Please see the images for any traces of usage and the general condition of the iMac, so you can form your own opinion. It has some traces of usage fitting for its age. (If you decided to keep your original drive in there and use it as I was explaining in Step 3, after the Time-Machine restore is complete, your Mac may boot into the HDD rather than SDD. Apple Mac Mini (Late 2012) - Intel Core i5 2.5Ghz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 120GB SSD - macOS Catalina. Once the restore is complete, you should automatically boot into the OS on your new SSD drive and be ready to work.
This process, depending on how much data you have, should take about an hour or so. Screenshot by Dong Ngo If you have replaced the hard drive on your Mac with an SSD. Below are some pictures of the upgrade process. The Mac Mini has place for 2 disks, but only is installed by default, so we installed the SSD at the second slot, as described in the guide.
#Install ssd in mac mini 2012 install
Once you have the drive installed properly and everything connected/reassembled, boot into Recovery Mode (cmd + R), connect your Time-Machine drive, and restore from it. If you install an SSD on a Mac, its important to make sure that the TRIM command is running on the machine. We bought the iFixit Dual Hard Drive Upgrade Kit together with the SSD.There are a fair amount of screws/removable parts involved so make sure to pair each part with their assigned screws to avoid losing/mis-installing them.I have seen too many people break cables trying to pry them off with their fingers. Make sure to use the Spudger tool for disconnecting cables.Then, once everything is setup on your SSD, you can turn this drive into either a store drive or a contingent Time-Machine drive. Having 2 drives will allow you to ensure all documents are saved/backed up to a 2nd location, in-case Time-Machine failed with your backup. The above drive will include the necessary Parts and Tools in order to do this. Rather than replacing the drive, I suggest keeping it as a 2nd drive and use it for storage.Purchase This Mac Toolkit for replacing the drive and for future use if you plan on taking it apart again.90 at Amazon Besides adding an SSD, the next best thing to do to give your old Mac Mini some additional legs for present-day computing is to add more RAM. Create a Time-Machine backup (As you plan on doing) The most you can install in the 2012 Mac Mini, 16GB of RAM is a great performance upgrade, and this kit from Crucial will slot right in.
#Install ssd in mac mini 2012 how to
Below are some tips from my experiences of replacing these drives: Mac Mini Late-2012 Dual Drive Installation Guide (MacMini6,1 / MacMini6,2) How to Clone Data From Your Old Hard Drive to New 2. OWC 1.0TB Electra 6G SSD DIY Upgrade Bundle for 2011, 2012 Mac Mini, Includes Data Doubler, 5-Piece Installation Toolkit. You are perfectly sane for wanting to do this and it really isn't too daunting of a task.