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Mac Mini Late 2014 (Macmini7.1) with Mac Osx on external SSD - performance via Thunderbolt 2 Interface vs USB

Hello Dears,


For my Mac Mini Late 2014 (Macmini7.1) with sluggish performance (1TB HDD) i like to upgrade it with an external SSD and install Mac Osx Monterey on it.


My question is on choosing the best external SSD to receive the best performance. The Mac mini offers 4 USB 3.0 (= USB 3.1 Gen 1 -> 5gbps) Interfaces and 2 Thunderbolt 2 (20gbps) Interfaces:

Mac mini (Ende 2014) - Technische Daten (DE)


Jack-19 suggests getting a external SSD with USB C and connect it via USB A cable. But then the maximum speed will be limited to 5gbps, wouldnt it?

How to Setup and Use an External SSD as y… - Apple Community


Apple is offering a Thunderbolt 3 to 2 cable which works two way:

Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter - Education - Apple


Can anybody tell me which SSD with which Interface and Adapter cable would work best here?


Thank you in advance



Mac mini, macOS 10.12

Posted on Mar 9, 2022 3:33 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 9, 2022 5:50 AM

Jack19 is spot on, a USB 3.0 SATA SSD is the best bet external solution for your 2014 Mac Mini.


Problem with using that the Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter in reverse, is that it will not supply power to Bus powered USB-C drives. Plus if you look at those older Thunderbolt 2 drives enclosures, they were expensive and only came with slower HDDs, not SSDs.


Another option to consider, is to replace the 2014 Mac Mini's internal HDD with an SSD.

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10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 9, 2022 5:50 AM in response to Christian Eckert

Jack19 is spot on, a USB 3.0 SATA SSD is the best bet external solution for your 2014 Mac Mini.


Problem with using that the Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter in reverse, is that it will not supply power to Bus powered USB-C drives. Plus if you look at those older Thunderbolt 2 drives enclosures, they were expensive and only came with slower HDDs, not SSDs.


Another option to consider, is to replace the 2014 Mac Mini's internal HDD with an SSD.

Mar 10, 2022 3:00 AM in response to HWTech

Today i realized, if I invest money for internal SSD solution, its bound to that old Mac Mini. If it dies, then the investment is gone. On the other hand, purchasing an external USB C SSD gives me instant performance boost. I guess the SSD's quick access speed will make the Mac os feel very fast in everyday's use, regardless of its limited max transfer speed via USB C. Furthermore, I can also use the drive in any other system, having more flexibility for future usage. So, im going looking for this:


c) Lowest performance and medium cost

External USB-C / USB 3.1 Gen 2 / 2TB

Price EUR 200-300 (8/10 points)

Max Speed approx. 100-300MB/s (2/10 points)

Installation: Lowest effort (10/10 points)

Risk of incompability: Low (10/10 points)


These are some favourite USB 3.2 SSD drives i identified:


USB C / USB 3.2 Gen 2x2

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/wd/product/portable/wd-black-p50-game-drive-usb-3-2-ssd/data-sheet-wd-black-p50-game-drive-usb-3-2-ssd.pdf


USB C / USB 3.2 Gen 2

https://www.lacie.com/products/ssd/

  • Rugged SSD 2TB
  • Mobile SSD 2TB


Im happy to found a feasible solution now. Thanks again for everybodys help!



Mar 9, 2022 6:03 AM in response to Christian Eckert

It is possible to replace the internal hard drive with a 2.5" SATA SSD without too much difficulty although the speed would be limited to a max of 500MB/s. I believe you can also install an OWC NVMe SSD internally as it would include the necessary extras if your Mini did not ship with an SSD.


As for USB3 speeds. Even a USB-A connected USB3 device can achieve 10/20/40 Gb/s speeds depending on the specs of the SSD and the USB3 controller interface of the adapter/dock/enclosure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_3.0


When using USB3 though, you definitely want to make sure every part of the chain supports UASP so you can have the fastest transfer speeds possible for each connected USB device.

https://www.startech.com/en-us/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-uasp


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_Attached_SCSI


I cannot say anything about any brand of external drive since I don't buy the prebuilt ones as they are typically junk. I like to pick and choose my enclosure & drive to build it myself. OWC makes some nice Mercury Elite enclosures. I also like Plugable products, but they have a very limited selection of products.



