I think it’s possible to buy 2011 models and replace the motherboard with 2012

@@Helennore1990 Given they're very similar machines, I could see that working. What would be the purpose of this though?

What's the relevance for the technical support by stating that you're an 81 year old grandma? We don't care about that, you could be 200 years old and we'd help you anyway.

⁠@@greenhorngameplays5743​​⁠if it matters to her, then it’s relevant to her comment. Your comment was unnecessary, not hers.

@@evanrachelhood your comment is also irrelevant to the video purpose.

Glad it helped!

Glad it was helpful!

They sure are. Such a pity Apple stopped supporting them. Although it is over 10 years old, the hardware is clearly capable of running Ventura without (performance) issues.

@@jensdbe What is the max capacity for the ssd, is there a limit cap on them, or could I just go ahead and install a 4 or 5 tb ssd?

Same to you!

Nice to hear! Thanks

Makes a huge difference, good luck with the upgrade.

@@jensdbe thank you.

Up Date . Everything worked according to your instructions. However, the installed 2 TB HDD was not one but 2 1TB HDD's. In order to remove both, I would also have had to partially disassemble the logic board. I somehow didn't feel like it. So the 1 TB HDD remains installed as external storage for something. Greetings , Thomas .

@@thomasromeni8063 now install os ventura:)

@@-xYz--nk1gm Of course, it was installed directly 👍 . Runs perfectly with Ventura.

@@thomasromeni8063 I know. i also have a mac mini 2012 but i5. I only have 1 ssd and 1 hdd.

@@-xYz--nk1gm Do your SSD and HDD work as a Fusion Drive or, as with me, as a separate hard drive. I briefly played with the idea of combining both as a raid partition, but I rejected it when I read an article that with this combination the HDD is the brake at the speed of data transfer. Having an SSD work alone would be the more reasonable solution.

I did notice that System Settings is indeed slower. The rest doesn't really feel that way. More people complain about slow navigation in System Settings on Ventura apparently. If interested, also check out the performance comparison I did between Catalina and Ventura on this Mac: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kK9no815sN_Zeo0.html

It takes a bit of wiggling to get it out. Just be careful and look good at each side.

As Ventura is not officially supported by Apple, there is a need for some modifications/patches in order to let Ventura work fully. It depends on which hardware exactly but things like adding drivers or workarounds are needed.

The performance difference with an M1 is obviously big. About everything is x times faster. Not really surprise for a 10 year newer device as well. In terms of feeling, Ventura does not significantly run faster or slower. It's more to stay up to date and be able to keep running the newest applications and get security updates. I do plan on doing a performance comparison between Catalina and Ventura on this device (and another) to see this in real numbers.

I have a HDMI capture device which I use to record this kind of stuff :)

@@jensdbe could you post/link the model pls?

Nothing needs to be done as far as I know. A SATA SSD doesn't typically run very hot or similar to a regular mechanical hard drive.

Various videos show several schemes to get the dowels (actually screw heads) in the back of the SSD to fit in the upper set of holes in the back of the storage compartment. I use the one with a piece of tape with loop in the middle, to make a handle to pull up on the SSD. If you wish, there is space, and a connector, to put a second drive under the normal HDD/SSD. You have to source the proper SATA connection, which is much like the OEM main drive connector. And connects to the open SATA drive port on the logic board, directly to the right of the regular one. Other ideas are using a playing card under the drive to again, get the positioning dowels in the back of the drive inserted in the correct, upper, drive positioning holes. I use loops or doubled reading glasses, to be more competent refitting the various connections, such as the fan (NOT necessary to unplug to access the drives) and antenna. My last goof was not getting the drive SATA connector fully into the logic board SATA port, and had to go back in, and using more magnification, do it right the second time. You can't do what you can't see! I have noticed a big improvement in startup with the SSDs, I'm not using any program that tests machine performance enough to notice.

@@billtaylor3499 good tips, wsh I'd had the benefit of your comment on the day of the operation.....I think if I ever go back in it's only going to be to salvage the SSD.... I'm not looking forward to whatever moving to a newer OS is going to break, but this machine really just doesn't cut it anymore.

@herbietccc Higher OS versions Do install in your Mini, several YT videos show how to use another app to install 'unsupported' later operating systems (Ventura?) in a late 2012 Mini. A later OS may not be the issue, maxing out memory (Other World Computing is where I got mine) changes things, maybe enough. I'm noticing no difference between 10.13 and 10.15 in my 6.2 Mini, but I'm not doing any real computing, mostly surfing the net. I have the different OSs on different SSDs, and boot the one not in the machine using an external drive housing and a USB cord. Not fast, if I needed it, but lets me have two different computers. If I get two fully performing SSDs (At least one has an isue), they both go in the Mini, one under the other. Which boots is selectable on startup, by holding down the option key, on mine.

