Installing SSD

Roughly following this guide:

http://forums.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD-Knowledge/How-to-clone-your-old-hard-drive-to-your-SSD-Mac/ta-p/112072
 
Created a bootable 'Install OSX' USB key.

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-create-an-os-x-mavericks-usb-installation-drive-1450280026
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=18081307&postcount=3


Put the SSD in a USB enclusure and attach.
Boot to the USB by selecting it in System Preferences >> Startup Disk , then restarting.

http://forums.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD-Knowledge/How-to-clone-your-old-hard-drive-to-your-SSD-Mac/ta-p/112072

From the startup USB, run Disk Utility

- Create a single Partition on the SSD formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

- Use the Restore function to copy the main partition from the HDD to the partition on the SSD.  (Took 10 hours!)  It was not possible to select an entire Disk as the source or Destination.  I'll have to verify the Recovery Partition was copied over later.

Verify successful transfer of 'hidden' partitions (Including the Recovery Partition)
http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Enable-Disk-Utilitys-Debug-Menu.htm

Yes, the EFI and Recovery Partitions are there. Strangely, I didn't need to enable the DEBUG menu to see them.

Enable TRIM
http://www.nick-p.info/enabling-trim-on-a-new-ssd-on-os-x-mavericks/

About This Mac > More Info > System Report. Then, scroll to the SATA/SATA Express section, and select your SSD. You should see a section called TRIM  and the answer should be YES








Installed DriveDX to check Disk Health.  Everything OK and Good, but why is my SSD Lifetime already at 99.0%?

Checked Samsung for Firmware updates.  Compared revision to what I see in System Report.  It looks like I've got the latest: EXT0BB6Q

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html 

Initial Observations:

Startup is faster.  Seems to take just as much time until the Desktop appears ... but once the Desktop is there ... everything is functional....no more waiting for pinwheels.

The Machine does seem more responsive.  So far so good.  Time to turn it over to QA for the Minecraft test.

Useful links:
http://osxdaily.com/2013/02/06/how-to-run-gui-apps-as-root-in-mac-os-x/

Securely erase an SSD
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5521

Installing 8GB Memory in my Mac Mini (Early 2009)

Added 8GB of Corsair memory to my Mac Mini (Early 2009) MB463LL/A

I could not find official documentation that the firmware would support 8GB, but many users reported doing this successfully.  I verified that my Mac had the latest Firmware installed. Installed the Memory.  Seems to be working fine after many hours of use.

I wanted to test the memory, but I can't figure out how to boot the Mac into the Diagnostic Mode described here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11342

Holding down D while restarting doesn't seem to work.  I think it's because I'm using a Non-Apple wireless keyboard.  I'm betting the keyboard isn't functional when the BIOS is looking for startup keys.

I also can't seem to boot from a USB key I made for running MEMTEST86+ for similar reason.  Holding down Option (alt) doesn't work for entering Startup Manager.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310

TODO:  Obtain a Wired keyboard and try again.

Notes:  Keyboard mappings:  Option = Alt,  Command = Windows key

My rsync backup command

sudo rsync -avHS --filter="merge /Users/backup_rsync_filters" --delete-excluded --delete --progress '/Users/' '/Volumes/Vantec/Users/'

contents of backup_rsync_filters

#BEWARE OF TRAILING WHITESPACE.....rsync does not trim lines

#Force descent into Virtual Box, but exclude everything else in Library (*took me a while to figure this out




include /mullermw/Library/ include /mullermw/Library/Virtual Box/
exclude /*/Library/
exclude /*/Downloads/
exclude /*/Movies/
exclude .Trash/