Mac: replaced HDD with SSD
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I just completed a much-needed project on my old i5, 8GB 2014 Mac Mini: replaced the HDD with an SSD. At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. I tried using EaseUS cloner[^] without success. I then tried the free version of Carbon Copy Cloner[^] and it took a bit over an hour to clone the drive but it succeeded. Finally, I disassembled the Mac Mini following these fantastic instructions: Mac mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide[^] You actually take every piece out of the Mac Mini case (main board, power supply, everything!) to get the old HDD so you can replace the SSD. It is insane! I am very happy to report that I was able to re-assemble the thing with the new SSD. I've rebooted the machine and it is 20 times faster. Everything is so much better!!! I'm not exaggerating here --> Previoulsy I would run a command like ls -al in a dev directory and the prompt would blink for 3 seconds before it even started to do something. XCode (iOS dev IDE) runs quite nicely now and the iphone emulator runs well too. Amazing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: This was a great New Years Day project! I like the ones that end in success, the best. :rolleyes: Posted via FireFox on my Mac Mini (wouldn't have even tried this before).
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I just completed a much-needed project on my old i5, 8GB 2014 Mac Mini: replaced the HDD with an SSD. At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. I tried using EaseUS cloner[^] without success. I then tried the free version of Carbon Copy Cloner[^] and it took a bit over an hour to clone the drive but it succeeded. Finally, I disassembled the Mac Mini following these fantastic instructions: Mac mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide[^] You actually take every piece out of the Mac Mini case (main board, power supply, everything!) to get the old HDD so you can replace the SSD. It is insane! I am very happy to report that I was able to re-assemble the thing with the new SSD. I've rebooted the machine and it is 20 times faster. Everything is so much better!!! I'm not exaggerating here --> Previoulsy I would run a command like ls -al in a dev directory and the prompt would blink for 3 seconds before it even started to do something. XCode (iOS dev IDE) runs quite nicely now and the iphone emulator runs well too. Amazing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: This was a great New Years Day project! I like the ones that end in success, the best. :rolleyes: Posted via FireFox on my Mac Mini (wouldn't have even tried this before).
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I just completed a much-needed project on my old i5, 8GB 2014 Mac Mini: replaced the HDD with an SSD. At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. I tried using EaseUS cloner[^] without success. I then tried the free version of Carbon Copy Cloner[^] and it took a bit over an hour to clone the drive but it succeeded. Finally, I disassembled the Mac Mini following these fantastic instructions: Mac mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide[^] You actually take every piece out of the Mac Mini case (main board, power supply, everything!) to get the old HDD so you can replace the SSD. It is insane! I am very happy to report that I was able to re-assemble the thing with the new SSD. I've rebooted the machine and it is 20 times faster. Everything is so much better!!! I'm not exaggerating here --> Previoulsy I would run a command like ls -al in a dev directory and the prompt would blink for 3 seconds before it even started to do something. XCode (iOS dev IDE) runs quite nicely now and the iphone emulator runs well too. Amazing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: This was a great New Years Day project! I like the ones that end in success, the best. :rolleyes: Posted via FireFox on my Mac Mini (wouldn't have even tried this before).
Nice job. Carbon Copy Cloner is what we use too. :thumbsup:
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Nice job. Carbon Copy Cloner is what we use too. :thumbsup:
Ron Anders wrote:
Nice job.
Thanks, there were a couple of tricky parts. Luckily my son had a #6 Torx Security driver. I had a #6 torx (star driver) but it wasn't the "Security" type with the hole in the middle. That is really ridiculous! Also, check the Step 23 (in the ifixit guide[^]). You need a special wire tool to stick in those two holes so you can pry the mainboard out of the case. It is really ridiculous. I didn't notice I needed a special tool until I got to that step and the thing was already torn apart. I walked around the house trying to find something with wire that was the correct size that I could use and finally found a spring on an old chip clip. I cut the thing with some tin snips and somehow got it to work. That step is another ridiculous part of the tear down.
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I just completed a much-needed project on my old i5, 8GB 2014 Mac Mini: replaced the HDD with an SSD. At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. I tried using EaseUS cloner[^] without success. I then tried the free version of Carbon Copy Cloner[^] and it took a bit over an hour to clone the drive but it succeeded. Finally, I disassembled the Mac Mini following these fantastic instructions: Mac mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide[^] You actually take every piece out of the Mac Mini case (main board, power supply, everything!) to get the old HDD so you can replace the SSD. It is insane! I am very happy to report that I was able to re-assemble the thing with the new SSD. I've rebooted the machine and it is 20 times faster. Everything is so much better!!! I'm not exaggerating here --> Previoulsy I would run a command like ls -al in a dev directory and the prompt would blink for 3 seconds before it even started to do something. XCode (iOS dev IDE) runs quite nicely now and the iphone emulator runs well too. Amazing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: This was a great New Years Day project! I like the ones that end in success, the best. :rolleyes: Posted via FireFox on my Mac Mini (wouldn't have even tried this before).
