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Changing Mac mini internal hard drive to an internal SSD

For a Mac mini, model A1347 (late 2014), 2.8 GHz Dual Core Intel Core i5,

are there internal SSDs available?


If so, which one would you recommend?


I live in New York City, does anyone know who would install it?


Thank you all, Michael


[Re-titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 10.14

Posted on Sep 10, 2023 8:53 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 10, 2023 10:41 AM

Welcome!


First an important question for you: does your Mini have Apple's optional Fusion (hybrid) drive or a regular mechanical-only hard drive?


Doing "About this Mac..." > Storage tab usually shows the drive type. In this example, my iMac shows its factory SSD as "Flash Storage":



It's important because the cheapest SSD option is not as fast as a healthy Fusion drive.


I get my DIY upgrade items from OWC.This is their SSD upgrade page for your model Mini:


https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2014


Note all the fine print.


As for a NYC area provider—first, Apple does not do upgrades so they are off the table. Second, these forums are made up of English-speaking end users world-wide, so it could take a while for a member familiar with NYC providers to see you question among tens of thousands of daily posts here. As much is we'd like to answer the question, we end users are simply too scattered to be much help with area-specific recommendations.


If you do not feel comfortable doign the work yourself, the above site will do installations of gear they sell. However, their nearest install facilty to you is in Illinois. They have partner companies that may be service providers. I would call or email OWC for NYC-area suggestions once we have enough info here to give you guidance re a drive type to install.



8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 10, 2023 10:41 AM in response to Margit0207

Welcome!


First an important question for you: does your Mini have Apple's optional Fusion (hybrid) drive or a regular mechanical-only hard drive?


Doing "About this Mac..." > Storage tab usually shows the drive type. In this example, my iMac shows its factory SSD as "Flash Storage":



It's important because the cheapest SSD option is not as fast as a healthy Fusion drive.


I get my DIY upgrade items from OWC.This is their SSD upgrade page for your model Mini:


https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2014


Note all the fine print.


As for a NYC area provider—first, Apple does not do upgrades so they are off the table. Second, these forums are made up of English-speaking end users world-wide, so it could take a while for a member familiar with NYC providers to see you question among tens of thousands of daily posts here. As much is we'd like to answer the question, we end users are simply too scattered to be much help with area-specific recommendations.


If you do not feel comfortable doign the work yourself, the above site will do installations of gear they sell. However, their nearest install facilty to you is in Illinois. They have partner companies that may be service providers. I would call or email OWC for NYC-area suggestions once we have enough info here to give you guidance re a drive type to install.



Sep 10, 2023 10:33 AM in response to Margit0207

The late-2014 Mac mini is considered obsolete hardware by Apple and thus, neither an Apple Store, nor Apple Authorized Service Center will work on it. The cost of the replacement drive, plus the service charge for its replacement likely exceeds the cost of a new M2 Mac mini. Consider a new or (Apple refurb) purchase to get a truly fast replacement solution for your 2014 Mac mini.

Sep 10, 2023 10:41 AM in response to Margit0207

Boot from an external SSD, pending replacement of this (old) Mac mini.


This is written for iMac, but applies to Mac mini: Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community


Some local storefront repair provider might be willing to update the internal storage, but you’ll need to poke around in NYC for providers and reputations. Maybe B&H knows somebody?


PS: Using an external also means you can take the SSD wit you, when you replace the Mac.

Sep 10, 2023 2:13 PM in response to Allan Jones

I have a MacMini 4.1 Server model (2010 with two 500GB internal hard drives). My son and I did a DIY upgrade, replacing both drives with SSD drives (2TB and 1TB for a total of 3TB of storage). We also upgraded the memory to the maximum 16GB. It's a complicated install, but mainly because there are lots of little screws to keep track of. There are step-by-step how to videos available on the internet.


Allan Jones posted earlier in this thread with a link to a place to buy the SSD from OWC. That's the company we used. They also sell tool kits and, as stated, have excellent step-by-step how to videos.



Changing Mac mini internal hard drive to an internal SSD

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