Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

Aye, as BQ said, wireless gubbins, its the future... everything else can be a port on the monitor.

Ha, I'm so 1990s.

Ok got Sierra and a load of other stuff on the SSD, not sure what needs to be there, at the moment it's got Applications, Library, System and Users on it.

Some online stuff I'm using as reference says you need to use carbon copy cloner, which I didn't...

Whats the best way to set it to boost from the SSD? Does it need trim switching on?

Having a few drinks. But... yes trim on but don't stress it. Set start up disc to ssd. Reinstall apps. Will talk ya trough it tomo.

Got it going! Photoshop loading up almost instantly! Cheers for your help mate. will investigate trim at some point.

No worries! Sounds like you've installed some Apps on the SSD too, nice work... iTunes goes from about a dozen bounces to two on an SSD, its the little things. Any more questions feel free to PM...

Yeh it's an amazing improvement! It's crashing after going to sleep though? Wondering if that's because it's connected via a SATA USB adapter thing, rather than a proper internal SATA cable. I've just set it to never sleep hoping that'll sort it for now. Not ideal though.

Think you need to turn off putting hard drives to sleep in the power settings.

Sounds like you are running the OS off a 'internal' SATA SSD, used externally, and plugged into Mac's USB port via a SATA-USB cable or enclosure?

If so, why don't you put the SSD in the Mac and move the now-secondary HDD to the external cable/enclosure?

Hold on, WUT!?

... yep, while you can boot off an external disc, it's something you'd usually do temporarily, e.g. for recovery, not long term, unless you had no option.

And even then it's susceptible to accidental unplugging, SATA-USB adaptors/enclosures aren't always that good at their job, and if either Mac or adaptor are limited to USB 2 rather than USB 3, you are really limiting the SSD performance.

I've been booting my work iMac from an SSD in a usb 3 enclosure for two years with no issues.
I'm beyond confused about what has been done with this mac mini though.

for now it's external, it's designed to be internal

Sounds like a plan, doesn't feel that safe having it attached by USB cable. Assuming the HDD is the same dimensions as the SSD and will fit in the case.

Is that using a SATA/USB case? I've probably made it sound more confusing than it is. I just want to use an SSD in conjunction with the original HDD.

Don't listen to @Well_is_it he is on some sort of drug, maybe a whole pint of drug. Get that SSD tucked away inside your Mac, it will be even faster too as the USB port limits bandwidth by approx 1/4 I think... it'll be a 2.5 inch drive and you can fit it inside... go go go...

Nice! will do

Yeah, ignore me. I only did it this way because changing the internal disk on an iMac is a massive pain in the balls. You want the drive where it should be.

Seconded. Also, if any of Mac USB port / USB cable / USB-SATA drive case are older USB 2, rather than USB 3, then your SSD's speed will be even more limited. Lots of cheap USB drive cases on the market are still USB 2. Macs had USB 3 from about 2011.

Ha yeah this one has USB 2.0 printed loud and proud all over it. Also I've actually got a 240 GB SSD kicking about. would I do better using that instead of the 2TB HDD?

http://www.thebookyard.com/product.php?manufacturers_id=15&products_id=10066&currency=GBP

I'm pretty sure if I had this part the SSD and HDD would sit in the mini pretty happily, I'm just being tight cos I don't wanna spend 33 quid on a tiny adaptor.

Nah, you don't need 2 x SSD, run apps and OS on an SSD, normal HDD's are fine for large file storage.

Cheers dude

Pfft. Whatever man.

Well, that's just like, your opinion mannnn