Late 2014 Mac Mini, SSD, Monterey?

[Fishrrman]

James wrote:
"I am currently in the same boat as you guys are. I have a Late 2014 2.6 GHz with 16 GB RAM. The 1TB SATA drive that it has is starting to be noisier. Do you think it is better for me to just to completely change this HDD or use that NVME adapter?"

With 16gb of RAM, that one is worth upgrading to the nvme adapter SSD.
More speed than a SATA 2.5" SSD.
This will probably make that one a lot "snappier"...

You could take the old HDD out.
Or... try reformatting it, then leave it in place.

 

[EugW]

With 16gb of RAM, that one is worth upgrading to the nvme adapter SSD.
More speed than a SATA 2.5" SSD.
This will probably make that one a lot "snappier"...

My 8 GB 2014 2.6 GHz i5 mini has been running extremely well. The machine is quite snappy. For my business type usage, I typically see about 6 GB or so of RAM usage, although I often have about 1-2 GB of compressed RAM. Memory pressure always green. There is some swap, but it always seems to be well under 1 GB, and this is when I still have 2 GB free memory. Not sure why it's using swap, but I notice my 16 GB MacBook occasionally does the same thing: Small swap file with green memory pressure and significant free memory available, so I guess it's just how macOS likes to deal with memory management, although the 16 GB MacBook does tend to have smaller swap files (eg. 100-200 MB) and less compressed RAM.

I did see a 4 GB 2014 1.4 GHz i5 mini on eBay for not too much money in Canada, but I passed on it because of the CPU and the RAM. Actually, the CPU isn't that bad, as it's around iPad 7 level with A10, but I just didn't want to deal with the limitation of 4 GB RAM. Sorry @csonni ?.

 

[imercado]

...

I did see a 4 GB 2014 1.4 GHz i5 mini on eBay for not too much money in Canada, but I passed on it because of the CPU and the RAM. Actually, the CPU isn't that bad, as it's around iPad 7 level with A10, but I just didn't want to deal with the limitation of 4 GB RAM. Sorry @csonni ?.

While hunting around to milk the last bit of mileage out of Windows 8 Media Center, I installed Windows 8.1 on one of these performance-plagued 1.4GHz 4GB 2014 mac minis. Much to my surprise, Windows runs WAY better on the stock non-SSD configuration than I *ever* experienced running OS X / macOS, with the colorful beach balls of death CONSTANTLY throwing themselves in my face.

Haven't tried running Windows 10 on one, but I would expect performance to be similar to Windows 8.1, if you can handle all the random software bugs you get with Windows 10, that is. Have no clue if Windows 11 installs...going to guess the TPM requirement throws in a wrench for that.

For those who want to run macOS, I found that the only way to get tolerable performance on that lowest-end 2014 Mac Mini was to install an SSD either internally or on the USB 3 port, OR to boot the machine in Safe Mode (odd, but effective if you don't need the full graphics performance). The NVME SSD through an adapter option mentioned earlier in this thread is the easiest internal installation route to take. Just make sure your NVME SSD doesn't have TOO GOOD specs, or it can cause random glitches. Some speedy Samsung NVME SSDs were known to not work properly even though they fit fine in the adapter (look it up...it's true!).

 

[EugW]

While hunting around to milk the last bit of mileage out of Windows 8 Media Center, I installed Windows 8.1 on one of these performance-plagued 1.4GHz 4GB 2014 mac minis. Much to my surprise, Windows runs WAY better on the stock non-SSD configuration than I *ever* experienced running OS X / macOS, with the colorful beach balls of death CONSTANTLY throwing themselves in my face.

Haven't tried running Windows 10 on one, but I would expect performance to be similar to Windows 8.1, if you can handle all the random software bugs you get with Windows 10, that is. Have no clue if Windows 11 installs...going to guess the TPM requirement throws in a wrench for that.

