upgrading my late 2012 mac mini

[endoftheroad]

a stupid question
when you transfer jpeg,gif,raw, files, to an external hard drive
what gets slowed down?
the internal hard drive? size?
or the memory?

my 2012 is stupid slow, and now when i open up my external drive it takes forever for it to open the folder and icons

so here my stupid questions
,
My dilemma

Im using a late 2012 Mac mini now 4gb of ram 500gb hard drive bought new way back then
its slow, and old, and I have Mojave on it
I use an external 1TB hard drive and transfer my “raw” files and screenshot files to it
It can take hours and hours of waiting to transfer them

(Is this a hard drive speed problem or a memory problem) ?

I like Mojave and want to update os later on


buying a new mac Mini MAX funds 500.00

late 2014 upgraded to the 16GB Ram 3.0GHz Duel Core i7 1TB Drive--400.00 UPDATE drive to SSD later on as funds allow
Or
2018 Mac mini 128GBSSD --499.00 update Memory later on as funds allow

What one will transfer files faster to an external hard drive and will also update to an SSD drive later on

thank you very much for any help
cheers
John

 

[endoftheroad]

or
maybe just max out my Memory and put in a 500GB SSD drive into my 2012 ?
about 250.00--leaves me money to buy more SSD drives
and PRAY it lives for another 2 years

 

[Boyd01]

The 2018 Mini will be much faster, have better ports and be supported longer. I would not sink any more money into an 8-year-old bottom of the line Mini. The 2014 Mini's are not so great and that 2018 you're considering has a geekbench rating about 1.5x higher. Other internal improvements will make it perform even faster for most things too - the internal SSD is 3 to 4 times faster, for example and USB-C will let you connect an external SSD that's faster than the 2014 internal.

 

[endoftheroad]

so is it the memory that moves files faster? more memory the faster moving?

and will the 128GB hard drive give me headaches/buyers remorse ?

 

[Amethyst1]

so is it the memory that moves files faster? more memory the faster moving?

If by memory you mean the internal SSD, then yes. The RAM doesn't affect the speed at which files are moved from one drive to another.
But if you run out of RAM while doing something, the machine will have to page out to the drive (SSD or hard drive), slowing things down. So what you want is a fast internal SSD (the mini has that) and "enough" RAM (today: at least 8 GB, preferably 16 GB). You can put up to 64 GB into the 2018 Mac mini.

and will the 128GB hard drive give me headaches/buyers remorse ?

If it turns out to be too small for your OS and applications (which I'd always keep on the internal SSD, leaving external storage to user data) someday , I'd step up to 256 GB. Best to have some headroom. The 256 GB SSD will also be faster than the 128 GB one.

 

[for this]

I've the same model as yours. Any macOS that uses APFS format requires an SSD as boot drive to get good experience. Otherwise it's painfully slow.

I don't think 4GB is enough for photo tasks. It will resort to disk swap very soon in the process and the HDD performs really bad for that.

However you should not wait for "hours" to transfer files. That sounds like other kinds of problem, such as drive gone bad or something wrong about connection. How big are the files and what type of connection the external drive uses?

My mini is now 16GB RAM with 860EVO 250GB + Stock 500GB HDD (non-fusion). It runs Mojave faster than it ran Mavericks at stock configuration. For still images, it is more than enough. It's even OK for light still 3D editing (rendering is another story, Apple doesn't support any current NVIDIA GPU anyway). But if for videos, I'm sure I would want a newer model.

BTW, SSD can be made useful with newer computer in the future. RAM, not so much. I would look into buying used RAM instead of new if I decided to upgrade it.

 

[Fishrrman]

The 2012 Mini was a good Mac in its day, but that time is now past.
I had one as my "main Mac" for 6 years.

But now, 9 years down the line, it's not worth putting money into.

Get a 2018 Mini from Apple's refurbished pages.
Get 16gb of RAM if you can.
Get at least 256gb SSD, 512gb if you can.

That will keep you going a good while.

Some other thoughts.
RAM contributes a little to "speed", but SSDs contribute A WHOLE LOT MORE.
USB2 is slow to begin with. If you're using it with any platter-based drives, those drives could be so fragmented that they're even slower.

 

[endoftheroad]

my set up now on the 2012 is all USB
I have a 1TB external Drive
if i plug in a 31 gig thumbdrive (did it just now to calculate time)
it opens up BUT I right clicked on a large file for info/size
and it took 7 min to tell me it was a 5gig folder and even more time to be able to use the "RAW" files
then when i go to eject it it can take forever

My 1TB is the same on large file folders

 

[endoftheroad]

The 2012 Mini was a good Mac in its day, but that time is now past.
I had one as my "main Mac" for 6 years.

But now, 9 years down the line, it's not worth putting money into.

Get a 2018 Mini from Apple's refurbished pages.
Get 16gb of RAM if you can.
Get at least 256gb SSD, 512gb if you can.

