Which SSD? (Late 2009 Mac Mini)

Rameses

Rameses

Rameses

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
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Looking to replace my HDD for an SSD, replace the DVDRW drive with one of them caddies and use the current HDD in its place.

The Mini has two SATA2 (3 Gbit) ports.

I'm looking for at least 128GB drive, perhaps more depending on price so what models should I be looking at people? Do I dismiss SATA3 models and stick to SATA2 only?

Thanks for any advice people!

:)
 
Crucial M4, SATA is backwards compatible so it would be pointless not buying a SATA3 drive just because the laptop cant support it. There's next to zero price difference between them anyway so would seem almost silly not to get a SATA 3 drive :).

The M4 is recommended around here often due to its speed, reliability, support etc.
 
SanDisk 120Gb can be gotten for £70 atm. It's max speed is roughly SATA2 speeds. Crucial M4 is faster but you would see no benefit without SATA3 and it costs £20 more.
 
Just put a Crucial M4 128gb into my macbook pro, easily upgraded to latest firmware, worth every penny!
 
Well I went for a 128GB M4 and also got 8GB ram while I was at it! :cool:

Looking forward to it, just gotta wait now for a bracket I ordered from MacSales to swap out my DVD drive so I can reuse the 500GB HDD already in the Mini.

:)
 
MilanoChris said:
I need a bracket for my MBP, going to put the OE 500GB drive where the super drive sits.
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Cost me around £48 (conversion) all in including international shipping, not what I would call cheap for a bit of metal and a adapter but the result offers far greater storage/backup solution for me, the dvdrw is awful anyway probably burns once out of ten times successfully, plus I never use it.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/drive_bracket/datadoubler/
 
The bracket from OWC isn't the same shape as that, its a blue bracket, but looking at the spec of that eBay one it matches my model number. Probably would've taken a chance if I'd seen it earlier but alas the OWC is on its way. At least I know for sure there won't be any issue in it fitting/working as I checked with CS prior to ordering.

:o
 
Well its all installed now people!

Finally got an SSD and the lofty heights of 8GB memory in the mini! :eek:

Just ran this app for a test, thought it was a bit lower than what was rated but then remembered I'm on SATA2, not 3. Still waaaay above what my mechanical drive.

9Iesxl.png


I did have a gander at the Crucial forums and firmware updates, I noted I'm on 0309, and a 000f is currently the latest, anyone updated and seen any great improvement and is TRIM really needed?

Thanks for any advice!
 
I'd be upgrading personally.

As for TRIM, be on the safe side and have it enabled. There's a neat little app that does it for you called TRIM enabler.
 
The update won't bring any performance improvements for normal use. TRIM will likely be unnecessary, but there is no harm in enabling to be on the safe side as MilanoChris said.
 
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rodo said:
Out of curiosity, once upgrading the ssd did you encounter and HD temp reading or fan speed issues? I'm thinking of putting an SSD in my 2011 mac mini
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Well tbh the fan has been a little more noticeable, but also I've replaced the dvdrw with that bracket and put the mechanical drive in it, I think its a combo of drive spinning (at the top of the mac) & fan that makes it more audible.

Its not really bothering, it will spin up when watching HD stuff.

I wonder if I should have placed the sensor somewhere else, I don't know if its reading a hot spot or whatever. IIRC the sensor was on a metal part of the mechanical drive, on the SSD its all plastic.

bloodiedathame said:
I had issues with 000f firmware, rolled back to 0308 which seems better.
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TBH I thought the speeds were a tad slower on 000f, but since I've run a few more speed tests and they even out. Overall I haven't had any issues, shut down still hangs a little but I think thats OSX, bootup has a little pause but I put that down to having the mechincal drive in the dvdrw bay and it has to spin up & I have a firewire external hard drive, but in general use I haven't noted any issues. What issues did you have?
 
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AmTechFox said:
TBH I thought the speeds were a tad slower on 000f, but since I've run a few more speed tests and they even out. Overall I haven't had any issues, shut down still hangs a little but I think thats OSX, bootup has a little pause but I put that down to having the mechincal drive in the dvdrw bay and it has to spin up & I have a firewire external hard drive, but in general use I haven't noted any issues. What issues did you have?
Click to expand...

I was getting hangs in Chrome, would start typing in a new tab in the address bar and it would hang for 10 secs or so. Rolled back the firmware and that problem doesn't exist now.

For anyone interested in my speeds:

 
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