New Mac mini 2012 and upgrade to SSD and keep 1tb hard drive?

[armandxp]

I'm thinking about buying the new Mac mini quad core and have a few questions. If I buy the 1 tb version, when I add the new SSD, will I have to flip flop the drives around or keep them the original in the current position? I want to boot from the new SSD. I know I could save around $100 doing it this way and have that extra terabyte drive in there.

Or, buy Apple's 256gb drive and pay a little more and add a terabyte drive later? I'm almost tempted to just get the fusion drive and be done with it.

I use software to encode videos and I really want the speed of SSD for doing this using handbrake. If I thought the fusion drive was smart enough to do this, I think I would rather do it this way and not even have to open up the system. I hate making all these decisions.

Please tell me what you'd do? Have you ordered the fusion drive? Have you ever upgraded a mini to an SSD? What about trim? I've been going through countless threads but before I buy I thought I'd try to get some new answers.

And if any of oh have ordered the new mini customized, please come back here and share what your thoughts are on the upgrades. Thanks!

 

[philipma1957]

I done hundreds of mini upgrades since 2006.


my 2012 mid level came to my home yesterday. I added an external thunderbolt ssd . It runs as my osx I left the mini's insides alone. I use the internal 1tb to back up the external ssd

 

[nydennis]

I'm thinking about buying the new Mac mini quad core and have a few questions. If I buy the 1 tb version, when I add the new SSD, will I have to flip flop the drives around or keep them the original in the current position? I want to boot from the new SSD. I know I could save around $100 doing it this way and have that extra terabyte drive in there.

Or, buy Apple's 256gb drive and pay a little more and add a terabyte drive later? I'm almost tempted to just get the fusion drive and be done with it.

I use software to encode videos and I really want the speed of SSD for doing this using handbrake. If I thought the fusion drive was smart enough to do this, I think I would rather do it this way and not even have to open up the system. I hate making all these decisions.

Please tell me what you'd do? Have you ordered the fusion drive? Have you ever upgraded a mini to an SSD? What about trim? I've been going through countless threads but before I buy I thought I'd try to get some new answers.

And if any of oh have ordered the new mini customized, please come back here and share what your thoughts are on the upgrades. Thanks!

I ordered the 2012 MINI for my Dad as an Xmas present. I also ordered the Samsung 830 256. I ordered the extra HDD cable as well. The total for the 256 and the cable was roughly 200 dollars vs the 250 for a 128 and 1tb fusion.

In MY current mini I just changed the two HDD's around and put the SSD in slot one. and the stock HDD in slot two. Since I had it open at the time it was no big deal.

As for if you have to or not I'm not sure.

My feelings are this. I was going to get my Dad the Fusion drive but thought to myself.
1. What kind of drive are they giving you?
2. I can get double the data for less money. (For the price of upgrading to Fusion I got 256gb SSD, HDD cable, and 16GB RAM)
3. I know what drive I am buying and the specs on it.
4. I just had to tinker inside the Mac mini.

 

[doboy]

I done hundreds of mini upgrades since 2006.


my 2012 mid level came to my home yesterday. I added an external thunderbolt ssd . It runs as my osx I left the mini's insides alone. I use the internal 1tb to back up the external ssd

I was thinking about doing the same thing. Is Thunderbolt fast enough for the ext SSD drive?

 

[nydennis]

I done hundreds of mini upgrades since 2006.


my 2012 mid level came to my home yesterday. I added an external thunderbolt ssd . It runs as my osx I left the mini's insides alone. I use the internal 1tb to back up the external ssd

Phillip did you swap the Stock HDD to the second HDD slot and put the SSD in slot one? I have only owned a MAC for a year now and I swapped them. I wasn't sure if you can pick which HDD you want to be the OS right from the install menu?

***Just read that you used the Thunderbolt sad for your OSX. ****

 

[armandxp]

I done hundreds of mini upgrades since 2006.


my 2012 mid level came to my home yesterday. I added an external thunderbolt ssd . It runs as my osx I left the mini's insides alone. I use the internal 1tb to back up the external ssd

That's a very clever idea! Never thought about that, but since my mini will never be moved, this may be an option.

 

[philipma1957]

Phillip did you swap the Stock HDD to the second HDD slot and put the SSD in slot one? I have only owned a MAC for a year now and I swapped them. I wasn't sure if you can pick which HDD you want to be the OS right from the install menu?

***Just read that you used the Thunderbolt sad for your OSX. ****

in last years 2011 server I pulled an hdd and used a ssd. you can have either drive boot. use preferences to pick startup drive. I have had both drives in minis one had snow and one had lion

 

[nydennis]

in last years 2011 server I pulled an hdd and used a ssd. you can have either drive boot. use preferences to pick startup drive. I have had both drives in minis one had snow and one had lion

One last thing. If I leave the stock HDD in SATA1 and put the SSD in SATA2 and pick the OSX to boot off SATA2 will future program/App installs automatically install to SATA1 unless I chose SATA2?

armandxp - The thunderbolt way that Philipma did sound like a great idea and this way you don't have to open the Mini up if your uncomfortable doing so!

 

[armandxp]

One last thing. If I leave the stock HDD in SATA1 and put the SSD in SATA2 and pick the OSX to boot off SATA2 will future program/App installs automatically install to SATA1 unless I chose SATA2?

armandxp - The thunderbolt way that Philipma did sound like a great idea and this way you don't have to open the Mini up if your uncomfortable doing so!

I have no problems taking the mini completely apart. Kinda the same question as yours. Wasn't sure if there was a way to pick which drive to boot with and how easy it would be. Also, if buying an SSD do I have to worry about trim support. I would be getting the Samsung 830.

 

[armandxp]

Can't wait to hear if there is from to install another drive if you ordered the fusion drive or if it takes up one of the bays. Or, even if the fusion drive could be removed later and upgraded to a bigger one. Can't wait to hear the tear down of a fusion drive and some testing.

 

[nydennis]

I have no problems taking the mini completely apart. Kinda the same question as yours. Wasn't sure if there was a way to pick which drive to boot with and how easy it would be. Also, if buying an SSD do I have to worry about trim support. I would be getting the Samsung 830.

There is a new app to enable trim support. I haven't tried it, since I enabled trim support through a Terminal script I read about.

 

[dasx]

I done hundreds of mini upgrades since 2006.


my 2012 mid level came to my home yesterday. I added an external thunderbolt ssd . It runs as my osx I left the mini's insides alone. I use the internal 1tb to back up the external ssd

Could you run BlackMagic Speedtest please?

 

[philipma1957]

One last thing. If I leave the stock HDD in SATA1 and put the SSD in SATA2 and pick the OSX to boot off SATA2 will future program/App installs automatically install to SATA1 unless I chose SATA2?

armandxp - The thunderbolt way that Philipma did sound like a great idea and this way you don't have to open the Mini up if your uncomfortable doing so!

all goes on your current boot drive. here is a screen shot of the internal and my t-bolt booter. If I put a program in right now it goes to my booter

(the external t-bolt)


here is a black magic test.

it was about 199 399 but I froze it with a screen shot just a bit off. remember black magic gives very low write numbers. still these are good enough for me.

 

[propower]

I am thinking of doing the same thing but through USB3... With your connection

Can you post what kind of Read/Write speeds you get on the TB drive? (in the time I wrote the question you posted the picture!! Thanks!)
Does the OS feel nice and snappy (just like an internal SSD??)

Lastly: So what external drive do you have there (Lacie_1TB) is this a Little Big Disk Thunderbolt in Raid0 with two 512G SSD's? Write speed looks more like SATA2 not 3.... just curious...

Thanks!