That will keep you going a good while.

Some other thoughts.
RAM contributes a little to "speed", but SSDs contribute A WHOLE LOT MORE.
USB2 is slow to begin with. If you're using it with any platter-based drives, those drives could be so fragmented that they're even slower.

theres no way i can up the SSD on the 2018 im maxed out on money just getting the entry level
and ill buy more Ram later when i can

 

[endoftheroad]

so if i get the 2018 and use my 31gig thumb drive (USB)
is it still going to take forever?
will my 1T spinner still take forever? (I can copy all that over to SSB later, but not the thumb drives
and i use those alot to carry pics around)

 

[Boyd01]

Most thumb drives are REALLY slow, that will be a very poor solution for anything that involves lots of data transfer. Run the Blackmagic speed test on it, wouldn't be surprised if you get around 15MB/sec. USB 2.0 hard drives are also very slow, typically only 30 to 35 MB/sec. A small bus-powered USB 3.0 hard drive will be around 100MB/sec and a good externally powered USB 3.0 hard drive should be around 170MB/sec. (these speeds are all based on my own tests over the years)

A USB 3.0 external SSD will give you about 400MB/sec transfer speed on your 2012 Mini. This is fast enough to boot your Mini and use as a system disk, that might be a stop-gap solution until you can afford a better computer and you could always use it as an extra drive in the future when you get a new computer.

I ran my 2012 quad-core Mini Server off a 1tb USB SSD for a few years and used it for extensive audio and video editing, it was very fast. By comparison, an internal SSD on the 2012 Mini is around 500MB/sec. But consider the risk of damaging the Mini if you open it up, which involves major dis-assembly.

 

[endoftheroad]

Most thumb drives are REALLY slow, that will be a very poor solution for anything that involves lots of data transfer. Run the Blackmagic speed test on it, wouldn't be surprised if you get around 15MB/sec. USB 2.0 hard drives are also very slow, typically only 30 to 35 MB/sec. A small bus-powered USB 3.0 hard drive will be around 100MB/sec and a good externally powered USB 3.0 hard drive should be around 170MB/sec. (these speeds are all based on my own tests over the years)

A USB 3.0 external SSD will give you about 400MB/sec transfer speed on your 2012 Mini. This is fast enough to boot your Mini and use as a system disk, that might be a stop-gap solution until you can afford a better computer and you could always use it as an extra drive in the future when you get a new computer.

I ran my 2012 quad-core Mini Server off a 1tb USB SSD for a few years and used it for extensive audio and video editing, it was very fast. By comparison, an internal SSD on the 2012 Mini is around 500MB/sec. But consider the risk of damaging the Mini if you open it up, which involves major dis-assembly.

ive watched the vids, im mechanically inclined so im not afraid

 

[Wando64]

a stupid question
when you transfer jpeg,gif,raw, files, to an external hard drive
what gets slowed down?
the internal hard drive? size?
or the memory?

my 2012 is stupid slow, and now when i open up my external drive it takes forever for it to open the folder and icons

so here my stupid questions
,
My dilemma

Im using a late 2012 Mac mini now 4gb of ram 500gb hard drive bought new way back then
its slow, and old, and I have Mojave on it
I use an external 1TB hard drive and transfer my “raw” files and screenshot files to it
It can take hours and hours of waiting to transfer them

(Is this a hard drive speed problem or a memory problem) ?

I like Mojave and want to update os later on


buying a new mac Mini MAX funds 500.00

late 2014 upgraded to the 16GB Ram 3.0GHz Duel Core i7 1TB Drive--400.00 UPDATE drive to SSD later on as funds allow
Or
2018 Mac mini 128GBSSD --499.00 update Memory later on as funds allow

What one will transfer files faster to an external hard drive and will also update to an SSD drive later on

thank you very much for any help
cheers
John

You are not saying anything about your "external 1TB hard drive", but if it is a USB2 spinner it doesn't matter how fast your Mac is, transfer to that old disk will be slow as hell.

 

[endoftheroad]

ive watched the vids, im mechanically inclined so im not afraid

thank you

 

[endoftheroad]

You are not saying anything about your "external 1TB hard drive", but if it is a USB2 spinner it doesn't matter how fast your Mac is, transfer to that old disk will be slow as hell.

lol

 

[endoftheroad]

next stupid question
can one hook up an external SSD drive like a 500Gig
and make the 2018 think it has a larger drive than the 128?
i know, im dreaming-probably
thank you all for being patient with me

 

[Amethyst1]

can one hook up an external SSD drive like a 500Gig
and make the 2018 think it has a larger drive than the 128?

So basically a Fusion Drive combining the internal with an external? I wouldn't risk that.
What you can do is forget the internal SSD entirely (or use it as secondary storage) and boot and run everything off the external.

