Owc chris s after extensive testing, were glad to announce that both the owc mercury extreme pro 6g line and our mercury electra 6g line of ssds are fully compatible with the 6gbs sata 3. Owc data doubler optical bay hard drivessd owcdidimcl0gb. Some lessons on mac minis and ssd options mac mini hosting. According to everything i read, the mid2011 mini is sata3. My mac mini i7 non server is due in a few days and ill be upgrading the ram to 16gb and replacing the stock hd with a 240gb ssd. It may take a little manoeuvring to seat the ssd correctly. One of the problems of the original mac mini 2005, g4 powerpc processor is that it still uses 2. Owc 240gb aura pro 6g solidstate drive upgrade for 2012 macbook air this product is compatible with late 2010 mid 2011 macbook air. Upgrading a non ssd late 2014 mac mini to fusion drive. Get everything you need to upgrade your 2011 mac mini server ssd for a total system performance and capacity boost. Macminicolo, a las vegas based company, has been hosting mac minis since their introduction in january 2005. Owc internal ssd diy kit for all apple 27 imac 2011 models this ssd diy kit allows you to install an ssd in your 2011 27 imac behind the optical drive. We tested a pair of mercury extreme pro 6g ssds set up in a raid 0 inside the mini server and achieved readwrite speeds over mbs.
For most of the holiday break, the coffee table in our living room was taken over by a couple of piece puzzles, and since i gave her a 2,000piece puzzle for christmas, i expect well be seeing another livingroom takeover soon. Buy owc data doubler optical bay hard drivessd mounting solution for imac 20092011 upgrade tools not included featuring replaces optical drive with hard drive, for imac 20092011 models, supports 2. Sep 08, 2017 i finally got around to upgrading my 2014 mac mini with a solid state drive ssd. Crucial memory and ssd upgrades 100% compatibility guaranteed for apple macminimodels free us. Owc releases dual drive upgrade kit for 2011 mac mini cnet. The 2011 mac mini is blowing away early benchmarks, in some cases doubling their predecessors and even outperforming the impressive macbook air 2011 benchmarks. Our benchmarking has been completed on the latest round of mac mini machines from apple. For users looking to upgrade their 2011 mac mini as much as possible, replacing the internal hdd with a ssd looks to be a good albeit not cheap. Apple mac mini compatible memory ram ssd choose your.
Replace hdd with ssd, will any ssd work mac mini mid 2011. Ssd needed for 2011 mac mini by mantoe feb 6, 2015 7. That is very unfortunate, especially since the mac mini g4 came with drives of 40 to 80 gb capacity, which is not much compared to todays standards 2015. Ram and ssd upgrades for apple mac mini upgradeable. Place your thumbs in the depressions cut into the bottom cover. Replacing the hard drive or hard drives is a more complicated procedure and apple does not support users performing this upgrade themselves. The mac mini form factor is instantly recognisable due to its small size about the size of two cd jewel cases stacked on top of each other. If option 1 was used during the data transfer and the hard disk was cloned to the ssd, the start volume may have to be redefined in macos system settings start volume it is possible that the boot process after a new installation is not yet noticeably faster. I finally got around to upgrading my 2014 mac mini with a solid state drive ssd.
How to install an ssd drive on your mac mini, macbook, macbook pro or imac with our useful installation guides awardwinning tech support. You will especially enjoy the increased speed if you have a server that has a large database or does a number of lookups in that data base. Feb 06, 2015 ssd needed for 2011 mac mini by mantoe feb 6, 2015 7. You can add a 3g sata 2 or 6g sata 3 solid state drive to your hard drive only equipped imac to experience faster booting, near instant application launches and data transfer speeds up to.
Ask different is a question and answer site for power users of apple hardware and software. If youre using one of these models and youre looking for a good way to bump up the performance, an ssd is, quite frankly, one of the only things you can do unlike older mac minis, apple soldered the ram in place. The ssd would saturate the sata2 bandwidth, but i dont see why you would spend more money for the little extra speed its gonna give you. For most of the holiday break, the coffee table in our living room was taken over by a couple of piece puzzles, and since i gave her a 2,000piece puzzle for christmas, i. Apr 15, 2018 connect the ssd to the mac mini via usb e. This intel mac mini does look similar to the previous powerpc g4 based mac mini, and the easiest way to tell them apart is to use apple system profiler and check the cpu type. The ultimate guide to help you upgrade your mac mini with an ssd, now 2019. Apple mac mini compatible memory ram ssd choose your model. Also, be sure always to read the complete specs page for a specific mac as some compatibility is dependent on os version, firmware, or other details. In our excitement on discovering the functionality of the drives, we posted. Owcs detailed stepbystep installation videos guide you through upgrading your mac, ipod, and. Find up to 16gb ram memory and 2tb ssd storage for your mac mini.
May 01, 2012 owc releases dual drive upgrade kit for 2011 mac mini. Whether its replacing a factory ssd or hard drive in a legacy mac, or adding a new 2. Made up now of leftover laptop parts and locked in apple components and it was the last hold out of old school macs. A server version of the mac mini, bundled with the server edition of the os x operating. When it comes to upgrading mac minis, i think were in a pretty nice sweet spot right now. We teased a bit with our post from last friday exclaiming that the owc 6g ssds work with the new 2011 mac mini. To allow it to boot quicker and run more quickly and quietly most of the time im thinking of adding an ssd drive. Owcs stepbystep video of how to install hard drives in the apple mac mini 2011 or 2012 server with model id. Apples mac mini contains a bracket for adding additional drives, but does not provide connectors or a means for installing a drive with it. The next update to the mac mini was in march 2009 and moved the mini to a 1066mhz front side bus, taking up to ddr3 1066mhz memory. Old stuff but simply bulletproof in my experience and reasonbly quick with its ssd. It is well known fact that ssd drive will significantly improve your systems performance, but i was still blown away with the results after i took my new hard drive for a test drive. Id suggest you upgrade your entire hard drive to ssd. Unsurprisingly, the mac mini core i7 model is the most impressive, with a whopping 9573 geekbench score, but the core i5 is no slouch at 6395.
