Changing Mac mini internal hard drive to an internal SSD

Welcome!

First an important question for you: does your Mini have Apple's optional Fusion (hybrid) drive or a regular mechanical-only hard drive?

Doing "About this Mac..." > Storage tab usually shows the drive type. In this example, my iMac shows its factory SSD as "Flash Storage":

It's important because the cheapest SSD option is not as fast as a healthy Fusion drive.

I get my DIY upgrade items from OWC.This is their SSD upgrade page for your model Mini:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2014

Note all the fine print.

As for a NYC area provider—first, Apple does not do upgrades so they are off the table. Second, these forums are made up of English-speaking end users world-wide, so it could take a while for a member familiar with NYC providers to see you question among tens of thousands of daily posts here. As much is we'd like to answer the question, we end users are simply too scattered to be much help with area-specific recommendations.

If you do not feel comfortable doign the work yourself, the above site will do installations of gear they sell. However, their nearest install facilty to you is in Illinois. They have partner companies that may be service providers. I would call or email OWC for NYC-area suggestions once we have enough info here to give you guidance re a drive type to install.

The late-2014 Mac mini is considered obsolete hardware by Apple and thus, neither an Apple Store, nor Apple Authorized Service Center will work on it. The cost of the replacement drive, plus the service charge for its replacement likely exceeds the cost of a new M2 Mac mini. Consider a new or (Apple refurb) purchase to get a truly fast replacement solution for your 2014 Mac mini.

Boot from an external SSD, pending replacement of this (old) Mac mini.

This is written for iMac, but applies to Mac mini: Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community

Some local storefront repair provider might be willing to update the internal storage, but you’ll need to poke around in NYC for providers and reputations. Maybe B&H knows somebody?

PS: Using an external also means you can take the SSD wit you, when you replace the Mac.

I have a MacMini 4.1 Server model (2010 with two 500GB internal hard drives). My son and I did a DIY upgrade, replacing both drives with SSD drives (2TB and 1TB for a total of 3TB of storage). We also upgraded the memory to the maximum 16GB. It's a complicated install, but mainly because there are lots of little screws to keep track of. There are step-by-step how to videos available on the internet.

Allan Jones posted earlier in this thread with a link to a place to buy the SSD from OWC. That's the company we used. They also sell tool kits and, as stated, have excellent step-by-step how to videos.

You're absolutely right - I have four different Mac Minis (two 2010 Servers and two Late 2014s) and I mistyped because I'm watching football and was not being careful. I will go back and correct this error in my post.

The 4,1 is a Mid 2010 Mac mini model.

see > Identify your Mac mini model - Apple Support

The RAM in the OP’s Late 2014 model can not be upgraded.

You will need to contact your local Apple Authorized Service Provider and check to see if they can upgrade your Late 2014 Mac mini.

see > Find Locations

No problem, just didn’t want the original poster to be confused about trying to upgrade the RAM in the 2024 model.