I have watched the OWC install video for installing an SSD in a late 2014 Mac mini. My question is this. The late 2104 Mac mini has both a 2.5 inch HD/SSD and a PCIe SSD. Which one does it actually boot from? If I left the PCIe SSD alone, and just replaced the existing 2.5 inch HD with an SSD that already had Catalina installed on it, would it boot?
Assuming that the newly installed drive is correctly formatted and can be recognized by the computer, either drive can be used to operate the computer since you say that both have an OS installed on them. You are able to select which drive is the startup drive in System Preferences.
Assuming that the newly installed drive is correctly formatted and can be recognized by the computer, either drive can be used to operate the computer since you say that both have an OS installed on them. You are able to select which drive is the startup drive in System Preferences.
They are lumped.
Apple's incarnation of a hybrid drive, the "Fusion" drive, was to take two devices—a small SSD and a large mechanical HD— and link them by software so the computer "sees" them as one drive, not two. As shipped, you cannot tell which one is the boot volume because the computer thinks there is only one drive. If a Fusion drive is working properly, Disk Utility shows it as one drive.
OWC has good before-the-sale support and I recommend reaching out to them for their recommendations on how best to manage the upgrade with their storage products.
Were in mine, I would want to install a 500 to 1000GB SSD and use it for everything, leaving the mech drive for extra storage where speed is not needed. OWC can tell you if that is possible.
Thanks to both Lanny and Allan Jones, things are getting clearer due to your explanations.
All this is regarding a late 2014 Mac mini that I found on Craig's List. Here are the specs as given by the poster: Late 2014 Apple Mac mini, 2.6ghz Intel i5 cpu, 8gb ram, 1Tb hard drive.
Looking at the Apple Support Technical Specifications web page I believe it to be this configuration:
Processor: 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB on-chip shared L3 cache.
Storage: 1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive.
Memory: 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory.
So, it looks very possible that this mini may have just a 5400 RPM hard drive. My goal would be to remove a 500GB SSD from my 2017 iMac (with cracked glass, don't ask!) running Big Sur, mount that SSD in the mini, and I should be good to go. At least that's the plan.
The 2.5 inch SSD that I want to install internally into the Mac mini will have the Catalina operating system on it. The PCIe SSD could be empty/blank for all I know. What I was trying to figure out was this. When the late 2014 Mac mini came from Apple, was there one drive that was meant for storage and the other one meant for the operating system, or did Apple just lump it all together as "drive capacity" and left it at that?
"When the late 2014 Mac mini came from Apple, was there one drive that was meant for storage and the other one meant for the operating system, or did Apple just lump it all together as "drive capacity" and left it at that?"
Note: Not entirely true. The Early 2014 Mac mini was sold with multiple drive configurations, not just a Fusion drive option. My Mac mini was purchased with a single 1 GB SSD.
These are the specifications:
Note: it's "TB" not "Tb," and "GB" instead of "gb."
B=byte, b=bit
G=giga, g=grams
T=tera, t=time
The letter's case is important.
Which Drive Does Late 2014 Mac mini Boot From?
