Mac Mini 2011 Dual drive install using SSD SATA III 6 Gb/s drive

Mi Problema

Well I didn't really have to fix anything. I wanted to decrease the boot time on my 2011 Mac Mini by installing a SSD and moving the Lion OS to the new boot disk. So I decided to use the ifixit kit to install a drive on the second Internal SATA port on the Mac Mini.

Mi Solución

The repair went as expected, took a bit more than an hour. The board connectors are tiny on this machine. I found that some steps weren't required, some screws (1 on the right was missing on my motherboard) weren't installed at the factory.

Overall, after reloading Lion Os and moving programs and some misc data around it took 3 hours. Not a Mac expert, really a pc guy. Reinstalled the OS from a flash drive. Thankfully, my data's on an external drive, so no restore required. Did have to reinstall a few Mac Apps and I was set.

Well here's the good news, originally it took forever to boot. Seemed like minutes, but I didn't really time it. After the install of the SSD the system boots to login screen in 15 seconds flat. Probably the fastest machine here, though running Ubuntu on a HP AMD Phenom II quad-core with an OCZ SSD 1 device it's fast, but not lightning like this Mac.

Applications like Aperture load very fast. I used a Sandisk SSD 120gb Extreme 2.5" SATA 6 Gb/s drive and kept the 500 GB 5400 rpm as a secondary drive (gave some thought to putting in a 1TB 7200 rpm disk, I'll wait for larger capacity and cheaper 2.5" SSD's in the near future).

Mi Consejo

Repair was straight forward and disasembly/reassembly took less the second time. I had to partially disassemble one time as machine would not boot. Double check the SATA connections, they tend to pop out. Make sure that you look at the new SATA cable carefully and bend as directed. These things tend to be rather rigid, but after carefully bending at the seams, it fell into place.

Take your time, group screws with items were possible. Taking out the antenna was rather difficult as the cable was under metal and it wasn't immediately clear what to disconnect.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures there are plenty in their manual. I had my hands full of tools, little tiny screws and parts.