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Adding Second Hard Drive to Mac Mini

tejota1911 said:
Not the case for me. I installed my SSD in the unused location, and it worked fine. After IR, it was automatically switched to the primary boot drive.
Click to expand...

Okay, figured it out. Like Rob.G, the HDD wanted to be the boot drive despite manually trying to select the boot drive.

Ended up having to pop it open and removing the HDD. Luckily for me I didn't have to go all the way down to the logic board again. Just had to remove the fan and the wifi grate to get the HDD out of the normal location.

15 minutes left on the install :)

EDIT: epic fail, Install Failed. The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance. Click Restart to restart your computer and try installing again :(

Running out of ideas....
 
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Sort of related.

My friend was in the US so he got the data doubler kit from iFixit for me. I don't intend to install an SSD in it yet till after may, but just to test if it works (and to make the later SSD install easier), I'll be moving the HDD into the inner slot using the data doubler.

Do I have to switch the boot settings or anything?
 
Rob.G said:
A separate SSD and hard drive aren't a fusion drive. They're treated as two separate drives. I've had no direct experience with Apple's fusion drive, so I don't know if you have the option of using them as separate drives either.
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The Macs that can be purchased with a Fusion drive come with a version of Disk Utility that can turn an SSD drive + a hard drive into a Fusion drive. (Actually, it can turn any two disks into a Fusion drive, but for two hard drives it is a bit pointless; RAID would be better).

Other Macs running MacOS X 10.8.2 can turn an SSD drive + a hard drive into a Fusion drive by using command line tools. You have to start the Terminal app, and it is not trivial, but there are instructions on the internet.

But if you do nothing, you just have two separate drives.

The Fusion drive can be separated back to two drives, but whoever does that should be beaten with a clue stick.
 
Joony said:
Running out of ideas....
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I'd update the SSD Firmware to the latest version, if you haven't already. Reinstall the original HDD as well as the new SSD. Boot to the original HDD and format the SSD making sure to select 1 partition and the "GUID Partition Scheme" under Options. Then boot to internet Recovery, and reinstall OSX onto the SSD. If this does not work, there may be something wrong with your SSD.
 
It was a memory issue. I took the Corsair Vengeance out and put in the stock memory. Major issues, 3 beeps when I put both OEM sticks back in. Put only 1 2GB stick and it installs fine and goes into ML. Put one 8 GB Corsair stick, feels funny.

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test comes out with VERY poor read speeds for the Samsung 840 Pro. Sometimes it will fail.

Not having good luck on this upgrade :/ It was running fine before I opened it, really bummed out right now. Wish I had another working Mac Mini to test the SSD.
 

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53x12 said:
While probably no where near as reliable as a Samsung 830/840 Pro, this looks interesting at 1TB SSD for $600.

http://m.computerworld.com/s/articl...forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1523348
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Sweet!! I look forward to seeing a performance comparison of one. Crucial has a good reputation in the RAM market, so this could be a very good drive.

Speaking of second drives, does anybody know if the "extra thick" 15mm drives will fit in the Mini? I didn't really pay attention when I had mine apart. I'd love to put one of the 2TB drives in as my secondary (in place of my almost-full 1TB).

Rob
 
I did my SSD swaps this week on my new 2.6 i7--well, actually I did it with the sysadmin at work, which mostly means he did it while I watched and worried. But it went well--we took our time and just over an hour later my mini had two 256 GB Samsung 840 Pros inside :D I also put in 16 GB of Corsair RAM.

Then I did internet recovery to install the OS and at first my heart sunk and my blood ran cold, because the mini wasn't listing either drive as a choice to install the OS on--the list of available drives was empty. Then I realised of course I had to format the disks first, which went very quickly, and the OS install then took maybe 30-40 mins, and I was up and running. Looking forward to pushing this machine now.
 
2012 Mac mini + iFixit's Dual HD Kit

Just wanted to chime in, in case anyone else was coming across the same issues. After surgically adding a new Intel SSD to the empty slot in a new 2.6 i7 mini using iFixit's kit, there was no way to install OS X on it (via cloning, internet recovery, or USB installer; all methods created error messages). The SSD itself would appear on the desktop and sporadically unmount itself and Disk Utility wouldn't allow any kind of initialization.

