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Replace HDD with SSD, will any SSD work (Mac Mini mid 2011)?

Replace HDD with SSD, will any SSD work (Mac Mini mid 2011)?

I read the other post (Can I change HDD to SSD disk for Mac Mini Mid 2011?) but it didn't really answer my question. I don't need a huge SSD, but I would like a fast one. All the work from this machine is stored on a network (except the applications). So I clearly don't need to (or want to) spend $500 on Apple's updgade to SSD. I would like to just get the fastest 60-120gb SSD I can find, but can I get any one? I don't want two drives in the machine, I only want one, and I want to boot and run programs from the same SSD.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 249
Total answers/comments: 5
bert [Entry]

"Yes, any SSD will work. I'm running an OCZ Vertex2 120 GB SSD. Just make sure you upgrade to the drive's latest firmware version after installation.

As for OS install, I put the old drive into an external enclosure and booted from its Recovery partition. From there, I did a fresh install of Lion on the internally installed SSD. But I should have researched better. Holding COMMAND+R brings up Internet Recovery, which will install Lion, pulling it from Apple's servers, on even hardrive without any data on it.

More here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/"
bert [Entry]

"If all you're doing is replacing the hard drive that's already there, then you're just performing a basic hard drive swap. Make sure you've got the right size (a standard 2.5"" 9.5mm laptop drive), and you're good to go after installing the OS. I personally prefer to just use a Time Machine backup to restore to the new drive.

Update

I have become aware that the OS install is quite a bit different for Lion than for Leopard and Snow Leopard, thanks to the other people providing answers. I would trust someone more fluent in Lion than myself for OS install tips, but my answer about the physical hard drive is still correct."
bert [Entry]

"Check this out, everyone! Pretty slick, isn't it? Those are ThunderBolt speeds! And some of the better ones at that!

I just got my Mac mini yesterday, and today, I faithfully put 8GB of RAM into it. This is off-topic, but boy does the extra 4GB make a difference when you're dealing with the OS paging to the 5400rpm stock drive. lol...

At any rate, regarding the aforementioned article, the trick as to how to get the almost 1GB/s for both read and write speeds is to get two (2) SATA III (6Gbps) solid state drives. Doesn't have to be OWC's. It can be a couple of OCZ's or a set of Intel 510 drives.

Incidentally, if anyone has any questions about OS X 10.7 Lion, I think I'll be able to help. I have been using Lion exclusively since Dev. Preview 4 and the installation shouldn't get in the way of this at all. There are a number of different ways to install/upgrade/clone, etc. We should be fine. I've also been an enthusiast when it comes to SSD technology for a while. My first one was the 1st gen. Intel X25-M 80GB and it cost me a hefty $550 and that was considered very cheap at the time. There were no fancy features such as TRIM or NCQ either. In fact, the initial firmware crashed my then-ThinkPad laptop and it took a while to remedy the issue.

Anyway, as we talked about, to get one of these bad boys into the Mac mini is relatively easy, as you're just doing a swap. And I'm sure that some of you may just be happy as a clam with ""just one"" SATA III SSD. After all, you'll be getting around 500-550MB/s for r/w speeds and the random 4K block speeds are equally as impressive. However, I can't UN-read that OWC article. I'm going to need that 2nd drive in my mini! lol...And the second empty 2.5"" slot IS there, seemingly ready to receive SSD #2, but as I understand it, the (likely proprietary) SATA connector/cable/whatever is missing! :-((( This is only true for the NON-server models, but I bought the one with the AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics chip, because let's face it, the AMD chip w/ GDDR5 VRAM is significantly better than Intel's integrated Sandy Bridge GPU, the HD 3000. Yes, I get it, it's the ""server edition"", which ""doesn't need fancy graphics"", but come on, Apple...:-(

Assuming that my assumptions are correct - and I genuinely hope that I am wrong - the question becomes as to where, o where, can we obtain one of those (proprietary?) SATA III connector/cable/whatever for the 2nd 6Gbps SSD?

Sorry for my long post...We must tackle this issue together because if we fail to do so, the tyrants will have won! :D"
bert [Entry]

"My Mac Mini i7 (non-server) is due in a few days and I'll be upgrading the RAM to 16GB and replacing the stock HD with a 240GB SSD. I'm looking forward to the online recovery for Lion. I also have a 3TB 7200 Drive that I will probably be dropping in as the 2nd drive to house my iTunes (Music and Movies).

I'm getting an OCZ Agility 3 2.5"" 240GB SATA III MLC SSD and I'm hoping it screams. What I'm really waiting on is more 3rd Party Thunderbolt Cases and Cabinets. Then I can completely dump the other HTPC."
bert [Entry]

"Hello, is it possible to indicate the website and the reference of cable to buy to install an SSD Vortex 120 for example? Thank you

Renaud"