How to add a NVMe SSD to a 2014 Mac mini - Quick and Easy!

This video will show you how to install a NVMe SSD in your 2014 Mac mini (assuming it doesn't already have a Fusion Drive). It's very easy and relatively cheap to really improve the performance of your Mac mini over the stock SATA drive.
Here's the adapter you'll need
amzn.to/3VVL4Uz
Samsung NVMe drives
amzn.to/3j3C94M - 500GB
amzn.to/3Pt56TQ - 1TB
Here's the best (and cheapest) tool kit I use for all my mac/macbook upgrades
amzn.to/3VX5o81
How to enable TRIM after installing your SSD:
• How to enable TRIM on ...
Other parts and tools for upgrading MacBooks:
kit.co/familyg...
Don't forget about our FamilyGeekery Podcast, with new episodes every Tuesday!
familygeekery....
Find our other Social Media and other Links here:
linktr.ee/fami...
Support FamilyGeekery by Getting a Good Deal for Yourself!
Pretty Litter - Get a free bag of our favorite kitty litter - familygeekery....
StickerMule - Get $10 off your first order at StickerMule - familygeekery....
Amazon - Support our channel by using this link when you buy stuff at Amazon - familygeekery.c...
Thank you for any/all support!
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy something through our the above we may get a small share of the sale. Thank you for supporting the channel!

[@jjmag3107]

Great vid. I ordered the parts (I used a 1TB Crucial NVme) and installed them as the video instructs, on my Mac Mini 2014 (1.4 processor / 4Gig Ram) that was collecting dust. WOW … what a huge improvement. Super snappy. The boot time went from 2 minutes to under 30 seconds. I don’t expect it to crush Final Cut Pro video editing, but for my wife’s office style use, it’s now more than sufficient. We were considering a new M2 Mini to replace an old 2010 iMac, but this saved us a lot of $$$.

[@venomsnake6412]

Is it still usable with 4 gb ram?, i wanted to buy one...

[@zeiram-D]

@@venomsnake6412 8+ GB is minimum.

[@venomsnake6412]

@@zeiram-D i bought a 2011 mac mini and upgraded with 1tb ssd and 16 gb ram 1666 and it says 1867mhz. Intel hd 3000 passed from 387mb to 512 mb of vram. Do you think i could gain some performance upgrading to 1024 mb of vram through the terminal? I noticed that youtube takes some time to start videos... anyway thanks for your answer

[@udaproductions2]

Great video! I was about to take apart my Mac mini and replace my 1 TB HDD. I just purchased it as a backup and it's so slow but this will change everything! Now I'm glad I bought this model.

[@Cheeseandchili]

I have always dreaded upgrading my late 2014 Mac Mini, but with this option of using an nvme and the easy to understand and thorough description in the video - success. Thank you! Now my Mac Mini (1.4 cpu / 4gb ram / 512 hdd) got a new life so to say. I got a samsung 980 1tb nvme ssd for it - which is a completely new user experience compared with that slow original hdd. Great video, easy to understand 😊

[@DJDanceClassic]

Is it fast? Because my 8gb hdd mac mini is slow as hell

[@Cheeseandchili]

@@DJDanceClassic it is a lot faster than the hdd. Adding the ssd and then setting it up as the boot drive is the way to go. The hdd is ideal for data storage though, keeping the ssd clean from all the data clutter.

[@silviutanase6141]

Awesome guide ! Please post the link to the Boot USB.

[@TeslaRules1856]

FYI on speed tests. I replaced a failing original SATA HD with an SSD and I installed this NVMe SSD in my Mac Mini. The old HD has speeds just under 100 MB/s. SSD had disk speeds around 500MB/s (5X). The NVMe had disk speeds around 700MB/s (7X). So the NVMe is 40% faster. However, just for reference while this is really a huge improvement for the 2014 model - a new M2 Mac mini disk is going to get around 3000MB/s.