Like several others discovered on iFixit's site, I had to reopen the mini and swap the drive positions so that the new SSD occupies the original HD slot (using the Apple SATA cable) and the factory 1TB HD is moved to the other slot (now connected with iFixit's cable). After this, internet recovery was a breeze and no problems encountered since.

iFixit's aware of the issue and the drive swap is the only fix at the moment. I read a comment somewhere that OWC SATA cables are also similarly affected. Seems this only affects new 2012 minis that come with a mini-specific 10.8.2 build. However, I'm not sure what you would do if you were intending to swap out the factory drive with two non-Apple SDDs—risk not being able to access one of the drives?
 
ibizan said:
Like several others discovered on iFixit's site, I had to reopen the mini and swap the drive positions so that the new SSD occupies the original HD slot (using the Apple SATA cable) and the factory 1TB HD is moved to the other slot (now connected with iFixit's cable). After this, internet recovery was a breeze and no problems encountered since.
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I'm so glad I didn't have to do that on my 2011 mini. I was sweating like a surgeon installing that SSD. Don't think I'd do it again.

Sam.
 
Do you really need to buy a kit if you have all the tools to open the Mini? Are there any special fixing bits needed for the new SSD drive.
 
You wrote:

> Seems this only affects new 2012 minis that come with a
> mini-specific 10.8.2 build. However, I'm not sure what you
> would do if you were intending to swap out the factory drive
> with two non-Apple SDDs—risk not being able to access
> one of the drives?

That's just what I did (see above), on a new 10.8.2 2012 mini, with two brand new Samsung 840 Pros. It was fine--disk utility let me format them both, and then I could internet-install the OS on one of the disks.
 
1. Install the SSD with the kit.

2. Buy SuperDuper app

3. Clone your stock HDD to the SSD

4. Reboot from SSD

5. Format HDD for storage

6. Done
 
here2rock said:
Do you really need to buy a kit if you have all the tools to open the Mini? Are there any special fixing bits needed for the new SSD drive.
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It depends.

If you are just swapping out the old drive for an SSD, then you can use tools that you have. They are just Torx T6 and T8 and a hex bit.
If you are adding a second drive and you don't have the server version, you will have to hunt down a lower hard drive cable. These are the only valuable part that are included in the kits, so it seems that most people just order the kit. You can find cables but they cost nearly as much as the kits.
 
here2rock said:
Those kits around $40. Those cables, aren't they standard SATA cables which yoy can buy for $2?
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This is what the cable looks like

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Mini-Se...352266822&sr=8-1&keywords=mac+mini+sata+cable

There really isn't room for a cable other than the one that is purpose made, (im not sure if that connector on the other end is proprietary). When I was shopping to add a 2nd drive to mine, I couldn't find one any cheaper. Considering amazon sells the OWC upgrade for $35 with free shipping, I just went for the kit.
 
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What is the best way for me to set up my two hard drives. As of now my 128gb Samsung 840 pro is the only bootable drive but I'm getting 30 second startup times and my write speed fluctuates in black magic. I feel like it's because I just moved my music, movies, downloads, etc. to the 1tb Apple drive and told my Apps to save their files onto that drive instead. I still have a lot of "other" files on my SSD that I would like to take off. How do I go about setting up my two internal drives to optimize the speed of my 840 pro. Right now I'm getting between 345 and 370 write and 480-495 read.

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here2rock said:
Do you really need to buy a kit if you have all the tools to open the Mini? Are there any special fixing bits needed for the new SSD drive.
Click to expand...

The SATA cable is specific to the placement of the hard drive in the mini. No normal sata cable will do. And I do not suggest using two small screwdrivers instead of the Mini Opening tool.
 
Amrives said:
What is the best way for me to set up my two hard drives. As of now my 128gb Samsung 840 pro is the only bootable drive but I'm getting 30 second startup times and my write speed fluctuates in black magic. I feel like it's because I just moved my music, movies, downloads, etc. to the 1tb Apple drive and told my Apps to save their files onto that drive instead. I still have a lot of "other" files on my SSD that I would like to take off. How do I go about setting up my two internal drives to optimize the speed of my 840 pro. Right now I'm getting between 345 and 370 write and 480-495 read.

