So I "upgraded" my Mini hard drive

wingnut · March 9, 2005 10:41PM

I figured it might be worth reporting in case people are thinking about trying it. Today, I successfully replaced my 4200rpm 80gb drive with a Hitachi 7200rpm 40gb drive. While I know it's half the space, that's not much of an issue, as I've never filled a 40GB drive to this day. I was looking for speed, and I seem to have found it. Programs open very quickly, and boot times are a tiny bit faster. I suppose I can run xBench if people are curious, but I hear the HD part of the test isn't very reliable. I do have the old 80gb drive to compare it to, however.

The only installation snag I had was getting OSX to install to the disk. After booting to the OSX install DVD, I had to use Disk Utility to partition the drive. Once that was finished, installer would see the drive, but still wouldn't let me install to it (had a red exclaimation point on the disk). I found that I had to reboot to the installer DVD one more time after partitioning, after which OSX would then allow installation to the new drive. It was smooth sailing from there.

ibook911 · March 10, 2005 12:27AM

Wingnut - I've ran into that same issue, when installing OS X on a new disk. I guess that is how it goes.

Yes, I would like to see xbench scores with the 7200 RPM drive.

Congratulations on your very nice upgrade.

lundy · March 10, 2005 6:55AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wingnut

I figured it might be worth reporting in case people are thinking about trying it. Today, I successfully replaced my 4200rpm 80gb drive with a Hitachi 7200rpm 40gb drive.

Excellent. That's the way I would go too, as I never use anywhere near half of the GB that they give me.

If you'd like to briefly explain the steps to get the hard drive out, I can make it a sticky - I imagine there are going to be a lot of people wanting to do this.

-Johnny

mr_e · March 10, 2005 8:01AM

Did it for a friend's mini yesterday.

It's a pretty complete breakdown, you have to pull the cage off the mainboard, and remove the cooling fan to swap the drive.

It's more of a pain than I'd expected, but not as bad as upgrading a current powerbook.

I put in a 7200RPM Travelstar and a 512MB stick.

Makes a major difference in performance.

You can find the service manual online if you look around..

wingnut · March 10, 2005 8:29AM

Tool's needed: long small phillips screwdriver.

NOTE: Make sure you pay attention to how things are before you take it apart--this is how it needs to look when you are done putting it back together!

NOTE2: Be careful when handling a mobile hard disk. The metal enclosure is very thin on top and bottom. Excess pressure on top and bottom might damage the drive components!

Procedure:

-Open mini with "putty knife trick."

-Pull the RAM.

-Undo 3 screws on the drive assembly and then lift it up.

-Unplug the cables to the speaker and fan.

-Take out the 4 screws on the optical drive and push it AND the riser card back towards the duct exit until you unplug the hard disk. This will free the optical drive and riser card.

-Unscrew the fan and move it aside-3 screws.

-Unscrew the hard disk and replace-4 screws.

-Reattach the fan.

-Bring the optical drive/riser card back in. Make sure you line up the hard drive port when bringing it back in. Reattach the optical drive.

-Reattach the fan and speaker cables. Check at this time to make sure the cables are routed the same as before.

Drop the assembly back into the mini. Make sure you get the riser card back into the slot.

-Put your RAM back.

-Put the cover back on the mini.

Initializing and installing OSX:

-Start the OSX installer via the boot DVD.

-Go to the menu bar on top and run "Disk Utility"

-Erase and partition the newly installed drive as desired.

-Reboot the machine and enter OSX installer again. The Drive should now be ready to accept OSX.

-Install OSX as desired and enjoy your newfound speed!

wingnut · March 13, 2005 8:58PM

Sorry, I forgot about the xBench score differences.

4200RPM score

7200RPM score

As far as real world usage, boot times aren't that much improved, but everywhere else I see a big improvement. The Gimp loads 2x as fast, as does NeoOffice. All the other apps open almost immediately. The drive seems pretty quiet, though I do hear it working. It's not loud, but I know when it's busy.

the cool gut · March 16, 2005 12:39AM

So there are no heating issues then?

ebby · March 16, 2005 1:37AM

There is a really good movie at some site that shows exactly how to open a mini and take it all apart. It is 200MB, but easy to follow. I'll try to find that sight again.

