Some Mac mini HDD/SSD/RAM Questions

[AltiVecG4]

Hi,

This morning I woke up to a brand new Mac mini 6,2! I must say that I was surprised when I found out that it came with 10.8.3 installed. This is with a manufacture date of October 22nd. Can I just say, what an improvement over my old Mid 2009 MacBook Pro when editing photos in Lightroom and Aperture! I have it driving my two monitors (Dell 2407WFP 1920x1200 and my Philips 170B 1280x1024) and the performance is phenomenal.

I have already ordered a stick of Crucial BallistixSport 1600Mhz CL9 RAM to upgrade from the stock 4GB. At the moment I do not think I need 16GB, but I wanted that option in the future without replacing all of the sticks twice in two stages. I noticed that this specific RAM was not listed on Crucial's page for my specific Mac. Is this ram compatible, and will i receive any problems?

I shall also definitely be adding an SSD. I have decided on the 240GB Crucial M500. I want to install this alongside the factory 1TB HDD. I need some advice on choosing the correct HDD Flex Cable. The majority of the ones I can find are for the lower bay, but this is where my factory installed HDD is. The only one for the upper bay that I can find is this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121185275042?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Will this work fine, and more importantly, is this for the correct bay when installing the drive in the upper bay?

Many Thanks

 

[DeltaMac]

There's good information about the mini drive bay configurations at OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/

 

[AltiVecG4]

There's good information about the mini drive bay configurations at OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/

Thanks for the link! I was only going to take off the fan and wifi grill and just slide the SSD in. From what I have read that is possible if you have a 7mm SSD. I was only going to purchase the cable and required screws. What I can't find any info in is what HDD Flex Cable to buy.

 

[DeltaMac]

You could let OWC decide which cable to use...
Install kit without tools:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMM11D2B/

 

[98EXL]

There's good information about the mini drive bay configurations at OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/

Been using that kit in my current gen mini since March '13 with a 240GB Mushkin Chronos Deluxe SSD and the stock 256GB SSD. Going to swap it out for a 1TB drive of some sort, and put the 240GB SSD into a 13" MBP I'm waiting to purchase.

That being said, install was a breeze, but I've been tinkering with computers for over 25 years....only real PITA is the power clip, but not a big deal once you get your hands on it