Installazione del disco rigido nel Mac mini versione metà 2011

+1: Don't remove the motherboard, and don't buy the tool to do it. When it's time to slide out the logic board, just push gently on the inside of the metal air guide fins on the intake. This will "eject the motherboard out the necessary 1/2 inch. Be mindful of the length of wires going from under the RAM out to the front of the case, as you don't want to pull hard or disconnect these..

I decided that there was a greater risk of breaking something by not removing the logic board than by removing it. The old hard drive comes out easily enough, but the new one would just not quite go in for me. Lining the screws on the outside of the new hard drive with the rubber grommets is so much easier with the logic board out. I used masking tape with pencil marks on the case and on the drive in order to line up the screws and the grommets with the case right side up. IMHO, by the time the antenna is off, removing the logic board is relatively easy.

Yes, this step is enough to remove the hard disk. No need to open the chassis.

mic is not working for me

what i do for this problem

https://uniqsofts.com/blogs/vidmate-for-...

Stop at this step and gently pull off the drive.

To align the new drive’s screws turn the Mac Mini in the air and just let the new drive lay on the case while pushing it to make the screws align with the holes.

Yes, if you have come this far just pull the drive out because removing the bluetooth connector and the motherboard is troublesome.

If you just pull the drive out at this point the only difficulty is when you try to put it back in because gravity is working against you: the drive has to hang in its slots about 1 cm above the top casing, which is on your table. The trick is to flip the mini up onto its front edge and after a couple of tries the buttons on the HD will engage their sockets.

If your mini has 2 drives installed, you will not be able to slide the top drive out as it won’t clear the RAM slot due to the other drive underneath. You will need to scootch the logic board out a bit to get the drive out, and then back in. If only Apple had made these things .25” longer it would have been so much easier.

Can someone write the better version of step 12? I already see that steps 10-11 and 13-16 aren’t necessary as long as step 12 is done differently…Thank you!

+1 on not removing the motherboard. I used a playing card as a ramp for the new drive, resting one short end of the card on the rim that the drive eventually will rest on and "just" pushed the drive in its place(took a few tries to get the card in the right place at first). I also didnt completely remove either the fan or the antenna plate. I just moved them to the side and taped them in place with masking tape

As has already been mentioned several times by other people, do not remove the logic board if you are just going to replace the most accessible drive, the one I call the top drive but Apple calls the lower drive. If you are about to replace the drive below it, the one closest to the metal top case, then you will have to remove the logic board. Some genius designed the Mac mini this way. ;)

The more accessible drive can be hard to position because there is more space available than one might imagine, particularly since many of the newer drives are thinner than the original ones installed there. Use a long, thin tool like a spudger or a wooden or plastic ruler and lift the end of the drive up so that the metal pins get correctly positioned in the rubber grommets.

In the German translation it says "den den", it should be only "den". I've also skipped the additional step and carefully lifted the HDD and pulled it over the logic board. All the best and thanks, Kajetan

You can skip this step with no problems.

Agree with all the previous: this step is not necessary to remove the second drive (the one closer to the bottom of the case. The connector is VERY delicate.

This was my first time taking apart my Mac mini. I wanted to upgrade my hard drive and RAM. However, when I came to this step I pulled the motherboard out a little bit to hard (after tugging on it gently a few times, but it wasn't coming out) and the wires came out. So I was wondering is this fixable? Thank you.

I managed to lift the IR connector and the base it connects to... I tried to put it back without breaking the pins but failed. Fortunately, the IR sensor is the least useful part of this device for me, so no loss.

I tried to reconnect this IR plug, but managed to crush all the pins on the logic board. I was gentle the entire time, but I simply could not see how the two fit together, and I still don't. I broke off all the dangling pins and removed them and will now leave the IR connector dangle. These instructions should provide a better visualization for this step. And by the way, I had to remove this connector because I was replacing both drives of a Fusion logical volume.

