Mac Mini 2014 new SSD PCIE AHCI + Adapter

Apple did their own thing with the physical interface of the blade SSD's they are using. While Samsung is one of the OEM's of the SSD it is NOT an industry M.2 blade that Samsung sells over the counter (Samsung's EVO drives).

So... you're stuck! You'll need to get either a real Apple SSD that is designed to work in your Mini or you'll need to go with a 3rd party which offers a compatible SSD. Your choices are either OWC or Transcend.

Sorry you can't use an AHCI adapter or an AHCI M.2 blade SSD in your Mini. Your Mac Mini uses a custom PCIe NVMe 2.0 SSD blade drive. There are no suitable M.2 options.

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Have you looked at the adapter/converter?

They saying that it works with MacBook Air 2013

crwdns2934271:0Ndz 15, 2017crwdnd2934271:0 Djanym crwdne2934271:0

Yes we did look at using the adapter and we were not encouraged. Under load the adapter/M.2 drive combo's we tried all had a high CRC error rates.

Think of it this way you get some cheap gas in your car and it sputters, stalls & sometimes the car goes completely dead. Was that a good purchase over the better gas?

Sadly, this is the same! Sure you might get it to boot up and it might appear to work with a light load but as soon as you stress the system you'll encounter data corruption or the system will crash out. Not such a good deal was it!

These so called adapters are cheap and not well made, besides some are not designed to support the full 4 lane interface your system has.

Here's Transcend's SSD which is designed for your system: JetDrive 820 SSD

Keep in mind we were testing with the older mSATA & AHCI based systems. This combo won't work in the newer NVMe based systems.

crwdns2934271:0Ndz 15, 2017crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

But Transcend makes an 850 that can also be used in the mini. It is 4 lane and they seem to be saying that it can be used on AHCI or NVMe. Am I mistaken?

Also there is a third choice that came out recently -- a company called MCE.

crwdns2934271:0Huk 7, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Henry Tuesday crwdne2934271:0

@fats - They say you get into time dilation as you get close to a black hole ;-}

The Transcend 850 came out after I had posted this answer (over a year ago)

crwdns2934271:0Huk 7, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

No no Dan, I wasn't in any way meaning to criticize. I was just pointing out that there are more options now. Sometimes people read old cases just to try to figure out what is possible now, or even for general knowledge. I am still trying to figure out why not use the newer NVMe if it fits and works. Supposedly you get a little bit of performance and also might more readily sell it if your machine craps out. No?

crwdns2934271:0Huk 7, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Henry Tuesday crwdne2934271:0

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Alquimista @alquimista crwdns2934065:0crwdne2934065:0: 1 2 · Answer 2 · 2018-02-20T12:13:14-07:00

Alquimista @alquimista

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crwdns2931729:0crwdne2931729:0: Yan 20, 2018

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This is in french, bit I think it can be usefull:

http://macbidouille.com/news/2017/07/11/...

http://macbidouille.com/news/2017/09/13/...

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Still very loose informationally. I knew Apple redid the SSD drivers as well as updated the systems firmware. I'm still on the fence if this is such a good idea with the PCIe/NVMe drives x2 in a x4 system.

Someone needs to do some heavy lifting here with a full test suite and comparisons across the different series before I would jump.

crwdns2934271:0Yan 20, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

A lot of people already using those adapters with those ssds. Me too.

crwdns2934271:0Yan 22, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Djanym crwdne2934271:0

Skating on thin ice is not very safe ;-}

Using these adapters in my option are not something I would want to depend on with my valuable data.

If someone does the needed testing across a selection of adapters and drives then I'm more apt to give it a try. My early testing with MacBook Pro's showed me these where not very good.

Remember the OS hides many error conditions from the user. So unless you know how to dig deeper into the OS at the lower level to get to the failing reads & writes you're depending on the idea it appears to work so it must be good!

crwdns2934271:0Yan 22, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

If you're caring about some valuable data then you should use backups.

But I see in many of your messages that you're saying something like: "it will not work" or "it can work with errors"...

A lot of people already using those adapters. And I don't see people troubleshooting with them.

Yes, maybe the adapter not give you same as native method, but sometimes it's only one way to do it. Especially in Mac Mini with HDD case.

So if you prefer not to use it than don't answer to people that it will not work (IYHO).

Better to find some right info and paste it here.

crwdns2934271:0Yan 23, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Djanym crwdne2934271:0

You'll need to go back and re-read what I wrote and this time look at the date it was written. Saving a few bucks is not always the smart direction when other better solutions are available. Besides when people have a problem who is going to stand behind this? I'm not going to, are you?

Many where trying to use the wrong device (PCIe/NVMe within a AHCI system), and the OS was still not able to support the NVMe SSD and we've had a few people here having problems with the adapters. Lastly, one person killed his logic board!

So I wouldn't be so quick here to rush out. I'll admit I tend to be cautious but more often than not it is based on facts and common sense.

Lets get real people don't back up like they should! Thats just pushing the risk not addressing it.

If your working I'm happy for you.

crwdns2934271:0Yan 23, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

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Mac mini Late 2014

Mac Mini 2014 new SSD PCIE AHCI + Adapter

Update (09/14/2017)

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Update (09/14/2017)

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