[JohnR]

Hi guys, I've been running an external boot drive on my 2012 Mac mini for a while, the internal 120G SSD became too cramped.

So I'm now thinking that it's about time I put the external boot drive (500G SSD) into the mini. While I'm at it, I'm wondering if I should put my data drive (1 TB SSD) in there as well, using one of these:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/

Any success stories here? Or any other thoughts

[borism]

That's how my 2011 Mac mini came configured. Two internal drives, a 250G SSD for the OS and a 750G regular HD for storage. This has worked great, no complaints. However, I don't know how difficult it is to retrofit the mini with a second HD.

[bladesmith]

That sounds very interesting. I've gotta check that out.

[JohnR]

I'll let you know how it goes when I get it.

Still um-ing and ah-ing about putting the 1 TB in the computer, but I think it probably makes most sense.

[naggots]

I put an OWC 480gb SSD into my 2011 mini and use a 2TB OWC FireWire ministack for storage. In Oz I noticed the heat build up in the Mini is drastically reduced now over the old 500gb drive with everything on it, plus it's so much faster.

[AllynW]

I changed out the stock mechanical 500gb hard drive in my late 2112 MM with a single 1Tb SSD.  I had been using a Western Digital My Book II external enclosure with two mechanical 1 Tb hard drives. The WD was configured for RAID 1, so backups were not a major issue. Moving all the music to the new internal SSD provided no real sonic improvement but iTunes file/menu access and computer performance is pretty darn snappy. 

[JohnR]

Erm, quite some time later, I can report the kit from OWC works well. Everything seems to work still and only two screws left after reassembly...   

I think (*) it's because OWC supply grommets to use when mounting the "upper" new second drive, and those stop the drive carrier from going quite all the way back in to where it was. Ironically, the two screws left out are the ones that hold the "lower" (original) drive in place... still, these are SSDs so I don't think vibration is a concern at all.

(*) I wasn't about to repeat the whole process to test this theory...

Anyway, so 1.5 TB in my mini now. These days, of course, if starting from scratch, you could just buy a 2 TB SSD and replace the original drive...

The kit was complete and the instructions very good. It's a bit delicate because of the tiny connectors. Proceed with care and everything is fine tho.