[@marcoripanti8763]

Hi, I have a late 2014 mac mini with a stock SSD installed, would putting an Nvme Mounted with the rack shown in this video improve the overall speed? ....Clearly reinstalling the system on the new drive

[@TeslaRules1856]

@@marcoripanti8763 Going from old HD to new SSD would have been about a 5X increase in disk speed. An NVME would be 1.4 times that speed. So yes a 40% increase but not a big a jump as the SSD was over the old HD. But not to expensive or hard to do this either. Maybe less than 100 bucks.

[@TeslaRules1856]

@@marcoripanti8763 Yes. You likely got a 5X disk increase in replacing the old HD with your SSD. Plus overall improvement in how the computer works. You would get another 1.4X increase over that SSD with a new NVMe added. So 7X times your old HD, but only 40% more than your current new SSD. About $100 dollars to do this. Up to you. I also like simply having 2- 1TB drives in my old mini. I like using the SSD for storage now.

[@sidshekar]

Ya exactly!! I had an old apple SSD from my 2015 macbook pro, and I upgraded the MBP to NVME SSD. So I thought on the mac mini I will get this adapter and install the apple ssd and increase the boot speed on it. Got very disappointed when I saw only 700 MB/s, when I was at least expecting double the speed at the minimum as that is what I was getting on the MBP 2015. The jump from HDD to SATA SSD is obviously good, but if you already replaced the HDD with SATA SSD then this upgrade is not worth it. Unless you really want a second drive.

[@DJDanceClassic]

Why are people paying $300+ for a 2018 model when the new m2 is only $700 ?

[@johnhubbard2565]

Thank you so much for sharing this information!! I was about to buy a 2.5 SSD when I came across this awesome video! I upgraded my 2014 Mac mini in about 10 minutes. Thank you for pointing out the tamper proof screws also! My eyes could not see the heads of the screws that good!! Cheers!

[@FamilyGeekery]

Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!

[@jonathanpearce3773]

Great video thanks - clear video and just the right level of detail on the instructions. Just bought the parts to give this a try. Thanks.

[@jonathanpearce3773]

I used a cheap adapter board from Amazon and it failed to recognise a Lenovo 128GB drive but a 256GB Samsung worked fine. Getting 1.3GBytes/s read and write, which makes the machine very useable. Thanks

[@soniclab-cnc]

I needed a Mac for work and my buddy gave me the same Mac mini. After gutting the old failed 1tb drive out and installing an ssd I see the unused port… then and only after it was all back together I see this video. Aha. That’s what the port is for. Lol. I immediately ordered the adaptor and a cheap nvme for it. Cheers.

[@JamesFiducia-z9c]

Great quality video. Straight forward and followed it ok. The only part I struggled with was making the boot disc, I just couldn’t get the code in terminal right. However, I found an app called Open core Legacy patcher and it too was really helpful. Love my little Mac mini but it was just on its way to landfill when I found your channel. Thanks again

[@tracyperry6231]

Just a hint.. took me a while to find it, but to install the latest OS available for your rig over the internet, simply hold Option Command R during bootup.

[@nguyener6615]

FYI, you should mention that you should update your mac mini to at least macOS 11 Big Sur so that it can apply the firmware update (or potentially make sure you are up to date on macOS 10). I was on macOS 10, installed the nvme adapter+nvme, then used opencore legacy patcher to install Sonoma. While it detected the nvme drive and could install the data to it, it would NOT show in the boot loader, and could not finish the install since it would not boot from the nvme. I had to install MacOS 11, then was able to install and boot from the nvme drive afterwards

[@InvokedAlbaz]

Thank you 🙏 🤝

[@songsan807]

Just discovered your video tonight while trying to upgrade my mac mini 2014. It was pretty quick while running 10.10 Yosemite. But can't surf the web or watch KZbin channels on that OS and the highest supposedly Mac OS is Monterey so I was able to install Monterey on it but there is a few second lag every time I click on something. Then I remembered it had a HDD. So just ordered the adapter from Amazon and will get it in 2 days. Can't wait to get it and have a faster Mac mini 2014.

