Mini Mac fusion drive as core

1

Hi guys been looking around for a second hand Mac mini to set up as my core machine, found one local to me for 200, euros, spec as follows:

i5, 8Gb RAM, 750GB Fusion drive, Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 512Mb. the fusion drive is made up of 250Gb SSD and 500GB HDD

I was thinking maybe I could split the fusion system and put the OS on the 250GB SSD or doesn’t it matter just leave it as it is?

would this be a worthwhile cheap solution??

thanks in advance

2

Which model is this (year)?

I always would avoid a mechanical drive, only use SSD.
8GB are OK.
I don’t know what You want to do except Roon, but You don’t need good graphic card for Roon.

3

I don’t believe it works that way; the OS handles where data are stored (Both SSD and HDD appear as a single drive in Finder.) Initially all data are stored on the SSD until space is limited. Then less frequently accessed data are moved to the HDD.

4

ok I guess that makes sense, I think it is possible (only from a quick look on internet) that one can split the fusion system so that its seen as two separate drives again, was thinking put OS on the SSD and use the HDD for files.

will only be using this for Roon

1 Like
5

Is this the 2014 with a PCI-Express SSD and an SATA slot? Put the OS on the PCI-Express, rip out the SATA HD (there’s a ton of tutorials on the internet) and put in an SATA SSD for storage. You’ll be SO much happier.

1 Like
6

Yes you can do this…hdd for music will be fine you don’t need ssd for that unless you are using Fanless case and want silence

7

You can, but it’s a seven year old+ HDD and it’s probably worth replacing considering the low cost of SSDs at this point.

8

actually older HDD’s seem to be much more lasting than later models

9

Why take the chance? And bonus, you get a much faster HDD and more storage. I do a lot of digital media migration and preservation at my job (academic archivist) and if we can move something to a more stable environment, we will. It’s also a used HDD so who knows what the story with it is.

10

Thanks for all the advice guys, much appreciated, just bought a mid 2011 mac mini, i5 with 480gb ssd drive. Mac os is freshly installed so i should have a clean fresh start. Its in the post already so maybe tomorrow or monday i can start sorting it out

2 Likes
11

How much RAM in that one? Luckily in the 2011 I believe you can upgrade both the RAM and the HDDs. You definitely want at least 8GB.

12

Yes its got 8gb

1 Like
13

I know, I’m a little bit paranoid, but I would recommend a clean install nevertheless. You never know…

EDIT: it’s really very simple to set up a mac

1 Like