I just bought a mini 2.5 with the AMD Radeon, and it comes with a 500 GB 5400 RPM drive. Is it straightforward to put in an SSD? I am used to putting new hard drives and memory into Mac laptops, but have never opened a mini.

What would be a good SSD to add - the OWC Mercury Electra, 240 GB for $240? Recommendations?

I know there is a lot of love for SSDs here: but what I can't figure out is how you get by with those tiny drives? Lots of external storage? No music, images or video files?

Scroll down-- 240 GB Sandisk Extreme for $170 at Amazon.
I have 2 of the 120 GB version and they rock.

Re: Straightforward-- as straightforward as swapping with an HDD-- nothing special that needs to be done. The form factor is the same as a 2.5" HDD.

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New forum user map 8/2015: [www.zeemaps.com]

I would have an external sitting next to it with all the huge files and storage.

Also, what memory kit to order?

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ka jowct
I know there is a lot of love for SSDs here: but what I can't figure out is how you get by with those tiny drives? Lots of external storage? No music, images or video files?

Music/images/files stay on HDD. I wasn't thrilled about having my files split up, as I once went down the partition hell road and came back never wanting anything but one large volume again, but it's been blissfully trouble-free.

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New forum user map 8/2015: [www.zeemaps.com]

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roshi
I would have an external sitting next to it with all the huge files and storage.

If that's the case you'll find that a 120 GB SSD is more than adequate.

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New forum user map 8/2015: [www.zeemaps.com]

Any tricks to formatting an SSD when you insert it into a Mac? How do I put Mountain Lion on it?

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roshi
Any tricks to formatting an SSD when you insert it into a Mac? How do I put Mountain Lion on it?

Works just like a HD to the OS installer.

If that is the mini without the optical drive you can get a kit to add the SSD as a second hard drive.

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C(-)ris
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Throwback Thursday Signature:

It is the mini without optical. What kit do I order? Or should I substitute the SSD because it will run cooler and quieter?

[eshop.macsales.com]

OWC 'Data Doubler' 2.5" Hard Drive / SSD installation Kit for Mac mini 2011 Models. Add a second 2.5" hard drive or solid state drive (up to 9.5mm in height) to your 2011 Mac mini. (DIYIMM11D2)

OWC Discounted Price: $44.99

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2012 07:36PM by decay.

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roshi
It is the mini without optical. What kit do I order? Or should I substitute the SSD because it will run cooler and quieter?

If it were my decision, I think I'd be mulling over whether having a 500 GB internal in addition to the boot drive is useful to me or not.
If the Mini were my main machine I would most likely want to have this SSD in addition to a 1 TB HDD installed internally, and I'd put the stock 500 GB HDD in an external case to serve as a backup drive, and to have on hand should I eventually want to restore the Mini to stock configuration for service or to sell.

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New forum user map 8/2015: [www.zeemaps.com]

memory deal here:

[forums.macresource.com]

here's a sweet deal on an SSD:

[dealmac.com]

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clay
here's a sweet deal on an SSD:

[dealmac.com]

Wow-- $140 AR on a 6 GBPS 256 GB:
[dealmac.com]

And a 64 GB for $50.

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New forum user map 8/2015: [www.zeemaps.com]

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Black

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clay
here's a sweet deal on an SSD:

[dealmac.com]

Wow-- $140 AR on a 6 GBPS 256 GB:
[dealmac.com]

And a 64 GB for $50.

Yup, prices are dropping with some regularity right now. In this case, if you have a SATA III device (the 2011 mac mini is one such device), the difference in speed between the Kingston and Samsung is not insignificant, so spending the extra $50 might be warranted. Of course, if you're not going for maximum performance or will be using the SSD on an external bus that may not take full advantage of the speed, definitely go for the cheaper drive...it will still run circles around platter-based drives.

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clay

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Black

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clay
here's a sweet deal on an SSD:

[dealmac.com]

Wow-- $140 AR on a 6 GBPS 256 GB:
[dealmac.com]

And a 64 GB for $50.

Yup, prices are dropping with some regularity right now. In this case, if you have a SATA III device (the 2011 mac mini is one such device), the difference in speed between the Kingston and Samsung is not insignificant, so spending the extra $50 might be warranted. Of course, if you're not going for maximum performance or will be using the SSD on an external bus that may not take full advantage of the speed, definitely go for the cheaper drive...it will still run circles around platter-based drives.