[@manolisangelakis1173]

Dear @familygeekery , I have followed the instructions. I admit that at start I was very sceptical. I thought that the RAM was killer. My setup was a Mac mini with a mere 4G RAM. The result is WAY BETTER than what I wished for !!! Even with the small ram the computer has marginal latency. I am really really happy with the result. I used the same adapter and a ssd by crucial at speeds faster the the samsnung. Thanks a trillion.

[@keithmiller9665]

Excellent! Good tutorial. So much easier than having to take the entire mac to pieces. 10/10. Subscribed.🎉😊

[@samanthapennington4232]

I can't wait to make this upgrade. It looks so much easier than pulling out the HDD and putting in an SSD. I have purchased a 1TB drive and the adapter for less than $100 AUD on sale on eBay.

[@samanthapennington4232]

I did it. It works really well Thank you. No more spinning beach ball. I went for a 1TB drive as I got a code on eBay. I bought the adapter on eBay. I had to get the special screwdrivers from Amazon. I'm going to use it for sorting videos and photos. Cost around $100 AUD.

[@sfperalta]

On 2014 minis that already have a factory Apple "blade" installed, there's a plate that secures the ribbon cable to the motherboard plug for that drive, as well as a screw that secures the far end of the blade to the plastic housing for the upper drive. I guess if your mini didn't come with an existing solid state drive, then you're missing that hardware. Hopefully, the double-sided tape provided with the adapter is enough to keep the new M.2 in place.

[@mvickstrom]

Thank you! My 2014 Mac Mini is running like a top. Well done, much appreciated.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Awesome! Glad to help. Enjoy your newly revived Mac mini!

[@anthon4947]

Very cool and simple upgrade. However imagine the internal heat will make that adhesive wear out a lot faster

[@kirklaws-chapman7281]

Thanks for the clear, helpful instructions and observations. I've successfully completed and upgrade and now have a late 2014 Mac Mini with 8GB RAM, 1TB storage with the original HDD and 500GB 280 NVMe running the latest version of Monterey. Boot time is under 30s and performance is fine for general use. One observation I have from the process is that when making the bootable USB, I was unable to download the Monterey installer on my Mid-2014 MacBook Pro that runs Big Sur; thankfully I have a 2019 iMac running Monterey and that was fine. Thanks again!

[@FamilyGeekery]

Yes, Apple is making it hard for newer machines to download older versions of macOS. Luckily you had a backup plan, lol. Thanks for watching!

[@JamesFiducia-z9c]

I mentioned in my comment above but I was struggling as well and found open core legacy patcher and it did all the coding and software downloading for me

[@newyorkrican98]

Thank you sir 👍 for putting up this video. I was going to go the traditional route and put a regular ssd drive. But when I opened it up and saw what need to be done just to get to the drive I changed my mind 😂 😂. This was a very easy and nice upgrade.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Awesome! Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@Augustosquier]

That was great, I bought all the things needed to do exactly what you did and I’ve done it, step by step well explained, thank you so much 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 at the moment waiting to conclude the installation of Monterey on my new SSD 512GB.

[@LastCartoonHero]

I wanted to upgrade hdd to ssd on my 2014 Mac Mini for years now. I'm using it for movie projector. However I knew it would take me 3 hours of pain and sweat to dig through the entire machine to get to it and I did not want to bother - to much work, to many things that can go wrong. Might be easy for some, definitely not for me. More of a chore than pleasure. Plus Apple put the hdd on the far end on purpose and I did not want to subjected to it. Your tutorial gives me so much hope! I will open the back and if the connector is there - happy days! Thanks so much for this tutorial and an option I was not aware of before.

[@FamilyGeekery]

You’re welcome! Good luck. And thanks for watching!

[@LastCartoonHero]

@@FamilyGeekery Update: I quickly and successfully installed NVMe (Crucial P3 500gb) on my mid spec Mac Mini 2014 with Monterey (using your bootable USB video as a guide - thanks again) and it runs smooth. I'm very happy with the update.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Awesome! Glad you had success. Enjoy your new speedy machine!

