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mid-2011 mac mini - adding 2 HHDs

chenks

chenks

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 23, 2007
1,236
568
UK
i've got a mid-2011 mac mini (2.3Ghz i5).
want to remove the stock 500GB HDD and replace it with 2 drives (1 SSD and 1 standard).

what's the highest capacity non-ssd 2.5" drive i can stick in it without creating heat issues?
 
essentially what i'm asking is... will i have a problem if i put a 120GB SDD and a 2TB drive in it?
 
I believe drive height is your limiting factor, not heat.

AFAIK you're not going to fit a 15mm drive into a 2011 mini and there are no 2TB 9.5mm drives. Max 9.5mm showing on Newegg.com is 1.5TB. Since 1.5TB is also listed at OWC, I'd say your max is 1.5TB at this time and that it likely will work fine (else I doubt OWC would sell it). See http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/
 
2TB drives ship with later mac mini models though, and the case hasn't changed? (my 2011 model is the one without optical drive).
 
chenks said:
2TB drives ship with later mac mini models though, and the case hasn't changed? (my 2011 model is the one without optical drive).
Click to expand...

Which mini models have a 2TB single drive? I believe you'll find they're really 2 x 1TB.
 
You also have heat and power to contend with. I added an Intel SSD in mine and switched it to be the boot drive, and kept the stock 500GB for storage.

Even more storage? Thats what Thunderbolt, Firewire, and gigabit NAS is for.
 
Menel said:
You also have heat and power to contend with. I added an Intel SSD in mine and switched it to be the boot drive, and kept the stock 500GB for storage.

Even more storage? Thats what Thunderbolt, Firewire, and gigabit NAS is for.
Click to expand...

i'm trying to get away from having external hard-drives to be honest.
i have 1 external 2TB drive (USB2) but it's another that needs powered and it's starting to eject itself randomly.

having an internal 2TB drive would be preferrable, along with a SSD boot drive.

not sure power would be an issue as you can put 2 x 1TB drives in it anyway.
heat, again not sure it's an issue as 2 x 1TB drive would have similar heat issues.

the stock 500GB drive is not enough to be used for storage.

----------

from reading further in that thread, there is 9.5mm 2TB 2.5" drive - http://www.seagate.com/about/newsro...ivision-ships-2tb-storage-solution-pr-master/
 
Last edited:
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deeddawg said:
I believe drive height is your limiting factor, not heat.

AFAIK you're not going to fit a 15mm drive into a 2011 mini and there are no 2TB 9.5mm drives. Max 9.5mm showing on Newegg.com is 1.5TB. Since 1.5TB is also listed at OWC, I'd say your max is 1.5TB at this time and that it likely will work fine (else I doubt OWC would sell it). See http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/
Click to expand...

I currently have the HGST 1.5 TB (5400 rpm) drive in my 2011 Mini along with a M500 960GB SSD and everything seem to be running within expectations regarding heat.
 
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