⟐ Commented 12월 18, 2023 at 1:52 GMT-7

⟐ Answered 11월 18, 2025 at 22:59 GMT-7

The internet has been strangely silent on this topic. I haven't been able to find anything definitive from either iFixit or OWC, which are usually all over upgrades like these.

⟐ Answered 11월 21, 2025 at 8:42 GMT-7

⟐ Commented 1월 26, 2025 at 6:47 GMT-7

Please don’t mind me asking - is it possible to upgrade the RAM in the new version of the Mac Mini from March 2020 as described for the 2018 Model? It would think so, but would like to make sure for my purchase.

Cheers

⟐ Commented 11월 24, 2020 at 10:31 GMT-7

⟐ Commented 2월 19, 2024 at 14:53 GMT-7

⟐ Commented 9월 01, 2019 at 11:46 GMT-7

My question is for the M1 Mac Mini is there still an internal port where you can add a second drive?

⟐ Answer edited 8월 16, 2022 at 13:14 GMT-7

I have tried to reset PRAM and SMC but i cannot tell if they have actually reset, not sure if the sandy bridge based macs use something different.

I also ran the "d" diag utility and everything passes. The machine runs fine the fan is just stuck at 100% and its very annoying.

⟐ Commented 8월 28, 2021 at 0:22 GMT-7

I was wondering if it's possible to connect 4 hard drives through a SATA port multiplier plugged to the SATA port instead of the superdrive...

Does anyone know if there is an intel mac mini that supports this technology? (I looked for the developer notes, but the most recent I found was of the G4 mac mini...)

I asked this question also on apple support forum, but had no reply...

The space in the case is not a problem because i was thinking about putting the mac mini components into another (DIY) case in which i can also insert 5 Hard Drives (one for the system and four on raid 5 for datas)...

Thank you in advance

Matteo

⟐ Answer accepted 11월 08, 2013 at 18:57 GMT-7

I have the Mac mini late 2014, the mid model, with the i5 at 2,6 ghz, iris graphics, 8 gb ram, 1 TB HDD.

From what I gather, I have a free slot on the machine for an SSD. All I need to do is to buy a cable from IFIXIT.

I want to get a SSD and use it with the 1 TB HDD that already come with the Mini. What interface should the new SSD be? M.2? Also, I have a SATA 3 SSD in a drawer... I can't use it at all,no?

⟐ Answered 12월 05, 2020 at 11:49 GMT-7

This is a disaster for me because I like to have RAID on the internal drive to provide redundancy in case one of the internal drives fails.

I do Time Machine backups but internal RAID is just one extra level of safety for our data.

Can a second hard drive be successfully and relatively easily installed inside the new Mac minis?

I know we can use external drives but I am asking specifically about the internal drives.

It seems the answer (from iFixit) is NO!

Very disappointing Apple.

RAM soldered to the motherboard as well :-(

The Mac mini just morphed into something way less valuable (to me at least).

I have to reconsider the future for our family and SOHO server.

I guess Apple wants us to go iCloud totally - good by Mac OS X Server...

⟐ Answer deleted 6월 12, 2018 at 16:52 GMT-7

I have read several people have installed their ssd in a late MacMini 2012 in the original slot where the hard disk was, and the HD in the empty bay. What is currently considered the best thing to do (also since I'm now running 10.10, which was not the standard OS when the guide from ifixit was made)?

Same question regarding the cable to attach the new ssd? Is it best to use the original cable for the ssd or better to use the ifixit cable for the sad?

Thanks,

Eric

⟐ Answer accepted 6월 14, 2015 at 2:31 GMT-7

When the computer restarts, it doesn't indicate a kernel panic.

No idea what to do, thank you for the help!

⟐ Commented 7월 12, 2025 at 12:03 GMT-7

Some background information may help some readers understand why I am asking this question.

On the 2010 Mac mini, a thermal sensor was taped to the hard drive. This was also done on the older iMacs. But the 2011 iMac switched to proprietary sensors internal to the hard drive itself, as noted the following article:

http://www.macgasm.net/2011/05/16/owc-in...

It starts out:

Other World Computing (OWC), supplier of many parts for new and old Macs, has gone in-depth into the reported restriction of Apple’s mid-2011 iMacs. The issue is that if a non-Apple hard drive is placed into the 2011 iMac, the fans will eventually spin at their maximum speed and the iMac will fail the Apple Hardware Test.