[@FamilyGeekery]

Awesome! Glad it worked out for you!

[@Locky2701]

Hello I want to know how fast for read and write with that nvme,thanks

[@erngre1]

Just received a Mac mini in the mail yesterday a late 2014 paid 100 bucks for it on amazon and it looks brand new. Your video is the answer to making it better than just ok. Thanks substituted and 👍 good work on this vid

[@FamilyGeekery]

Thank you very much! Have fun with your new mini. And thanks for watching!

[@LabLover677]

Can you let me know what seller on Amazon you bought from? Thanks

[@FamilyGeekery]

There's a link in the description to the adapter. Let me know if you have any problems. And thanks for watching!

[@mrnarason]

Bought one from ebay, $70

[@colossus517]

Thanks for this excellent video. Now I enjoy using my Mac mini like when it was new! 👍

[@bingusbongus1656]

Was looking to see the upgradability of these as I'm buying one from my CompSci professor. Going to put either Kali Linux on it or Kali Purple for OffSec courses.

[@johngalea2285]

What speeds were you able to measure off the NVME drive using something like Amphorous disk benchmark?

[@elite-2691]

8325

[@TechnologyRescue]

With the OCLP and an upgrade to Ventura would be nice.

[@gjvdspam]

This is awesome! Such a good alternative to replacing the drive _and_ you can still use it. This is really easy to do, no specific drive needed, although I did also buy a Samsung drive, just to be on the safe side. Old hardware has new use now, so nice.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Glad it helped! Thanks for watching.

[@rockofgibraltar4771]

​@@FamilyGeekerydoes the adapter have to have an NVMe drive in it, or does it support m.2 SATA drives, too?

[@tompittman3683]

(assuming it doesn't already have a Fusion Drive). What does this mean? I have a 1 TB Fusion in my 2014 Mac Mini I figured I would use NVme for storage not the OS since its on fusion drive already

[@svhovater]

worked fine. thanks for the parts list!

[@FamilyGeekery]

Happy to help!

[@CB-ue3bz]

Brilliant instruction, my Mini has a new lease of life. Thank You!

[@FamilyGeekery]

You’re welcome! Enjoy your “new” mini! Thanks for watching.

[@woolybooly6859]

Super Helpful!! Thanks!! Just got the 2014 Mac mini myself...

[@FamilyGeekery]

Awesome. Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!

[@stan_i]

Followed the links, purchased on Amazon. It really works! Great video, thank you! 👍

[@corey7219]

I put in a western digital 256gb nvme ssd inside the mac mini. Can you install bootcamp on it? With the nvme adapter you provided?

[@michaelv912]

Where is the video link on how you made the boot drive? Thanks.

[@markcolvin8953]

Hi, Do you know if it's possible to add an SSD to Mini's that shipped with the fusion drive?

[@sherab108]

Excellent! I have this mini and you made this upgrade look very easy. I was wondering if I could "data-double my 2014 Mini like I did my old 2012. This looks like less of a tear-down nightmare than that was! Thank you!

[@FamilyGeekery]

Happy to help! Good luck with the upgrade!

[@eloreneloreneloreneloreneloren]

Thanks for the info about Macs and their processors. 2018 version costs 3x more than 2014 version, so I think that this is a good choice.

[@jadeverabrians2443]

Great video/tutorial, how about opening programmes stored on the HDD ? Do you have to transfer them to the SSD APPLICATIONS folder?

[@patgerding]

Did you every find the answer?

[@jadeverabrians2443]

@@patgerding Yes, the programmes need to be installed again on the newly installed ssd drive

[@ALFONSO88888]

Hello, I tried on my A1347 wth a NVME crucial p3 plus 1 tb and it did not recognize the NVME. Is there a list of compatible NVMEs ¿?