I think you may be overestimating the effect of the 3 vs 6 GBPS figure on actual, everyday performance.
I doubt the majority of people would notice it at all in a side-by-side comparison, unless all they were doing is copying large files from one place to another. What's your current SSD setup?

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New forum user map 8/2015: [www.zeemaps.com]

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roshi
Any tricks to formatting an SSD when you insert it into a Mac? How do I put Mountain Lion on it?

You are going to need another Mac or a bootable external drive if you install it then format(GUID) and load it with an OS. You may as well do that before installation.

You download ML and then direct the installation to be done on the SSD. It will be recognized and allowed because you have already formatted it.

Be sure to save/copy/zip or what ever the ML download BEFORE using it for the installation. Otherwise, it disappears when it is finished. Copying it removes the need to download it again the next time you need it.

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Ed (modelamac)

I think I will just put an OUT OF ORDER
sticker on my head and call it a day.

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Black
I think you may be overestimating the effect of the 3 vs 6 GBPS figure on actual, everyday performance.
I doubt the majority of people would notice it at all in a side-by-side comparison, unless all they were doing is copying large files from one place to another. What's your current SSD setup?

If you're someone that won't notice the benefits between these 2 SSDs, then by all means, go for the cheaper one.

I will notice the difference, so I'm going with the Samsung for my mini. I will be doing a lot of sustained disk-based operations, so the extra speed will not be wasted. I have been regularly using systems with fast RAID arrays for the past 10 years, and various SSDs for the past 3 years, and a 100MB/s difference (for example) in read/write speed can and does mean hours of time saved over the course of a week for the sort of tasks that I do (regular multi-100 GB/low TB transfers, exporting 100 GB video files from FCP, etc). (BTW, they're both advertised as 6 Gb/s drives, so theoretically the Kingston drive could have been engineered to use faster chips/controller):

Samsung: read speeds of up to 520MB/s and write speeds of up to 400MB/s
Kingston: 300MB/s maximum read speed and 230MB/s maximum write speed

You're right, though, for most people, the performance gain between a platter based drive and the Kingston will be significant (probably at least 5x), so for most people, that would be great.

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clay

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Black
I think you may be overestimating the effect of the 3 vs 6 GBPS figure on actual, everyday performance.
I doubt the majority of people would notice it at all in a side-by-side comparison, unless all they were doing is copying large files from one place to another. What's your current SSD setup?

If you're someone that won't notice the benefits between these 2 SSDs, then by all means, go for the cheaper one.

I will notice the difference, so I'm going with the Samsung for my mini. I will be doing a lot of sustained disk-based operations, so the extra speed will not be wasted. I have been regularly using systems with fast RAID arrays for the past 10 years, and various SSDs for the past 3 years, and a 100MB/s difference (for example) in read/write speed can and does mean hours of time saved over the course of a week for the sort of tasks that I do (regular multi-100 GB/low TB transfers, exporting 100 GB video files from FCP, etc). (BTW, they're both advertised as 6 Gb/s drives, so theoretically the Kingston drive could have been engineered to use faster chips/controller):

Samsung: read speeds of up to 520MB/s and write speeds of up to 400MB/s
Kingston: 300MB/s maximum read speed and 230MB/s maximum write speed

You're right, though, for most people, the performance gain between a platter based drive and the Kingston will be significant (probably at least 5x), so for most people, that would be great.

It really boils down to the slowest link in the transfer chain... THAT's the maximum speed you're gonna get, even if some links are capable of faster speeds. Black's point pertains to "normal" use, not mega-transfers; your mega-transfers saturate the transfer buses and therefore they seek out the slowest link, and until whatever SSD involved becomes the slowest link, well, it's not gonna be the slowest link.

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Sometimes it is what it is...
and then there's times when it's really better.



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Buzz
It really boils down to the slowest link in the transfer chain... THAT's the maximum speed you're gonna get, even if some links are capable of faster speeds. Black's point pertains to "normal" use, not mega-transfers; your mega-transfers saturate the transfer buses and therefore they seek out the slowest link, and until whatever SSD involved becomes the slowest link, well, it's not gonna be the slowest link.

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Right, I understand that.