2006 Mac Mini SSD Upgrade

[serthigh]

Hello fellow Apple users,

I currently own a 2006 Mac Mini, and I am looking to extend its life as long as I can. I was looking at purchasing an SSD to extend its life for maybe a few more years.

Since I realized that I'm only using 48 GB currently, I figured the sacrifice for space vs speed would be sufficient. I was looking at a 128 GB SSD, but what I have noticed were the different write speeds that they have.

Is there a specific recommendation for a SSD that I should use? Should I use SATA I, II, or III drives, or does it really matter?

 

[iWeekend]

Hello fellow Apple users,

I currently own a 2006 Mac Mini, and I am looking to extend its life as long as I can. I was looking at purchasing an SSD to extend its life for maybe a few more years.

Since I realized that I'm only using 48 GB currently, I figured the sacrifice for space vs speed would be sufficient. I was looking at a 128 GB SSD, but what I have noticed were the different write speeds that they have.

Is there a specific recommendation for a SSD that I should use? Should I use SATA I, II, or III drives, or does it really matter?

Until somebody smarter answers...

sata is backwards compatible. unless you are moving the ssd into a new mac within a year or so, the sata I pipe will be your limiting factor. practically any one will do for that reason, especially if you make backups of important data.

the brands that come to mind are samsung and intel. if your ssd has a mac firmware update path so much the better.

the various ssd threads here will point you along further as their advice will generally hold. Owc
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/ might be another place to start researching.


please note I have no experience with <2012 minis.

 

[ZenMoto]

SATA III is 6gb/s and SATA II is 3gb/s, SATA I is 1.5gb/s

If your mini doesn't support SATA III, then the higher price would be wasted, unless you plan on keeping the SSD for another mini in the future.

I do know that the Ivy Bridge Mini's support the SATA III 6gb/s, while older versions might not.

I'd figure out what your Mini supports and then get the cheapest SATA situation that works for you. Regards.