[@rbraithwaite1995]

Im so happy to hear about your plex server. because at the moment my plex sever is on my sata internal stock HDD. Are you running your plex server now on this new NVMe ssd? Do you store all your videos, movies, etc also on that same ssd or on other external drives connected to the mac mini? Just trying to learn your system so I can replicate it and have a smoother plex experience. Thank you.

[@Artur-sw8er]

I have the same adapter and I'm getting slower max os boot time than sata ssd

[@professorgamer2084]

Very Useful video, Thanks , Can I install sonoma on the SSD and keep the HDD that came with Mac Mini for storage??!!

[@katbone1369]

Did it become faster? I wonder will it be efficient on my late 2014 with 4gb ram?

[@samaramarzola]

Thanks for this, my Mac mini now much snappier 👍

[@sh.online.577]

Can we havw a peed test by blackmagic disk test sppeed please after the ssd

[@armyjoe_9842]

This was excellent. Can you also do this with an 2018 Mac Mini?

[@FamilyGeekery]

No, this is only for the 2014. Thanks for watching!

[@armyjoe_9842]

Thanks, I didn’t see the link for installing Monterey

[@robertyoung7238]

Hey, this video is great, and I’m currently working on mine. After installation, I clicked disk utility and my new drive did not show up. Used all the same parts you did, thought the install went pretty well. any suggestions? Thanks!

[@FamilyGeekery]

The first thing I always try is to disconnect the sata cable and reconnect it. (That’s why I always keep the screws off when testing first boot).

[@MikieLAX]

Do you have an install video for an ssd on my 2011 Mac Mini?

[@whatever-rv5em]

Good demonstration! I have the same machine (i5, 16g RAM, Sata SSD, ssd benchmark is around 400mb/s) and running Mojave, I'm not even confident running Catalina, I see you are running Monterey, I wonder if it lags before the new ssd upgrade? And does it run smoothly after? Thank you for the vid!

[@DJDanceClassic]

I have the same Mac and it is slow. Yesterday I did a recovery and wanted to install the “oldest” possible through the internet. That would be Yosemite, but it downloaded Big Sur. Why?

[@CB-ue3bz]

Where do I find the boot drive please, is there a link please ?

[@JoshuaJapitan]

I want to install windows 10/windows 11/tiny11 after this procedure, how do you install those OS?

[@eddymartin]

Thanks, I got a repairer to install ssd, easy as you said. I did the software bit, a bit harder for me but worked. Appreciate all your help from UK/Spain.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Great! Glad it worked for you! Thanks for watching!

[@albertmaglunob8865]

Thank you. this is really helpful. How big is the RAM?

[@FamilyGeekery]

If I remember, this was 8gb. Unfortunately you can’t upgrade it easily.

[@albertmaglunob8865]

@@FamilyGeekery Thanks forr the quick reply.. I will be buying a Mac Mini with Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and Intel Iris Graphics. I am planning to upgrade the SATA to 1TB. All videos that I saw used Samsung EVO 850. Unfortunately I can't find it in my country. I can only get 870 locally. I wonder if That would that be compatible? Cheers!

[@rhinoskin7550]

I di dthis with mine. I am happy to have more storage but did not notice much of a difference in performance.

[@leonardohernandez9568]

I have a question, I noticed the ssd nvme drive you used was a Samsung 970 evo, but can I also use the Samsung 970 Evo Plus version?

[@jonathanmellette8541]

I'm struggling. I bought the same adapter as you, and the drive shows up. I had to format (erase) as Extended Journal because the APFS or whatever it is was going to require a firmware update that I couldn't get. Anyway, the install goes, and then at one point it reboots, and it always boots to the HDD (which has Windows (Bootcamp)). I can't get it to resume the installation, nor can I get it to boot to the m.2 drive by default. Any tips from anyone?

[@luismanuelfragosoconceicao]

I suspect that somewhere on the motherboard of the mac mini M1 and M2, there are soldering points very close to the original SSDs, which can accept the connection of that board to NVMe SSDs. Why don't you investigate further? Here's a suggestion :)

[@jairomatos1856]

Esse SSD m2 nvme. Fica melhor que SSD sata ?

