[Dorian Gray]

I recently bought a Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200 rpm / 750 GB hard drive, intending to install it in a FireWire 800 enclosure and put my main Aperture library on it. (I wanted a Hitachi Travelstar 7K750 instead, but I couldn't find one under 130 euros.)

My computer is a 2011 Mac mini with the standard 5400 rpm / 500 GB drive.

A thought occurred: why not put the Scorpio Black in the Mac mini instead? Well, that has a difficulty level of Moderate on iFixit. I'd need to buy some tools, too.

In addition, I keep thinking I'll get an SSD soon. But I've thought that for about three years, and every time I buy a new drive I go for a disk again. My storage needs seem to increase faster than SSDs fall in price, and SSDs still have too many glitches for my liking (especially at their price!).

Has anyone here tried replacing the drive in a 2011 Mac mini? How hard is it, really?

Any other thoughts welcome. I don't really want to perform surgery on my Mac now, and then again in six months if I end up getting an SSD.

[pscates2.0]

Looking at the iFixit link...FWIW, I'd be okay attempting that (and I'm nowhere near a hardcore techie (I, too, would have to snag a few of those specialty tools...I have none of the Torx stuff). But it seems pretty straightforward from all I can see. Maybe tedious and aggravating in a few places (disconnecting some of those tiny cables, etc.), but still doable by a careful, patient person.

There are some YouTube videos of people doing this, and, along with iFixit's written instructions/photos, maybe this could give you a good idea of how it might be?

But you're right...you probably don't want to do it twice in a short period of time. It doesn't look particularly fun, after all.

For now, maybe the smart, safe thing would be to stick with your original plan (the new 750GB drive in the FireWire 800 enclosure).

Could you consider a combination type of scenario, where you just put in a smaller, more affordable SSD (128GB or so) into the mini for the OS and apps, and then have your data and files on the larger FireWire 800 drive? Don't some people do this? I know some people are doing this...an SSD boot drive and then a large traditional drive for all their videos, music, photos, etc.?

You'd still have to do surgery on the mini to get this, but it could be a one-time thing with a smaller, more affordable SSD instead of waiting for prices on 512GB+ versions to become reasonable (which probably won't be anytime too soon).

[Dorian Gray]

Good thinking on the videos. I watched OWC's version. That soothing voice makes it sound easy enough.

I think I could manage that. A basic toolkit costs about 10–15 euros.

I might eventually try the SSD boot drive with an external data drive, but a 240 GB Intel 520 SSD is over 300 euros; my new 750 GB Scorpio Black was 90 euros, for comparison. I couldn't get away with a 128 GB boot drive unless I had the data disk permanently connected and spinning, since I have a fairly hefty iTunes library and a collection of about 10,000 PDF files that I need frequent access to (among other things).

My current Aperture library is over 200 GB. It grows quickly but I frequently chop bits of it off for archiving. I don't need access to my library at all times (just several times a week), so I wouldn't mind it residing on an external drive, as long as that drive was quick and easy to connect (hence the self-powered FireWire 800 enclosure: small, tidy, just one cable to worry about).

I think I'll opt for the safe route now, and revisit the situation in a few months.