For those who want to run macOS, I found that the only way to get tolerable performance on that lowest-end 2014 Mac Mini was to install an SSD either internally or on the USB 3 port, OR to boot the machine in Safe Mode (odd, but effective if you don't need the full graphics performance). The NVME SSD through an adapter option mentioned earlier in this thread is the easiest internal installation route to take. Just make sure your NVME SSD doesn't have TOO GOOD specs, or it can cause random glitches. Some speedy Samsung NVME SSDs were known to not work properly even though they fit fine in the adapter (look it up...it's true!).

I have OS X 10.7 on some hard drives and it is quite speedy. No need for SSD for old OSes. Unfortunately 10.7 doesn’t run on this machine.

However, your supposition that Windows 10 would run as well as Windows 8.1 is not correct. Windows 10 is much slower in my experience, at least if you’re running the latest version of Windows 10.

 

[csonni]

Got my parts in and closed up. My Piloski adapter didn‘t come with any little patch to screw down into the 2 posts to cover the connection. A bit tricky to line it up while trying not to let the adhesive stick which would limit lining up the connection. Had 2 screws…one for the adapter and one for the NVMi. Will get it up and running after work and reply back.

 

[EugW]

Had 2 screws…one for the adapter and one for the NVMi.

Do you have a picture? Mine had two screws, and the two screws were the same.

However if I screwed in the adapter, it would bend the card because card rides too high over the screw mount. When the card is flat, there is space below the screw hole on the card, above the screw mount on the logic board. It needs a spacer. Did you not encounter this problem?

For this reason, I did not use a screw at all, and am just relying on the adhesive. It seems most people are doing the same.

 

[csonni]

My Samsung 970 Evo Plus sat perfectly flat when tightening down the screw.
My HDD is painfully slow. I was finally able to initialize the Samsung. Now, I can't figure out how to boot off the USB drive with Monterey install. I know it's bootable because it showed as such on my MBP. I've got a Logitech keyboard but the Option key does nothing. When firing up the Startup Disk prefs, my USB flash drive doesn't show. Hmm. Any suggestions?

 

[csonni]

Hard to force shut down to get the "bong." Now I'm into the bootable Monterey install!

 

[csonni]

All done. And what a difference! Very useable. Wasn't sure if I should create the same User Account name as my MBP. I saw somewhere that Catalina broke that option....so, I named it closely different. Very happy with it all.

 

[EugW]

My Samsung 970 Evo Plus sat perfectly flat when tightening down the screw.

My SSD is perfectly flat on the adapter board. The SSD is screwed to the adapter board.

However, if I screwed down the adapter board itself (using that oval shaped hole) to the screw mount in the Mac mini, the adapter board would flex, so I took that screw back out. In my setup, there is a little bit of space between the adapter board's oval hole and the Mac mini's screw mount.

Wasn't sure if I should create the same User Account name as my MBP. I saw somewhere that Catalina broke that option....

Huh?

I have the same user account name across all our various Macs in use in this house. That's like half a dozen.

 

[csonni]

Wasn't sure after I read this:
Unfortunately, you cannot use the same Apple ID across two accounts on the same Mac anymore. macOS Catalina broke it. When I contacted apple they said the only way to share stuff across two accounts is family sharing. Kind of crappy since I don't want to pay for family version of iCloud and apple music to access it on my second account that I use for work. Creating a separate install of macOS on the same Mac and using the same Apple ID does not work either because the sharing name in the sharing tab in system preferences is tied to Mac now. Its not changeable between accounts. All accounts regardless of Apple ID or separate OS install or separate account on same ssd partition use the same sharing name.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/same-apple-id-user-id-and-account-name-with-two-macs.2100258/

 

[EugW]

Wasn't sure after I read this:
Unfortunately, you cannot use the same Apple ID across two accounts on the same Mac anymore. macOS Catalina broke it. When I contacted apple they said the only way to share stuff across two accounts is family sharing. Kind of crappy since I don't want to pay for family version of iCloud and apple music to access it on my second account that I use for work. Creating a separate install of macOS on the same Mac and using the same Apple ID does not work either because the sharing name in the sharing tab in system preferences is tied to Mac now. Its not changeable between accounts. All accounts regardless of Apple ID or separate OS install or separate account on same ssd partition use the same sharing name.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/same-apple-id-user-id-and-account-name-with-two-macs.2100258/

That is talking about two different accounts on the same Mac with the same Apple ID (and I don't think that's correct anyway), not two Macs with the same user account name.

