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Mac Mini installing second hard drive SSD

Mac Forum question SATA

I want to keep my original hard drive in the Mac Mini PLUS have the SSD for my main drive. Its very cool that there is no particular hardware order. (I didnt know this at first and had completely taken my Mac Mini apart.) When you turn the MINI updside down to get in, then my original hard drive is on the bottom. But closed up and sitting on gthe desk like it should the hard drive is on the top. My issue is I purchased a second SSD SATA cable. When I went to plug in the new SSD CABLE IT WANTED TO PLUG INTO THE EXACT SAME PORT AS THE ORIGINAL ONE. I FOUND OUT THERE ARE 2 CABLES but in discriptions I see people writing this cable is for TOP drive or bottom drive. Is that upside down or closed? Any clarification of which SATA cable I need would greatly be appreciated. Remember when the unit is closed, then the drive is on top. Another way of putting it is all I have to do to install the new drive now is to just slide the new drive in (studs attached).

With the botom it will be on top of existing drive. Close the unit up, turn it over and set it on desk and the new drive is on the bottom. Sorry for being so redundant I just want to be sure. Thanks.

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), I7 2.3ghz 16 gb ram SSD 240 GB 1TB

Posted on Mar 19, 2014 12:41 PM

31 replies

Mar 20, 2014 2:07 PM in response to lllaass

A person would have to work really hard to connect "upper = bottom" and conversly "lower = top", myself I don't think it would happen, so I'll repeat what I said "might save a lot of confusion and misinterpretation."

Apr 23, 2014 3:32 PM in response to keg55

Are you or anyone using the kit from ifixit.com notice the sata port on the right (this is on the late 2012 mac mini) works at only SATA 2 speeds and not SATA 3? I'm not sure if it was the ports on the mac mini or the flex cable from ifixit. When I installed my Intel 530 240gb in the upper drive with the ifixit cable, I got terrible read/write speeds (at sata 2 speeds). I was also able to confirm this while I was using Chameleon trim enabler software listing one port at 6gb (original port where apple drive was connected) and the other at 3gb speeds. This probably is the reason why other SSDs are having problem working on the right port and upper disk bay? I don't know the clear specifications of these sata ports. When I moved the SSD to the lower bay and connected to the original cable and the left side sata port, the speed was better, probably at sata 3 speeds.

If anyone knows the sata specifications on the late 2012 mac mini, could you please confirm if the right side sata port only works at sata 2 speeds. Or is this just my mac mini or I received a defective cable from ifixit?

lllaass

Level 10

210,423 points

Apr 23, 2014 3:46 PM in response to Apertured

In my 2012 Mini I installed a second drive your OWCs kit and their SSD. I moved the rotating disk to the upper bay and installed the SSD in the lower bay where the rotating HD was installed.

System report shows 6 GB as both the link speed and negotiated link speed for both drives.

I installed the SSD where the rotating HD was since some other users had reported problems with an SSD not booting from the upper bay and I did not want to take the change of that happening and having to take apart the Mini again.

Apr 23, 2014 10:00 PM in response to lllaass

I have a 2012 Mac mini as well where the default drive was in the upper position. I had ordered a second SSD cable not aware at the time that there were 2 types . Cloned my hard drive to the SSD And ended up installing g it in the upper position waiting for my replacement drive. Worked well. In the meantime I screwed something up and had to recline my SSD. But this time I reinstalled the original HD to the upper location. When my second correct shorter lower bay cable came in I just dropped my SSD into the lower bay not feeling like taking the whole thing apart. Bottom line woth my Mac Mini either HD worked fine in either location. Was also able to boot from my SSD when I had it enclosed in a USB 3 HD enclosure . Worked fine except I guess since I had 2 bootable OSX partitions and 2 BOOTCAMP partitions I was not able to select my USB drive in start up disk rather had to hold alt down. Options

Jun 11, 2014 9:29 PM in response to woodturner

So is the Upper bay the one closest to the base and the Lower tray the one closest to the top of the Mini? I have a 2010 Mini Server and I plan on replacing the drive in the Upper bay with an SSD ( the drive in the Upper bay is currently unformatted). If the upper tray is the one closest to the bottom of the Mini then it would really be nice to know that before proceeding!

Philip

tbirdvet

Level 6

13,827 points

Jun 12, 2014 4:46 AM in response to pmcdunnough

Technically the upper bay is the one at the top of the Mini and the lower is the one at the base (the one you first see when removing the bottom cover plate on 2012 model.

Sep 5, 2014 11:51 PM in response to tbirdvet

I installed a second disk (1TB Samsung SSD) using the OWC kit on my MacMini late 2012 that already had a 1Tb HD
Something really strange happened. I cloned the disks but it seems that whatever I did, although officially starting from SSD the system had some system files called from the HDD so in someway it would go on considering that disk the boot disk... but.. more strange... in the Disk Utility the info were swapped.... I had a SAMSUNG 1TB disk with inside the partition calle HDD and viceversa the APPLE 1TB HDD with the partition called SSD !!! Seems that Apple forced lower bay (where their disk is) to be the boot disk... It sort of "has to be the boot disk whatever"...
Whtever I do I can't get to format the HDD... I boot from SSD and put most of apps in there but still HDD is seen as the bootable disk and won't let me delete it. Blackmagic speediest sees name the other way round too... To get 500 mb/s I need to select HDD and not SSD !??!?!
That is a total mess.... I'll try to fix it "software" but it seems I'll have to retake the MacMini apart and physically swap disk or at least minisata to mb cables

lllaass

Level 10

210,423 points

Sep 6, 2014 3:42 AM in response to MarcelloM1973

Did y oinstall the SSD in the lower bay, the place where the rotating HD is normally installed?

It seems that in many cases one can't boot from an SSD in the normally empty upper bay. Coul d be due to the cable or the SATA bus.

Sep 6, 2014 3:45 AM in response to lllaass

I got it to work in the end.. but had to start from USB Maverics, format BOTH disks, and recover on SSD only.. now is the only bootable disk and Mac seems to accept it! 🙂
SSD is (watching an open MacMini .. open from the bottom( is on the bottom (that is UPPER).. so basically I left the Mac disk in the lower position (the easy to access)

melocwb

Level 1

0 points

Sep 13, 2014 4:16 AM in response to guitarbodydotnet

Hi,

I have a Mac Mini late 2012, and it is in warranty yet, if a put a second drive or even if I replace my original drive for a SSD will it void my warranty ?

tbirdvet

Level 6

13,827 points

Sep 13, 2014 5:37 AM in response to melocwb

Only if you break something while doing this. I did this and had an issue not related to my install and Apple repaired without issue under warranty.

Nov 30, 2015 4:00 PM in response to woodturner

taking into account your picture, I'm trying to replace the bottom bay with an SSD. Which is the stock boot drive on Mac mini server 2011??? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Nov 30, 2015 4:03 PM in response to Alias1185

I used this on my Mac Mini 2012 and it worked fine... some things are tricky but I could do it twice.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/

Nov 30, 2015 4:19 PM in response to lllaass

So can you tell me which bay is the stock boot drive?

Nov 30, 2015 4:48 PM in response to pmcdunnough

did you ever figure out which drive was the original boot drive for the Mav HD?

Mac Mini installing second hard drive SSD