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admin
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 Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:03 pm Post subject: iFixit Posts Mac mini Teardown and Hard Drive Hack |
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iFixit Posts Mac mini Teardown and Hard Drive Hack
Friday, March 6, 2008
Posted by: Brian
iFixit has posted their teardown of the new Mac mini. It basically shows you how to open the Mac mini and what's on the inside. The teardown gets a little more interesting at the end though. iFixit also posted instructions on how to add a second internal hard drive to the new Mac mini. All you need to do is remove the SuperDrive, replace the original hard drive (if desired), rig up a couple of SATA cables for data and power, and reconnect the new hard drive in place of the SuperDrive. They even offer a 1TB kit for $250 that includes everything you need. All you need to do it BYOSIAS. Bring your own soldering iron and solder for the cables.
http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/1159.html |
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Micheal
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I would rather have the SuperDrive for now, but that's cool. |
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Yvan256
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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So... all that trouble to lose the SuperDrive and gain a few hundred GB?
I'd rather have a miniStack (or two... or three) under my Mac mini.
Especially a miniStack v3 connected via FW800 or even a SATA cable mod.
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Ben Tex
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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So this is why Apple changed the SuperDrive to SATA.  |
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WheelSpinners
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: | So... all that trouble to lose the SuperDrive and gain a few hundred GB?
I'd rather have a miniStack (or two... or three) under my Mac mini.
Especially a miniStack v3 connected via FW800 or even a SATA cable mod. |
The hack is cool, but I agree. I would rather have the MiniStack V3 going with FW800. In fact, I'm half way there. I'm trying to sell my Mac mini on craigslist and upgrade. |
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Aquafire
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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Re adding another internal drive.
My only concern would be the extra spike in heat build up...
And we all know how excessive heat reduces the life~span of things... 
Aqua
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g5g5
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Aquafire wrote: |
And we all know how excessive heat reduces the life~span of things...
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You could always leave the lid off. Those new orange antennas for AirPort and Bluetooth look kind of cool.
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1.25GHz Mac Mini / 1.8GHz iMac G5 / 2.0GHz C2D Mac mini (2009)
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ESUNintel
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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I'm used to living with out a disk drive, my MacBook Air and Vaio P don't have one, so I wouldn't mind removing the disk drive on the Mac Mini to add space if I really had to.
...but than again, in the world we live in we don't need HDD space either. It's all about the "cloud" now, and companies like HP and Microsoft (I know, we usually don't like Microsoft), offer solutions like the Windows Home Server.
Like I've said, I will open the Mini up, but it be to add a SSD, I rather have a little quicker of a drive than the space. |
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zen
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| Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:22 am Post subject: |
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| ESUNintel wrote: | I'm used to living with out a disk drive, my MacBook Air and Vaio P don't have one, so I wouldn't mind removing the disk drive on the Mac Mini to add space if I really had to.
...but than again, in the world we live in we don't need HDD space either. It's all about the "cloud" now, and companies like HP and Microsoft (I know, we usually don't like Microsoft), offer solutions like the Windows Home Server.
Like I've said, I will open the Mini up, but it be to add a SSD, I rather have a little quicker of a drive than the space. |
Even with how far the "cloud" has come its still pretty far away from having 1TB. Most cloud services offer less than 10GB so your logic doesn't help anyone that really does need 1TB. |
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devo
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| Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:20 am Post subject: |
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| Is it me or does the fan and/or housing look bigger in these new Mac minis? I need to find another picture and compare. I haven't had my CD Mac mini open in ages. |
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ESUNintel
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| Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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| zen wrote: | | ESUNintel wrote: | I'm used to living with out a disk drive, my MacBook Air and Vaio P don't have one, so I wouldn't mind removing the disk drive on the Mac Mini to add space if I really had to.
...but than again, in the world we live in we don't need HDD space either. It's all about the "cloud" now, and companies like HP and Microsoft (I know, we usually don't like Microsoft), offer solutions like the Windows Home Server.
Like I've said, I will open the Mini up, but it be to add a SSD, I rather have a little quicker of a drive than the space. |
Even with how far the "cloud" has come its still pretty far away from having 1TB. Most cloud services offer less than 10GB so your logic doesn't help anyone that really does need 1TB. |
That's why there's WHS, Drobo, and others, one can manage their own cloud service, and in the long-run might cost less than those companies that charge a service fee.
WHS/Drobo can pretty much house as many HDD's as one may need, Drobo is limited to 8TB right now (biggest HDD in the market is the WD 2TB, and WHS should be able to house at least 12TB (if you build your own and purchase a motherboard with 6 SATA connections, and 6 of those HDD drives). ..and if more space is needed, just purchase a SATA card, more HDD's and a bigger case.
...and you can connect as many computers as you might like to these devices, and access your data from anywhere in the world you might be. |
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idave
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Posts: 463
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| Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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I'm a little bummed about the CPU being soldered, but this is a sweet update. I'm buying one as soon Snow Leopard gets released.
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14" 1.25GHz G4 iBook (died)
1.42GHz Mac mini (almost dead)
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saul
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| Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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| I discovered that the new mini supports the Remote Install Mac OS X utility. That means if you do replace your SuperDrive you can still run AHT and re-install everything remotely. |
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99Cent
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| idave wrote: | | I'm a little bummed about the CPU being soldered, but this is a sweet update. I'm buying one as soon Snow Leopard gets released. |
I'm bummed out, but not waiting that long. My order just went in.  |
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Jack Sparrow
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Location: Bethlehem, PA
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| Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:38 pm Post subject: Older mini's? |
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I would think with so many older mini's out there that iFixit could come up with a kit for them and not limit just for the new ones. As long as we're going to have to solder and everything, why couldn't this be done? Is there some insurmountable technical issue? Hey, we got to the moon 40 years ago this coming July, right?
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Mac Mini C2D 4 Gigs, 500 Gig WD internal, Lacie 1TB external. iPod touch, iPhone 3GS, Newton 110. Two Mac Mini's - C2D 2 Gigs, 320 Gig WD internal. |
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