After fiddling with a spudger and then two spudgers and not being happy at all with the direction of the forces I feel that the only safe way to do this, in my opinion, is to slide something under the wires of the IR connector (I used a narrow cable tie, but maybe a suitably bent paper clip would do it too). Make sure this is sitting as close to the connector as possible and then pull directly upwards (away from the board). The idea being to exert a force equally on all the wires at right angles to the board.

straightened a paperclip, slid it under the wires, lifted, popped right out

I accedentally broke the IR connector. How can I fix it?

&&^& you ifixit, because of you I damaged that connector, I should have skip it

Really &&^& you

if the logic board is sticky to remove, you will pull too far and too quickly and the wires will pull out of the connector. Too late for me…but IMHO it makes a lot more sense to follow the directions and at least try to remove the connector as instructed.

FINE UNTIL STEP 9 - then SKIP STEP 10 AND 13 and 14, 15 AND 16 - NOT NESSESSARY!!!!!!!!!!

Confirmed here, but I’ve broke my IR connector before it. The rule of thumb, read comments before doing steps from guide…

The IR cable has some slack on it. If you have slackened the fan cable in the same manner (see above) and are careful, you can pull the logic board a short distance without the tension snapping the cable, which will give you enough space to access the drive bay.

Yep; broke mine off too :P. Definitely read the comments. Gots to get under the wires and pull up from there.

Unfortunately you will need to do this if you have 2 drives installed in the Mini.

This step is not well explained. For some models of 2012 you need to disconnect this to be able to remove the motherboard and unscrew the hdd. However, this looks very fragile, and many people screw this sensor. If someone has been successful it would be nice if they can develop this. How to disconnect and how to re-connect it. thanks.

Note: On my model, this was not a "pull up" cable that needs a spudger, it was a regular "slide" in connector.

Screws were in different spots on my model

https://snaptubeforpc.com

It would help if you gave your model. Thanks.

I didn't have the opportunity to get the removal tool before starting my tear-down but when I got to the Removal Tool stage I used a pair of small allen keys, just big enough to fit through the holes in the logic board. You can feel them engage into the holes below the logic board. Easy, steady pressure on both does the job well. I think the main thing through the whole disassembly process is SLOW and Gentle.

January 11, 2015

If you are this far into a tear-down it's a good idea to pop the logic board and replace the battery - a 3Volt #2032. It's on the under side of the board below the antenna and HDD. May save having to come back this way again...

Steen Rancher January 12, 2015

This step may require more force than expected. I was very careful and pulled the remove tool out too early. You have to put a bit of will into it and push it at least 0.5cm (= 0.2 in), less won't do the trick.

If you have no such tool, just skip this step. You can pull HDD anyway.

For this, I discovered that no special tool was needed. I simply pushed the logic board towards the back of the case where the ports are, slid out easy peasy.

Also, be sure to withdraw the special tool (or any substitute) before prying out the logic board more than just a bit. In my case, the tool restricted the board's movement, and it took me a while to understand why I wasn't getting anywhere.

I used two 2.5 mm drill bits, turned upside down. They worked like a dream. It took me a little while to realize that they needed to be lifted slightly from the underlying case in order for the board to slide out.

I put two small screwdrivers in these holes and pulled and had my son push on the far side of the logic board. It took two of us to get it to move.

With a Mac Mini 2012 model, you DO NOT need the logic-board removal tool. I wish I had read these comments before I spent the ten dollars on the tool (I'm not criticizing ifixit here, but I wasted my money).

One can remove the hard drive without removing/moving the logic board. Once the hard drive cable is detached from the logic board, one can lift the side of the hard drive closest to the logic board just enough to clear the RAM bracket and then carefully slide it out. It may be easier to remove it with the logic board pulled out but in my opinion the logic board (and CPU) should be left alone unless it is absolutely necessary.

Just use two iFixit screwdrivers and pull

Except when you are adding another HDD.

