Replacing hard rive on mac mini, some questions.

[kmj2318]

Im' replacing my HD with an SSD. I figured I could just download a copy of yosemite onto a USB thumb drive from my macbook pro. Then plug in the thumb drive into the mini. I don't want to have to transfer anything over from the old drive. I just want to install the new one and go from there. So some questions:

After booting up the mini with the new SSD, can I just boot up in disk utility and install Yosemite from USB?

If I download yosemite from my macbook pro, is it a different copy than what needs to be used for the mini? I could just do it from the mini then.

Thanks.

 

[=E=]

Im' replacing my HD with an SSD. I figured I could just download a copy of yosemite onto a USB thumb drive from my macbook pro. Then plug in the thumb drive into the mini. I don't want to have to transfer anything over from the old drive. I just want to install the new one and go from there. So some questions:

After booting up the mini with the new SSD, can I just boot up in disk utility and install Yosemite from USB?

If I download yosemite from my macbook pro, is it a different copy than what needs to be used for the mini? I could just do it from the mini then.

Thanks.

Yep. You can boot up in disk utility and install Yosemite from your thumb drive.
No need for a different copy of Yosemite. Its the same for all Macs.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: to remove personally identifying information not relevant to thread.

 

[kmj2318]

Download the full Yosemite installer from the Mac App Store. Then you can use Disk Maker X or the terminal (I use dd in the terminal) to copy the dmg from INSIDE the installer to the USB flash drive. Then you can boot that USB flash drive on the Mini, and do a new install from there after partitioning in Disk Utility.

(You can't boot up the Mini with the SSD after your first install; there's nothing on it... or you could do Internet Recovery depending which Mini it is.)

Yep. You can boot up in disk utility and install Yosemite from your thumb drive.
No need for a different copy of Yosemite. Its the same for all Macs.

So even if the SSD is brand new the computer will still have disk utility? I worry nothing happening because the hard drive is blank.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: to remove personally identifying information not relevant to thread.

 

[kmj2318]

Ok I get it now, thanks for your help.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: to remove personally identifying information not relevant to thread.

 

[ratsg]

remember how much easier it was when Apple just sold us a DVD?

I would still pay for an OS DVD today if Apple made it available, free downloads or not.

 

[glenthompson]

Im' replacing my HD with an SSD. I figured I could just download a copy of yosemite onto a USB thumb drive from my macbook pro. Then plug in the thumb drive into the mini. I don't want to have to transfer anything over from the old drive. I just want to install the new one and go from there. So some questions:

After booting up the mini with the new SSD, can I just boot up in disk utility and install Yosemite from USB?

If I download yosemite from my macbook pro, is it a different copy than what needs to be used for the mini? I could just do it from the mini then.

Thanks.

My preferred method for installing a new drive is to install the new drive into an external enclosure then clone the new drive from the old one with Carbon Copy Cloner. Once done I can boot from the new drive to test it out. If it's ok then I open up and install the new drive.

Since the install of a drive in a Mini is non-trivial, knowing that you have a good drive and good install before opening the case can save a lot of frustration down the road.