 

[endoftheroad]

So basically a Fusion Drive combining the internal with an external? I wouldn't risk that.
What you can do is forget the internal SSD entirely (or use it as secondary storage) and boot and run everything off the external.

OK thank you, once i get it ill be asking "HOW" to do it LOL
ive got crayons and lots of paper to take notes with

 

[for this]

You are not saying anything about your "external 1TB hard drive", but if it is a USB2 spinner it doesn't matter how fast your Mac is, transfer to that old disk will be slow as hell.

Yes, HDDs are slow, USB2 too. But from what the OP described, it is too slow that there must be something wrong somewhere.

I tried copying files (15.68GB total) from my SD Card reader (it is USB3 but connected to a USB2 hub, so it's effectively a USB2 device) to my 500GB internal spinner. It was done in 6 mins 28 secs.

So it should be just about 13 mins for 31GB.

The OP said "hours". And looks like it happens to the HDD as well (thumb drives are not a good reference as other has said). So there must be something really wrong, such as stumbling over a bad sector, etc.

 

[jdmc]

if [your "external 1TB hard drive"] is a USB2 spinner it doesn't matter how fast your Mac is, transfer to that old disk will be slow as hell.

^ BINGO.

The 2012 mini came with USB 3.0 ports, but if the HDD in question is really old, it's conceivable that it has only a USB 2.0 interface. The max transfer speed of 3.0 is more than ten times that of 2.0 (5 Mbps vs. 400 Kbps).

To the OP (@endoftheroad): I personally have a 2012 mini, maxed out with 16 GB of RAM, and with an internal 500 GB SSD. It's actually quite snappy running Catalina! You should be able to find the appropriate RAM modules (2x8GB) and an internal SATA SSD for under $150 total, maybe under $100 if you're lucky. If that — along with an HDD that's either internal SATA, or external USB 3.0 — fully serves your computing needs, then… why not?

By the way, the 2012 mini easily drives a 4K display, which is nice… though you will probably need to increase your RAM for that to work well, since the graphics subsystem uses system RAM.

The single best thing you can do is get an internal SSD, as that will speed up all system operations, most importantly virtual-memory paging. Next would be upping the RAM.

Good luck!

_ _ _ _ _

Addendum: If you have an SD or microSD card of at least 32 GB capacity, I would suggest that you put it in the mini's SD slot and run a read/write disk speed test on it, and compare the results to those from the internal HDD. If you have at least a Class 10 card, you might find that it outperforms the HDD. If so, then you might consider moving your system from the internal HDD to the SD card, and running the system from there.

Also, it seems likely that you're using some very old HDDs. Run—don't walk—to Binary Fruit's website, download and install their DriveDx utility, and test your drives. You may find you're teetering on the precipice of massive data loss. Better to know, and do something about it, than not know, and suffer the consequences. Backups are non-optional. If your Internet connection has good uplink speed, you can't beat Backblaze for cloud-based backup.

 

[Amethyst1]

By the way, the 2012 mini easily drives a 4K display, which is nice…

No. The Intel HD Graphics 4000 in the 2012 Mac mini does not drive a "4K" (3840×2160) display at 60 Hz. And even if it did, the Thunderbolt 1 ports include DisplayPort 1.1, which is limited to a 360 MHz pixel clock. That means you'll get "4K" at 30 Hz out of the box and 41 Hz by playing with custom timings and fully exploiting the pixel clock limit.
30 Hz is just plain terrible, 41 Hz is better but still doesn't hold a candle to 60 Hz. And you can't get higher-than-native HiDPI modes when running a "4K" monitor off a 2012 mini either.
And the lackluster "Late 2014" Mini doesn't drive a "4K" display at 60 Hz either.

 

[jdmc]

No. The Intel HD Graphics 4000 in the 2012 Mac mini does not drive a "4K" (3840×2160) display at 60 Hz.

Your tone comes across as rude. Who said anything about 60 Hz?

 

[jdmc]

A USB 3.0 external SSD will give you about 400MB/sec transfer speed on your 2012 Mini. […] By comparison, an internal SSD on the 2012 Mini is around 500MB/sec.

FWIW, I just tested this on my own 2012 mini, and my results agree with what @Boyd01 said here.

 

[McScooby]

Bite the bullet & get a m1 refurb off the Apple store. Sure u lose 256GB compared to your original as it’s only the 256GB, but it should more than make up for your speed deficit. & if a new mini comes out that’s bigger & better then sell the m1, there’s zero reason to stick with the 2012 unless u have software that can only run on Mojave & if there is, well you’ll still have it to run on (albeit slower) (& I say this as having a quad 2012 server with 16GB RAM & an external 1TB USB Boot Disk)

 

[Amethyst1]

Your tone comes across as rude.

I apologise.

Who said anything about 60 Hz?

My definition of "easily drives a monitor" implies getting more than 30 Hz.