Hold on - surely you have the original HDD in the Mini? Just boot from that, download the Yosemite installer and install on the SSD.
M.
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Need help with choosing a SATA cable for SSD installation
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Hold on - surely you have the original HDD in the Mini? Just boot from that, download the Yosemite installer and install on the SSD.
M.
Spoke To OWC & Apple Mac Upgrades
Yes the original HDD is still in the Mini, but I've completely formatted it for use as a Data Drive.
I've been exchanging email's with OWC tech support and they asked me to try a different drive. I told them I've tried two SSD drives from two different manufacturers and they said that it's probably a faulty cable and that I should contact the vendor. I got in touch with Apple Mac Upgrades who have asked me to send the item back for a replacement.
Did you use the OWC data doubler kit to add your second drive? I think the cable I am returning can be used to connect drives placed in either bay. I saw an addendum video for the data doubler kit, I have that exact cable:
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini2012_dd2_h/
Yes the original HDD is still in the Mini, but I've completely formatted it for use as a Data Drive.
I've been exchanging email's with OWC tech support and they asked me to try a different drive. I told them I've tried two SSD drives from two different manufacturers and they said that it's probably a faulty cable and that I should contact the vendor. I got in touch with Apple Mac Upgrades who have asked me to send the item back for a replacement.
Did you use the OWC data doubler kit to add your second drive? I think the cable I am returning can be used to connect drives placed in either bay. I saw an addendum video for the data doubler kit, I have that exact cable:
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini2012_dd2_h/
What you could do is create a partition on it to temporarily put on a system. When you don't need it you could use the partition to backup your SSD using SuperDuper (for a bootable system) or Time Machine.
Well the cable is the last thing to try.
Yes, I used the OWC kit for the upper bay. As I said before, I'm not sure if their SATA flex cable fits both slots on the logic board or if they supply two different ones for the upper and lower bay.
M.
I returned the original cable I bought and purchased the standard OWC Data Doubler Kit from Amazon UK. I received it today and I can confirm that the cable provided in the kit can be used for either the upper or lower bay, you just need to fold the cable to fit. This kit does not however include the mounting pins but I had some suitable screws to hand.
I have just installed the Crucial SSD into the Mac Mini with the new cable and ran the basic Internet Apple Hardware Test. Unfortunately, I'm still getting the same error.
I'm not so concerned any more as everything is working very well, I don't have any problems that would suggest any cable/hard drive issues. The system is booting up/shutting down nice and fast, OS X and Apps are very snappy and data is being transferred quickly.
Good. I think it may well be a rogue error message. The only other things to do would be to put the SSD in the upper bay (maybe too hard for you) and to do a proper fresh install of Yosemite on the SSD (easy).
M.
Corax
macrumors 6502
I've installed a Crucial MX200 in my Mac Mini 2011 recently. It flies compared to the OCW Core SSD that was in it!
Really fast boot, applications startup fast (1 bounce).
I choose the Crucial because of durability and long life. It has power loss protection, which I really need over here in Curaçao. Also some other premium features that are in the MX200 made me decide for it over Samsungs offerings.
It's amazing what Crucial puts in their consumer grade SSD's that are normally only in enterprise or pro SSD's.
I haven't performed AHT though...maybe I'll do that later this week... I'll let you know what the outcome is.
Really fast boot, applications startup fast (1 bounce).
I choose the Crucial because of durability and long life. It has power loss protection, which I really need over here in Curaçao. Also some other premium features that are in the MX200 made me decide for it over Samsungs offerings.
It's amazing what Crucial puts in their consumer grade SSD's that are normally only in enterprise or pro SSD's.
I haven't performed AHT though...maybe I'll do that later this week... I'll let you know what the outcome is.
That's awesome! I'm loving this Crucial SSD too and it has given my base model Mac Mini a much needed performance boost. I would like to hear what the AHT report is for your system, if you get a moment to do it 🙂