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Hey there! Thank you for all the tips!

Right now my cloned copy is an external SSD. What Patrick had suggested is that I clone my boot drive to the external SSD, make it my boot drive, then wipe out my existing HD and then clone from the SSD back to the HD (that is if I am understanding him correctly). I still plan to install a larger internal SSD, and I guess the thought behind me doing it this way is to see if my current HD needs to be replaced as well because its failing?

Can I still follow your instructions above and boot from the external SSD to make sure it works? Then I would move on and clear out the old HD?

One question really. Why would you Clone back to your HD if you suspect it’s failing?
And you get no speed gain!

If you make your SSD the main drive, in your mini, your speed gain will be incredible. Boot speed while on the usb cable will be pathetic.

Your HD _will_ fail, just swap it out once you know your SSD boots.
Use it as a book rest, or to prop up your desk.



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One question really. Why would you Clone back to your HD if you suspect it’s failing?
And you get no speed gain!

If you make your SSD the main drive, in your mini, your speed gain will be incredible. Boot speed while on the usb cable will be pathetic.

Your HD _will_ fail, just swap it out once you know your SSD boots.
Use it as a book rest, or to prop up your desk.



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I was just following Patrick's instructions above...unless like I said I misunderstood. If I understand what you're saying, I didn't need to clone it onto an external SSD?

I still need to purchase an internal SSD, the one I did the clone on was an external.

Added note- so far the start up disk is not showing the external drive as a boot option, although the clone was successful.
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I was just following Patrick's instructions above...unless like I said I misunderstood. If I understand what you're saying, I didn't need to clone it onto an external SSD?

I still need to purchase an internal SSD, the one I did the clone on was an external.

Added note- so far the start up disk is not showing the external drive as a boot option, although the clone was successful.
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Ah, I see. I didn’t realise that you were actually using an external SSD.
In which case I can’t see the point of cloning to it. Unless you just want it as a backup against the day that the internal hdd fails. Which is fine. It’s a good way of keeping a backup. I do that, the cloning is scheduled to run once a week.

So no. You don’t need to clone it back to the internal hd. Waste of time.
So one day when you purchase your internal SSD, with the usb interface I recommended, just do the same process again with it, and then put it into your mini. Then use the old hdd for whatever you like.



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One question really. Why would you Clone back to your HD if you suspect it’s failing?
And you get no speed gain!

If you make your SSD the main drive, in your mini, your speed gain will be incredible. Boot speed while on the usb cable will be pathetic.

Your HD _will_ fail, just swap it out once you know your SSD boots.
Use it as a book rest, or to prop up your desk.



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Would it be better to have one internal 1TB SSD as the boot and another internal 1 TB SSD for everything else? Or does it not make a difference in speed if I used just one 2TB drive? If I am going up add a second drive I'm thinking I should be doing it all at once so I don't have to take it apart twice?


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One question really. Why would you Clone back to your HD if you suspect it’s failing?
And you get no speed gain!


I suggested that step previously for several reasons, some may not be needed:
- create a new directory of all data and the OS that often ends up being much faster that the original drive was.
- you can use the cloned drive as a backup obviously. A single backup is the minimum.
- CCC will often flag either file or directory errors or errors with either drive being used. ie: either one could be failing or failed for that matter so it can act as a warning flag.

It sounds like things are progressing well but we have various family members coming for lunch tp celebrate some of my children's recent birthdays and our Fathers Day celebration all in one. So computer time will have to be cancelled.

BTW: HAPPY FATHERS DAY to ALL fathers!!!


EDIT:
BTW: Using an external SSD ONLY for backups is overkill and a waste of resources IMHO, but I don't think that was anyone's intention unless I misread some comments.



- Patrick
======
 
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Would it be better to have one internal 1TB SSD as the boot and another internal 1 TB SSD for everything else? Or does it not make a difference in speed if I used just one 2TB drive? If I am going up add a second drive I'm thinking I should be doing it all at once so I don't have to take it apart twice?


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Just put 1x2TB SSD drive in it. Very fast. Plenty of room to grow.



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I suggested that step previously for several reasons, some may not be needed:
- create a new directory of all data and the OS that often ends up being much faster that the original drive was.
- you can use the cloned drive as a backup obviously. A single backup is the minimum.
- CCC will often flag either file or directory errors or errors with either drive being used. ie: either one could be failing or failed for that matter so it can act as a warning flag.

It sounds like things are progressing well but we have various family members coming for lunch tp celebrate some of my children's recent birthdays and our Fathers Day celebration all in one. So computer time will have to be cancelled.

BTW: HAPPY FATHERS DAY to ALL fathers!!!


EDIT:
BTW: Using an external SSD ONLY for backups is overkill and a waste of resources IMHO, but I don't think that was anyone's intention unless I misread some comments.



- Patrick
======

Happy Father's Day!

I just ordered my internal SSD, will be here Wednesday. I assume I will need to do the clone process again to that new drive? I didn't receive any errors or flags so does that mean my existing HD isn't going to be toast for awhile?
 
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One thing that is kind of baffling me is that I deleted ALL of my tv shows and movies off my HD (after I cloned it) to free up the space and even after emptying the trash it still isn't showing that space as cleared. I have restarted a few times.

Edited to add: CCC recognizes it as being cleared off, so I guess everything is okay.
 
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One thing that is kind of baffling me is that I deleted ALL of my tv shows and movies off my HD (after I cloned it) to free up the space and even after emptying the trash it still isn't showing that space as cleared. I have restarted a few times.

Edited to add: CCC recognizes it as being cleared off, so I guess everything is okay.

Mac OS has a rather strange method of showing free space. I wouldn’t worry about it for now.


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So today is the day! New internal SSD cloned yesterday and I am getting ready to shut down the mini and do the install. Have the OWC video loaded onto my MacBook and have prepared a clean wood desk to work on with wood floor to avoid generating any static. Will make sure I ground myself occasionally. I don't have any spray air at home to clean out the inside of the mini, is that something I should be concerned with doing since I am opening it up?

- - - Updated - - -

Mac OS has a rather strange method of showing free space. I wouldn’t worry about it for now.


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You were correct! About an hour later it cleared up. :)
 

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I don't have any spray air at home to clean out the inside of the mini, is that something I should be concerned with doing since I am opening it up?

It kind of depends on how much dirt/fuzz there is inside. To do the SSD install you're probably disassembling it enough to see/have access to most of the innards of the Mac-Mini...so you'll probably see if there are any major buildups of fuzz.

If you see something...and don't have canned air...just carefully blow into the cracks & crevices. A Mac-Mini is small enough to do this. If it were a large desktop tower computer...blowing on it would be harder & less effective...and having canned air more handy.

Good luck...please let us know how things go.:)

- Nick
 
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It kind of depends on how much dirt/fuzz there is inside. To do the SSD install you're probably disassembling it enough to see/have access to most of the innards of the Mac-Mini...so you'll probably see if there are any major buildups of fuzz.

If you see something...and don't have canned air...just carefully blow into the cracks & crevices. A Mac-Mini is small enough to do this. If it were a large desktop tower computer...blowing on it would be harder & less effective...and having canned air more handy.

Good luck...please let us know how things go.:)

- Nick

It went great! I can tell a difference in speed for sure. It's not as quick to start up as I thought it would be, but once it is going the everything is much faster. Can download large files, stream shows and surf the net with no issues.

Thank you again so much to everyone for your help!
 

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Awesome. Great to hear everything went well...and the Mini is faster!:)

- Nick
 
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