ssd upgrade

LongLensPhotography

LongLensPhotography

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I've just done the upgrade for the ageing mac mini 2012. 480GB has gone in to replace the slow and loud 1TB conventional spinner. The process was a little scary but now there are no regrets.

It has made a STAGGERING difference. It is mega fast and dead quiet. It feels like getting a brand new mac.

Honestly, go and DO IT if you haven't yet. HDD is dead, long live the SSD.
 
HDD is a wonderful way of storing large amounts of data at low cost for a long time. SSD is wonderful for fast data retreival. Use 'em both in the right place and your computing world will be a comfier place.

I'd agree that having SSD as the boot drive makes a huge difference - congrats on overcoming your fears and doing the upgrade.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
I've just done the upgrade for the ageing mac mini 2012. 480GB has gone in to replace the slow and loud 1TB conventional spinner. The process was a little scary but now there are no regrets.

It has made a STAGGERING difference. It is mega fast and dead quiet. It feels like getting a brand new mac.

Honestly, go and DO IT if you haven't yet. HDD is dead, long live the SSD.
Click to expand...

Im thinking of doing the same (except my late 2012 has a 500MB drive). As I am clueless with computers can I ask:

1. which ssd did you use?
2. which tutorial did you follow?
3. why not add the ssd as a second drive?
 
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ianmarsh said:
Im thinking of doing the same (except my late 2012 has a 500MB drive). As I am clueless with computers can I ask:

1. which ssd did you use?
2. which tutorial did you follow?
3. why not add the sad as a second drive?
Click to expand...

While I can't answer for him specifically, I can help.

1) The brand of SSD isn't important, provided it's a reasonably current model (say last 2 years) and has enough space for your applications and files.
2) You don't need a tutorial, since the workflow is reasonably obvious:
Back up your original drive, preferably both using time machine and by saving the data separately for manual restoration if needed.
Make sure you have your OS version of choice saved on a USB.
Remove the bottom of your macbook using a screwdriver with the correct bit (check online for what is required, since Apple changed screw types between models). Retain your old drive.
Remove the retaining bar (single screw) that holds the old HDD in place and lift out & unplug the drive. Swap the 4 pegs from the screw holes across to your new drive.
Pop the new SSD in place, replace retaining bar, re-attach base of laptop.
Boot the macbook and install the OS from your memory stick.
Restore applications and data from your time machine backup.
Enjoy.
3) There are many times when a DVD drive is essential, let alone useful, and external drives are clumsy and inelegant. My present (non-Apple) computer needs an external DVD drive, and it's a PITA.
 
ancient_mariner is referring to a non-Retina display Macbook Pro. This is the easiest Mac to upgrade (apart from the old Pro tower).

The OP was talking about a Mac mini, which is a little more involved because you have to move the Logic Board out of the way. There's space for a second drive inside the aluminium mini case - kits are available with all the cables etc.

Fun fact: The original (white top) minis had to be opened with a putty knife!

iFixit has excellent guides for most Mac repairs, for example: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/11716 and https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+mini+Model+A1283+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1063
 
I use
Andy Taylor said:
ancient_mariner is referring to a non-Retina display Macbook Pro. This is the easiest Mac to upgrade (apart from the old Pro tower).

iFixit has excellent guides for most Mac repairs, for example: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/11716 and https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+mini+Model+A1283+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1063
Click to expand...

I used the iFixit guide to do my Mac Mini as it is quite descriptive with lots of pictures. Make sure you read the instructions properly as it can get a bit tricky
 
ianmarsh said:
Im thinking of doing the same (except my late 2012 has a 500MB drive). As I am clueless with computers can I ask:

1. which ssd did you use?
2. which tutorial did you follow?
3. why not add the ssd as a second drive?
Click to expand...

It was one of the Crucial fairly recent drives. I can't remember the specific model.

The original HDD was very noisy so I was only too happy to get rid of it entirely. I have external USB3 drives for storage so that horror spinner is certainly not needed.
 
Raptor Mike said:
I am going to do this soon. I'm going to get the Samsung 850 EVO 500gb.
Click to expand...

I use these in my PCs and they work very well; couple them with external USB3 drives for storage and you have a good system.
.
 
A late update but I managed to add a 500GB Sandisk sad to my mac mini following the ifixit video guide, and using an ifixit kit. It was fiddly but given how useless I am I figure anyone else could do it if I managed. Lightroom now loads in six seconds rather than 45-60 seconds, Word and Excel for Mac open in seconds rather than the time it takes to make a cup of tea, and I now notice the silence so I guess there always used to be a background noise even if it didn't use to bother me. Anyway, for less than £100 I have a much better computer so thanks for the encouragement to give it a go.
 
SSD are great, once I was used to the speea of them i just couldn't face using a computer with a normal HD again.
 
I did this last week with my windows 10 machine, really simple and a massive step up in performance..
 
This is definitely on my list to do, did it with my old MacBook but Mac Mini install seems slightly more complex.

I assume I can remove old HDD, install new SSD, put old HDD in caddy and use that to boot then copy that external to the new SSD and tell the Mac to boot from that?
 
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T_J_G said:
This is definitely on my list to do, did it with my old MacBook but Mac Mini install seems slightly more complex.

I assume I can remove old HDD, install new SSD, put old HDD in caddy and use that to boot then copy that external to the new SSD and tell the Mac to boot from that?
Click to expand...

The best way to do this is to swap the drives and then install OS X on the SSD from a USB installer or Internet Recovery. Then you can connect the hard drive and do a migration.
 
Andy Taylor said:
The best way to do this is to swap the drives and then install OS X on the SSD from a USB installer or Internet Recovery. Then you can connect the hard drive and do a migration.
Click to expand...

Now you've confused me haha. What's the benefits of this over the way I suggested?
 
T_J_G said:
Now you've confused me haha. What's the benefits of this over the way I suggested?
Click to expand...

The main benefit is that you end up with a recovery partition on the new drive. This gets created as part of the OS X install, but doesn't if you just copy the contents of the old drive over.
You also end up with a "clean" OS install (plus your apps and data).
 
Andy Taylor said:
The main benefit is that you end up with a recovery partition on the new drive. This gets created as part of the OS X install, but doesn't if you just copy the contents of the old drive over.
You also end up with a "clean" OS install (plus your apps and data).
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help, looks like this is the way forward then. Worth backing up the old drive before pulling it out?
 
T_J_G said:
Thanks for your help, looks like this is the way forward then. Worth backing up the old drive before pulling it out?
Click to expand...

There's no harm in making a backup before starting work, but then you should have an up to date backup anyway ;)
 
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