2.5 inch or 3.5 inch HDD in Mac Mini mid 2011?

They all have 2.5" hard drives.

I have replaced the hard drives in a bunch of different Mac Mini's, (2010's, 2011's and 2012's) with SSDs. To see a really good step by step DIY guide for your 2011, go to > https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Mini_Mid_2011

If you want a slight speed boost, replace the existing HDD with a slightly more expensive 7200rpm 2.5" hard drive.

Or optionally for a real speed boost, replace the existing HDD with either a Hybrid or an SSD.

Personally I'm having great results using PNY SSDs that are made in the USA.

see > http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pny-cs1311-480gb-internal-sata-iii-solid-state-drive

Usually, on the label of the drive. But you could tell just be looking at it. Of course, you could take my word for it because I happen to know.

This should give you an idea. The one on the right is the 2.5" form.

You're welcome!

NewbMacUser wrote:

Thanks!

When I take the Mac Mini mid 2011 apart where will it say that the internal hard drive is a 2.5 inch hard drive?

Please take our word for it, the 2011 model Mac mini can only fit a 2.5" drive, this could be a 2.5" SATA hard disk, or a 2.5" SATA SSD drive.

The 2014 model Mac mini has two choices, it can either use a 2.5" SATA hard drive or SSD again, but has the additional choice of using a PCIe style SSD drive.

No Mac mini ever made has been able to use a 3.5" hard drive, they are simply too big to fit inside the tiny Mac mini.

Therefore you only have one choice to worry about.

It must be a 2.5" SATA drive

You can chose whether to get a 2.5" SATA hard drive - cheaper, bigger capacity but slower

or a 2.5" SATA SSD drive, more expensive, generally less capacity, but much much faster

To be more precise the one on the right is also a 2.5" SSD drive rather than a hard disk. This is more because I can tell this, a hard disk also of 2.5" size would look very similar and of course be the same size.

What is surprising is that your Crucial SSD drive appears to be only a SATA II drive and not a SATA III drive. Most SSD drives are able to go faster than SATA II speeds.

John,

The purpose of the photo was simply to illustrate dimensional differences, so SSD or HDD made not difference. They are not my drives; I found the picture online. Also, I don't intend that one implies I prefer Crucial products over others. Just happened to be the image I chose.

Early SSDs were all SATA II - 1.5 and 3.0 Gb/s speeds. Modern SSDs are pretty much all SATA III - 6.0 Gb/s. This is true of HDDs, as well.

1. By taking it apart.
2. Because they aren't big enough for larger drives.

Hi, all Minis have 2.5" drives. 🙂

ˇhttps://eshop.macsales.com/upgrades/mac-mini-mid-2011-2.5-ghz/internal-drives

They use 2.5" notebook sized drives. You can replace them with another HDD or with a more expensive SSD. The latter are much faster. Visit OWC to see what your drive options and costs will be.