Samsung 850 EVO in a Late 2009 Mac Mini

[ParishM]

won an EVO 850 in a raffle and would like to know if i will have
any problems using it in my late 2009 mini ? it's a 2.53 C2D
with 8gb ram.

i've read 100+ threads about Yosemite and Trim but can't
seem to find a definitive answer. i definitely don't want to
open a can of worms !

 

[Santabean2000]

It should work, but won't be read at full speed due to old sata connector.

 

[joco32]

It'll work fine, and you'll see a nice performance boost. You can use trim enabler to get trim working. https://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/

 

[Santabean2000]

It'll work fine, and you'll see a nice performance boost. You can use trim enabler to get trim working. https://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/

Trim is not necessary unless you're doing massive amounts of data transfers to the point where you're regularly filling up the SSD completely.

If you buy a higher capacity drive and use it 'normally', then you'll see no appreciable difference using trim or not over the course of it's life.

For optimal performance, try not to get within 20-25% of the absolute capacity limit.

 

[Maxx Power]

I mentioned this in a different thread but it is very relevant to this thread here.

If you are upgrading your Nvidia chipset-based Mac to SSD from HDD, you should definitely be aware of the Nvidia (MCP79/89) + SSD bug. You'll at first be symptom-free for a while, then randomly you'll get the spinning beach ball of death to unreadable SSD drive and unbootable, if you choose the wrong SSD. The "wrong" SSD, as it turns out, are most SSDs. First symptom is the down-negotiating of SATA link speed to 1.5GBps (instead of the full 3.0GBps link).

Long story short, the only guaranteed combo for Nvidia chipset-based Macs is anything in the Crucial M500 series.

You can see what this guy did with his Mini and a short recount of the SSD+Nvidia chipset fiasco:

http://blogs.helsinki.fi/tuylaant/2014/01/upgrading-old-macs-to-ssds

Here is one recent thread where there are still people trying Samsung SSDs with their MCP79/89 based Macs with some issues (SATA-link negotiated to 1.5GBps):

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1696760/

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6020167?start=0&tstart=0

Long story short, I would not recommend trying the Samsung (any series) with these (Nvidia-chipset) Macs. Try a crucial M500 for best chances of long-term head-ache-free upgrade.

 

[Santabean2000]

I mentioned this in a different thread but it is very relevant to this thread here.

If you are upgrading your Nvidia chipset-based Mac to SSD from HDD, you should definitely be aware of the Nvidia (MCP79/89) + SSD bug. You'll at first be symptom-free for a while, then randomly you'll get the spinning beach ball of death to unreadable SSD drive and unbootable, if you choose the wrong SSD. The "wrong" SSD, as it turns out, are most SSDs. First symptom is the down-negotiating of SATA link speed to 1.5GBps (instead of the full 3.0GBps link).

Long story short, the only guaranteed combo for Nvidia chipset-based Macs is anything in the Crucial M500 series.

You can see what this guy did with his Mini and a short recount of the SSD+Nvidia chipset fiasco:

http://blogs.helsinki.fi/tuylaant/2014/01/upgrading-old-macs-to-ssds

Here is one recent thread where there are still people trying Samsung SSDs with their MCP79/89 based Macs with some issues (SATA-link negotiated to 1.5GBps):

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1696760/

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6020167?start=0&tstart=0

Long story short, I would not recommend trying the Samsung (any series) with these (Nvidia-chipset) Macs. Try a crucial M500 for best chances of long-term head-ache-free upgrade.

Good to know. As it turns out, the M500 was one that I had in my previous Nvidia Macs. *fluked it*

 

[Partron22]

Running as boot externally over Firewire 800, or even plain old USB 2, might still give you quite a nice speed boost.
You'll just need a caddy. You can pick up a decent one for around $25. Haven't seen a Firewire caddy for years, but if you can find an old external drive for $10 and are good with a screwdriver...

 

[Richard8655]

I mentioned this in a different thread but it is very relevant to this thread here.

If you are upgrading your Nvidia chipset-based Mac to SSD from HDD, you should definitely be aware of the Nvidia (MCP79/89) + SSD bug. You'll at first be symptom-free for a while, then randomly you'll get the spinning beach ball of death to unreadable SSD drive and unbootable, if you choose the wrong SSD. The "wrong" SSD, as it turns out, are most SSDs. First symptom is the down-negotiating of SATA link speed to 1.5GBps (instead of the full 3.0GBps link).

Long story short, the only guaranteed combo for Nvidia chipset-based Macs is anything in the Crucial M500 series.

You can see what this guy did with his Mini and a short recount of the SSD+Nvidia chipset fiasco:

http://blogs.helsinki.fi/tuylaant/2014/01/upgrading-old-macs-to-ssds

Here is one recent thread where there are still people trying Samsung SSDs with their MCP79/89 based Macs with some issues (SATA-link negotiated to 1.5GBps):

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1696760/

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6020167?start=0&tstart=0

Long story short, I would not recommend trying the Samsung (any series) with these (Nvidia-chipset) Macs. Try a crucial M500 for best chances of long-term head-ache-free upgrade.

This is excellent advice, and should be posted on this forum as a permanent sticky for earlier Mac Mini SSD upgrades. Many could benefit from this guidance in avoiding SSD compatibility issues.