[@SNahar]

How it better than WD Sn570 ? Show us boot and browsing on new drive ?

[@ojsobawazeer]

can we install 1T and will it wor warm my mac mini i7 16gb

[@danielr.schafer9504]

Hey’ that looks easy! I have the same mini 2014’ and I need to make a boot disk, what app did you use? Could you post a link for the OS down load at the apple site! Thought you said you had a video on making a boot disk, I didn’t see it. Great video on the upgrade on the mini!

[@FamilyGeekery]

Here’s a video from about a year ago. I don’t remember which version of macOS it shows, but the steps should be similar today. Good luck! How to Install macOS from a thumb drive. (Create and use a bootable drive - easy!) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWGUl5-cpsuMl6s

[@GO2BONSAI]

Awesome video! Thanks for the tutorial! I have a question regarding the HDD and SSD both running Mac OS. Doesn't that cause any problem at startup or with updates?

[@FamilyGeekery]

On the drive that is being used as the boot drive will act as the operating system and get updates. I would normally just format the old drive once you save your data. Of course, you could dual boot the system, but that’s really only needed if you have different operating system needs. Thanks for watching!

[@markperez6195]

Greetings. Love your very informative videos. I just picked up a pristine condition early 2015 MacBook Pro (Intel Core i5 5th Gen processor / 2.90 GHz With 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. I want to upgrade the SSD but debating whether I should maybe give the SK hynix Gold P31 1TB PCIe NVMe Gen3 M.2 2280 Internal SSD a try instead of going with the Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State drive. I have heard good things about the SK hynix brand but really not sure if i should go with something other than Samsung. I have used Samsung SSD’s for all my Windows laptops and a 2010 Macbook unibody that I still have and have never experienced issues with any of my Samsung SSD’s. Any feedback will be appreciated.

[@imun1ty]

Your link to NVME is a different Samsung model is this one compatible or as good as the original EVO 960 you had in the video.

[@FamilyGeekery]

They are both compatible, I think I just linked the one that was the better deal at the time. Generally, the higher number is better with Samsungs, but the performance difference probably wouldn’t be a major difference in the MacBook pro’s.

[@imun1ty]

Is this compatible with trim in Monterey. I have been reading trim does not work correctly on Samsung drives using APFS in Monterey.

[@amerulhafidzu9881]

is it your mac mini still in good performance after one year?

[@ponenock802]

I Have a Mac mini Late 2014 which has i5 dual-core 2.6GHz and 8 Gigs of Ram with 500 gb NVMe SSD? Can This Config Run Old versions of Premier Pro Smoothly?

[@MrBitouille]

Thank, these devs were genuses! They anticipated the downsides of SATA before it even happens. That’s why maybe they built a hybrid system. It saves my time, going to find this nvme. I was ready to change the whole hdd in ssd.

[@wflister]

Thank you! Huge help!

[@victorfideliss]

Amazing video man! Thank you very much! I just don’t understand how did you reinstall the system at ssd drive after you’ve installed it… This is the only thing keeping me away from doing it. Do you have any advice? Thank you 😁🙌🏻

[@FamilyGeekery]

Thanks for the kind words! And thanks for watching. Try the following video, if this doesn’t help, let me know.

[@FamilyGeekery]

How to Install macOS from a thumb drive. (Create and use a bootable drive - easy!) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWGUl5-cpsuMl6s

[@em8969]

Can this be done to the LATE 2014 Mac mini? I’m hearing the sad is soldered on to the board😢 the one I have already has a 512gb ssd from factory

[@FamilyGeekery]

The MacBook mini in this video was a Late 2014 (they only made one model in 2014). But you’ll have to open you’re up and see if you have access to the sata port that I used for this one. It’s possible if you have an ssd already, they didn’t leave that port vacant. Good luck! And thanks for watching!

[@Roy2584]

what’s the max data transfer rate for that port on the Mac’s motherboard?

