Mac mini 2014 - Fusion upgrade

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Level 1

9 points

Mac mini 2014 - Fusion upgrade

I tried to upgrade my Mac mini late 2014 (MGEM2, i5 1.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HD) to Fusion drive following the procedure posted here http://ghouletech.co.uk/upgrading-non-ssd-late-2014-mac-mini-fusion-drive/ and since I cannot succeeded, I am really getting crazy!

I bought on eBay a connector 821-00010-A and an original Apple/Samsung MZ-JPV1280/0A3 PCIe blade drive coming from a Macbook Pro; then a bought a brand new Transcend Jetdrive 820 especially designed for Mac mini 2014 and finally I bought another 821-00010-A connector from a different seller. In sum, I tried two different drives with two different connectors but in all cases once I power on my Mac the additional PCIe blade drive isn’t recognised at all as it neither was present nor connected.

Is there anything I am doing wrong? Is there anything I can do to check if the problem is the connector on motherboard? Should the PCIe port need to somewhat activated?

Hope you can help, in any case thanks in advance for your attention.

Gabriele

Mac mini, iOS 11.2.2

Posted on Jan 15, 2018 10:28 AM

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Answer 1

Kim Zerouno Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 12, 2018 9:21 AM in response to deniespos

Hi,

I just wanted to inform you that I finally did it!

The connector I had purchased twice was bad, on the third attempt things worked smoothly.

The port for the blade drive doesn't need any activation and the drive is automatically detected once (correctly) connected.

I configured my entry level Mac mini 2014 with a Fusion drive according to one of the several guides present on the Internet and it became almost another machine!

Bye.

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Answer 2

Feb 16, 2018 11:46 PM in response to Kim Zerouno

I went for another option with my 2014 mini. I have the base "middle system". i5 2,6 Gz, 8 gb RAM and 1 tb hard disk.

I bought a 250 gb Samsung SSD and hooked it up to one of the mini's USB 3 ports through an enclosure. The mini turned from a very slow computer to a very quick one. It's almost as fast as my 1 year old Windows gaming PC which has an internal SSD.

For me this was a very nice solution. No need to open up the mini. Just plug the SSD into the enclosure, connect it to one of the USB ports and go 🙂

Setup MacOS on the SSD and using the mini's original hard disk for storage as a separate drive.

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

159,088 points

Jan 15, 2018 1:49 PM in response to Kim Zerouno

It may come down to having the correct connectors. 2014 Mac mini's, that came with Fusion drives, consist of a 2.5" SATA III hard drive plus a 128GB PCIe SSD drive and therefore includes all the cables, screws and brackets needed for both.

See if any of the following article can help:

Mac mini (Late 2012 and later), iMac (Late 2012 and later): About Fusion Drive - Apple Support
How to create and disable a Fusion Drive - TechRepublic
How to make your own Fusion Drive - Macworld
DIY Fusion Drives - Dale Mugford

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Answer 4

samtenor

Level 4

2,074 points

Jan 15, 2018 5:36 PM in response to Kim Zerouno

Hope I am not sounding too sarcastic.

The fusion drive is combining the "speed" of SSD with "capacity" of HDD.

I know some people would want the newest PCI-e SSD with modification of second SSD by replacing the HDD (2014 Mac Mini Fusion version). I can see you have spent some energy and money to get the hardwares for this task, however:

Your Mac Mini is the 1.4 GHz entry level -- personally, I would invest all the money to get a Bigger SATA-3 SSD alone for this Mac Mini.

The speed you might gain with PCI-e + SATA SSD Fusion drive might not be that significant (given CPU and 4GB memory). I am perfectly happy with my DIY SATA-3 SSD on my 2015 5K, two 2013 (27") and even SATA-2 on my 2009 Mac Mini Server (yes, I have Fusion drive with two identical Apple 256GB SSD - made by Toshiba) .. etc.

The quality of SSD -- feedback from the users would tell some stories about third party SSDs -- do some research and you will find a few users' experience.

My suggestion will be choosing "vendors have updated the firmware" such as Crucial, Samsung or Intel etc. Although there might be some different experience according different users regarding to their SSD (third party) experience. Even Apple's SSD (usually made by Samsung) can have some lemons from time to time.

The warranty of SSD is important (3 year vs 5 year) if anything happened to the SSD. Backup is essential.

Just my 2 cents

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Answer 5

Kim Zerouno Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 16, 2018 5:03 AM in response to deniespos

Of course, this worked for me: PCIe SSD Kabel for Mac Mini 2014 - 821-00010-A - Turn up the speed | eBay

Bye,

Gabriele

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Answer 6

Kim Zerouno Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 18, 2018 3:08 AM in response to Tesserax

Hi,

I already knew the links you suggest, before proceeding I googled for the right stuff to purchase:

1. the cable I bought is Apple part number 821-00010-A https://www.ebay.it/itm/PCIe-SSD-Kabel-for-Mac-Mini-2014-821-00010-A-Turn-up-the -speed/232407868135?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 that is the cable of the complete drive carrier, part number 076-00040. The complete drive carrier is much more expensive and most of all requires a complete disassembly of the Mac mini that I am not sure to be able to do.

2. the last drive I bought is a Transcend Jetdrive 820 especially designed for Mac mini 2014 as reported on Transcend website https://uk.transcend-info.com/Products/No-787

For this reason I fear that the problem is elsewhere and I can not think of anything but the motherboard of my Mac mini or a problem in the BIOS (or whatever it is called).

Anyway, thanks for your kindness and your cooperation.

Bye,

Gabriele

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Answer 7

Kim Zerouno Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 18, 2018 3:17 AM in response to samtenor

Hi,

rather than sarcastic you seems out of topic; I didn't ask if the operation is worth (maybe not, according to the difficulties that I am facing...) but why it doesn't work since I followed apparently simple procedures and bought the right items.

I choosed to add a PCIe drive instead of replacing the original HD with a SSD because this second option requires a complete disassembly of the Mac mini that I am not sure to be able to do.

I fear that the problem is not in the items I purchased and I can not think of anything but the motherboard of my Mac mini or a problem in the BIOS (or whatever it is called).

Anyway, thanks for your kindness and your cooperation.

Bye,

Gabriele

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Answer 8

Jan 18, 2018 3:27 AM in response to Kim Zerouno

You do not need separate drives. Buy a Fusion Drive which is a single unit and just slips in in place of the existing 2.5" drive.

They are excellent value, only a bit more expensive than a regular drive and almost as fast as an SSD dive.

Peter

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Answer 9

Kim Zerouno Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 12, 2018 9:28 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Maybe your are referring to Hybrid Drives which combine a (very small) SSD to a classical HDD in a single unit; this could be another good option since they are accounted for interesting performances but in the case of Mac Mini it implies to completely disassemble the Mac while the addition of a blade drive is infinitely easier!

Bye,

Gabriele

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Answer 10

Kim Zerouno Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 12, 2018 9:33 AM in response to deniespos

No, I was not "required" I did it (voluntarily) later; I installed the blade drive, "fused" the two drives (blade SSD + resident HDD), installed the operating system and restored the backup. After verifying that everything was successful, I checked the status of TRIM: it was disabled and I enabled it from the command line.

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