OWC 2.0TB Aura Pro X2 NVMe Flash SSD Add-On Solution Compatible with Mac Mini (Late 2014), Including Tools & Installation Components

My Mac Mini MGEN2LL/A was slowing down after system updates to the point where the little beach ball would twirl sometimes for minutes while uploading a web page, loading a photo, or just scrolling through a large document. A cold boot would take four minutes. Infuriating. No cleaning up or reloading of the Mac OS did any good. I ordered this SSD after reading the users were having luck with SSDs vs. the factory mechanical hard disk drive (HDD). After receiving the kit, I simply followed the instructions and was shocked to find that space for the SSD existed without having to remove the HDD—whoa. And the installation took only about 10 minutes from cracking it open to screwing it back together. So I was able to simply have the MacOS load onto the SSD without the risk of deleting anything on the existing drive. Then I ran the SSD and reloaded all software onto it, confirming that it ran 6 to 10 times faster on the new drive. Then I simply erased the old HDD and now use it to store digital media—music, video, and photos. I really have a new Mac. Its responsive and handles large files without hesitation. Still takes about 40 seconds to boot, but I seldom boot from cold anyway. Yeah, I could have bought a new M1 chipped device, but I decided to use the money for something else. No regrets.

OWC has the installation videos on their website that show how to to install this SSD in a 2014 Mac mini. All of the hardware necessary to properly install the SSD is provided. The process is pretty easy, and the results are over 10 times faster than the original equipment hard drive. Note that the original hard drive can also stay installed and used for additional (and slower) storage. Definitely recommended, for how easy it was.

This can take some time - so recommend you be patient and do it right. On the 21.5 iMac the drive connector sits next to the left speaker enclosure - resist the temptation to move the speaker. If the fragile power cable is wedged in with the speaker, improperly removing it can break it - and that will add a couple of hours to your install (dont ask me how I know). Net of that it went great and the boot time went from 2 minutes 7 seconds to 15 seconds - awesome!

I was a bit nervous about installing this in my older Mac mini (2014) but it took only a few minutes and the tools worked perfectly. The machine has been running great now for over 1 month with no issues -- it feels like I have a NEW machine!

There are few times when adding something to a computer that completely changes it. I was ready to get rid of my Mac Mini. It had good horse power, but a lousy HD. Now with this kit, it is a new machine. Everything you need came with the kit. Installation took minutes. Formatting was super quick. It works and feels like a super fast Mac Now. Boot times have gone from minutes to seconds. I run multiple monitors and it used to take forever to get them to mirror because of the old HD. Not any more. Everything is up and running in less than a minute. I highly recommend this product. Purchase the largest you can afford. You will not be disappointed in the results!!!

This drive worked very well for me. The included tool set was a big bonus, and the video instructions on how to install were clear and informative; installation was a breeze. The drive is very fast, and has cut down load/save time by nearly 50% versus the original drive. Very happy with the purchase.

The install was easy enough, and the performance of my mac mini has increased greatly over the standard 1tb spinning platter disk. But the performance is not as described? But I am still happy with the performance with this upgrade.

This took an old 2014 mini from waiting for minutes to open apps to just a few seconds. I hadn’t used the Mac too much before but at least after loading up the latest version of Big Sur this is a requirement. I opted for the 1TB size so I could just do a quick transfer over from the spinning disc in the Mac and then redo stuff as needed. About 600GB took about 5 or 6 hours to copy over with carbon copy cloner (set to the legacy mode or whatever it is called to support Big Sur - so I could select it as a boot drive. First time I had skipped that option and had do a few minutes of research to figure out why). Just as snappy now as a similar age iMac I had installed 20MB of RAM in. Proved to me the slowdown was the old slow hard drive on this model. It would have been soooooo much nicer (and cheaper) if Apple would have allowed RAM upgrades in these mini models but this basically gives the same feel. The adapter doesn’t really stick in perfectly but with the card in it all stays in place with the screws. I understand Apple used a different pin arrangement on the card and too bad as that does prevent use of the other options out there that are about $80 for 1TB. I suppose you may be able to get some of those working as I have seen certain vendors have adapters for them but I paid a bit more for this kit to avoid the trial and error to see if other stuff would work or fit. With the little extra cost to me for the quick it works kind of fit!

Bought this to try and speed up my 2014 Mac Mini. Very easy and fast installation. The videos were extremely helpful. Formatting and performing a clean install of OSX was , again, very easy because the instructions were clear and concise. Net result - MUCH faster performance now.

My mac Mini is a whole new machine. Do follow the directions in the comment from the person who explains that you must set it up to be your startup disk. The process is not as easy as you would think. You will need to do some research. I had to format the disk so that the computer would see it as something it can start up from and I had to install the operating system on it first. If you can do this prior to installation, its recommended. Check out the tech forums online. I just added a few more years of use to my computer. It annoys me that mac started soddering the memory on so now you can do upgrades yourself. This is the only viable option. I have a 2011 imac that Ive revamped that runs like a beast. I may never let it go. Gone are the days you could manage your own machine.