@@billtaylor3499 I have no interest in moving to a newer OS on a 2012 mini. I don't see how your comment relates to mine.

Updates come in through the regular channel but in some cases it might be needed to re-apply some of the patches if things got overwritten. So always good to keep a copy of the OCLP app handy before updating.

Thanks Hans for the nice words. Best wishes to you as well. The Mac Mini 2011 is not supported yet for Ventura with Open Core. The latest you can run is Monterey (did a video on that as well but better to use the current steps, just select Monterey as version instead of Ventura). Support for Ventura is still in development. See here for more info: dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html#mac-mini

Thanks, Jens. Will look into it😊

Hey. FYI. Last night my 2011 Mac Mini upgraded to Ventura. Opencore still needs to patch everything. But install Monterey, then run the macos updater, then run opencore patcher after update to Ventura.

I should add.It will be unstable. You should wait for the latest patcher to be supported first. But if you aren't worried about freezing from time to time, Ventura works, but Monterey is still more stable for the moment.

@@corvusaflame713 thanks for the update. Looks like with some (minor) patches, Ventura should eventually come to the 2011 model as well.

It's not really getting that high in my experience. But I guess the i7 gets a bit warmer. Maybe replacing the thermal paste is needed?

I think the easiest method is by using time machine or migration assistance before upgrading.

CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! will also clone your old (Catalina) hard drive to your new SSD. Then install Ventura on top via the OpenCore Legacy Patcher USB flash drive.

For me both run pretty stable. I do see that the hardware starts to struggle a bit with Sonoma. Probably due to the relatively slow CPU I have but that should be better with your i7.

Fan is definitely working? I've also had problems with my 2012 every year when my apartment gets hot.

One thing I’d suggest is replacing the thermal paste, as the old stuff can get dry after 10+ years, thus reducing the cooling efficiency. It will also help to clean out the fan and heat sink, or replace the fan if it’s failing or broken. Having a secondary fan will also definitely help.

So far the latest supported version for Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 is Monterey. Ventura support is in development (see here: dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/VENTURA-DROP.html#current-status). The process is roughly the same using Open Core Legacy Patcher.

tu peux mettre 16GB de ram dans le mini 2012

Check my latest video for more on performance in Ventura on unsupported hardware: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kK9no815sN_Zeo0.html

1) yes 2) Different hard drives are no issue, it has two separate SATA ports 3) No need for the same brand of memory and SSD

I have the same question.

It should be nearly the same for the 2011 model as in the video. So upgrading the memory and SSD works fine. How much RAM really depends on what you plan to do with the Mac. I think this config is a good match for 8GB but you might want 16GB If you are a power-user (but then you would probably run into limitations on the slower CPU).

I do plan to do a video on that subject exactly. So far it feels pretty fine but a few benchmarks would be good.

That is possible. You can do this from another machine/model but as the OpenCore config is hardware-specific, you first need to select the correct model from the Settings options in the OpenCore Legacy Patcher application. All the rest should be the same. Good luck!

@@jensdbe Thank you

You can try to re-erase the USB drive. Make sure to select the drive itself and not just a volume on the drive. If that really doesn't help, trying another drive is probably the only option. Some drives don't get accepted properly, especially if they are presented like an external drive rather than a USB drive.

Never really saw this error and can't find much about it online as well. Are you sure this is the root cause of the issue and not just an entry in the log which doesn't have a lot of impact?

Should work in the same way as far as I know

Don't have an Apple wirless keyboard/mouse so can't test this, sorry.

Starting from Late 2012, you can run macOS Ventura with OpenCore, which can be a good reason. Most of the mac mini's are limited in upgradeability. From the 2014 version, replacing the HD/SSD is a bit harder.

@@jensdbe so,I should stay late 2012 - 2013?

In my experience this doesn't always work with non-Apple keyboard, especially if they are wireless. Would be good if you could give it a try with an Apple keyboard.

Didn't try this myself but wouldn't know why it wouldn't work. The hardware specs are on the low side for sure but I don't see why I would not be able to function.

@@jensdbe Thank you!

Mojave does 32bit, it was the last.

in 2013 I got that machine and purchased a mount from Other World Computing OWC to have two drives, one SSD for macOS and the original for storage. You have to literally take the whole machine apart, it takes like 40 minutes to do so. Nowadays, in that situation, I'll just swap to one single SSD and add an external drive

Updates come in through the regular channel but in some cases it might be needed to re-apply some of the patches if things got overwritten. So always good to keep a copy of the OCLP app handy before updating.

