I bought a 2010 Mac Mini new 2 years ago from Fry's in Dallas,Texas. Last week while plugging in my printer USB to my Mac, it shorted out the motherboard I think ( it starts up light comes on fan comes on then it shuts down in 2 seconds). I took to an Apple store and was told a motherboard replacement was $400. They would start with PS but they thought MB was issue also. All my work is on the harddrive. I started 5 years ago building videos and website's on a 2005 G5 with 09 iLife and had to upgrade to a post 2005 motherboard to get iLife11 to work so I bought the 2010 Mac Mini. So my question is can whats my least expensive way to get out of this. I'm open to all ideas. Can I get a 2007 mini mac and just replace the harddive from the 2010 and put it in the 2007 Mini Mac??? Or get an iMac 2006 and copy from my HD from and enclosure the .dmg (I think that's what it is) file of the applications that I don't have the cd's for anymore. ie Rapidweaver, Dreamweaver, iLife11 , excel and so on. Again just hoping for a little help in a solution. Who shorts a MB from a usb port this sucks...Help
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Mac Mini "issue" with what to do next
- Thread starter rdman
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I would get a refurb 2011 Mini i5 with Radeon 6630 GPU for about $400 off eBay. I think that's the best Mini they've built the last 3 years. I did that after buying a 2012 Mini 2.6 with the HDMI issue, returned it, and got the 2011. Plenty fast enough if you're not encoding video.
You should always have at least one backup of anything you can't afford to lose. Some people make 3-4 backups.
You have to buy another computer, but a 2007 mini is too old. I'd get the latest Mini I could afford, no earlier than a late 2009.
I'd also buy an external enclosure for the internal hard drive of the broken Mini. That way you don't have to open your new Mini, break it, and have to post "Help" again. It's irrelevant if you break anything with the old Mini when you're removing the drive because it's already dead.
You have to buy another computer, but a 2007 mini is too old. I'd get the latest Mini I could afford, no earlier than a late 2009.
I'd also buy an external enclosure for the internal hard drive of the broken Mini. That way you don't have to open your new Mini, break it, and have to post "Help" again. It's irrelevant if you break anything with the old Mini when you're removing the drive because it's already dead.
Wow thats a many years worth work there. I would definitely consider backup strategy - just buy one large external drive and use time machine. Do what others said - get an adaptor for your drive and use it ax external. Dont open new computer to put your drivein.
If i were you I would just buy the newest cheapest Mac mini. It will be at least twice as fast as your old one and plenty powerful for what you do. Its a bit more than 400 USD but not that big difference (599). Youshould buy AppleCare within first year so when this happens next time youre covered by warranty for three years.
My suggestion:
If you like the Mini's form factor, get a "late 2012" refurbished Mini from Apple's online store. It won't cost much more than a used "earlier version", and you'll be getting a 1-year warranty with it, as well.
The GREAT advantage of the 2012 Mini is USB3. You WILL like this. Biggest advance in Mac tecnology in last 3-4 years.
As for the old Mini's hard drive -- take it out. Then get a USB3/SATA docking station. They cost only about $25, and are VERY handy devices to have around.
I use and recommend "plugable.com" for a USB3/SATA dock (no financial interest other than being a satisfied paying customer).
If you like the Mini's form factor, get a "late 2012" refurbished Mini from Apple's online store. It won't cost much more than a used "earlier version", and you'll be getting a 1-year warranty with it, as well.
The GREAT advantage of the 2012 Mini is USB3. You WILL like this. Biggest advance in Mac tecnology in last 3-4 years.
As for the old Mini's hard drive -- take it out. Then get a USB3/SATA docking station. They cost only about $25, and are VERY handy devices to have around.
I use and recommend "plugable.com" for a USB3/SATA dock (no financial interest other than being a satisfied paying customer).
There's no refurbs @ Mac store online that are 2012 and less price than the econo price new one. So driving to downtown Dallas to get the basic model in lieu of the usb3 feature. Will I be able to access my Rapidweaver program via external drive? If not how can I transfer said program to the maindrive?
If you run it on 10.6, then you should get as suggested a 2011 Radeon, and either slide in the drive in the empty bay or hook it up via usb and use migration assistant.
The 2011 will boot from a 10.6 install if it has all the updates. Just add some lion mac descriptor files to get everything work perfect (if you don't you have a mouse pointer with after glow for example).
The 2011 will boot from a 10.6 install if it has all the updates. Just add some lion mac descriptor files to get everything work perfect (if you don't you have a mouse pointer with after glow for example).