Upgrading the Mac Mini 2014 PCIE

have you try this one? It looks promising as it has an adhesive on it that could just stick on the surface.

I could not confirm if its really just get an M.2 drive + this flex cable to make it a fusion drive or a second drive as I could not find any information from the internet. Someone has to try that and post it on the internet whether it works or not.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Genuine-new-821-00010-A-Second-Dual-Hard-Drive-S SD-Flex-Cable-for-Apple-Mac-Mini/32813547860.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.158.q8nW 57&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_5460015_10065_10151_10068_547 0015_10307_10137_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10054_10059_100031_10099_10338_53 80015_10103_10102_440_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051_10326_10084_10083_1008 0_10082_10081_10110_10175_10111_10112_10113_10114_143_10312_10313_10314_10078_10 079_10076_10073-10050,searchweb201603_19,ppcSwitch_2&btsid=1aa00400-4279-430b-af 3e-f89ac85b2e8c&algo_expid=c73c41b8-b8fa-4276-bc24-7ee99092ed01-24&algo_pvid=c73 c41b8-b8fa-4276-bc24-7ee99092ed01

GiGeoff,

I upgraded the SSD in my Mac Mini 2014 a few months ago with this drive:

Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 2.5" 500GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDRE500GB - Newegg.com

using this excellent guide from the iFixit site:

Mac Mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit

and a tool kit I picked up from Amazon:

Amazon.com: Mac Mini 2014 (& Newer) Hard Drive Upgrade Tool Kit / Repair Kit [Includes TR6 Security Torx, T9 Torx, Logic…

The process took a little time and patience but it was worth it, and the Mini has been working flawlessly. I'm running Sierra 10.12.6, and to be honest I haven't messed with Trim support and don't know if it's native to Sierra.

Since I hate waste I put the dinosaur HDD in a USB 3.0 enclosure and have been using it for my Time Machine.

Starting 10.10.4, Apple did support third party SSD TRIM, by simple using terminal command.

I have no experience on adding PCIe SSD. (I was told once, only the Fusion Drive and SSD MacMini have the PCIe slot) -- You might want to check it out. My both 2014 Mac Mini DID NOT have the slot (I did open it). However, just read your post about the new Mini PCI-e SSD cable/part -- it did open a possibility.

I used Apple OEM SSD SATA-3 (512GB) for my modification on 1 mini, and Crucial MX200 (500GB - TRIM enabled) for the second Mini -- both purchased/modified at 2015, and both are still working great.

In real life, SATA 3 speed and PCI-e have little difference (compared to my 5K iMac and MBA - both with PCI-e SSD), in photo editing/web browsing/document/HD video playback. If you really want speed in HD video rendering/4K rendering (that is the time SATA and PCI-e would be noticeably different, but, the hardwares are completely different also) , then you might consider higher end Mac for your need. For Mac Mini with 8G memory, in my opinion, SATA SSD will be just fine.

Just my 2 cents

Sam

After digging and some study from various source, I realised that 2014 mac mini need M2/PCIe adaptor before it could be fit with M2 SSD. According to ifixit https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Mac+Mini+Late+2014+Teardown/30410 STEP 9, they found that The SSD matches the one found in the MacBook Air 13" Mid 2013 with the same chips.

Here are the parts u "SHOULD" need. I may be wrong here, so please make sure you study them before jump into this upgrade path.

Parts u need:

1. Flexi connector to connect MacMini 2014 motherboard to MacBook Air 13" Mid 2013 SSD.

2. ngff m2-pcie-ssd adaptor. This is to bridge the flexi connector to M2 connector.

3. M2 SSD

Good Luck!

Based on the comments here

http://www.apfeltalk.de/community/threads/mac-mini-2014-pcie-ssd-upgrade-kit.479 946/

Apple uses a special connection for its blade SSD

By Googling I could not s blade SSD for the 2014 Mac Mini.

On eBay yo may be able to find an Apple blade SSD

The Mac mini (any version) has never had a standard PCIe slot. Various models have had mini PCIe slots intended for use with WiFi cards which they came with as standard, and the latest Mac mini 2014 model has a special non-standard PCIe slot solely intended for Apple's own SSD.

Note: It sounds like the PCIe carrier you are saying you have ordered is a full-size one and as such it would only fit and work in a classic Mac Pro. Probably this one http://www.lycom.com.tw/DT-120.htm

The Samsung 950 Pro is a standard PCIe type of SSD and is of a connector type generically called an M2 and a type of card called a NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) but as Apple use a slightly different proprietary connector i.e. different to the standard M2 the standard Samsung drive will not fit in an Apple slot. Other than a genuine Apple SSD which is often bought by Apple from Samsung but with Apple's special connector which is hard to get after you have bought a Mac - eBay is about the only option, the only new third-party option I have seen that is likely to work is an Aura SSD from OWC.

You basically need an SSD that is able to fit in either a recent iMac, recent MacBook Pro Retina, new Mac Pro, etc. all of which use Apple's special connector. Therefore this means either a genuine Apple SSD or possibly an Aura SSD.

See http://eshop.macsales.com/search/aura+ssd

As lllaass has mentioned, there are no 3rd party vendors with PCIe SSD flash storage blades or PCIe connectors. So, it may be best to work with Apple at a local Apple Store to see if you can have them add a PCIe flash storage SSD drive. Or search around on the Internet as suggested.

The only 3rd party vendor I know of who sells Apple compatible flash storage blades is OWC (macsales.com). But those are SATA for 2012-2013 MBP Retina models.

You could, however, go with your option #3. I believe the Samsung 850Pro SSD models work fine in the Mac Mini. Check the vendor's site to confirm. Or use an OWC or Crucial SSD. Both of those sites should be able to tell you their product compatible.This way you have faster storage access. You just won't be able to use the PCIe slot.

Yes that adapter is obviously the right one.

An SSD from pretty much any current Mac model would fit. Try searching for SSD SSUBX on eBay these should all be the latest style and therefore compatible. However these are all likely to have been removed from a Mac and therefore 'used' or possibly in some cases stolen from a factory making Macs.

They are not officially sold as separate upgrades, the part number is a service part number for replacing a faulty one.

Some manufacturers of SSDs say they do the equivalent of TRIM in a different way so lack of TRIM is not an issue, however with the last Yosemite upgrade and still in El Capitan Apple now provide a way to enable TRIM on non-Apple makes.

Yu can easily enable TRIM on 10.10.4 and later

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/209119-new-apple-os-x-10-10-4-update-enable s-trim-support-for-third-party-ssds

Thanks for that link, I just enabled trim on my Mini.