- #2014 mac mini hard drive replacement how to#
- #2014 mac mini hard drive replacement upgrade#
- #2014 mac mini hard drive replacement pro#
From my experience with the pre-2014 Mac minis, this would be a relatively painless process. So I bought a 480GB SSD, an external hard drive docking station, and a torx screwdriver set off Amazon. Life is too short for slow computers, as The Verge’s Nilay Patel put it back in April.
#2014 mac mini hard drive replacement upgrade#
As someone who’s been enjoying the speediness of flash storage on a workplace MacBook Air, I felt the upgrade on my home machine was long overdue.
I knew the RAM was soldered to the logic board on this particular model, leaving a SSD replacement as the only true option. It would stall, stop, and choke up on even the easiest of tasks.
#2014 mac mini hard drive replacement pro#
A Mac mini would let me keep my workflow, files, and apps intact from my dying MacBook Pro without having to spend upwards of $1,000.Ībout a year after purchase, the mini just wasn’t cutting it. I wanted a desktop computer, mostly because I could save some cash and felt I didn’t need a laptop if I would be using a work machine for 90 percent of my daily tasks. I should preface this by saying I bought the Mac mini fully knowing it was not a very powerful machine. Macs are notoriously hard to upgrade, and that's by design It was yet another much-needed reminder that Apple goes out of its way to make tinkering a herculean task. It involved painstakingly dismantling the entire machine piece by piece, using janky tools in place of the specialized ones I didn’t have.
And simply to reach one of maybe only two parts an average computer owner may ever want to upgrade on their own. But I was not at all prepared for the massive undertaking the late 2014-era Mac mini requires of users. This I know well from simple cases like RAM upgrades. Now, Macs are notoriously hard to upgrade, and that’s by design. Yet because the product is made by Apple, a seemingly simple procedure turns out to be a day-long adventure into the deepest, darkest parts of the DIY computer repair community. So I decided to replace its spinning hard disk drive with a solid state one. You see, it was slow and hampered by its components, and in desperate need of a speed boost. In the guide, you’ll find all the instructions, as well as links to buy the parts you need.Last weekend, I performed an invasive and meticulous operation on one of my more valuable gadgets: a late 2014 Mac mini. You can see the guide to replacing the SSD is right there. The one caveat to that is if your Mac is old enough to use standard 2.5″ or 3.5″ HDDs, you can buy them anywhere. While you can find hard drive replacement kits through online retailers just by searching, we recommend iFixit because they only stock parts from reputable suppliers so you know you’re not going to get ripped off. They have guides for every Mac model and sell all the parts you need. Rather than walk you through every possible hard drive replacement, if you’ve decided to go it alone, I’m going to hand you off to our friends at iFixit. RELATED: Should You Repair Your Own Phone or Laptop? If you’re not sure you have the technical chops to do it right, you should consider asking a more qualified friend to help, or even going to the professionals. The Mac Pro is designed to have its hard drive replaced easily, while an iMac requires you to remove the entire screen. While it is possible to replace the hard drive on any Mac not listed above, how difficult it is varies wildly with the model. This may change if a third-party manufacturer manages to create a compatible hard drive, but for the time being you’ll need to go to an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider if you need your hard drive replaced. MacBook Pro 15″ with Touch Bar (All Models).MacBook Pro 13″ with Touch Bar (All Models).This means that the Mac models you can’t upgrade the hard drive in are: MacBook Pro 15″ with Retina Display (Mid 2012-Mid 2015).
#2014 mac mini hard drive replacement how to#
RELATED: How to Wipe Your Mac and Reinstall macOS from Scratch What Macs Hard Drives Can You Upgrade? This will help you figure out if you can upgrade the hard drive in your Mac, and help you find the right parts. On the Overview tab you’ll see your Mac’s exact model. To find out what you have, click the Apple logo in the top left corner of the menu bar and select the “About This Mac” option. Just calling it a MacBook Pro isn’t enough for example, I’ve got MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015). Before doing anything you need to be sure exactly what model Mac you have.
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