Mac internal hard drive replacement
- Mac internal hard drive replacement install#
- Mac internal hard drive replacement upgrade#
- Mac internal hard drive replacement pro#
- Mac internal hard drive replacement mac#
MacBook/MacBook Pro: Internal + External SSD OptionsĪluminum-bodied MacBooks and MacBook Pros made in 2012 or earlier can be upgraded with 2.5″ internal SSDs, including the Samsung 850 EVO I carefully selected for my iMac. And if you prefer an external drive - and don’t mind cutting the performance benefits down somewhat - there are some good, though more expensive options below.
Mac internal hard drive replacement mac#
If you’re concerned about damaging your Mac during the replacement process, you can opt to have a tech-savvy friend or local Apple repair store handle the SSD replacement for you. My personal advice would be to consider an internal solution, if possible following a DIY hard drive replacement guide like the ones linked below. But if you buy an external SSD and connect it using something faster than USB 2 or FireWire 800 - say, a spare Thunderbolt or USB 3 port - you’ll see definite speed improvements for whatever files and apps you place on the SSD.
Mac internal hard drive replacement pro#
A new SSD inside an older iMac, MacBook, Mac mini, or Mac Pro will lead to much faster OS X performance, app loading, restarting, and file accessing. Internal or External?Īlthough performance will vary based on the specific Mac you’re upgrading with an SSD, Macs released over the past five years will likely see bigger gains if you replace their internal hard drives rather than adding SSDs as external drives.
It also has a five-year warranty and a longer expected lifespan than most hard drives if you’re willing to pay more, the 850 PRO version has a ten-year warranty that eclipses all but the most expensive enterprise-class desktop hard disks. The Samsung 850 EVO I installed in my iMac is 5 times faster than the 1TB hard disk it replaced and has no moving parts, so it’s tiny, silent and cooler-running. Today, excellent quality SSDs start at $60 (120GB), climbing to $120 (250GB), $231 (500GB) and $420 (1TB) - still not as cheap as traditional drives, but better. SSDs are faster, more reliable, and a lot more affordable.
Mac internal hard drive replacement upgrade#
It’s hard to believe, but back in 2008, Apple offered a 64GB solid state drive upgrade to the original MacBook Air for a whopping $1,300 premium over the laptop’s normal price. At that time, a consumer 1TB drive cost around $4,000, and Apple wasn’t even attempting to sell one.Ī lot has changed even over the past year.
Mac internal hard drive replacement install#
So below, I’ll show you some great SSD options that you can install yourself, ask a tech-savvy friend/repair shop to handle for you, or choose as external solutions. Similarly excited readers have pointed out that older MacBooks and certain other Macs are also easy to upgrade… but at least one Mac (surprise: the Mac mini) is not. Last week, buoyed by (finally!) reasonable SSD prices and a desire to try a DIY project, I walked through the steps to replace a prior-generation iMac’s hard drive with an SSD. Now I’m seeing five times the hard drive speeds, apps are loading instantly, and my iMac feels as responsive as the MacBooks and iPads that beat it to the SSD game. Even with 400GB of available space, OS X Yosemite’s constant hard drive accessing had brought my quad-core, 3.4GHz Core i7 machine to its knees. After installing a solid state drive (SSD) with no moving parts, the drone of my iMac’s hard drive and fans has given way to such an absence of sound that I only hear the high-pitched squeal of my office lights.
Crucial 16GB RAM kit ($90 at Amazon) The most you can install in the 2012 Mac Mini, 16GB of RAM is a great performance upgrade.My Mac is now silent. Replacing a mechanical hard drive with an SSD will transform the performance of the 2012 Mac Mini and your own experience with it.
So you just need a set of screwdrivers to. As you’ve a fusion drive your mini already has 2 drives in it (1TB spinning hard drive and 138GB SSD). Drives have progressed above the SATA3 specification these days so pretty much any drive is going to be fine. That’s a decent enough drive for a Mac mini. Upgrade beyond the factory 2.5-inch hard drive and install a hard drive up to 3.0TB, or for the ultimate performance upgrade, swap the main hard drive out wi. Vin - Reply The most difficult part of the process, as mentioned is fitting up the antenna platter again. This issue affects only late-2012 Mac minis that come with a mini-specific build of OS X 10.8.2.