Like its predecessor, the 2011 mac mini server has two drive bays, which can see the drives individually or in a software raid 0 or 1. Regular mid2010 aluminum unibody mac mini models, which have optical drives, support a single 2. All mr memory recommended upgrades are 100% compatible with your apple. Will a sata3 ssd work properly on a mac mini mid 2010. My mac mini i7 nonserver is due in a few days and ill be upgrading the ram to 16gb and replacing the stock hd with a 240gb ssd. Because of its sealed enclosure, it is not possible to upgrade the hard drive. After reading so many posts with people being delighted by the speed responsiveness boost they get after installing an ssd, ive decided to get one for my 2011 mac mini. The mac mini will now start from the new ssd for the first time after installation. Rotate the bottom cover counterclockwise until the white dot painted on the bottom cover is aligned with the ring inscribed on the outer case. Mid2011 mc936lla macmini5,3 a47 2442 all mac mini models all 2011 models dynamically compare this mac to others. Apples mac mini contains a bracket for adding additional drives, but does not provide.
To allow it to boot quicker and run more quickly and quietly most of the time im thinking of adding an ssd. In august 2007 the mac mini finally went to the core 2 duo, other specs and upgrade compatibility remained unchanged. How to speed up your mac with a solid state ssd drive. Get everything you need to upgrade your 2011 mac mini ssd for a total system performance and capacity boost. It has been a flawless performer ever since and is my principle communications mac running os x 10. The latest available version as of this date is esxi 5. Storage apple mac hard drives, ssds page 1 flexx memory. A bit more ram, and throwing in a 240gb ssd to create a 1. Apple mac mini ssd installation models released mid 2010. Upgrading a nonssd late 2014 mac mini to fusion drive. Apple stops selling mac mini with os x server, no longer.
Learn how to remove or install memory into your mac mini computer. Owc ssds turn the 2011 mac mini into a powerhouse macrumors. Mac mini server mid 2011 late 2012 hard drivessd installation. My 2011 mac mini 256 gb dual ssd, 8gb memory, i7 with amd 6630 video has became an outcast among these devices air drop required extra steps to communicate with my 2014 mac book air and 2012 mac mini. My old mac mini mid 2009 model has started to feel sluggish in the past months, so i decided to speed it up by installing a ocz solid state drive ssd. Mac mini g4 sata hddssd upgrade luttztfz computer blog. Mac specs by capability mac storage upgrade compatibility guide. How to upgrade your mac mini with an ssd 2019 updated.
Owc 240gb aura pro 6g solidstate drive upgrade for 2012. How to speed up mac mini with ssd hard drive media experience. I have a 2011 mac mini server, which is fortunate because setting up esxi on that mini model has been welldocumented in a number of places. Im looking forward to the online recovery for lion. How to upgrade aluminum mac mini hard drives or ssds. I also have a 3tb 7200 drive that i will probably be dropping in as the 2nd drive to house my itunes music and movies. You can also learn how to install a new battery in your ipod, or bring your old. Mac mini mid 2011 hard drive replacement ifixit repair guide. Owc releases dual drive upgrade kit for 2011 mac mini.
Looking to upgrade a 2011 mac mini ive just been given. So if youre looking to breath life into a mac mini, and ssd upgrade is not too hard and not too expensive. Mac mini 2011 benchmarks show giant performance boost from. Owc offers diy ssd upgrade kits for macbooks, mac mini. Complete hard drive info, ssd size and height, which macs have storage that. Of course, if youre a macminicolo customer that wants to upgrade your server, just let us know. The difference is that an ssd drive uses ram chips instead of a spinning hard disk to store information.
How to upgradereplace the main drive in a 2011 mac mini. The mac mini is a desktop computer made by apple inc. How to speed up mac mini with ssd hard drive media. Aug 03, 2011 for users looking to upgrade their 2011 mac mini as much as possible, replacing the internal hdd with a ssd looks to be a good albeit not cheap first step. The kit allows owners of the macbook, macbook pro, and mac mini to upgrade the hard drive and replace it with a solidstate drive ssd from owc. Ssd drives are the same shape and size as a traditional drive. Nov 21, 2018 to upgrade the memory in the aluminum unibody mac mini models released before and after the late 2014 models, apple has made it straightforward. Today i have a little treat for you and hopefully, it will save you a little money in the process, although to be honest if you bought the hard disk version of the late 2014 mac mini, you will probably be thinking that the little powerhouse is not really that great.
The 2011 and 2012 non server mac mini models mac minis can have a. How to upgradereplace the drives in a mac mini server 2011. Nope, because sata3 in a mini began with the 2011 models, or with core i5i7 processors. There are a number of benefits to having an ssd drive in a mac mini. Mar 20, 20 looking to upgrade a 2011 mac mini ive just been given. Ssd needed for 2011 mac mini february 2015 forums cnet. Mac mini mid2011 installing an ssd dri apple community. Nov 30, 2014 my 2011 mac mini 256 gb dual ssd, 8gb memory, i7 with amd 6630 video has became an outcast among these devices air drop required extra steps to communicate with my 2014 mac book air and 2012 mac mini. The mini is no longer a hobbyist upgrade and fixit your self machine. Upgrade or install memory in your mac mini apple support.