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What internal mac mini 09 HDD are you self upgrading to?

Just picked up the base mini with 2Gb ram.
I had a 250Gb WD2500BEVS drive laying around from a laptop I upgraded so in the mini it went;)
 
acron1 said:
Just picked up the base mini with 2Gb ram.
I had a 250Gb WD2500BEVS drive laying around from a laptop I upgraded so in the mini it went;)
Click to expand...

Naive question here, but given that the mini's stock drive already has the OS on it, how does one go about getting the OS on a swapped-in hdd? I'm assuming there are dvd/ cd's that come with the mini that make this possible?
 
Whackintosh said:
Naive question here, but given that the mini's stock drive already has the OS on it, how does one go about getting the OS on a swapped-in hdd? I'm assuming there are dvd/ cd's that come with the mini that make this possible?
Click to expand...

You can use the included system specifc Mac OS X and iLife restore discs for a clean install. There is also Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper if you want to clone the disc original hard drive to the new hard drive.
 
Whackintosh said:
Naive question here, but given that the mini's stock drive already has the OS on it, how does one go about getting the OS on a swapped-in hdd? I'm assuming there are dvd/ cd's that come with the mini that make this possible?
Click to expand...

Since this was a brand new mini with nothing extra installed I just did a clean install with the included discs. Had it been well used I could have cloned the original drive as others have suggested or simply used Time Machine and transfer everything just as easily.
 
gwerhart0800 said:
How noisy is the 1TB in the ministack case? I bought one of the ministack cases, but for the 750GB Seagate drive I had, the fan noise was unbearable. When I stuck an older 80GB drive in it, the fan never came on, so it was quiet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the fan comes on a bit. It's off now, as I have hard drives set to spin down after not in use, but if I have it encoding something it's noisy.
 
bigbird said:
The external Firewire 800 drives were too expensive. I changed my mind and ordered this:Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 320GB 2.5IN SATA 7200RPM 16MB Notebook Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty. It was on sale at NCIX.com in Canada for $59.
I also ordered 2 of these:Crucial CT25664BC1067 2GB 1X2GB PC3-8500 DDR3-1066 204PIN SODIMM Memory for $34.99 each.
I'll update next week after installing everything.
Click to expand...

Everything installed and running perfectly. I relied on the two videos from OWC:
This one for the memory: http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/index.cfm?page=Video/memory/mini_2009/mini_2009_mem_h.html

and this one for the HD: http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/index.cfm?page=Video/harddrive/mini_2009/mini_2009_hd_h.html

My recommendations are:
1) Make sure and use the correct Philips screwdrivers and make sure they have magnetic tips. Otherwise those tiny screws will be a bitch to align inside the tiny holes that hold the upper drives case to the lower half.
2) Don't force the RAM into their slots. Alignment, on a slight up angle from horizontal, is critical. Once the alignment is correct they slide easily but will require quite a bit of force to seat in their sockets.
3) Don't bother with a "spudger". That's the name for the nylon pry tool suggested to remove the ribbon cable and the heat sensor on the HD. You can probably wiggle the ribbon connector off with your fingernails, or use a small slotted screwdriver to gently pry it off. It's not on tight.
4) Be careful to put the antistatic pads on the new HD in EXACTLY the same position as they were on the old HD. Otherwise, the HD won't slide into its alignment grooves properly and you' won't be able to line up the HD's connector with the main board's socket.
5) I strongly suggest using an antistatic wrist strap properly attached to a good ground point. I used the aluminum chassis of my grounded Mac Pro.
6) Use excellent lighting. The parts are small and there are lots of nooks and crannies where shadows interfere with sight lines.

Good luck and be careful. It's not a biggie but you can't take shortcuts and don't work too quickly. Double check each operation before going on to the next step.
 
I forgot the most important part: The results:
Everything is noticeably snappier with max RAM and the faster and bigger HD.
I really notice it with multiple apps open. Definitely worth the price of upgrading yourself. Would I pay Apple to do it? I don't think it would be worth it for almost $350 at the time of purchase from the Apple online store. My cost was only $130 for the RAM and HD.
 
If I can get a Western Digital Scorpio Black or a Hitachi Travelstar at more or less the same price, is there a reason to choose one over the other? Is either better known for longterm durability?
 
I was thinking about upgrading my MBP to a SSD and then putting the existing 320gb 5400rpm HD into a new Mini.
 
bigbird said:
I forgot the most important part: The results:
Everything is noticeably snappier with max RAM and the faster and bigger HD.
I really notice it with multiple apps open. Definitely worth the price of upgrading yourself. Would I pay Apple to do it? I don't think it would be worth it for almost $350 at the time of purchase from the Apple online store. My cost was only $130 for the RAM and HD.
Click to expand...

Bigbird hows you mini been since you did the upgrades? Heat, vibration etc? I think i'm going to get the drive you installed on yours. :D
 
Velociraptor

I'm wondering if I can put a VelociRaptor in if I remove the Superdrive?

The current superdrive is really noisy and I think that it might have RipLock enabled reducing DVD ripping speed to 2-4x instead of 8x. The DVD's that I have tried ripping on the internal superdrive take almost an hour. I have an external 16x Burner that rips DVD's in about 10 minutes. Therefore I have no use for the internal superdrive.

Does anybody know if the VelociRaptor will work?
 
beatmonkeytwo said:
Bigbird hows you mini been since you did the upgrades? Heat, vibration etc? I think i'm going to get the drive you installed on yours. :D
Click to expand...

Perfect. It runs exactly the same after the upgrades as before. No hotter, no audible or physical vibration. The only detectable difference is performance, of course. It boots faster, is much more responsive, and the software update progress bar literally flies across its window. I'm very happy with the Hitachi 320GB 7200 rpm HD.
 
I'm using the original 120gb 5400rpm drive and it's pretty decent and current 2.5" drives are still too small to avoid having network storage so I think if I get anything it would be an ssd
 
bigbird said:
Perfect. It runs exactly the same after the upgrades as before. No hotter, no audible or physical vibration. The only detectable difference is performance, of course. It boots faster, is much more responsive, and the software update progress bar literally flies across its window. I'm very happy with the Hitachi 320GB 7200 rpm HD.
Click to expand...

Do you get any click or ping noises coming from the drive at all?
 
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