[@TeslaRules1856]

2 channel PCIe (not 4 channel in most PC's). However twice as fast as SATA,

[@Roy2584]

@Juvenile Delinquet so not that significantly faster than SATA II. Thanks!

[@Koplinjp]

The way this adapter works to put the screw on the nvme drive to keep it in place is not optimal, since if we need to change or remove the nvme drive we have to rip off the double sided “foam” tape.

[@indeurS]

hi sir can i install this SSD on my Mac mini 2014 - Samsung 980 PRO 1TB Up to 7,000 MB/s PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-V8P1T0) ???

[@williameverets2736]

Was the speed of the 500gb ssd? Is it still SATA speed 400 500 or 600 read & write speed

[@mikepxg6406]

These are not difficult to take apart. But this is a brilliant option. Great idea I did the same with an old 2012 intel i7 Mac Mini and a Data Doubler.

[@FamilyGeekery]

Not super difficult, but as soon as I found that adapter, I had no further reason to take it fully apart. This was so much easier. Thanks for watching.

[@mikepxg6406]

@@FamilyGeekery But having 2 SSD is better than 1 I could not resist changing that HDD.

[@agadanga1]

Ciao,ma il test per la velocita’?😅

[@henriquepatt]

Hi @Mike PXG, Did you use a NVME within Data Doubler on your Mini? Thanks!

[@crod6431]

Is it different for a Mac Mini with a Fusion Drive? My 2014 Mac Mini came with the Apple's Fusion Drive SATA to NVME connector but with no NVME SSD. Iy only has a Conventional SATA SSD with Monterey installed. I installed a NVME SSD to the top connector using a NVME Adapter. However, the NVME SSD is not visible in Disk Utility. It was visible when it was connected to an external USB NVME Drive. What could be the problem? Is it the NVME Adapter, NVME SSD not being compatible or something else?

[@buzby303]

What about the ram ?

[@henningjanson]

I just opened my Mac mini and there is an older SSD (Samsung S4LN058A01 8030) already installed where the upgrade you suggest should be put (unfortunately I have already bought a new SSD and adapter, so I hope there is a solution). The old SSD is removable (both the SSD card itself and the connector), but the slot for the SSD seems to be screwed to the bottom plate - in your video a screw hole for this slot is visible just above the glued on adapter at 10:55. Do you think I somehow can detach the slot, to make room for the glued on adapter + SSD? Thanks a lot.

[@FamilyGeekery]

You'll probably be able to just use a Sintech adapter. Check out the following video, and it will show you the premise behind it, and theres a link to where to buy one kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3-wm4qwl9qihZo

[@henningjanson]

@@FamilyGeekery It worked with the Sintech adapter you suggested. I put in a Samsung NMVe SSD 980 1TB and then installed Mac OS Big Sur from a USB drive without issues. The new system has a write speed of approx. 720 MB/s, and a read speed of approx. 610 MB/s, tested with the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test app.

[@nbot3000]

which speed on this NVME?

[@eajayy8969]

Anyone confirm that the silicon power A60 works? Installed the ssd with the adapter, and it wont appear in disk utility for some reason… Yea unfortunately the adapter does not work and my mac mini cant detect the silicon power ssd. Returning the adapter for the sintech one as it specifies it is for late 2014, and i have the i5 2.8ghz mac mini. Hopefully it works out.

[@Dragonfly1969]

Very informative. Do you mind running a blackmagic disc speed test on that late 2014 Mac mini. And by the way can I store a Mac OS Monterey on my G4Gb flashdrive for booting

[@LarsDennert]

I just happened to swap the platter drive for a cheap $25 400gb SATA nvm last night and it took the Mini from worthless to completely usable. I simply plugged the nvm into a USB with an adapter, "erased" to apfs, installed Monterey on the nvm which took 2 hours on usb2, rebooted and migrated the data from the platter and then swapped out the nvm into the box. Security torx 6 and 8 are needed. I managed with a 7 and 8. Booting off a usb flash drive won't be any better than the platter drive. Skip that idea.