Apple is using custom firmware on their supplied hard drives to monitor the thermal properties of the hard drive while it is operating. In order to accomplish this task, Apple must use a special 7-pin SATA cable with the additional two pins being used for thermal monitoring.

__________________________________________

Was this change also made to the 2011 Mac mini? I thought that it might have since there is no longer a thermal sensor taped to the drive in the iFixit teardown.

The teardown is here:

Mac mini Mid 2011 Teardown

But some of the commentators hint that basically there are no thermal sensors for the hard drives at all! I would like to have a clear answer, if possible. If the drive were to fail after the warranty expires, I would want to install a non-Apple supplied “off the shelf” hard drive myself rather than pay apple to do the work to install their proprietary hard drive.

Thanks!

⟐ Answer edited 12월 05, 2014 at 23:43 GMT-7

This drive runs at 6 gigabit but I understand my Mac Mini runs SATA at 3 gigabit.

But when I installed the SSD it only runs at 1.5 gigabit. Is there some incompatibility with the Nvidia SATA driver?

Does anyone know which drives work and run 3 gigabit?

Hi and lucky day! I returned the Samsung EVO 250GB and ordered a Crucial BX100 250GB from a local webshop. It said on their website that this drive is compatible for the 2009 Mac Mini. Of course all 6Gb drives "work" but the negotiating speed is the culprit.

When I installed the BX100 250GB I was disappointed because it also was set to 1.5Gb! I was on a chat with Crucial on their website and they suggested there must be something with "garbage collection" and to fix it I should take out the drive and let it stay connected to power only (no data connection) for at least 8 hours and the drive would fix itself. This sounded like a crazy solution but ok, I will try it. To my my amazement this really worked! Look at the enclosed pics. I get at least twice the speed I had on 1.5Gb. So my conclusion is that Crucial SSD drives work with the NVidia SATA controller in the 2009 Mac Mini. I guess this should work also with other Crucial SSDs.

So for my fix on this you would need an external power cable like an USB to SATA.

• UPDATE ***

I upgraded from Mac OS X 10.9 to 10.10. I then noticed the Crucial SSD again had gone back again to 1.5Gb. Tried different things like resetting pram, upgraded Trim Enabler etc. No luck. So I thought I should try again the suggestion with putting the drive on power-only for some hours. That again did the trick! Amazing (but weird) solution. I am now back where I want with 3Gb speed.

I checked the Crucial compaibility search and it says the BX100 should work. Will report back. http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible...

I also found this useful article on upgrading old Macs with SSD: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/tuylaant/2014/0...

The Mini is back to 1.5Gb :-( I have tried every trick except opening the Mini and doing the "let alone with power and no data" trick. I don't have time for that right now. So that did not last for long. I hate this issue. Sorry.

I came by this discussion that suggested using the Kingston UV400 SSD drives since they have a Marvell controller and do not conflict with the nVidia SATA controller. Would love to hear if anyone has tested this.

⟐ Commented 12월 29, 2020 at 8:57 GMT-7

is the new design too tightly integrated to do this? Does it have different voltage requirements anyway making it more awkward to supply with power?

⟐ Commented 9월 23, 2024 at 21:43 GMT-7

I have a Mid 2011 Mac Mini (2.5Ghz i5 model A1347) which I bought from the refurb store in 2013.

From mid 2013 to late 2016 it served as a media server, running XBMC/Kodi. Towards the end of that time it started to randomly shut down. I then stopped using it and since then it's been sat in a cupboard.

I was going to wipe it and set it up for my daughter, but I can't get it started. When I try to start it, the power light comes on and I can hear something (I think it's the HDD) and then about one second later it switches off.

Any guidance on troubleshooting this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Barry

⟐ Commented 3월 27, 2025 at 10:57 GMT-7

I'm looking for a take apart guide for Mac mini Server (Mid 2010). I need to replace both internal hard disks.

⟐ Answer edited 9월 17, 2014 at 10:37 GMT-7

Is it processor dependent ? (some Intel processors are listed at 16 GB, some at 32 GB)

---

Added:

To be more specific:

If you look at this question:

What are the comercial names of Mac mini 2012 chipset and processor?

there is a link to an Intel comparison:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/67355,65709... .

Here one of the processors accept 16 Gb while the 2 others accept 32. My question is: if I upgrade the processor of the server version, will the Mac Mini accept 32 Gb as listed in the Intel table?

Did anyone tried that?

⟐ Commented 3월 06, 2022 at 8:19 GMT-7