iFixit Intros Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit

[admin]

iFixit Intros Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit
Friday, August 12, 2011
Posted by: Staff

iFixit has announced the release of their Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit for the new 2011 Mac mini. This kit allows users to install a second hard inside their Mac mini. It includes a proprietary SATA hard drive cable, shock-absorbing mounting grommets, mounting screws, logic board removal tool, spudger, and a 26-piece bit driver kit. iFixit also posted a handy online guide with pictures and instructions to help users out with installation. The Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit from iFixit is priced at $69.95.



http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/1690.html

[epic_ed]

Sweet, but could they just sell me the cable for like $19.95 and we call it a day?

[Texark]

It's nice to see someone get an upgrade kit out. It seems a little bit pricey at $70 though.

[mooblie]

I wonder if Apple will respond by limiting/restricting supplies of the proprietary SATA cable (which presumeably iFixit buy as an Apple spare part)? Or has iFixit sourced its own compatible cable??
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Martin at HeadSpin HD now on Blu-ray

[tom d]

Hey everyone, I have been reading the posts here and on Macrumors about the hard drive swap on the new mini. It seems that everyone is having an easy time doing it, I have a 2010 mini that I changed the drive twice and a few others that I did for neighbors and the only difference is the temperature cable on the hard drive and I find that the antenna screen is much, much harder to put back in on the 2011, it is a bear, at least mine was.

The new kit from macfixit will be correct, but there will be many more paper weights do to such a complete take down, in my opinion.

Has any one else had to struggle with the antenna?

tom d

[philiparcario]

I did 4 so far the metal grill is tough to line back up.

I found the wires in the hdd slot must be positioned correctly.

the hdd/ssd must have the two screws set in the side of the mini .

then grill attaches left and right then the two screws to the ssd/hdd.

the grill will bend a bit if you have not done the screws to the ssd/hdd
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2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

promise pegasus r6 3x 3tb + 3x 4tb =21tb hdds
lacie little big disk 2x 512gb ssds
synology 2tb disk station

[K.C.]

The price for the Apple cable has gone up to $39 and is out of stock.

http://www.macpartsonline.com/922-9560-bottom-hard-drive-flex-cable-mini-server-mid-2010-a1347.html

I guess it's like anything else, the price is whatever the market will pay.

Myself I'm happy with a nice external drive until the craze is over the reports of overheating have come in.

[tom d]

KC Not to be negative but why would the mini overheat? It is the same as the server, which has 2 hard drives and a single fan.

tom d

[ez061111]

[K.C.]

The server has a temp sensor on each drive. I don't believe one is included with the 2nd drive kit so it seems like it could cause it to over heat.

[ez061111]

Hmmm, I think the 2011 versions do not have the sensors.
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2.0 GHz i7 Mini 8 GB RAM, OWC Merc Extreme SSD & Samsung Spinpoint
2.6 GHz i7 Mini 16 GB RAM, Samsung 830 & Hitachi
15" 2.3 GHz i7 MBP 16 GB RAM, OWC Extreme Pro 6G SSD & WD Black

[tom d]

Yes, this is true that the 2011 does not have a temperature control wire on the second or first hard drive, where as the 2010 has a wire on the hard drive. I have the base on the 2011, and a non server model on the 2010.

However, not to make this a pi___ match, smc fan control works in both models. It has no cable in either model, just software, it is able to take advantage of the cable in the 2010 but not 2011. Apple must have software or something that makes their fan run faster in each model, or they would overheat, because there is no cable.

I mean no disrespect, just trying to figure out how it works.

tom d

[saul]

The 2011 mini queries the drive itself for temperature. I put a OWC SSD and it reports 128C. Asked OWC and they say don't worry as their drives don't report temps so data is false. The mini doesn't do anything with the fan so it must ignore the temp.

[ez061111]

[D-docs]

My mini overheated saturday night, fan shut down and internal temps reached over 100 degrees C. Then it wouldn't boot. It was two weeks old and had it replaced. Before it shutdown for the final time, I took screen shots.