The only thing is you need to make sure the Mac's network share name is unique. If you clone your MacBook Pro over to your Mac mini for example, you'll get two machines named "csonni MacBook Pro" or whatever, and that can cause problems.

 

[csonni]

So, will I have problems with naming my Mac mini slightly different than my MBP?

 

[csonni]

The report from Black Magic Disk Speed Test I've gotten is 725 MB/s Write and 775 MB/s Read. Impressive compared to the old HDD. Not sure what to do with the 500 GB platter now, as it's so slow. Should I keep the OS on it or wipe it and use as a scratch disk?

 

[EugW]

So, will I have problems with naming my Mac mini slightly different than my MBP?

No.

The report from Black Magic Disk Speed Test I've gotten is 725 MB/s Write and 775 MB/s Read. Impressive compared to the old HDD. Not sure what to do with the 500 GB platter now, as it's so slow. Should I keep the OS on it or wipe it and use as a scratch disk?

I'm using mine for Time Machine.

 

[csonni]

No.


I'm using mine for Time Machine.

I need something quite a bit larger than 500 GB for Time Machine. Maybe I'll store files that I usually keep on an external drive for storage.

 

[EugW]

So, did you use two screws, and screwed the adapter into the existing screw mount? Or did you just screw the SSD into the adapter like I did?

 

[csonni]

So, did you use two screws, and screwed the adapter into the existing screw mount? Or did you just screw the SSD into the adapter like I did?

I did use the 2 screws. One for the adapter and one for the SSD. I don't remember the adapter sitting high where the screw mounted. I would've noticed that. Even though we had the same adapter, your Mac mini may have been slightly different or your adapter.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Not sure what to do with the 500 GB platter now, as it's so slow. Should I keep the OS on it or wipe it and use as a scratch disk?"

Put it into a 2.5" USB3 enclosure (these are cheap and many choices), and use it for scratch storage -- stuff you want to keep, but nothing "valuable". Perhaps movies, copies of installer apps, etc.

DON'T throw out an old drive unless it's broken (or so small in capacity as to be useless in today's environment).
There are ALWAYS uses that can be found for them.

 

[csonni]

"Not sure what to do with the 500 GB platter now, as it's so slow. Should I keep the OS on it or wipe it and use as a scratch disk?"

Put it into a 2.5" USB3 enclosure (these are cheap and many choices), and use it for scratch storage -- stuff you want to keep, but nothing "valuable". Perhaps movies, copies of installer apps, etc.

DON'T throw out an old drive unless it's broken (or so small in capacity as to be useless in today's environment).
There are ALWAYS uses that can be found for them.

I won’t be tearing the Mac mini apart to do that. It’s staying put.

 

[skinniezinho]

Just bought a Late 2014 Mac Mini i5 2.6GHz, 8Gb Ram and 1Tb HDD.
I was thinking on transfering the SSDs from my X230 to it (I have 256Gb Samsung 830 and 1Tb Samsung 850 msata).
Can I use the msata on a m2 adapter?
If not I think I will just put this msata 850 on a msata to sata adapter.

 

[James Lozada]

All done. And what a difference! Very useable. Wasn't sure if I should create the same User Account name as my MBP. I saw somewhere that Catalina broke that option....so, I named it closely different. Very happy with it all.

Hi...did you migrate your files from the old hard drive to your SSD?

 

[csonni]

I’m manually copying them over. I’ve never used the assistant.

 

[skinniezinho]

Done..as others said, what a difference!
It was long ago I didn't use a computer with mechanical hard drive...now it is usuable =)

 

[csonni]

I agree totally. My Mac mini remained unpowered for the last year since I bought it from a friend due to the unuseability. It's my main computer now.