EDIT: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/

wingnut · March 16, 2005 6:38AM

There doesn't appear to be any heating issues. I don't see how it could, since it's a notebook hard drive. They are designed to work in a cramped location that receives little ventilation (and can handle impact shock fairly well, too). I guess we'll see how long this drive holds up.

beigeuser · March 16, 2005 8:01PM

Quote:

Originally posted by lundy

Excellent. That's the way I would go too, as I never use anywhere near half of the GB that they give me.

-Johnny

From what I've read somewhere, hard drives slows down noticeably as the drive becomes full. So if you care about speed enough that you are willing to swap drives, might as well get an oversized drive to ensure that the speed will last.

Besides, aren't larger drives faster because of the higher data density?

hasapi · March 21, 2005 8:42PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wingnut

I figured it might be worth reporting in case people are thinking about trying it. Today, I successfully replaced my 4200rpm 80gb drive with a Hitachi 7200rpm 40gb drive.

I always find fast HD's make a huge "user" impression than the test results suggest - ill be recommending this little upgrade with an external case for the 80G - for storage.

wingnut · March 21, 2005 10:11PM

Yeah, and the 80gb drive can be placed in a mobile 2.5" USB2 enclosure. Those enclosures are nice because they get their power from the USB hub and will just plug and play on PCs running most windows versions (provided you format the drive as FAT32). It's nice to have a basically unlimited storage device to cart between home and work (or to anywhere else for that matter). The 400mbps transfer rate of USB2 is pretty speedy too!

exhibit_13 · March 25, 2005 10:58PM

its amazing how so many people think mac's aren't user-upgradable, and yet, as long as you're willing to do some grunt work, its really not bad at all. just 2 weeks ago or so, i took apart my G3 imac dv+ and installed a brand-spanking-new 80 gb western digital in place of my crappy 20 gb maxtor that came installed. whole process took less than 20 minutes, including taking off the bottom casing and the EMI cover and everything. anyways, my point is that as long as you know what you're doing, upgrading a mac is just as easy as upgrading a PC

wingnut · March 26, 2005 9:10AM

Yeah, I think it's more fun when it's not easy. Puts more adventure in it.

Actually, one of the easiest ways to upgrade an old computer is to put a new hard drive in it. If you have a 3-4 year old system, chances are the thing is running on a super slow 4200rpm, or maybe 5400rpm drive with 512kb of cache. Newer drives are bigger, faster, and quieter (well, most are), so it can really make the difference sometimes.

exhibit_13 · March 26, 2005 4:26PM

yeah, i think it had a 5400 rpm originally, though i'm no sure. the upped speed really helps copying speeds, like copying via firewire or simple disc drop. if anyone reading this is debating whether or not to upgrade an old hard drive, DO IT. its worth it, and its really easy.

scott_r · March 27, 2005 3:03AM

How hard is it to just replace the memory?

I've watched the movie, but the fellow removed EVERYTHING, before swapping the memory. Can the memory be swapped with removing all the other guts?

I just got a Mini today, and really like it. But want to up the memory to a gig. Think this guy it going to be perfect for my Mac needs.

wingnut · March 27, 2005 9:38AM

You don't need to do anything more than open the case. Once inside, you'll see the DIMM slot. Just pop out the old memory and put in the new. Close it back up and you're set!

exhibit_13 · April 1, 2005 10:17PM

keep in mind, i have an old-school imac, i had to take the computer half-apart, unlike a tower, where you can open the door, unscrew, unplug, install, rescrew and you're done. it actually took me longer to put my old hard drive in the G4 i've got at my house than it did to deal with the imac... mainly cuz i couldn't reach the screws in the back... really hard to access, which was a pain, but yeah. the right tools kinda help... o well, it works now

slughead · April 18, 2005 2:41PM

Seagate unveils 120GB notebook HDD

Storage specialist Seagate today introduced what it claims is the world's highest capacity hard drive for notebook computers - and its first Serial ATA unit for laptops.

Part of the company's Momentus line-up, the 2.5in, 120GB drive is nonetheless only set to spin at 5400rpm - it you want a faster unit, you'll need Seagate's 7200rpm, 100GB model. That said, the extra power consumption of the higher spin speed means it's largely a niche market, such as the blade server systems Seagate is also pitching the Momentus family at.

lundy · April 19, 2005 9:29AM

The topic is upgrading the mini's hard drive.

Off-topic trolling and Mac vs PC nonsense removed.

steve666 · April 24, 2005 10:22PM

so why did Apple put in such a slow hard drive? 4200 is quite slow isnt it?

So I "upgraded" my Mini hard drive

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