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I just completed a much-needed project on my old i5, 8GB 2014 Mac Mini: replaced the HDD with an SSD. At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. I tried using EaseUS cloner[^] without success. I then tried the free version of Carbon Copy Cloner[^] and it took a bit over an hour to clone the drive but it succeeded. Finally, I disassembled the Mac Mini following these fantastic instructions: Mac mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide[^] You actually take every piece out of the Mac Mini case (main board, power supply, everything!) to get the old HDD so you can replace the SSD. It is insane! I am very happy to report that I was able to re-assemble the thing with the new SSD. I've rebooted the machine and it is 20 times faster. Everything is so much better!!! I'm not exaggerating here --> Previoulsy I would run a command like ls -al in a dev directory and the prompt would blink for 3 seconds before it even started to do something. XCode (iOS dev IDE) runs quite nicely now and the iphone emulator runs well too. Amazing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: This was a great New Years Day project! I like the ones that end in success, the best. :rolleyes: Posted via FireFox on my Mac Mini (wouldn't have even tried this before).
Well, I know it's not the same device at all, but I've now discounted the possibility of me ever taking the time to replace the drive in my (even older) MacBook Pro. I've been building my own PCs since I was a teenager, but I lack the finesse to take laptops apart...much less Apple ones.
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At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. How did you get this working? I got hung up here doing an iFixit SSD upgrade to my macbook pro and decided to pass on the upgrade.
foggles wrote:
How did you get this working?
Here are the steps I took... 1) attached my Amazon.com: Inateck USB 3.0 Hard Drives Docking Station for 2.5 Inch and 3.5 Inch HDD SSD SATA I/II/III, Support UASP and 10TB Drives, Optimized for Ssd(Fd1003): Computers & Accessories[^] to the Mac Mini USB port. (I had this device from previous windows-based HDDs that I've cloned to SSDs.) 2) inserted the new SanDisk 250GB SSD 3) The disk wasn't readily recognized and I had to look around to find out how to do that-- finally found the disk utility and I had to erase and reformat the SSD - https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/erase-and-reformat-a-storage-device-dskutl14079/19.0/mac/10.15[^] After that, I could see the drive was attached, but I tried the EaseUS software and it said it could not create a bootable clone. 4) searched for and found the Copy Cloner software and it did the rest. Pick your source and your target) and Copy Cloner takes care of it. 5) I was quite nervous after taking the entire thing apart and re-assembling because there was no way to know for sure that Copy Cloner had gotten everything correct, but the computer booted up perfectly from the cloned SSD. That's it. It's probably that first thing that you need -- the Mac Disk Utility. Good luck. :thumbsup:
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Well, I know it's not the same device at all, but I've now discounted the possibility of me ever taking the time to replace the drive in my (even older) MacBook Pro. I've been building my own PCs since I was a teenager, but I lack the finesse to take laptops apart...much less Apple ones.
dandy72 wrote:
I've been building my own PCs since I was a teenager, but I lack the finesse to take laptops apart...much less Apple ones.
My first job was building PCs back when Windows 3.0 and 386 chips were hot. Yeah, I feel the same way about taking laptops apart. A couple of years ago I bought my wife a brand new laptop and it had an HDD and Win10 started updating and it was terribly slow. I (nervously) took it apart the first night we owned it and replaced the HDD with her older SSD. Instant speed! SSDs are the modern panacea for what ails you. :laugh: Anyways, we had older toshiba laptops (win7 2010 or so) which had nice little doors on back so you could replace or upgrade HDDs and RAM. Now all the laptops are one smooth piece that are tricky to remove and replace.
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foggles wrote:
How did you get this working?