[@13or]

Thanks a ton for such an informative video! You did a fantastic job. It spurred me to experiment with my 2014 Mac Mini. However, I'm uncertain whether it's possible on my device. Could you clarify if your alterations are applicable to this particular model: Model A1347 EMC 2840 Appreciate your response in advance! 🙏🙏🙏

[@FamilyGeekery]

I believe as long as your 2014 model has the single sata drive, it should be the same as mine. Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching!

[@13or]

Thanks a ton for your swift response!

[@Cahit-Karabulut]

Hello, there are 4 different macos operating systems on the loading screen, how did you do this. You wrote them all on a flash memory, thank you

[@FamilyGeekery]

Create a Bootable USB Drive with Multiple macOS Installers ! Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, etc. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g37UiWV_mr1-nqc

[@FamilyGeekery]

I show how in this video. Thanks for watching!

[@Cahit-Karabulut]

@@FamilyGeekery Thank you for your help I subscribed

[@tb522]

Cannot get the OS onto the usb drive Will not open the app store. Any suggestions?

[@tb522]

Actually got the new OS installed onto new drive and want to view my old files but its saying i dont have permissions to the mac drive anymore

[@leonardoprevelato]

How to buy the adapter?

[@stevencook6750]

When I run the Mac from its native drive is says there is an "incompatible drive" detected, so it doesn't show up in the startup disc preferences plane, only if I restart and hold down option key does it show up as a start up disc, form then it runs fine from the nvme, but I find it doesn't like sleeping from the nvme, I always find the computer has eventually crashed and have to restart, any solution?

[@ghost-user559]

Someone in the comments said there was a firmware update that came only with Big Sur to allow for booting from Nvme. So you have to install Big Sur for that update, then you can go straight to whatever you want afterwards.

[@wakinguptothetruth.2566]

Can't see the link, how to do a bootable usb drive for mac os?

[@FamilyGeekery]

Try this: How to Install macOS from a thumb drive. (Create and use a bootable drive - easy!) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWGUl5-cpsuMl6s

[@gulabimeenakari]

thanks, much informative 😊

[@davidcerveaux2331]

Thx

[@padawanmage71]

Hi, how do you create that multi-OS install disk?

[@FamilyGeekery]

Create a Bootable USB Drive with Multiple macOS Installers ! Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, etc. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g37UiWV_mr1-nqc

[@maurogreco001]

hello test r and w ssd pci

[@sh.online.577]

In video it was 970 and in the link is 980 which one is better and is the 980 100 percent compatible?. Thanks

[@FamilyGeekery]

Either one will work just fine. Sometimes I link to the better deal, but prices are always changing. Thanks for watching!

[@Skeyechi]

is there any reason not to restore the NVME from the HDD and then just reformat the HDD? I am planning on doing this upgrade, and I pretty much just want to move everything off the HDD and onto the SSD, and then use the HDD as a network time machine backup.

[@FamilyGeekery]

That’s totally reasonable. I’m usually setting up computers with fresh OS, but if you want to clone your old drive to save the time of setting everything back up, thats totally fine.

[@Skeyechi]

@@FamilyGeekery thanks! happy new year.

[@walter201175]

wonder if there is a 2TB option ?

[@libbyssubs6938]

What’s the difference from using one of these rather than removing the hdd and replacing it with ssd. Can I make the nvme the main one?

[@FamilyGeekery]

The main difference is basically I thought it was a little easier than getting to the 2.5” sata drive to replace it. And yes, you can make the NVMe drive the boot drive. Thanks for watching!

[@libbyssubs6938]

@@FamilyGeekery thanks!

[@kjiggity300]

Dude, thank you!

[@clintbarnett]

Got the disc made and the SSD installed. However, using a Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard and holding down the alt key it will not go into the boot menu on startup. Do you think I need a wired keyboard to make it work?

[@puravvaidya9670]

yes, you may.. the wireless mouse & keyboard may not get detected until the screens reach a certain point..

[@ghost-user559]

The only wireless ones that get detected easily before you are booted in are the apple Magic Mouse and Keyboard