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Upgrade Mini with SSD or HDD?

I

iSwiss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
This older 'noob' is getting rather confused. 😕

I want to upgrade my Mac Mini 3,1 early 2009.
It is getting slower en the HDD is getting fuller.

I was wondering if I'd be better off bying a SSD (Crucial M4 128GB) or a 7200 rpm HDD (WD scorpio black or Seagate Momentus XT).

I would take the old HDD to replace the optical drive, so I'd have enough space internal. (External 1,5TB also available)

But this is where the confusion starts:
I read different things on different sites about installing a SSD (in a Mini).
Some say that prior to installing OSX one must 'adapt' certain things, e.g. firmware, TRIM, IDE setting (?), periodic reconditiong, etc.

I guess I just want to know if it's possible to get a SSD working smoothly in my 2009 Mac Mini?
Or is it better to buy a HDD?

I sure like the specs of a SSD reagrding start-up time and acces time.

Looking forward to replies.

Regards from The Netherlands :apple:
 
Last edited:
OWC (Macsales.com)

It sounds as if you are looking for a similar solution to what I have done with my Macbook Pro. I have an OWC Mercury Extreme SSD (240gb) as my primary drive with the optical drive replaced with the original HD using a data doubler.

I got the following through OWC. Since these SSDs utilize over provisioning and wear leveling you should not experience any issues with OS X not supporting TRIM. Just remember that your 2009 Mini will not support the 6G model. You really would not notice that much of a difference anyway.

I also got the optical drive adapter in order to keep the optical drive, which I still use infrequently.

Hope this helps. I would do it exactly the same way if I had to do it again. It is the best upgrade I have ever done. Good luck -W
 
Last edited:
iSwiss said:
This older 'noob' is getting rather confused. 😕

I want to upgrade my Mac Mini 3,1 early 2009.
It is getting slower en the HDD is getting fuller.

I was wondering if I'd be better off bying a SSD (Crucial M4 128GB) or a 7200 rpm HDD (WD scorpio black or Seagate Momentus XT).

I would take the old HDD to replace the optical drive, so I'd have enough space internal. (External 1,5TB also available)

But this is where the confusion starts:
I read different things on different sites about installing a SSD (in a Mini).
Some say that prior to installing OSX one must 'adapt' certain things, e.g. firmware, TRIM, IDE setting (?), periodic reconditiong, etc.

I guess I just want to know if it's possible to get a SSD working smoothly in my 2009 Mac Mini?
Or is it better to buy a HDD?

I sure like the specs of a SSD reagrding start-up time and acces time.

Looking forward to replies.

Regards from The Netherlands :apple:
Click to expand...

you have an older machine. I have done many mods to many minis.. I would pull the internal drive and put in a 750gb or a 1tb hdd. leave the dvd player in and put the original hdd in a low cost external case as a backup of sorts. if it was the 2009 and you had a new 2009 I would say go for the dual drive upgrade.
 
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