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SSD on Mac Mini
- Thread starter marcelmfa
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Also note, running an SSD via an external HD & USB2/FW800 is almost as fast as having it internally, and much much much faster than the crappy 5400 rpm internal hard drive.
Are you serious? Most SATA2 SSDs deliver over 200MB/s, USB 2.0 tops around 40MB/s, FW800 at 70MB/s.
Modern 5400rpm drives deliver more than 70MB/s.
There's not one thing right in your post.
Have any external solution using Thunderbolt port instead of USB or FW for SSD?
[Update] Forget this question...
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This is sooo not true... USB 2.0 and firewire can't even come close to SATA speeds.
Thunderbolt... thats another story...
Yes, by my own hands
I used a combination of a DIY video on MacSales dot com and another site (can't remember off the top of my head). I ordered the OWC 240Mb with USB 3.0 case, and then wondered, "Why is it only transferring at about 14Mbps?" and then a quick google search and a Apple.com visit showed: Mac Mini is 2.0.
For the comment an external is as fast, that's not the case unless you possibly get a firewire 800 case. Besides, it defeats one of the main advantages of a built in SSD drive: ease and speed.
I used the 5 piece kit sold by said website above and had all the tools I needed. I did it in about an hour, start to finish. I took my time. Boot time went from about 45-50 seconds (i5, 8Gb RAM, 2.3 GHz CPU) to 15 seconds. No application ever bounces in the dock while waiting, which is misleading because there is no wait. I'd do it again and it's not terribly hard. Just take your time, watch the video's 2-3 times BEFORE you start and take pictures at each step. If you forget how something was, you have a picture.
I also wrestled with spending the 60$ or so for a dual drive cable that the server model comes with and decided to pass for 2 reasons: not worth the hassle to redo the install, on principle because it seems everyone has gouged the hell out of the price.
My read write speed tests are about 560Mbps on read and write with the 6G (not Pro).
I used a combination of a DIY video on MacSales dot com and another site (can't remember off the top of my head). I ordered the OWC 240Mb with USB 3.0 case, and then wondered, "Why is it only transferring at about 14Mbps?" and then a quick google search and a Apple.com visit showed: Mac Mini is 2.0.
For the comment an external is as fast, that's not the case unless you possibly get a firewire 800 case. Besides, it defeats one of the main advantages of a built in SSD drive: ease and speed.
I used the 5 piece kit sold by said website above and had all the tools I needed. I did it in about an hour, start to finish. I took my time. Boot time went from about 45-50 seconds (i5, 8Gb RAM, 2.3 GHz CPU) to 15 seconds. No application ever bounces in the dock while waiting, which is misleading because there is no wait. I'd do it again and it's not terribly hard. Just take your time, watch the video's 2-3 times BEFORE you start and take pictures at each step. If you forget how something was, you have a picture.
I also wrestled with spending the 60$ or so for a dual drive cable that the server model comes with and decided to pass for 2 reasons: not worth the hassle to redo the install, on principle because it seems everyone has gouged the hell out of the price.
My read write speed tests are about 560Mbps on read and write with the 6G (not Pro).
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Thx for info... i'll search this video, but if you can link it to me, i would be thankful
I also did my Base 2011 myself. I did buy the extra cable so I could run dual drives (found it for $40 somewhere, can't remember where now). Took me about a half hour or so. I just wish I had used a faster SSD drive and even though I now have a faster SSD just sitting around collecting dust, I am too lazy to redo it.
Did my 3 Minis (the 1st gen Intel Mini I did along with 802.11n Airport and T7600 CPU upgrades, the others were HDD only) on my own. Piece of cake, really.
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini2011_hd/ is good and I also used
You honestly only need 5 tools (all in the OWC DIY kit)
Here is the exact kit I used (and realized USB3.0 was overkill later)
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/Y3SSD6E240/
Here is a kit for a gouged set of things required:
http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/IF171-005
I say its gouged because you don't need 20-something tools. And two screwdrivers are just fine for removing the logic board. Similar to when I used to install car stereos and they wanted $$ for a "Ford deck removal tool" when you could slide in 2 precision screwdrivers and it'd work just as good.