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#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini install#
#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini pro#
#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini software#
#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini plus#

WD Elements 2Tb USB 3 HDD – owned already, but second hand normally about 40 Euro.

2 x 8Gb 1600MHz DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM – owned already, but normally about 70 Euro.

Ethernet cable – owned already, about 3 Euro.

2Tb Seagate 2.5″ 7mm Height* SATA HDD – new, 65 Euro from eBay.

512Gb Samsung 2.5″ 7mm Height* SATA SSD – second hand, 56 Euro from.

The 500Gb hard disk in it will be sold for 10 Euro, the 8Gb of RAM in it will be sold for 25 Euro, so 225 Euro for the Mac Mini Secondhand, some scratches on it, no original packaging and just a power cable with it.

Mac mini core i5 late 2012 – 260 Euro from eBay Kleinanzeigen, collected in Berlin.

Late 2012 Mac minis with core i7 processors go for over 300 Euro and that was more than I wanted to spend, so a core i5 2.5GHz is what it would have to be… So where do you find an appropriate Mac mini? In Germany on or eBay Kleinanzeigen (the latter is like Gumtree or CraigsList for the non Germans reading). (Tangent: a really budget alternative would be to go for a A1283 2009 Mac mini (the last of the generation with plastic on the top of the housing), use a patched version of macOS (see compatibility here), put 8Gb of RAM in it, and replace the DVD drive with a SSD in a caddy. Yes, 2014 Mac Minis have faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi, but that’s not what I am looking for.

Newer Mac minis (from 2014 onwards) have RAM soldered onto the logicboard, and space for only one hard disk. In comparison Mac minis from 2011 and earlier have only USB 2, and those from 2010 and earlier still have optical drives. These are the first Mac Minis to have USB 3, have no optical drive, have upgradeable RAM (2 slots for 1600MHz SO-DIMMs, so 2 x 8Gb max), and space for 2 2.5″ hard disks. That then leads me to the late 2012 A1347 Mac minis that exist in three versions – core i5 2.5GHz, core i7 2.3GHz and core i7 2.6GHz. What I do not need is especially fast wifi (this Mac Mini is going to be connected to my router with an ethernet cable) and I definitely do not need an optical drive.

#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini plus#

And if it could run the latest macOS that would be a plus too. USB 3 is always a good idea, as it makes attaching external hard disks much less onerous.

#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini install#

I need space for 2 hard disks as I will install a SSD drive for speed, and a regular hard disk for all the music and film files. The answer boils down to how you balance cost, speed and upgradeability. Small, low power, and some even were labelled Server. But Apple doesn’t build servers! I hear you say. The nature of the requirements above means this has to be an Apple server. Lastly the server will be used for Time Machine Backups of my partner’s MacBook Air, if we can get that to work. Last but not least the occasional websites I still build could do with a staging server, and the home server might be able to act as that. Beyond that I am looking to replace my ownCloud-based file sync system (that runs on server space I rent in the UK still) with an equivalent on the local server – and that is going to need some way to access the home server remotely. Music and films are going to need to be streamed to each of the MacBooks, and photo libraries loaded on each of the MacBooks. The server will first and foremost be a repository for four sorts of files: all our music, films and photos (the quantity of which is too large to store on either of our MacBooks), and common files for an art project we run together. We each have iPhones as well, but that’s not important for this story. Our WiFi Router is a tp-link Archer AC1750 that is connected by ethernet cable to the modem-router provided by our ISP. We play music wirelessly to an old 1st Generation Airport Express that is connected to the HiFi. All her other files and Time Machine Backups are on two 2Tb external HDDs connected as and when they are needed. My partner has a work computer that doesn’t come into any of this, and for personal use has a MacBook Air with a 256Gb SSD that she uses around the house – never at a fixed desk. All of this is backed up a second time to a Hitachi 3Tb external HDD that is connected once a month or so.

#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini pro#

My main work and personal computer is a 2017 MacBook Pro with a 512Gb SSD, and I usually use that at my desk where it connects to a 2Tb WD USB 3 external HDD that contains old files, and a 1Tb USB 2 external HDD for Time Machine Backups.

#Usb 3 upgrade for 2009 mac mini software#

Part 3 is dedicated to the software installations. Part 2 explains the hardware repairs and network setup. This blog post (part 1 of the series) explains the requirements and the purchase of the hardware. With time on my hands due to the Coronavirus lockdown it was time to finally get around to doing it. For some years I’ve been wondering whether to run a server at home.