Mac Mini 2011

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Good day,

I have recently bought a Mac Mini 2011 model for my living room and when I connected it and installed the latest OSX onto it I then decided to install iStat Pro for the Dashboard. Now on the box it said there was a 500gb HDD inside and when I looked at the iStat it showed up with 2 HDD's.
One showed a 120gb HDD
the other a 380gb HDD
Both together do equal 500GB but I was wondering if this was 2 hard drives or if they were partitioned and is this something apple does with mac mini's? I personally would have thought it would have been one hard drive of 500gb. Don't know if the owner before me partitioned it or again, if this is how apple distributes Mac Mini's.
It's definitely not a Mac mini server.
i5 2.3GHZ
8gb Ram
Intel 3000 HD graphics

Kind regards,

Robin
 
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L2012 Mini, i7 2.6Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD(fusion), BenQ 32" 2.5k QHD Display
Sounds like someone has split the drive into two partitions. I could be wrong. Let me ask though is it setup with a Fusion drive? Fusions drive being a SSD + regular HDD for better performance. But that said, what I understand from the fusion drives is that they should show up as one drive regardless. Now there is nothing wrong with have two drives if it is two drives. One can simply be assigned to the system and the larger one assigned to your /home folder. Also nothing wrong with partitioning a larger drive this way. Reason being is that it blocks any potential malware from effecting the system. But then again, when it comes to OSX or any *nix based system, this is really nothing to worry about with a desktop system. Though if it was a server with important data then that different. Also nothing different from a desktop and a server other then its intended purpose. Just FYI..
 
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SODworks
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Thanks for the FYI Exodist :)
It's definitely no SSD as the boot time is not as fast as my MBP with SSD. You're right about the Fusion drive, it would show up as one drive and I don't believe they make 500gb fusion drives. Because it is not a server, I can only assume that it is a 500gb HDD inside and that it had been partitioned by the previous owner. I only was curios to know as I have not owned a Mac Mini before and thought that maybe this was a standard by apple to partition HDD's on Mac Mini's. I also asked to know as I am thinking about installing 128GB SSD into it. Once you go SSD, it is really hard to live with a spinning drive again :( You just get so used to the speed I guess :(

Thanks for your help! It was much appreciated :)

regards,

Robin
 

bobtomay

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Open Disk Utility - found in Applications - Utilities and take a look at the drive...
 
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......... Once you go SSD, it is really hard to live with a spinning drive again :( You just get so used to the speed I guess :(

Thanks for your help! It was much appreciated :)

regards,

Robin

Yea I got a Samsung 830 series SSD in mine. I love it. But need more space, I got one of those add a 2nd drive kits on its way to me so I can add back my 1TB drive that came with my Mini.

Do check disk utility like bob mentioned. Don't know why I didn't mention it earlier. I am just not very good at tech support these days.. LOL.. But it would show the drive and any partitions under that drive.. :Confused:
 

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