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Fastest n biggest HDD for Mini 09

G

gammaknife

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 22, 2009
24
0
Hi,

I am about to buy the Mini. I am buying 4 gb ram from amazon here.(best price I can find)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939291&pf_rd_i=507846

I am looking for the biggest and the fastest HDD that can fit in the mac mini without issues. Can you give me a link? I am not looking at the intel x-25M SSD due to pricing.

Where I can i find the instructions to open the new mini for all of the above upgrades?

Thanks mucho in advance
 
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gammaknife said:
Hi,

I am about to buy the Mini. I am buying 4 gb ram from amazon here.(best price I can find)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939291&pf_rd_i=507846

I am looking for the biggest and the fastest HDD that can fit in the mac mini without issues. Can you give me a link? I am not looking at the intel x-25M SSD due to pricing.

Where I can i find the instructions to open the new mini for all of the above upgrades?

Thanks mucho in advance
Click to expand...

Hey Buddy,

There are quite a few threads circulating on this. I would start by checking out macsales.com. See linky: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/

As far as an HD it is debatable like anything else. There are 7200 rpm 2.5 500gb drives out there, but many have been using the 500GB 2.5" Western Digital Scorpio Blue 5400RPM with good results.

Cheers!
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Whoa. A lot of HDD questions these days and after WWDC. The largest capacity you can get is 500GB. The fastest (RPM) you can get is 7200 which is only from Seagate.

So if you're looking to max out your HDD, you're looking at either the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400RPM or Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200.4. If you do a search, there will be a lot of threads explaining which to get and why.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Whoa. A lot of HDD questions these days and after WWDC. The largest capacity you can get is 500GB. The fastest (RPM) you can get is 7200 which is only from Seagate.

So if you're looking to max out your HDD, you're looking at either the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400RPM or Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200.4. If you do a search, there will be a lot of threads explaining which to get and why.
Click to expand...

You mean largest is 500GB fastest is WD's Velociraptor at 10k.
 
Thanks for your replies all. I read that inorder to put the 10k rpm drive, I have to take out the dvd drive:confused: I have read the hdd threads but I am still confused since I am in the medical field. Thats y so many novice q:D
 
Hellhammer said:
I would put a SSD in and take optical out or use external to store your files.
Click to expand...

Corsair P256 for the main drive, remove the optical, and use a 500GB 7200rpm drive for the storage. Should make for a lightning quick machine. Use an external optical drive.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Whoa. A lot of HDD questions these days and after WWDC. The largest capacity you can get is 500GB. The fastest (RPM) you can get is 7200 which is only from Seagate.

So if you're looking to max out your HDD, you're looking at either the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400RPM or Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200.4. If you do a search, there will be a lot of threads explaining which to get and why.
Click to expand...


I got the seagate 500 gb. Thanks! Is ifixit the best place for getting instructions on how to do it?
 
elfxmilhouse said:
The OP asked about HDD not SSD
the ssd solutions are faster but much more expensive
Click to expand...

I always recommend it because:

1. People don't know they exist
2. They think SSDs are too expensive and small

I'd definitely get 32GB or 64GB SSD to use it as my boot drive and then get 1TB FW800 external HD
 
nuckinfutz said:
You mean largest is 500GB fastest is WD's Velociraptor at 10k.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the Vels won't work in Minis, unless they've been reengineered in the last several months.

Hellhammer said:
I always recommend it because:

1. People don't know they exist
2. They think SSDs are too expensive and small
Click to expand...

But the OP specified no interest in SSD (x25, anyway).
 
Cave Man said:
I'm pretty sure the Vels won't work in Minis, unless they've been reengineered in the last several months.



But the OP specified no interest in SSD (x25, anyway).
Click to expand...

I actually have a 160gb kingston ssd which is a Intel x-25m 160gb SSD in my macbook pro.
http://www.kingston.com/ukroot/ssd/m_series.asp

But i thought it would be cost efficient to put a HDD in mini. Also bought 2 2gb sticks of crucial and an apple wireless keyboard. Any suggestions of a good mice other than the MM:)
 
gammaknife said:
I actually have a 160gb kingston ssd which is a Intel x-25m 160gb SSD in my macbook pro.
http://www.kingston.com/ukroot/ssd/m_series.asp

But i thought it would be cost efficient to put a HDD in mini. Also bought 2 2gb sticks of crucial and an apple wireless keyboard. Any suggestions of a good mice other than the MM:)
Click to expand...

Logitech MX-310. I have been using mine for four or five years now. It is great. You can also program the buttons. I have mine set up to operate Expose.
 
Hellhammer said:
I always recommend it because:

1. People don't know they exist
2. They think SSDs are too expensive and small

I'd definitely get 32GB or 64GB SSD to use it as my boot drive and then get 1TB FW800 external HD
Click to expand...

After having a 7200 RPM 320GB HD in my Mini on top of the external Drobo, I can attest that I would much rather have a SSD. My HD is deathly slow for some reason (much slower than my externals).
 
geoffreak said:
After having a 7200 RPM 320GB HD in my Mini on top of the external Drobo, I can attest that I would much rather have a SSD. My HD is deathly slow for some reason (much slower than my externals).
Click to expand...

Is it the seagate momentus? Please don't make me take out the ssd from my macbook pro. It is a tiring job:D
 
Cave Man said:
There's something wrong if your internal drive is slower than your externals.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm going to try and take it out today to determine if the drive is at fault. I know my Mini's wireless isn't functioning properly, so I'm going to try and pop the original HD inside and take it to the Apple store.
I can't remember who made the drive, but it is the same drive as the one in my MBP which works perfectly.
 
I've got an Corsair 128 SSD in my mini, but think two on raid 0 would be overkill for 256gb of storage.

I'm gonna stick my Sony blu-ray drive in their instead :)
 
I wanted to update the thread and thank you guys for helping me set up my new mac mini.

I have a 2ghz mac mini. I have given into the temptation and installed the Intel 160GB x-25m ssd drive from my pro into the mac mini. I also put in 4gb crucial RAM in it. Now my mini is fast n all ready for Snow leopard:D

I luv the wireless keyboard:p
 
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