@@jensdbe is it safe to install Ventura? I mean, is OpenCore Legacy Patcher not Russian/Chinese/else spyware?

I have not yet. Waiting for the release to give it a try but I read promising comments on OCLP.

Is the driver for your soundcard supported by the newer OS? Mac had a habit of not supporting legacy drivers with certain upgrades I am an old school audio guy and have found this to be true a couple times over the years with my experience using my older gear on their newest updates

The 2012 Mac mini has USB 3.0 tho so I don't think they would be the issue

I wanted to let you know the issue with Logic not being able use the mic was actually an issue with the ‘Open core legacy patch’ that I used to upgrade to the latest OS for Mac. And there was a work around posted on their website so it works fine now. Thanks

As far as I know there is no limit in theory. I saw people using 4TB without issues.

@@jensdbe Do you suggest it ? I am planning to buy that for Xcode pycharm programming surfing etc. I am going to buy quad core version 16 gb ram like 250 usd

That should be perfectly possible with the same method. I explain this in more detail over here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qLCcq5Vpv9Sak40.html

You can, have a look at my recent video for macOS Sonoma, I cover that question in the end of the video there: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l8mghNh0rt-Xd3U.html

Both are a yes. Metal-support comes with a patch in OCLP but it does work

Try to run Disk Utility (it can be from the environment which gives you that error) Then run First Aid on the drive/partition on which you try to install Ventura. Followed by a re-try. This has helped me before in the same situation.

Shouldn't be a problem at all. It standard SATA.

I have one installed, no problems

I did a video exactly on that subject. You can find it over here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kK9no815sN_Zeo0.html

Yes

Not 100% sure but I did saw people being able to overcome the limitations (as the HDMI port and Intel HD graphics should support it in hardware) using the BetterDisplay tool or RDM (github.com/usr-sse2/RDM)

I have the same mac mini. if your monitor has a display port, just buy one and it will solve your problem, it solved mine. the only snag is that sometimes display port doesn't recognize the mac mini to be connected. another solution I found for that is going into your display settings and changing your Display Port setting to version 1.2 instead of 1.4 . hope this helps

@@DeanMPiresHassan Thank you very much for your help. I tried display port cable(also different ones) and also port setting 1.1 and 1.2 (1.4 is not available) but no change. Were you able to run the resolution 3440x1440? Can it be that you have the Mac Mini Late 2012 with dedicated graphic card? Thanks!

@@geko4801 currently running on a 34 inch ultra wide display but it’s giving me a max of 2560x1080 isn’t going any higher (which is sad because I know this can go to 3440 (I was running on windows before)

@@DeanMPiresHassan Same here, I have the same resolution 2560x1080 instead of the possible 3440x1440. I think its a limitation of the graphic card under MacOS. I heard that there were Windows systems with the same graphic card that could do resolutions up to 4k. So the MacOS graphic driver has to be modified, but thats beyond my skills :-)

Agree with you. For now things work fine on Monterey. I will be when apps stop working on it that upgrading to a newer version will be a must.

You can indeed upgrade/do a fresh install of Sonoma directly in pretty much the same way. I did cover installing Sonoma on unsupported models in a newer video if you want more details.

Boot while holding the Alt/Option key and see if you old OS is still there. If you did Erase in Disk Utility already, you will will not be able to go back obviously. But it sounds like you never managed to grt there and can't boot from the USB drive into the installer.

@@jensdbe I fixed the problem and I have Mac OS ventura on my Mac mini 2012 with i7 1TB HDD and 16GB of RAM thank you !!!

@@staurosnanos6674 How did you fix the problem?

I don't think the Mac can boot easily from an SD card. You could created the USB drive with the installer on another Mac if you would like. In the end of the video that I did for Sonoma, you can find how to do that: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l8mghNh0rt-Xd3U.html

Thank you so much! I'll try with a USB on another Mac.@@jensdbe

I believe it should work but it is totally overkill for this machine.

You can uae the same method but selext Big Sur in the list of versions to download instead. Not sure why you want Big Sur as it is getting out of support soon. The latest version: Sonoma is definitely possible as well. See my latest video for that.

I run Sonoma on an i7 Late 2012 with 16 GB. It’s a charme! 👌🏼

with a 480 GB SSD as well.

@@jensdbe i don't need the latest one but at least a newer one

That should be possible yes. When booting Open Core from the USB drive, select the Ventura installer. Then skip the step where you format/erase the drive and start the installer. Select your current Catalina install when asked where to install.

@@jensdbe Will that install over Catalina without wiping my personal data and apps that way?

@@jonos138 yes, that should be the case. But always better to have a proper backup of your critical files. Especially when doing things like this.

@jensdbe Thanks, yes I always make sure to back up. 👍