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Apple's Yosemite Ate my 2011 Mac Mini - What to do?

  • First, this is not a gigantic deal. I have all my data backed up via CrashPlan, I do most of my computing on a MBP Retina that's about 6 months old, and I've hardly used the Mini at all in that time.My question is what I can best do with the doorstop my Mac Mini now is. To get things out the way: - It's old so it isn't under warranty in any way (bought it in July of 2011). - I have enough disposable income that I am willing to take it in for service, or donate it (if it can be used in its broken state)/trash it and possibly replace it. - I have enough computing capital/resources/know-how that I'd be fine taking it apart for spare parts. - For the life of me, if I ever got a system disk, I have no wherewithal to find it now (disastrous breakup, move across country shortly after acquiring it), and I think I probably don't. I think I remember not getting a system disk and probably not making a recovery disk. Desires: - I think it would be cool to get the Mini back and even cooler to recover the Mini with data intact. It would be nice to have it back for two reasons:   1) I use it to stream household music to the Sonos.   2) I sometimes if rarely use it to run the server for Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. - I would be okay with throwing in the towel and cannibalizing its drive(s) and memory/CPU for spare parts. Not sure where I'd use its memory or CPU but if that's the most time/cost effective option, whatever. - I would be okay with taking it in for service. - I would be okay with buying spare parts to replace the likely dead hard drive and getting it back. - I would be okay if this required me to buy a new copy of OSX in order to reinstall the OS. - I would be okay donating the dead thing somewhere to someone who might be able to use it. - I would be okay waiting to determine whether this is a widespread problem and seeing if Apple will repair it free, but I wouldn't want to hold my breath on that one. Specs: - 2.0 GHz Quad Core Intel i7 CPU - 8 GB RAM (2 x 4 GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM) - 2 x 750 7200 RPM SATA drives Current situation: - Did have Mavericks, now in a loop state trying to install Yosemite but with an apparently irreparable disk failure (boots into the System utility - running the Disk Utility allows me to verify - I get an error that Repair needs to be run but the Repair Disk button is greyed out and no other instructions are apparent - have run all other relevant diagnostics and they look fine, including the 2nd disk) My questions and need for advice here mostly revolve around the culture of obtaining support for out of warranty and older Mac hardware and what my expectations should be/not be of Apple and/or other authorized repair houses. Questions: - Am I missing some obvious way to kick this Yosemite upgrade into gear? Some widely known thing that apparently I don't know? I have a Superdrive, so I can use a USB-stick or Optical drive using trick if there is any way to do this. - Does it seem like it would be worth it to pay the fee (telephone support is quoted at $19 for this machine's serial number) and take this to a local Apple store to try to get it to work? - Since I rarely use it, should I just see if I can get the drives to work and dump/donate the rest somewhere? - Should I just donate the whole broken thing somewhere? - Am I missing anything obvious that I should be thinking about? To be clear, I'm pretty geeky with PCs (In fact I'm paid to be a systems engineer with Windows operating systems) but switched to Apple products a few years ago for home. I'm used to this sort of upgrade-related Catch-22 for PCs but not so much for Apple products. I'd love some pointers on how to get past it or deal with it. And I'm not interested in philosophical discussion and answers like "Get a PC" or "Install UNIX" or what have you. As always, thanks in advance for any advice, opinions or ideas!

  • Answer:

    If you have another working Mac, you can install a new hard drive in the mini and thenhttp://lifehacker.com/how-to-burn-os-x-yosemite-to-a-usb-flash-drive-1647137212

kalessin at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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You may not even need a new disk -- it's possible that the error is in the filesystem structure (i.e., a data problem and not a hardware failure), and Disk Utility is refusing to let you repair it because it's the boot drive. Try booting from a USB installer as Oktober mentions and then just wipe the disk and start fresh to see if you still get the error.

McCoy Pauley

Note that I did the replace and rebuild just perfectly yesteday. No problems recognizing, partitioning or formatting the drives. OS X Yosemite is installed and happily thrumming away and my various fileshares are back to normal. Last thing left to do: Configure Crashplan on the newly rebuilt computer.

kalessin

Have you tried starting up in recovery mode? It also has an 'internet recovery' option, you don't need a 'system disk' any more. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

derbs

This will probably be my last update unless something truly momentous happens. I did a bit more research, etc., wrote an https://www.facebook.com/malcolm.gin/posts/10152828744579524 about it (explaining why I'm knuckling under and repairing the mini despite my strong feelings about it - mostly a long screed against all these incompatible and conflicting format/protocol/etc specifications that we are doing as we move forward in tech space), and then bit the bullet and ordered the following: - https://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/IF171-005 I already have the torxes somewhere but figured what the hell. You can also order without torx if you already have them. Primarily ordered for the U-shaped tool and the cable in case I bust up mine during the breakdown. To get to the second drive, you have to https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+Mac+Mini+Mid+2011+Dual+Hard+Drive+Kit/6634. - A http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ssd/series/MX100 256 GB 2.5" SSD drive This will be the new System drive. Before ordering, I checked physical dimensions and technical specs against drives listed as compatible by Apple and iFixit for my Mini model. Also note that at this time both the 256GB and the 512 GB drive seem to be in the sweet spot for GB per dollar spent. I figure since I plan to attach the 4 TB external drive to the rebuilt rig, I don't need to buy a larger system drive. - A http://storage.toshiba.com/storagesolutions/client/mq01abd-series Note again that I did some research to make the specs match those listed by Apple and iFixit as compatible. I went for a 3 GB/s rate instead of the newer drives specced at 6 GB/s (SATA III). I also made sure of physical dimensions and after a little research also figured I didn't need to spend the money on the supposedly quicker SSD hybrid/spinny drives. I chose Toshiba and Crucial because I've experienced a reasonably good track record with both brands. I also got a SquareTrade $5 2 year warranty on the Toshiba just to be safer about long-term viability. And I plan to continue my Crashplan subscription since I take this equipment failure as a reminder to keep up with the backups, goddamn it. Thanks again for everyone's help and advice!

