These are the instructions I believe I used. If you could pull out the logic board a little but couldn't position the drive correctly, then you should probably follow the instructions in: It didn't seem like it was absolutely necessary but not having tried it without the tool, I don't know. I've used the tool when I've done work on both the 20 Mini. If you can't get it out that far, then either you really need the tool or something's obstructing the logic board. So in the instructions in post #4, in step 16, how far were you able to pull out the logic board? In the picture, it looks like less an an inch or so. I guess it works a lot of the time - I haven't tried it. The instructions in post #4 is an easier way to replace the drive than basically taking the whole computer apart.
Select the hard disk icon and follow all the steps to install macOS.Īfter a some time macOS should be installed.In looking at the instructions in the link in post #4, I noticed that it wasn't the instructions I used maybe 3-4 years ago.
Select the new hard disk and Format it as Mac OS Extended. After a while the macOS Utilities should pop up.įirst select Disk Utility to format the SSD drive. Insert the USB stick holding macOS Mojave and turn it on. Reassemble everything so you can proceed with the installation of the macOS. I have flipped the Mac mini so the gravity could help a bit.
There are 2 holes on the top where the screws on the side of the hard disk will hold it in place. Insert the SSD hard disk by carefully sliding it inside. Reattach the connector to the new hard disk and reapply the black tape to hold it in place. Remove the 2 screws on the side of the hard disk and screw them back to the new SSD hard drive. You won't need the plastic cover, but keep the black adhesive tape. Now carefully peal off the black tape that holds the SATA connector and remove it. Lift and slide the hard disk out of the computer. It is located under a plastic cover that you can be lifted up. This part is a bit tricky as you will need to remove the connector of the WiFi antenna.
Then remove 4 screws that hold the metallic mesh shield and tilt it up. Next remove the two screws that hold the black cover on the side and carefully slide it out. Now remove both screws of that hold the cooling fan. T6 and T8.įirst flip your Mac mini and twist the round black plastic cover counterclockwise to open it up. For the job you will need 2 Torx screwdrivers. Now we can proceed with the hard disk upgrade. Sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/MyVolume Then inside the Terminal execute this command (replacing the MyVolume with the name you have given to your USB stick during the format): Do not proceed with the installation, but first follow the instructions below to create a bootable image on a USB stick.įirst insert a USB stick (mine had a size of 32GB, but 8GB should be enough) and format (erase) it with Disk Utility as "Mac OS Extended".
The file size is 6,04 GB.Īfter the download is finished the file will be placed inside /Applications folder as Install macOS Mojave. You should see this pop-up that will let you download it. Then on the App Store page click the GET button. They can probably be still applied to future versions of OSX.įirst click on the "View in Mac App Store" link on the webpage so the App Store will be opened.
It turned out to be easier that I expected.īefore the hard disk upgrade you will need to create a bootable USB stick with macOS. I am running Mojave 10.14.6 on my Mac mini, so the instructions below are based on that version of macOS.Īt the time of writing this blog post macOS Mojave can still be downloaded in the Apple App Store.
I didn't look forward to this as almost the whole Mac mini had to be disassembled, but finally took the step to do this. Next step was to upgrade the hard drive to SSD. I took some pictures during this upgrade to share in this blog post.Ī while back I upgraded my system to 16GB, but was still experiencing hard disk reads and writes that slowed down the system. It was time to upgrade it with an SSD drive. My Mac Mini from late 2012 started to get slow due to constant reads and writes of the mechanical hard disk.