Mar 9, 2022 6:16 AM in response to Christian Eckert

The economic and easiest option is a USB3 SSD. While it may only be 5Gb/sec, compared to your glacial 5400 RPM internal drive it would seem like you are running at light speed.


You can as others stated attempt internal solutions but that means opening up the Mini and essentially disabling it leading to possibly damaging something as a few of the connections are a bit delicate.


Thunderbolt solutions, while possible, would end up costing more than what your 2014 Mini is actually worth which would be in my opinion not a good investment.

Mar 9, 2022 11:04 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you for your comment! So i will choose between following alternatives:


a) Highest performance and cost

OWC Aura NVMe SSD 2TB + Adapter cable

Price EUR 450 (3/10 points)

Max Speed approx. 1600MB/s (10/10 points)

Installation: Small effort, doable (8/10 points)

Risk of incompability: Small (9/10 points)


b) Highend performance and medium cost, risk of failure

ANY BRAND NVMe SSD 2TB + Adapter cable

Price EUR 250 (8/10 points)

Max Speed approx. 1600MB/s (10/10 points)

Installation: Small effort, doable (8/10 points)

Risk of incompability: Huge (3/10 points)


c) Medium performance and medium cost

2.5" SATA SSD 2TB

Price EUR 150-200 (10/10 points)

Max Speed approx. 500MB/s (4/10 points)

Installation: Some effort but doable (5/10 points)

Risk of incompability: Small (9/10 points)


c) Lowest performance and medium cost

External USB-C / USB 3.1 Gen 2 / ** 2TB

Price EUR 200-300 (8/10 points)

Max Speed approx. 100-300MB/s (2/10 points)

Installation: Lowest effort (10/10 points)

Risk of incompability: Low (10/10 points)

**ANY OTHER CRAZY USB „Standard“ Ext. HARDDISK 


d) Very good performance and High cost but only 1TB available

Transcend JetDrive 855 external Thunderbolt 2 NVME SSD 960GB

Price EUR 300 (6/10 points)

Max Speed approx. 1000MB/s (8/10 points)

Installation: Lowest effort (10/10 points)

Risk of incompability: Low (10/10 points)


Summary: I tend to go the OWC Aura way, because finding out all this knowledge was time intensive and in the end i'd like to have a great solution which will 100% be compatible without the hassle of try, error and disappointment. And installation failures im sure i can avoid. But if anybody knows a working ANY BRAND NVMe 2TB PCIe SSD to use internally, id maybe try this too.


Kind regards


Mar 9, 2022 12:13 PM in response to Christian Eckert

Christian Eckert wrote:

Thank you for this hint with the power not being submitted through the Adapter!
In this case its a no-go to try to use an USB C Harddisk on my Mac minis Thunderbolt 2 Interface.

Most consumer USB-C drives will be utilizing the USB protocol so you would not be able to connect them to a Thunderbolt 1/2 interface. Remember to check the protocol which is actually used by the drive/device and do not go by the USB-C connector alone since you can have some devices with a USB-C connector supporting only the USB protocol, while other devices may only support the Thunderbolt protocol. On your physical devices look for the symbol next to the port to see if it has the USB symbol or the Thunderbolt Lightning Bolt symbol.


Only the Mac itself supports both USB and Thunderbolt on each of the USB-C ports. The devices you connect to the Mac usually don't work this way and are usually restricted to one protocol (docks & hubs may be an exception).

Mar 10, 2022 6:50 AM in response to den.thed

den.thed wrote:

Internal is not the easiest, but it is the fastest and cheapest. If the Mac Mini dies or you decide to replace it, then you can pull the SSD out and repurpose the it.

Slight clarification: For 2.5" SATA SSD, this is true, but it does not apply to the OWC Aura NVMe SSD. OWC specifically mentions that the OWC Aura NVMe SSDs do not work in the OWC enclosures. In fact OWC has warning messages saying it can destroy both the Aura SSD and the OWC enclosure.

Mac Mini Late 2014 (Macmini7.1) with Mac Osx on external SSD - performance via Thunderbolt 2 Interface vs USB

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