Original (802.11B) Airport cards were based on a subset of PCMCIA.) Verify your Mac has a Mini-PCIe Airport card slot BEFORE buying a Mini-PCIe SATA card.)( FYI: Here's links to notes/pix from iMac owners that did this same mod and a Photo Gallery on a iMac eSATA Card Install/Mod.)This page has reports/replies to a report here originally in August 2010. (My G5 has a mini-PCI Airport Ext. PPC Macs also do not have Mini-PCIe Airport cards. Many Intel-based Macs have had a Mini-PCIe slot Airport Extreme card (even the AE "G" card in early intel-based macs), but some later models have combo Airport/BT cards that are not Mini-PCIe form factor, such as the 2009 and later Minis. 13th, 2010 (Note about later Mini's)Updated: Sept 17th, 2012 (another report)Updated: Apr 29th, 2014 ( Delock SATA3 card report)Updated: Dec 5th, 2014 ( SYBA SD-MPE40056 card report)NOTE/FYI: 2009 and later Mac Minis DO NOT have a Mini-PCIe Airport card and therefore cannot use this mod.(A Mini-PCIe Airport card slot is required of course for this mod to work.) Early Intel-based Minis (1,1 and 2,1) also had a Socketed CPU, a plus for CPU upgrades/swaps.Reader Reports/Feedback on Mac Mini 1,1/Mini 2,1 eSATA Card Mod:( Don't forget that Driver Installs are required for the SI3132 based cards.)When I read the reader report ( in Aug 24th, 2010 news page here - a copy is below) of a SATA card that was compatible with an (intel-based) Mac Mini, I was immediately interested. (The mini 2,1 was also sold thru 2008 until mini 3,1 model was intro'd in spring 2009.) Again this mod is NOT usable with 2009 (mini 3,1) and later mini models which do not have Mini-PCIe Airport cards. (I checked ifixit but was only able to find their 20 mini takeapart guides there.)Reports below are from 2006 (mini 1,1) and 2007 (Mini 2,1) Mac Mini owners. No model named 2008 series but 2009's and later had major changes and no mini-pcie airport card/slot.What it did help with was pointing me towards a US webstore that stocked the card.You can actually purchase them here: I called Global American and purchased the card for $61.63 ( including freight. Gaining access to a fast scratch disk was appealing as was the prospect of utilizing cheap and fast eSata drives (firewire enclosures have traditionally been far more expensive).The German poster apparently had apparently revealed his discovery on another website's forums and, surprising to me, it elicited few responses. I am using a 1394a external drive as a scratch disk but this is hardly an ideal situation. Though maxed out at 3Gb, it struggles with huge PhotoShop files especially when used in conjunction with Quark and Word.Firewire performs better but is still capped at about 34 MB/s.The (2) cables provided end in standard Sata terminals. The 'before' tests are with the drive in a USB enclosure.Pretty pathetic. I previously upgraded the Wi-fi to 11n but since I seldom used this connection (my bandwidth intensive workload needed the wired gigabit), it was a small loss to part with the card.This is the Commell card seated in the mini-PCIe slot.In order to perform some before and after comparisons, I ran AJA System Test on a drive mechanism (a Samsung HD502HI). (Sorry for the quality of the pictures but I was too lazy to employ proper lighting.)Above is the interior of my Mini. (Incidentally, the salesperson I spoke to mentioned that this was a popular item and they were down to seven units left in inventory.)I later saw xlr8yourmac.com's request for user reports on compatibility so I decided to record my installation in detail so that other Mini users considering this upgrade would be able to make an informed choice. They shipped the card the same day and I received it three days later.
![]() For my initial 'proof of concept' testing, I simply folded it over and ran it under the drive cage. This would have serious repercussions later on. Although I purchased one, it had not arrived in time so I was forced to do my testing with a direct connection to the drive.Once you've installed the card, you'll immediately notice that the cables are not very flexible. I hoped having 10.5.8 wouldn't prove problematic (and thankfully it didn't).The (raid) driver installs a kext as well as a java-based RAID utility. ( see below for a OSX 10.6.4 Mini owner report on this mod working.) I was a little leery because it listed 10.4.9, 10.4.10 & 10.5.1 as supported. (Update: In Feb 2014, the non-RAID v1.2.5.0 driver was reported to still work in OS X 10.9.2 by a SIL3132 SATA card used (w/MBP).)I'm running Leopard (10.5.8) not 10.6.X so I used the 10.5 RAID5 driver. ( A note in red was added to that earlier post, however one report (below) said he's using the non-RAID driver w/10.6.4 but he's using a different card/adapter - a Mini-PCIe to (std) PCIe adapter. The non-RAID driver does not work. This proved to be absolutely true. The numbers were great, especially from a run of the mill drive. The numbers speak for themselves.So far, so good. When the Finder appeared, I was pleased to see my Sata drive mounted on the desktop! (The same drive that had previously been in my USB enclosure.) Awesome.I did another AJA System Test to compare performance. I did so hoping I hadn't wasted my money and possibly faced having to reinstall my OS. Camilo camina en colombia pdfI felt there was a good reason why these were so encapsulated and didn't want to risk these irreplaceable unique cables.In the end, I discovered that you have to run the cables flat under the drive cage. I considered trimming off the sleeving but was discouraged by a number of small splices made to the ends of the cable covered in shrink tubing. Intuitively this card is not designed for the Mini and the very inflexible cables would be a chore to permanently install.Most of my effort in this project was invested in figuring out what to do with the cables. Trust me, this is the real problem. I hoped that the backplane would seat far enough in to ensure a good connection.It proved impossible to get good pictures of the flattened cables running out from under the drive cage. Even then, it caused a bulging of the drive cage once it was screwed down. Fortunately the card connector end has loose wire that could be easily folded over. Bends would have to be made after they cleared the cage. The attached SATA drive worked (though not for booting). I have the following parts working in a quick test. All rights reserved.Other Mini Owner Reports on Mac Mini eSATA card Mods: (later added first)SYBA SD-MPE40056 Mini-PCIe SATA3 card (ASM1061 chipset)(added , Assume 2006/2007 (pre-2009) mini)Just a quick note for your page. Cable management though may dissuade you from choosing this upgrade.© 2010 Steve Johansson. This turned out to be far less atrocious looking than I feared.In conclusion, the Commell MPX-3132 does work (at least in Leopard) provided you use the RAID drivers. Maximum Sata Hard Drive Mini 2011 Full Size 6GBpsAnd it worked PERFECTLY with no configuration and no drivers.(I did have to buy an extension cable from eBay/China, but that was only £12)Thought maybe you'd like to include it on your page.I am very pleased and have a 3TB hard drive attached now.No WiFi now, but don't really use it anyhow. I took a gamble on this card from Amazon UK Delock MiniPCIe I/O PCIe Module with Full Size 6GBps 2x SATA.( IIRC, this card uses the ASMedia 106x chipset.). ( this page), hoping to find a suitable card here in the UK to work. I wanted a fast drive but couldn't use the boot drive as I needed 3TB for video.I looked at the information on your page. What OS X version are you using? (and no card drivers required?)Delock Mini-PCIe SATA card (ASMedia controller, not Silicon Image 3132 used in earlier reports)"eSATA card report - 2007 Mac Mini (OS X Mountain Lion)I have a 2007 MacMini 2.0GHz, and the Optical Drive port is dead.
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