Mac Mini Late 2014 (Macmini7.1) with Mac Osx on external SSD - performance via Thunderbolt 2 Interface vs USB

Jack19 is spot on, a USB 3.0 SATA SSD is the best bet external solution for your 2014 Mac Mini.

Problem with using that the Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter in reverse, is that it will not supply power to Bus powered USB-C drives. Plus if you look at those older Thunderbolt 2 drives enclosures, they were expensive and only came with slower HDDs, not SSDs.

Another option to consider, is to replace the 2014 Mac Mini's internal HDD with an SSD.

It is possible to replace the internal hard drive with a 2.5" SATA SSD without too much difficulty although the speed would be limited to a max of 500MB/s. I believe you can also install an OWC NVMe SSD internally as it would include the necessary extras if your Mini did not ship with an SSD.

As for USB3 speeds. Even a USB-A connected USB3 device can achieve 10/20/40 Gb/s speeds depending on the specs of the SSD and the USB3 controller interface of the adapter/dock/enclosure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_3.0

When using USB3 though, you definitely want to make sure every part of the chain supports UASP so you can have the fastest transfer speeds possible for each connected USB device.

https://www.startech.com/en-us/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-uasp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_Attached_SCSI

I cannot say anything about any brand of external drive since I don't buy the prebuilt ones as they are typically junk. I like to pick and choose my enclosure & drive to build it myself. OWC makes some nice Mercury Elite enclosures. I also like Plugable products, but they have a very limited selection of products.

The economic and easiest option is a USB3 SSD. While it may only be 5Gb/sec, compared to your glacial 5400 RPM internal drive it would seem like you are running at light speed.

You can as others stated attempt internal solutions but that means opening up the Mini and essentially disabling it leading to possibly damaging something as a few of the connections are a bit delicate.

Thunderbolt solutions, while possible, would end up costing more than what your 2014 Mini is actually worth which would be in my opinion not a good investment.

Christian Eckert wrote:

Thank you for this hint with the power not being submitted through the Adapter!

In this case its a no-go to try to use an USB C Harddisk on my Mac minis Thunderbolt 2 Interface.

Most consumer USB-C drives will be utilizing the USB protocol so you would not be able to connect them to a Thunderbolt 1/2 interface. Remember to check the protocol which is actually used by the drive/device and do not go by the USB-C connector alone since you can have some devices with a USB-C connector supporting only the USB protocol, while other devices may only support the Thunderbolt protocol. On your physical devices look for the symbol next to the port to see if it has the USB symbol or the Thunderbolt Lightning Bolt symbol.

Only the Mac itself supports both USB and Thunderbolt on each of the USB-C ports. The devices you connect to the Mac usually don't work this way and are usually restricted to one protocol (docks & hubs may be an exception).

den.thed wrote:

Internal is not the easiest, but it is the fastest and cheapest. If the Mac Mini dies or you decide to replace it, then you can pull the SSD out and repurpose the it.

Slight clarification: For 2.5" SATA SSD, this is true, but it does not apply to the OWC Aura NVMe SSD. OWC specifically mentions that the OWC Aura NVMe SSDs do not work in the OWC enclosures. In fact OWC has warning messages saying it can destroy both the Aura SSD and the OWC enclosure.

True and yes I was referring to a 2.5' SATA SSD as per my first reply.

den.thed wrote:

Another option to consider, is to replace the 2014 Mac Mini's internal HDD with an SSD.

Edit: yea OK you got me there, a SATA SSD is actually the second fastest internal option for a 2014 Mac Mini.

Internal is not the easiest, but it is the fastest and cheapest. If the Mac Mini dies or you decide to replace it, then you can pull the SSD out and repurpose the it.