank you
 
Just plunked a Sandisk Extreme 240GB into my 2011 mini. It's working well thusfar. I made a bootable USB of Mountain Lion before installation, before using Migration Assistant to move everything across (it's extremely quick to migrate if both drives are on the SATA bus). Also, if you get a dual HDD kit, make sure you format the drive before installing it.

Other ones I considered: Intel 520, Samsung 830, Crucial M4...
 
Samsung 830, esp if you wan't to use FileVault.

Have an intel 330 in my Macbook, which is fine but FV performance on Sandforce based ssd's is balls.

Plus apple uses the 830 in rMBP's, so that's an endorsement a well.
 
The Samsung 830 256GB is the cheapest and gets the best reviews as well as being tried and tested with the 2011 Mac Mini...just saying
 
vandoorn said:
And why did you choose for the Sandisk and not the others? Just price or?
Click to expand...

Price alone won out. The Sammy would've been 20% more, and the Sandisk had just dropped below the magic $200 level.

I'm going to grab a Samsung 830 128GB model for my folks' late 2008 MBP this weekend; it seems very reliable and has no issues with negotiating a 3gbps link speed.
 
I just ordered a Samsung 830 128gb for $89 and it's been running great. I saw today that Amazon has the 256gb for $199!
 
i ordered the samsung 830 from amazon for 199.00 will be here Saturday. I still am not sure how to load Mt lion plus my existing backed up itunes and iphoto files. I don't want to reload everything as I'm trying to start the SSD like a new computer.
 
I believe kingston's got a 256gb SSD for like 169 on newegg right now. Not sure how long that sale will be.
 
im curious about this as well... if i cant hold out for the new mac mini i was thinking of getting the current mac mini and right out of the box putting a ssd in it and purchasing mountain lion. how would i go about putting anything on it since there is no optical drive on a mac mini and how would i transfer all my data that i have backed up from my last computer via time machine?

thanks to OP for making this thread.. very useful questions and answers in here.
 
I have a Snow Leopard USB Drive that came with my MBA 2010. I think i can install Snow Leopard using the USB and then update to Mountain Lion? Or can I Command + R during boot with the new SSD and do some sort of internet recovery?
 
Ive created a video tutorial on how to create a ML install USB - link is in my sig.
Its very easy to do and a great tool to keep for future use.
 
great info above. so if i sign into my own apple account on a different computer and download mountain lion and create a bootable usb of mountain lion like in that video above and then plug in that usb into a brand new mac mini with a new ssd installed in it I should just be able to install mountain lion and be on my merry way, yes?

just trying to make sure by asking in idiot proof way, lol. I will be getting a mac mini, ssd and ram all at once and just figured it would be much easier to do it only once 😉

by the way to the creator of that video... awesome video. makes it very simple for basic computer users like myself 🙂

THANKS!
 
surroundfan said:
Price alone won out. The Sammy would've been 20% more, and the Sandisk had just dropped below the magic $200 level.

I'm going to grab a Samsung 830 128GB model for my folks' late 2008 MBP this weekend; it seems very reliable and has no issues with negotiating a 3gbps link speed.
Click to expand...

Hi, just posting my .02 lol

(btw first post here so be gentle)

I'm assuming you used a 256gb SSD since you mentioned around $200.

I havent read past this post so I'm not sure if it holds true or not, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the OCZ Vertex 4 yet. I absolutely LOVE mine. I opted for the 128GB since it was only $99 at the time I bought it from Amazon, and it comes with a 5 year warranty. The drive works amazingly fast, and it's cheap. OCZ is a new company in the past year, which a lot of people aren't factoring into their decisions. They assume since OCZ has had problems in the past, they continue to do so. I haven't had an issue at all.

The 256GB version of the drive is only $204 right now on Amazon, which is a GREAT deal on such a good SSD.

If I have any issues with mine, I'll update this, but I would recommend this SSD hands down. The customer support, as well ad the drive itself are awesome. Definitely worth a look, at the very least



-EDIT-
I do want to point out that I don't currently have my Mac Mini yet, but I will be getting it soon. The drive I posted is working perfectly in my Win7 machine, but I haven't heard anything wrong with OSX, including ML.
 
Last edited:
macuser86 said:
great info above. so if i sign into my own apple account on a different computer and download mountain lion and create a bootable usb of mountain lion like in that video above and then plug in that usb into a brand new mac mini with a new ssd installed in it I should just be able to install mountain lion and be on my merry way, yes?

just trying to make sure by asking in idiot proof way, lol. I will be getting a mac mini, ssd and ram all at once and just figured it would be much easier to do it only once 😉

by the way to the creator of that video... awesome video. makes it very simple for basic computer users like myself 🙂

THANKS!
Click to expand...

Glad it was of help 😉
And yes, wherever you download mountain lion, just make sure you cancel the actual install so the downloaded file doesn't get deleted, and create the USB install drive instead. You can then use this on your Mac Mini.

vandoorn said:
Should i enable TRIM on the Samsung SSD or is it already enabled?
Click to expand...

I used TRIM enabler to enable TRIM on my Sammy 830, and it works a charm. May as well stick it on as it doesn't do any harm and works flawlessly.

----------

I'm using a Samsung 830 256GB at the moment, but after the price drop at Amazon for the 512GB I've ordered that, and will sell my 256 instead!

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1425407/
 
After reading so many posts with people being delighted by the speed / responsiveness boost they get after installing an SSD, I've decided to get one for my 2011 Mac mini.

Just have a quick question though: most people seem to have the OS and apps installed on the SSD and keep their data on a bigger normal HDD.

Does this cause any lag? If I'm using Aperture, for example, would I see any speed benefit from keeping my Aperture library on the SSD as opposed to keeping it on a separate normal HDD?

Thanks in advance for any info.
 
macuser86 said:
im curious about this as well... if i cant hold out for the new mac mini i was thinking of getting the current mac mini and right out of the box putting a ssd in it and purchasing mountain lion. how would i go about putting anything on it since there is no optical drive on a mac mini and how would i transfer all my data that i have backed up from my last computer via time machine?

thanks to OP for making this thread.. very useful questions and answers in here.
Click to expand...

use remote disc on it with another computer
 
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