The only other thing I’ve discovered is that it fixes one of my longstanding complaints about the OS X Finder. I’ve verified that it works, and I’ve determined how quickly it boots my Mac mini. 1 is no slouch, allowing the Mini to boot from the SSD in less than half the time it took using FireWire 400.Īt this point, I haven’t done any more extensive testing. SSD is definitely faster than the 7200 rpm DeskStar.

Samsung in Mac mini using SATA: 21 secondsįireWire 400 is definitely faster than USB 2.0.

Samsung in FireStorm2.5 using USE 2.0: 59 seconds.

Samsung in FireStorm2.5 using FireWire 400: 46 seconds.

DeskStar in miniStack using USB 2.0: 92 seconds.

DeskStar in miniStack using FireWire 400: 57 seconds.

With a bootable OS X 10.5 Leopard drive installed in the Mini, I had to boot Leopard and then do a Restart to test the SSD in its enclosure. Except for the 2.5″ enclosure, times are for a cold start. I have OS X 10.6.8 installed, and booting from the DeskStar took nearly a minute on my 3 GB 2.0 GHz Mac mini. While I had the external drives set up, I decided to run some timing tests for system startup. When I got home from work, it was waiting for me. Tuesday morning, I used SuperDuper! to clone that DeskStar hard drive to the 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD placed in an external FireStorm2.5 enclosure supporting USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800. FireWire 400 is not fast compared to an internal hard drive, but it was what I had, and it let me get back to work. Also, the price had dropped $10 between researching prices and placing my order.Īs I’ve explained elsewhere, I was able to use Time Machine to recover my hard drive from a bit before we took our vacation, putting it on a 7200 rpm 250 GB DeskStar drive in an external NewerTech miniStack enclosure connected to the Mini via FireWire. That was using the free Super Saver shipping option, which told me to expect it on Thursday, August 27. I placed the order last Wednesday, it shipped on Thursday, and it arrived in Saturday’s mail. We depend on donations to cover our expenses, and within a few days we had received all the money we needed for the SSD. Low End Mac is a shoestring operation, and our income doesn’t leave much room for buying hardware or software. I found a lot of good reviews of the Samsung 850 EVO, saw that offered it for just under $100, and asked the group for donations.

I queried our Facebook group, and they recommended OWC, Crucial, Samsung, and Kingston as some of the most reliable brands.

The 320 GB 7200 rpm internal hard drive was having issues, and after looking at prices, I decided that SSD could be the way to go.

We came home from vacation three weeks ago, and my Mid 2007 Mac mini began giving me problems almost from the moment I powered it up.

Mini mac hard drive replacement