Upgrading/Replacing the Hard Drive in a 2011 Mac mini

How to upgrade/replace the hard drive in a 2011 Mac mini

Compatible Hard Drives:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/SATA

Toolkit Used:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/TOOLKIT11/

Special Note: When detaching the IR cable (2:30) please take care to lift up only on the IR cable connector and not on the socket itself. LIfting up on the socket can cause irreparable damage to your logic board.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• mini
• 2011
• hard drive
• drive
• hdd
• ssd
• upgrade
• replace
• Mac
• Apple
• Macintosh
• OS X
• OSX
• macsales
• owc
• computer

[cweiss4619]

Lots of great vids on replacing the drive, they all end with "And turn it on" - turns out it doesn't magically work after that. Nobody goes into detail on how to install/re-install the OS.

[OWCmacsales]

@cweiss4619

Actually, in all our videos we *do* point out that your system and data needs to be transferred from the old drive, either through cloning or Installation/Migration - whichever is more appropriate for the model in question, and give a link for more instructions. This is usually done in one of the animated sequences on each end of the video. In this case, this information is given at 7:25.

[omaraty008]

What is the music used in this video that starts at 0:43 ? I LOVE IT!

[OWCmacsales]

@omaraty008 The music used in our installation videos was created in-house. Glad you enjoy it.

[djkaneck1]

how to replace the dvd drive? my 2011 mac mini won't accept or eject dvd's.

[OWCmacsales]

@djkaneck1 The 2011 Mac mini doesn't have an optical drive.

[yourpsychedelic]

Thanks, great tutorial, seems just as easy as with any "DIY PC".

[Applepwned1]

69 :)

[omaraty008]

@OWCmacsales wow! i really really like it, great job on that. by any chance, can i get my hands on that track?

[djkaneck1]

@djkaneck1 I said that not knowing there was a new model that came in July 2011. I bought my mini in May 2011. Now that I see that latest model has no optical drive I may just buy that one with a LaCie external dvd or blu ray drive.