Mac mini M4 SSD 2TB Hard Disk Upgrade DIY

Don't waste money by paying Apple for their overprice storage!! This kit is easy and way more affordable way to max out your M4 Mac Mini storage option. Take your time and watch a couple tutorials. I would say almost anyone can install this kit. The build quality also appeared to be pretty decent. The read/write speeds are also an improvement over the standard 256GB that my M4 came with.

I would love to avoid paying Apple’s egregious storage tax on the M4 Mini (400 USD to upgrade a 500 dollar base machine to 2TB of storage?!), but unfortunately this wasn’t it.Looked up the procedure on iFixit, got the Jimmy, the guitar pick to pry the chassis open (and work around that fragile looking power button cable), the Torx T5 screwdriver to take the the bottom panel and the 2 bottom fan screws out, then the T3 to take the 2 top screws for the fan unit, slowly pried it open while leaving all the cables dangled, then the T8 to get the storage unit off. Swapped the original storage unit off, popped the new one on, put everything back together, plugged the rear middle USB-C port in, plugged the other end into my M4 MBA13, powered up MacMini, it went into DFU mode, and…nope. Error -21 (hardware error) despite multiple attempts.Tried an M1 Pro MBP14 or a 2019 Macbook Pro 16 i7 Touchbar. Also didn’t work.Tried an Apple USB-C cable…also nope. Tried a Thunderbolt 3 cable off a Belkin dock. Same Error -21. Even tried Apple Configurator for a restore and ran into the same results. Error -21 despite reseating the drive multiple times. Swapped the original Apple 256GB storage module back in, worked immediately and booted back into MacOS after a “select boot device” prompt. So it doesn’t look like it’s the Mini.Had to return the original to a Whole Foods location and get a refund since a product exchange was not an option here. Not sure if the device failed QA, or it’s a unit that failed and was returned previously, and not sure if I can trust purchasing another one…

Works great, and still going strong after a month. Following iFixit and other YouTubers' instructions worked well for me. No problems getting into the case, but I did have the help of an iFixit kit that includes spudgers and guitar picks to pop the bottom shell open. Once you get past that (without any scrape marks!), it's pretty easy. I did not need to pull away any of the connectors, like some people do with the power switch. That little connector is very fragile, and does not pull away laterally the way most people would think it works. It needs a gentle upward tug. When you put it back on again, press down from above, and don't try to slide it in. I watched one YT'er break his on camera because he pulled in the wrong direction, so be very careful if you decide to remove yours.I'm extremely pleased with the extra speeds I'm getting, and very, very pleased with my new 2TB Mini!

Works as advertised.

This is a no-brainer upgrade for the Mac Mini. I bought a new Mini with the standard, paltry 256GB drive, not wanting to pay around $800 for the 2TB drive, and turned to this 2TB upgrade. I followed one of the YouTube videos that shows how to take the Mini apart without disconnecting the cables, and that whole process went really smoothly. The tools that came with this drive are great for the task at hand.But, things went south when I tried to restore the new drive. I kept getting an error message (2006) and had no idea what it was. The orange light on the Mini was pulsing, indicating a hardware error. I thought the drive was bad, so I sent for a replacement. But before it arrived, I found what the error code meant on a competitor's page, and proceeded to take the drive out and put it back in just slightly skewed. Voila! That did the trick. Apparently these drives, or the Mini, are sensitive to the slightest change in position. Once I did that, everything fired up just like the YouTube videos.At the time of install, this company didn't have the error codes listed on Amazon. Now it looks like they do. The only thing that would make it better is if they had a link or QR code to the installation video as well.Other than the finicky nature of the install, this is a great upgrade. Time will tell if it lasts as long as my last 3rd party Mac SSD upgrade (six years), but so far so good.

The upgrade process did not work. Hangs when "Restoring system on device - Step 4 of 4: Initialziing system" forever until it throws an error: "The system cannot be restored on this device : gave up waiting for the device to transition from Port DFU state to DFU state". tried several times and always failed with he same error code. I know the cables work because I was able to reinstall the system on the original mac mini SSD so the problems are not the cables/source computer.

Why did you pick this product vs others?:I was nervous about installing this, and there were some issues during the install. It took me a few tries before I found a thunderbolt 4 cable to update the firmware from my other Mac. Failed 3 times before I made the switch. But once I had the right cable it updated flawlessly. My New 2TB SSD is faster than the original and has more storage space than I need. Maybe not for the faint of heart, but this is an incredible value! Watch several of the YouTube videos and make sure you follow the instructions carefully!

Yes, I was skeptical ordering a no-name, knock-off, reverse engineered from a non-standard product by Apple. Who wouldn't be! And wouldn't you know it, my repair kit didn't include the right T-* bits for the M4 mini, so that was a small additional purchase. The replacement was smooth, surprising easy and fast. I then connected it to my Macbook to restore to factory settings, then booted it alone to set it up from scratch. Remember to log out of Apple account, backup your box beforehand, study the install videos, and take your time. Easy peasy.