kalessin

Another relevant update: (1) For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get the 4 TB External USB 3.0 HDD formatted within Ubuntu with a protocol that both Ubuntu and OS X Yosemite (let alone the FAT/journalling formats "supported" by my network hardware - more on that in (2) below). So in the end I am opting for formatting with a standard OS X Journalling FAT and keeping it OS X only for now. This allows me to boot with the Yosemite installing USB Key and use Disk Utility to format the drive and Terminal (and a bunch of cp commands) to copy the files that are recoverable from the semi-crashed drives in the Mini. For what it's worth, the installer boot OS is okay. The biggest problem I have with it is that even during an active long-term (a few hours) copying session, the OS and the drive go idle after 20 minutes or so of inactivity on the desktop. So I have to do short-run copies or keep getting up to wake the thing up during the big copies. Still, it works and I've verified several times that my newer Mac can read these files. FWIW2: I did try to install Yosemite on the Mini via this installer USB key that I made per the Lifehacker instructions. No dice. The boot drive of the Mini is well and truly borked and the data drive is just shortly behind it. (2) My genius plan to attach the 4 TB drive to the networking hardware (either a Netgear R7000 or Netgear WNDR4500) ran up against the wall that is that neither of these pieces of networking hardware can handle a large-size copy operation. In both cases, something about their connection to the 4 TB enclosure or within their own hardware make a large-size copy operation flood the interfaces and eventually caused both of them to lock up. So I'm going back to the drawing board there. I'm torn on whether I want to spend the $100 - $200 cheapie option to install new SATA drive(s) in the existing Mini or drop $500 or so on a new Mini (I hear the performance is grand). I will probably bias toward cheaping out though since as I already said, I don't really want/need another high performance rig.

kalessin

I know this flies in the face of everyone's good advice, but I think that at this point, since upgrading/replacing hardware in the Mac Mini means using more expensive 2.5" media (for which the ROI in sheer storage capacity is much lower than for 3.5" media) and if I throw the towel in with the Mini the only real-computer thing I lose is the possibility of using it as an Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator server or other gaming server, I am going to find a good home for this broken-ass MIni (I will use a LiveCD/LiveUSB to wipe disks before sending it on) and replace the lost storage with an external drive, either a 4 TB or 6 TB USB 3.0 hooked up to one of my ReadyShare-supporting Netgear devices, or possibly even a RAID 5 enclosure with USB 3.0. I know this sounds crazy, but if I get two drives and possibly OSX (I'm still giving Apple trouble over this to try to get a "real answer" even though I agree with and appreciate knowing tomierna's take that the Yosemite license doesn't phone home after you make it into a LiveUSB) to replace the failed and about to fail drives, that's about $150. And would give me back my 1.5TB +/- the OS. If instead I go non-raid external USB 3.0 enclosure for/of 3.5" drives like the WD MyBook attached to my Netgear network router-turned-WAP, I can get 4 TB for $150. And I even have network sharing hardware that's not in the Bedroom so I don't have to worry too much about quietness of fan or enclosure. If I upgraded the 2011 Mini to the max (Thanks Mac-Expert - 16 GB RAM and 2 1 TB SSD drives), it would cost (via, e.g. Crucial) $1100. If I just did the SSD drives, $940, if I did 1 TB SATA drives, more like $170-$200. I think for my purposes since I don't really use the Mini as a computer much at all and primarily rely on it for file storage, just leveraging my Netgear network hardware for that with an external drive is more cost-effective for me going forward, especially when paired with CrashPlan for backups. And I will recommend iFixit for the guides to whomever its new owner is (thanks to the rest of you). Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the useful advice and help troubleshooting and everything else. You've been great!

kalessin

Good post, glad I'm holding off on my Yosemite upgrade. Somebody pointed me to this article about keeping the disk structure clean when I got my mac mini not too long ago. http://www.macissues.com/2014/03/22/how-to-verify-and-repair-your-hard-disk-in-os-x/

JohnL4

Sounds like a failed hard drive. Not a big deal. You can do it http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/hard_drives_and_SSD have Apple do it or contact me. I just Maxed out my Mini by adding a 1Tb sdd drive to the existing 1Tb drive and upgraded the memory to 16GB :-)

Mac-Expert

Seconding iFixit, seconding spending what, $80 on a known-good drive? Swap it in and install Mavericks/Yosemite from a USB drive.

Wild_Eep

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