Mac mini (Mid 2011) Questions

[Yebubbleman]

My stepfather just bought a higher-end current generation (Mid 2011) Mac mini that he customized to have the 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Sandy Bridge Core i7 as well as the 256 SSD drive and the 7200RPM 750GB Hard Drive. (Jealous yet? Because I totally am.) He will be migrating from an (otherwise stationary) Santa Rosa 15" MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Given this configuration, I have a couple of questions.

1. We want to use the Migration Assistant to migrate his user account data over from the old MacBook Pro to the new Mac mini. However, we think it makes more sense to store the user account on the 750GB Hard Drive, while reserving the 256 SSD for the operating system and apps. I know that it is possible (and fairly easy) to move a pre-existing account to another drive, but is there any way to tell the Migration Assistant (prior to the migration and prior to the first log-in) to move the user account onto the hard drive?

2. I know it's a long-shot, but I know that the Mac mini doesn't have the Intel Z68 chipset, but completely alternatively, is there any known way to get the SSD Caching feature that said chipset offers on this Mac mini by way of maybe something in disk utility?

3. We want to use Time Machine to back up this Mac mini. Is there any way to get it to back up both the Hard drive and the SSD? If not, is there any way to set up two back-up drives (one for each internal drive)?


I get the feeling that he can't be the only customer of a desktop Mac wanting to do all of this and that there has to be some sort of thing in Lion that makes these sorts of things easy. In any event, if you know, please share. Thanks.

 

[Riverrun]

TM will backup both drives automatically unless you specifically exclude one or the other.

 

[Yebubbleman]

TM will backup both drives automatically unless you specifically exclude one or the other.

So what happens in the event of a restore? Does Time Machine know which files go on which drive? Do you know where I can find documentation on this?

 

[Ccrew]

So what happens in the event of a restore? Does Time Machine know which files go on which drive? Do you know where I can find documentation on this?

Time Machine will put it to the place it was backed up from automatically, unless you go into TM and do a specific restore to a different location. Default however is that it's restored to where it's backed up from.

 

[blevins321]

So what happens in the event of a restore? Does Time Machine know which files go on which drive? Do you know where I can find documentation on this?

If you're booting from an install DVD or something like that, the installer will list the available Time Machine restores based on the drive that you select. It will be a list and the titles will be the network names of the respective computers. (Settings>Sharing>Box at the top)

 

[agentphish]

TM will work for backup, but I'd use Carbon Copy Cloner on a scheduled backup if it were me.

I'm doing that now w/ my mini. I like to have bootable backups.

 

[satcomer]

TM will work for backup, but I'd use Carbon Copy Cloner on a scheduled backup if it were me.

I'm doing that now w/ my mini. I like to have bootable backups.

Macworld has great Lion Install guide. i used the article How to make a bootable Lion install disc or drive to make a Lion Thunb drive installer to make fresh installers for all three of my Macs. It owrks great to make fresh installs which i have done on one occasion after install an SSD into my older MacBook Pro.

 

[Yebubbleman]

If you're booting from an install DVD or something like that, the installer will list the available Time Machine restores based on the drive that you select. It will be a list and the titles will be the network names of the respective computers. (Settings>Sharing>Box at the top)

Right, but my question is if I have the OS and programs on the SSD and the user account and data on the HDD, will Time Machine know to (a) back up both and (b) restore the right data to the right disk?

TM will work for backup, but I'd use Carbon Copy Cloner on a scheduled backup if it were me.

I'm doing that now w/ my mini. I like to have bootable backups.

While I'd agree, the problem here is that it's a high-end Mid 2011 Mac mini with a 256 GB SSD and a 750GB 7200RPM HDD with only the OS and programs on the SSD and data and apps on the HDD. And I get the feeling that Carbon Copy Cloner won't do the whole backing-up-two-drives-onto-one-drive-and-be-easily-restored-thing as well.

Macworld has great Lion Install guide. i used the article How to make a bootable Lion install disc or drive to make a Lion Thunb drive installer to make fresh installers for all three of my Macs. It owrks great to make fresh installs which i have done on one occasion after install an SSD into my older MacBook Pro.

This is a Mid 2011 Mac mini, it'll have Lion Internet Recovery if all else goes to hell. Though I did have my stepfather do that to have for his other Macs.