Mac Mini Hard Drive Failure

First thing you need to do is exchange that WD Blue drive for a different model. The Blue drives should not be used. Use a Black Scorpio or different manufacturer's drive such as Seagate Momentus or HTSG model.

Secondly, in order to make a bootable flash drive you need to follow this procedure:

Drive Preparation

1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

7. When formatting is complete clone the DVD to the flash drive:

1. Select the destination volume from the left side list.

2. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.

3. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination

entry field.

4. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.

5. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

Destination means the USB flash drive. Source means the mounted volume of the Snow Leopard DVD.

When completed quit the installer and boot from the flash drive:

Boot Using OPTION key:

1. Restart the computer.

2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "OPTION" key.

3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.

4. Select the USB flash drive's icon.

5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.

Startup could take a while since it is a DVD on a flash drive. The DVD could easily take that long or more to startup. Or you could have a flash drive that just won't boot your computer. Who makes the flash drive? Do you have another one you could use? Is the flash drive large enough - 8 GBs or bigger?

1. You say that you Formatted the new HD (Mac OSX Journaled), but did you also change the Partition Map Scheme from MS-DOS to GUID Partition Table?

If not, then boot from your Snow Leopard Disc or USB installer, navagate to Disk Utility and do both a Partition and Format on the new Hard Drive.

1. Boot from your install DVD USB installer or Bootable Clone and open Disk Utility.

2. Highlight the new HD in the list of drives and select the Partition tab.

3. Under Volume Scheme select 1 Partition and click on the Options... button.

4. Select GUID Partition Table in the drop down window and click OK.

5. Set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click the Apply button.

6. Once that's done then you can do a clean Install, Restore from TM or a Bootable Clone.

Likewise you should be fine using a WD Cavair Blue, I opted for a 7200 RPM Hitachi in my 2010 Mac Mini, but have used many a Cavair Blue in the older Intel iMac's.

Are you using a wireless keyboard, if so try a USB one.

If you have access to another Intel iMac, then you have a couple of options.

1. Use >FireWire target disk mode to access, fix and install OS X on the New Hard Drive.

2. Pull the new Hard Drive back out, use a USB Drive Adapter or put it in a USB Drive Enclosure, then connect it up to the other Mac so that you can fix it and install OS X on it.

midnightsvt wrote:

I forgot to mention in my first post, that the internal fan is running at full speed, since opening the machine up. I thought it was because OSX wasnt installed, but I am thinking this might be an issue related also.

Did you transfer the Thermal Temp. Sensor from the old to new Hard Drive?

If you did, then perhaps you did not reconnect it or one of the other sensor cables back onto the logicboard.

Please visit > Mac Mini Mid 2010 Repair Manual - iFixit because it sounds like you may have also forgotten to connect or damaged the Optical Drive connection if it is no longer working as well.