With a drive that size, you don't even have to mess with the Fusion setup. As of today, Amazon has the popular 250GB for just $173 and the 1TB version is just $524. These drives are fast, have good P/E cycles and are very well priced. I don't know their RMA process yet because we've never had to return one. We've installed 100+ of these drives, and near 300 if you count their predecessor the Samsung 830. This will most likely require a return with the manufacturer.)įinally, the reason you probably started reading: The Samsung 840 EVO SSD is the best option on the market right now. (And I don't mean "brick" in the way people refer to iPhones that just need to be restarted. Nine times out of ten, this will brick your SSD drive.
#Mac mini server 2012 review install
If you do a "Restore" to the drive and then install it into a Mac with dual drives, the OS will see it as a potentially broken Fusion drive the first time you boot up. There is a bug in Mavericks and Disk Utility. Second, a word of caution: If you are going to put an SSD drive into a Mac mini server or any other Mac with dual drives, be sure to clone the data using SuperDuper or CCC.
There will be a ton of automated replies and waiting. Even worse than that, the return process for those drives are excruciating. The firmware upgrades require Windows or bootable CDs. I thought I'd write a few of these lessons we've learned in case it helps others:įirst the bad: OCZ and Crucial SSD drives are fast, but they've been less reliable in our experience. Since we've installed so many different drives and brands over the years, we have experience with their longevity and some potential issues. When you've done it enough times and have the right tools, the process takes less than a couple minutes.
Of course iFixit has all the Mac mini upgrade tutorials you'd need and the process isn't as horrible as it seems at first. It's always a great upgrade and can make an old mini feel like new again. Over the years, we've installed hundreds of SSD drives into Mac minis.