Install a 10,000 RPM WD Raptor Hard Drive in a Mid-2011 Mac Mini

Overview

Hi there! This is a little write-up about how I installed a 600 GB Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive in my Mac Mini. Recently, I started wanting to play around with iOS development. I started out by installing a virtual machine of Mac OS X on my PC. However, it was slow and painful. I decided shortly after that to buy a Mac. I did not want to spend much, so I got a Mac Mini, specifically the mid-2011 Mac Mini without discrete graphics.

The Mac Mini is unusual because it is extremely small but still has room for two 2.5-inch hard drives. Apple makes a special cable to support the second hard drive, and iFixit.com even sells a special kit to help you install it.

I wanted to upgrade the storage in my Mac Mini almost as soon as I got it. I triple-boot OS X, Windows 7, and Ubuntu, and I wanted space for all of the OSes as well as space for my files. The stock drive is capable of only 50 MBytes/sec and its seek time is just as bad. I looked at upgrading the internal storage with an SSD, but they are EXPENSIVE! 500-600 GB SSD's are still in the $500-$800 ballpark, well outside my price range.

Then I remembered the Western Digital VelociRaptor. These hard drives were very popular among gamers and enthusiasts in years past, before SSD's started coming down in price and going up in performance. The latest version of the VelociRaptor is a 10,000 RPM hard drive capable of 150 MBytes/sec read and write. Typical SATA-II SSDs are about 2x faster than this while the stock Mac Mini 500GB hard drive is 3x slower.

The VelociRaptor is also a 2.5-inch hard drive. However, it is NOT a standard 2.5-inch drive. While standard 2.5-inch hard drives are either 9.5mm or 12.5mm tall, the VelociRaptor is 15mm. Furthermore, the VelociRaptor requires 12V power in addition to 5V and 3.3V; laptop drives require only 3.3 and 5.

The key to this project was two things. First, the 2011 Mac Mini's hard drive cable does not provide 12V power, but the main power supply does output 12V to the logic board. This means that soldering one wire to the SATA connector and the power supply will run a Raptor. Second, the 15mm VelociRaptor does fit -- just barely -- into the Mac Mini's hard drive bay. This project confirms that a Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive can fit inside the mid-2011 Mac Mini alongside the stock hard drive with some slight modifications that will definitely void your warranty.

What You Will Need

The Mac Mini does not have standard SATA ports; rather, it has two tiny surface-mount snap connectors that break out to two SATA connectors via ribbon cables. You must buy a "second hard drive" cable from Apple. Here was my entire parts list:

1. Apple Second Hard Drive Cable
2. 600 GB Western Digital VelociRaptor Hard Drive
         My specific drive was a white-label model acquired for $170 on eBay.
3. Wire-Wrap Wire
4. Wire Cutters
5. Fine Solder
6. Heatshrink tubing
7. Male and female pin-header strips (For power connector)
8. Soldering Iron
9. Torx and Philips bits to disassemble the Mini; see iFixit.com for great instructions on installing a second hard drive in the Mini
10. A steady hand

Steps

First, I disassembled the Mac Mini according to the iFixit guide.

Second, I removed the stock drive and removed all the screws from it. Since the Raptor was so tall, these screws no longer fit into their mounting holes.

Third, I cut off some wire-wrap wire, stripped it, and soldered it across the 12V pins on the SATA connector.

Fourth, I soldered the other end to one of the power 12V pins on the Mini's logic board. I knew the Mini provided 12V power because of step 22 in this iFixit article. To figure out the polarity, I used a multimeter to measure the voltage. (I could tell just by looking at the board which ones were power because +12V and GND were soldered to their own copper planes on the PCB.) I made a nice little power connector by using single PCB-mount male and female pin headers and heatshrink tubing.

Fifth, I snapped the SATA connector on the Raptor, inserted the Raptor into the bottom of the drive bay, and then inserted the stock drive on top of it. I used a small piece of plastic between the two drives to protect the stock drive's electronics. This seems to be standard practice for laptop manufacturers, and will promote good peace of mind.

Sixth, I inserted the main board back into the Mini. This was tricky because the Raptor was a bit too tall to fit below one edge of the logic board. I ended up getting it to fit, though. To make the wireless shield fit, I had to cut off one corner to allow the antenna cable through. I did this with the wire cutters by bending the metal back and forth until it broke.

Seventh, profit.

Now I have 500 GB of storage for files on the stock drive as well as separate 200 GB partitions for triple-booting Mac OS X, Windows 7, and Ubuntu, all running at sweet, sweet 150 MBps. Check out that speed! The elitists among us will remark that these speeds are not as fast as SSDs, and the seek time will be a bit worse especially for small files, but it cost so much less than an SSD of comparable size, and I always love a hardware challenge.

Stock Hard Drive:

VelociRaptor:

(Screenshots are yellowed because I had Flux on)

Happy hacking!

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