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Is it really easy to screw up something when installing a new HDD?

brdeveloper

brdeveloper

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
2,641
319
Brasil
Hello,

I have a Mini 2010 and I'm planning upgrade to a SSD or a bigger HDD. The problem is that I read some people having problems when removing the temperature sensor from the logic board. It seems that is really fragile. So my question is: is there a safer way for removing these connectors from the logic board?

Thanks!
 
A little bit

I've replaced five older (2007, maybe?) Mini hard drives and have twice opened my existing 2010 mini to replace/upgrade hard drives.

OWC has a good video.

Just make sure you have the tools recommended (they're cheap, don't get all frugal and think substitutes will be okay if you're a newbie) and follow the instructions.

Worked just fine for me.
 
brdeveloper said:
Did you successfully follow which instructions/installing procedures?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I followed the OWC guide and it worked fine. Also check out ifixit. That is another good source. It's pretty straightforward if you follow the instructions, take your time, and don't force anything
 
I replaced the HDD in my 2009 Mini, the hardest part was getting the case open (my model requires a palate knife) and also I had some trouble with the fiddly Wifi conenctors. I did have to install/clone the drive twice to get it to boot. So in summary it's very do-able but expect some moments of frustration and fiddle-liness !

A couple of tips;

Buy an enclosure, this will help with the install as you can put the new HDD in and boot from the old one in the enclosure. Then you can go about formatting / cloning or fresh install as you wish (lookup the various CMD restart options). You can then re-use the old drive as you wish.

Have a spare computer so you can watch the video again while doing the job (as opposed to having your only computer in bits and realising you've forgotten what the video said to do :eek: )

FYI I bought a Western Digital Black 750GB HDD running at 7200 rpm and have been very happy with it, its been running 12 months. I needed 500GB min and it was much cheaper than an SSD which would have been ideal but too pricey.
 
Just installed the Crucial M500 486gb in my late 2012 mini. worked like a charm, fiddle wifi, did not pull out logic board used the card trick to slide ssd into place.

Used my seagate slim portable drive connecter cable etc for preloading/testing the ssd, set up recovery partition and tested everything with usb3. Also had another external backup tested.

30 minutes to complete final installation job. fiddly, constantly concerned about touching things but slow and easy. used the ipad for video help all done..

thank you to all of you who have posted help, information, suggestions etc about this task.

elo
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all for the tips. I'm buying a Crucial M500, 480GB.

elolaugesen said:
Just installed the Crucial M500 486gb in my late 2012 mini. worked like a charm, fiddle wifi, did not pull out logic board used the card trick to slide ssd into place.

Used my seagate slim portable drive connecter cable etc for preloading/testing the ssd, set up recovery partition and tested everything with usb3. Also had another external backup tested.

30 minutes to complete final installation job. fiddly, constantly concerned about touching things but slow and easy. used the ipad for video help all done..

thank you to all of you who have posted help, information, suggestions etc about this task.
Click to expand...

elolaugesen, do you have a video example for this card trick? Would it work with a Mini 2010 (it has a DVD drive bay)?

Thanks!

----------
Jambalaya said:
Buy an enclosure, this will help with the install as you can put the new HDD in and boot from the old one in the enclosure. Then you can go about formatting / cloning or fresh install as you wish (lookup the various CMD restart options). You can then re-use the old drive as you wish.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I have a good enclosure which has a PNY SSD installed on it for running virtual machines. I'll put the just bought M500 on it when migrating my data.
 
COrocket said:
I followed the OWC guide and it worked fine. Also check out ifixit. That is another good source. It's pretty straightforward if you follow the instructions, take your time, and don't force anything
Click to expand...

Agreed, I bought the kit from OWC for mine, and got the tools that you can get. And closely followed the guide on ifixit, and if there is ever points when you are unsure, youtube!

Good luck!
 
There is a video out there saw it some time ago have to find it again.. Sorry just remembered seeing it and then used the trick.. Been discussed on the mac mini forum ???

https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=457033&d=1390063304

All i could find. Lots examples on you tube...

Look down see the two brackets for the ssd/disk. Space between them. Place card stiff long card between and ssd should with some help. Wiggling moving help etc slide in. Tight space but it worked .. Took 5 minutes to do it....
 
Last edited:
elolaugesen said:
There is a video out there saw it some time ago have to find it again.. Sorry just remembered seeing it and then used the trick.. Been discussed on the mac mini forum ???

https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=457033&d=1390063304

All i could find. Lots examples on you tube...

Look down see the two brackets for the ssd/disk. Space between them. Place card stiff long card between and ssd should with some help. Wiggling moving help etc slide in. Tight space but it worked .. Took 5 minutes to do it....
Click to expand...

Looks like it worked. I only couldn't migrate the Bootcamp partition yet. It's not an easy task, I didn't have all the recommended tools (I had a T6, an allen which fitted some T8 screws and a 2mm flathead screwdriver which fitted a T-unknown screw :) ). There was an additional screw which I only could remove with pliers -- one in the logic board and another two in the original HDD. I also had a plastic spudger which served well for removing that small and fragile connectors.

I did a slight wear on that isolating material which wraps the HDD, but I applied isolating tape on the small torn part. Luckily, nothing really bad happened (as messing wi-fi and cooler connectors or temperature sensors from the HDD).
 
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