Momentus XT 500GB for a 2009 Mac Mini?

[MacPoulet]

Hi all,

Last summer, I bought a 180GB Intel 330 series for my 2009 Mac Mini to replace a corrupting drive and it would freeze and beachball like crazy. Looking through the forums, I learned that my Mini is from the generation that can't take SATA 3 drives, which the Intel is.

I swapped the SSD out (it's now quite happy in my Mac Pro) and put the old drive back in the Mini while searching for a replacement.

Will the 500GB Momentus XT work well? It's SATA 2 so I'm hoping it won't cause the same issues as the SSD.

Does anyone have it in their Mini? It's almost the same price as a stock drive, so I thought "Why not?"

Thanks!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

S-ATA is backwards compatible, I for instance have an S-ATA 6.0 Gbps (S-ATA III) SSD in my 2009 MBP, which only has S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) anyway and it works without pain. I have a Crucial M4 256 GB SSD in it and it works quite well.

 

[MacPoulet]

There's something about the SATA controller on the 2009 Mac Mini that doesn't work quite right. As per this older thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1272076/

So yes, in theory SATA is supposed to be backward compatible, it's not always the case.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

There's something about the SATA controller on the 2009 Mac Mini that doesn't work quite right. As per this older thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1272076/

So yes, in theory SATA is supposed to be backward compatible, it's not always the case.

I only see one mention of a problem, and it is a unspecified mentioning, in the second post.

Maybe there are problems, if so, get an S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) SSD or HDD.

 

[MacPoulet]

I only see one mention of a problem, and it is a unspecified mentioning, in the second post.

Maybe there are problems, if so, get an S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) SSD or HDD.

There are other threads scattered across the web about it. I just went with the first one that came to mind.

Anyhoo, I'm still trying to find the answer to the second part of my query which is if anyone has a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB in their 2009 Mac Mini.

 

[Giuly]

The problem is not with SATA, but with the SandForce chipsets, which the Intel 330 uses.
Install a Crucial m4 or SanDisk Ultra Plus and you're golden.

 

[MacPoulet]

The problem is not with SATA, but with the SandForce chipsets, which the Intel 330 uses.
Install a Crucial m4 or SanDisk Ultra Plus and you're golden.

Ah. Thanks for that!

EDIT: It looks like there could be two issues, the SandForce chipset and the NVidia SATA controller used in that Mac Mini. http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...ted-Link-Speed-at-1-5-Gb-MacBook-Pro-Mid-2009