Here are the steps I took... 1) attached my Amazon.com: Inateck USB 3.0 Hard Drives Docking Station for 2.5 Inch and 3.5 Inch HDD SSD SATA I/II/III, Support UASP and 10TB Drives, Optimized for Ssd(Fd1003): Computers & Accessories[^] to the Mac Mini USB port. (I had this device from previous windows-based HDDs that I've cloned to SSDs.) 2) inserted the new SanDisk 250GB SSD 3) The disk wasn't readily recognized and I had to look around to find out how to do that-- finally found the disk utility and I had to erase and reformat the SSD - https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/erase-and-reformat-a-storage-device-dskutl14079/19.0/mac/10.15[^] After that, I could see the drive was attached, but I tried the EaseUS software and it said it could not create a bootable clone. 4) searched for and found the Copy Cloner software and it did the rest. Pick your source and your target) and Copy Cloner takes care of it. 5) I was quite nervous after taking the entire thing apart and re-assembling because there was no way to know for sure that Copy Cloner had gotten everything correct, but the computer booted up perfectly from the cloned SSD. That's it. It's probably that first thing that you need -- the Mac Disk Utility. Good luck. :thumbsup:
Thanks for the info. The kit I bought (OWC 1.0TB Aura Pro X2) had an enclosure but the enclosure only supported the old (current) drive and not the new one. I had put the new ssd in the machine and attempted to set it up using disk utility in recovery mode (or whatever that mode is) but it wouldn't recognize the new drive. After a few attempts I decided to return the drive and put the return funds toward an eventual new machine as I'm coming up on 7 years with the laptop. Enjoy your spruced up machine!
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dandy72 wrote:
I've been building my own PCs since I was a teenager, but I lack the finesse to take laptops apart...much less Apple ones.
My first job was building PCs back when Windows 3.0 and 386 chips were hot. Yeah, I feel the same way about taking laptops apart. A couple of years ago I bought my wife a brand new laptop and it had an HDD and Win10 started updating and it was terribly slow. I (nervously) took it apart the first night we owned it and replaced the HDD with her older SSD. Instant speed! SSDs are the modern panacea for what ails you. :laugh: Anyways, we had older toshiba laptops (win7 2010 or so) which had nice little doors on back so you could replace or upgrade HDDs and RAM. Now all the laptops are one smooth piece that are tricky to remove and replace.
raddevus wrote:
nice little doors on back so you could replace or upgrade HDDs and RAM. Now all the laptops are one smooth piece that are tricky to remove and replace.
Exactly. I've only ever bought a single brand new laptop in my entire life - everything else was "previously enjoyed". I have a bunch of spare 2.5" drives that I swap around to try out Linux distributions that don't like virtualization all that much. If I can't swap out the drive in less than 2 minutes, I want nothing to do with that laptop.
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I just completed a much-needed project on my old i5, 8GB 2014 Mac Mini: replaced the HDD with an SSD. At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. I tried using EaseUS cloner[^] without success. I then tried the free version of Carbon Copy Cloner[^] and it took a bit over an hour to clone the drive but it succeeded. Finally, I disassembled the Mac Mini following these fantastic instructions: Mac mini Late 2014 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide[^] You actually take every piece out of the Mac Mini case (main board, power supply, everything!) to get the old HDD so you can replace the SSD. It is insane! I am very happy to report that I was able to re-assemble the thing with the new SSD. I've rebooted the machine and it is 20 times faster. Everything is so much better!!! I'm not exaggerating here --> Previoulsy I would run a command like ls -al in a dev directory and the prompt would blink for 3 seconds before it even started to do something. XCode (iOS dev IDE) runs quite nicely now and the iphone emulator runs well too. Amazing. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: This was a great New Years Day project! I like the ones that end in success, the best. :rolleyes: Posted via FireFox on my Mac Mini (wouldn't have even tried this before).
I’ve done the same for several older Windows laptops. Makes a huge difference going from a 5400 rpm HDD to an SSD. Like a whole new machine. They were much simpler than what you describe doing. Not sure I would have even attempted it in a Mac. Seems like Apple doesn’t like people fooling around inside their boxes.
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At first, I couldn't even get the the mac to recognize and mount the SSD so I could clone, but I finally got that working. How did you get this working? I got hung up here doing an iFixit SSD upgrade to my macbook pro and decided to pass on the upgrade.
If you mean *after* it's been formatted with APFS or HFS+, it could be [you need to use the Startup Manager to tell macOS about the new startup disk](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202796)... I remember having to do that when adding an SSD boot drive to my MacBook Pro back in 2010. Start booting, but press the Option key as you turn on the power and keep it pressed to get to the Startup Manager.
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p
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If you mean *after* it's been formatted with APFS or HFS+, it could be [you need to use the Startup Manager to tell macOS about the new startup disk](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202796)... I remember having to do that when adding an SSD boot drive to my MacBook Pro back in 2010. Start booting, but press the Option key as you turn on the power and keep it pressed to get to the Startup Manager.
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p