----------
Click to expand...

you will not like what I have to say. but here goes. clone everything to an external. make absolutely sure it boots. once you know it boots . boot with it. call up disk utility and secure erase. erase the internal ssd only leave the hdd alone. use the 0 write over option 7 times after 2 or 3 mins before you even are 1/4 writing 0's on the first pass skip the procedure there is a skip button. at this point the mini will have the internal 1tb and an unformatted ssd.


go to preferences restart the mini from the external booter. now call up disk utility the mini will say your fusion drive is broken do you want to fix it. this will make a fusion drive 1.128tb long all internal drives will show as 1 drive. with a 128gb ssd and a 1tb hdd fusion is the fastest way to go.

Be sure you have good external copies as this kills all internal info!!!


now your internal can clone the external and boot with it.
 
philipma1957 said:
you will not like what I have to say. but here goes. clone everything to an external. make absolutely sure it boots. once you know it boots . boot with it. call up disk utility and secure erase. erase the internal ssd only leave the hdd alone. use the 0 write over option 7 times after 2 or 3 mins before you even are 1/4 writing 0's on the first pass skip the procedure there is a skip button. at this point the mini will have the internal 1tb and an unformatted ssd.


go to preferences restart the mini from the external booter. now call up disk utility the mini will say your fusion drive is broken do you want to fix it. this will make a fusion drive 1.128tb long all internal drives will show as 1 drive. with a 128gb ssd and a 1tb hdd fusion is the fastest way to go.

Be sure you have good external copies as this kills all internal info!!!


now your internal can clone the external and boot with it.
Click to expand...

The fusion drive is not a faster option than having both bootable. My 1tb is formatted to Mac OS X but does not have an OS installed. I planned on just using it as a storage drive for my iTunes and downloads, adobe docs, and logic projects. I haven't seen the speed tests from the fusion drives but there is no way it could get better results than the 840 pro by itself
 
Amrives said:
The fusion drive is not a faster option than having both bootable. My 1tb is formatted to Mac OS X but does not have an OS installed. I planned on just using it as a storage drive for my iTunes and downloads, adobe docs, and logic projects. I haven't seen the speed tests from the fusion drives but there is no way it could get better results than the 840 pro by itself
Click to expand...


okay.
 
here2rock said:
Do you really need to buy a kit if you have all the tools to open the Mini? Are there any special fixing bits needed for the new SSD drive.
Click to expand...

Not at all. The price of iFixit's kit is mostly due to the proprietary Apple design of the SATA cable. The screwdriver toolset portion only costs about $5–8 separately. The cable (and the included logic board remover) comprises the lion's share of the price. Checking online, I haven't found this specific cable for less than $30 or so (through sellers of questionable repute).

That said, for those who don't have the toolset readily available, I'd recommend iFixit's version over OWC's, only because it's actually a nice set with 20+ bits of every size/shape. To operate on the mini, though, you only need a T6, T8, and hex.
 
Just wondering, with two drives are heat and noise problem? I thought your system will run much smoother with just SSD in it. Thoughts?
 
ibizan said:
Not at all. The price of iFixit's kit is mostly due to the proprietary Apple design of the SATA cable. The screwdriver toolset portion only costs about $5–8 separately. The cable (and the included logic board remover) comprises the lion's share of the price. Checking online, I haven't found this specific cable for less than $30 or so (through sellers of questionable repute).

That said, for those who don't have the toolset readily available, I'd recommend iFixit's version over OWC's, only because it's actually a nice set with 20+ bits of every size/shape. To operate on the mini, though, you only need a T6, T8, and hex.
Click to expand...

Does anyplace sell the kit without the $30 cable? I could use a spugder, and new Torx bits. I'm just replacing my HDD, don't need to add a second drive.

I see this one on Amazon, but some of the reviews aren't great.
http://www.amazon.com/Silverhill-Pi...UTF8&colid=6BES1759T2F4&coliid=I14BS2ZMHVPWNW
 
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