Everything fits very tight but it is extremely well engineered for ease of assembly and disassembly.
The Mac mini is by far the easiest Mac to disassemble. I can disassemble mine in less than five minutes. It's a reasonable disclaimer but if you are reasonably competent at working with small parts the Mac mini is very easy to disassemble and upgrade. They also offer installation service (for their own upgrades), so I guess this is something where you need to judge for yourself whether to do your own installation or pay more for a shop to do one.
Other World Computing - Data Doubler Kit for Mac Mini 2011, 2012 Models
Other World Computing has a video on how to do it, but they also say that this is a "challenging install that requires advanced skills" and that they assume no responsibility for damage should you try it. I will place the OS and apps on the SSD and use the included hard drive for data - photos, music, etc. I am thinking of adding a second drive - SSD to mid-2011 Mac Mini. A good source for what is possible with a Mac is OWC and their website is Many people have Mac minis running two drives, SSD and standard hard drive, with no issues.īe more discriminating next time as to where you get your information on what is possible. Adding an SSD creates much less heat and consumes less power than a standard hard drive so it is the perfect addition as a second drive on the Mac mini. The current Mac mini design goes back to 2010 and has had the option for two standard hard drives since then. Or better yet, have the reseller configure it with Fusion, so all you have to do is set it up. Do that first, then install OS X and then migrate during the initial setup process. Migration won't affect the old Mac, but if it did, you would simply restore from a backup. I have messed up some previous iphoto libraries before and am worried that if I do the wrong thing I will lose it again and this time also lose my Lightroom library. Be sure to do the migration when first setting up the computer, not afterwards. It's actually called Setup Assistant at that point but they both do the same thing. I need some advice on whether to use migration assistant between the two to migrate my user settings and applications only or whether I should start from fresh. Good luck I hope someone answers your questions for you. (In the end, I bought a 21.5" iMac, i7, 1TB HD + 240GB SSD.) When I was considering adding an SSD as a 2nd drive to a Mini last year (before the Fusion Drive became available), I was convinced not to do it, as several people suggested that the fan on the Mini would not be able to handle the extra heat generated by the extra drive. Interested to see how this pans out for you. Once I get it home shall I set it up as a fusion drive (with some guidance and help from any of you) or leave it as two separate drives.
I currently own a 2008 Imac 24 which has all of my Applications on and my photo library stored in Lightroom and iphoto. It is not being set up as a fusion drive but two separate internal drives. This is all being fitted by the Apple Reseller where I live.
Tomorrow I am picking up my brand new 2012 mac mini with a 240 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD fitted alongside the internal 1TB Hard Drive.