Upgrading to SSD on Mac Mini

Sandman

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I have just ordered a 240GB SSD for my late 2012 mac mini and am looking for advice on how to install it.

I have read a few guides for installing the hardware and am confident that I can do this without issue. One thing I am unsure about though is the new SSD is only 7mm thick. Will this fit the mac mini without the use of a 7-9mm adapter?

I have also ordered a mac mini hard drive kit that allows me to install the new SSD whilst keeping the existing 500gb HDD installed. Can I install the SSD using this kit then boot up as normal (on old HDD) then somehow clone my HDD to the SDD then use that as the boot drive? If so what software do I need to use to do this? Would I be better starting from scratch and doing a clean install (I have a 1TB external HDD I can transfer all my data onto)?
 
I have just ordered a 240GB SSD for my late 2012 mac mini and am looking for advice on how to install it.

I have read a few guides for installing the hardware and am confident that I can do this without issue. One thing I am unsure about though is the new SSD is only 7mm thick. Will this fit the mac mini without the use of a 7-9mm adapter?

Yes it will fit just fine and most SSD's come with a plastic stick on border to raise it up to the full 9mm height, handy for laptop bays where 7mm might have movement in the bay.

I have also ordered a mac mini hard drive kit that allows me to install the new SSD whilst keeping the existing 500gb HDD installed. Can I install the SSD using this kit then boot up as normal (on old HDD) then somehow clone my HDD to the SDD then use that as the boot drive? If so what software do I need to use to do this? Would I be better starting from scratch and doing a clean install (I have a 1TB external HDD I can transfer all my data onto)?

Install the SSD on the primary SATA interface (which the current HDD uses) then the HDD in as a secondary drive.

Time Machine backup to external and fresh OS X or MacOS install and then latest version of all your programs for a nice fresh build. Then restore your user files from your TM backup.

You could also look at installed the SSD and HDD together as a Fusion drive. Been covered in here before, do a search for the details.

DiskmakerX is great for making a fresh OSX or MacOS bootable USB key installer.

Good luck and let us know how you get on! :thumbsup:
 
Wow, thanks for the very informative post. All the bits are due to arrive on Friday so I will get stuck into this project over the weekend.
A fresh install followed by a time machine backup is what I will do. I will update once I have given it a go.
 
The second hdd ribbon cable I ordered came with the tool set so I was all set.

The SDD and tools arrived yesterday so tackled this job last night. I wanted my SSD in the upper position because I know that I might some day want to swap out the 500GB hdd for another SSD in the future and it would be easier if this was in the lower position. This meant I had to completely dissemble the whole mac mini removing the PSU and hard drive caddy.

It actually wasnt too hard though, it is very tight for space in there but everything comes apart and goes back together again pretty easily. My new SDD is now screwed into the upper position and my old 500gb HDD is in the lower position. I installed OS Sierra from a USB stick and everything was back up and running in under 2 hours.

Now I want to store all my documents, photos, music etc on the 500gb HDD. Is this a case of simply moving the home folder location?
 
Just to update by answering my own question. I copied the home folder to my hdd then in user setting changed the path to match and everything works fine.
 
The second hdd ribbon cable I ordered came with the tool set so I was all set.

Can I ask which kit you ordered? They seem to vary in price from £6 to just under £40!
I plan to upgrade two mac minis, I will add a 500GB ssd to my late 2014 model replacing the 1TB hdd. Like you I will upgrade my old mid 2011 model mini to a 240GB ssd and the 1TB hdd from my 2014 model, replacing the old 500GB hdd which is starting to fail.

Having performed this same task on my own Mac Mini, I strongly advise buying/using the appropriate tools for the job - such as this...

OWC NWTTOOLKIT14 2.5-Inch Hard Drive Installation Kit for Mac Mini: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

None of these kits seem to have the Torx TR6 which I need for the late 2014 mac mini. They seem to be a 'rare bird' in the UK and the cheapest option appears to be a £5 screwdriver from China!
Does anyone know of a stockist in the UK that can match the price of the Chinese version? The Amazon UK versions are all out of stock unfortunately.
 
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Assuming a Torx TR6 is the same as a T6 then the kit I bought came with one. it was this one (for a late 2012 mac mini.

NEW Apple Mac Mini A1347 Lower Hard Drive SSD Upgrade Kit 821-1500-A 2010-11-12 | eBay

Thanks for the link Sandman, I see you went with one of the cheaper kits, no problem I suppose all of them are made in China!

The Torx TR6 is not the same as the T6. The external profiles are the same, however, the TR6 screws (referred to as 'security screws') have a raised pin in the centre so the screwdrivers have a hollow centre to go over this. This may explain why they are expensive, they need to be made of high quality steel due to the thin wall. I could be wrong here, but I believe the late 2014 mac mini was their first appearance on a Mac. The TR6 screwdriver or bit will undo a T6 screw but not the other way round.

I'll report back on how I get on.
 
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Thanks for the link, I think that has the parts. Asking at work someone in the IT department got a TR6 screwdriver for me to borrow. However, I will order this kit as the other bits will come in useful and the kit is a good price.

Thanks for your help.
 

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