In fact, not necessary, not at all! But I did it "strictly according to the instructions" at first and had some problems with the rubber sealing the power plug, which I hadn't seen when I slid the I/O board back into the aluminum case and nobody in the instructions mentions that the best way to do this is to use the spudger to press in the mounting clamps (right and left): then it's easy! But with me the insulating rubber of the 220V unit (female) got stuck between the aluminum housing and the I/O unit. It wasn't until I had already installed the antenna that I noticed that a tip of this rubber was sticking out of the housing and that the I/O unit was therefore not flush with the housing. So: disassemble everything again, antenna connector, mainboard connector, etc. Luckily I was able to fix it. After that I was smarter and asked myself why I had made all this effort and not just removed the old hard drive. Conclusion: afterwards you are always smarter and: read the comments!

You can pull the HDD out without sliding the board at steps 15 and 16. Quite tricky, but you can.

I had the same problem as Roman, I just figured I would add that those "two screws" are T8 screws and that there is a cable on the right side which you should be careful about while removing and reinserting the said screws.

In my model, this didn't just slide out. It was attached to a caddy that required removal of the power supply (see other guides for how to do this) which was a nightmare to get back in the same spot.

I just did this upgrade and my HDD was secured with screws on both sides of the caddy. I actually think the caddy is really only designed to hold a single drive, kind of in the middle position, i.e., it's not the upper, or 2nd drive, position. In any case, this requires removal of the logic board, power supply, and caddy, entirely, in order to remove the existing drive. Tedious, but I didn't have any problems on reassembly.

I could not remove my hard drive for anything. That's because these late 2012 Mac mini directions do not cover all late 2012 Mac minis. Please see this YouTube video if you have trouble removing your hard drive with these directions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP... There is a longer process you've got to go through. It can be done, it just takes much longer. (3-4 hours for me)

I replaced my HDD with an SSD; the SSD is thinner, so lining up the two screws at the back was tough. In the end I found some foam and cut it in to two lengths for the SSD to sit on; I used double sided tape to stick it down. After this I was able to glide the SSD into position and because it is foam it has a little bit of play that helps with reassembly. I wish I could use a material better than foam because I guess that can cause static. Fingers crossed :)

Because an ssd is thinner, I put the flat end of a spudger in between the ssd and the logicboard to prop it up and let the 2 bottom screws of the antenna plates ‘grip’ the holes on the ssd so everything is nice and secure.

As noted by sandyfacebook above, the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmuQIZP... is brilliant, and shows exactly what to do to get that second drive out. It’s impossible to do it otherwise.

I had to completely remove the I/O board out of the case after I disconnected it from the power supply. Then I could unscrew the screws holding the hard drive in place. I dont know how anyone can get the hard drive out without doing this. I have a 2012 mac mini so there is this whole step missing in these instructions. I dont have any pictures yet. If you look at the instructions for Installing Mac Mini Late 2012 Dual Hard Drive Kit on step 16 & 17, you can see how to completely remove the I/O board, then you can look inside the case and see the hard drive screws that need to be removed so you can get the hard drive out

The hard drive on mine was physically screwed into the drive carrier -- I could not just pull the drive up and out

Instead I had to remove the logic board fully -- which involved disconnecting the power cable to it and pulling it out.

Once the logic board was out, I removed the power supply -- which involves turning the power connector (the connector that the line cord to a wall socket connects) 90 degrees -- the power connector is keyed so that it unlocks the power supply when rotated

Once you rotate the plug, it just comes straight out

Now you can remove the entire drive carrier assembly. Once out remove the four screws holding the drive in and remove the drive. You then can transfer the drive cable to your new drive and reassemble. It's actually fairly straight forward

This is the main problem with the design of this model I think. If Apple had only used a square lid with rounded edges and made of the same metal as the rest of the case, and just a tiny little bit bigger than the logic board, then everything would have been user-replaceable, including the drives and the logic board. But alas... Someone decided against it.