In case you'd like to install latest macOS Sonoma on unsupported hardware instead, check out the video I did for that: th-cam.com/video/acpQuCIy3GA/w-d-xo.html
I'm an 81-year-old grandma and have probably had 10 2012s run through my life and upgraded them all with SSDs, 16 gigs of ram for my two sons and myself. I just bought another one to upgrade and install Ventura. This is a perfect video for doing it. None of us have busy lives so the few more seconds it takes to load anything is of no consequence. Plus the 2012s are getting cheaper and cheaper. I seem to be a loose ends if I don't have a 2012 to fool around with.😉 They are the best streaming/media boxes ever using TVs as monitors. Thanks for your good work!
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.
I‘m exactly in this situation. I got a late 2012 Mac Mini, installed the latest MacOS version possible, which is Catalina. It‘s incredibly slow. Your video is the third one I watched to make it faster, and your video is by far the best. Really great! You tell us that we can install Ventura too, but I don’t see myself beyond that. The only thing I‘ll do is to upgrade it with a 1 TB SSD and 16 GB of RAM. This video helps me to do that best. A big, big THANK YOU!
I had one of these exact machines back in 2019/2020! I used it as my daily machine when we were all online, and it worked like a charm! I upgraded to an M1 though just because I needed something faster for video production, but these are still quite usable I think!
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.
Ça y est ! Mon Mac Mini fin 2012 est opérationnel. J'ai installé précédemment le système Ventura sur un disque externe SSD (2,5 pouces installé dans un boitier) sur lequel je bootais. Après avoir constaté qu'OpenCore Legacy Patcher fonctionnait, j'ai pu installer le SSD dans le Mac Mini selon vos conseils. Je n'ai juste pas déconnecté l'antenne wifi en mettant délicatement la grille de côté. Il y avait également une troisième vis à dévisser sur le FAN en bas à droite. Lors de la tentative de redémarrage, 3 bips successifs et récurrents sont apparus. Il s'agissait des barrettes mémoire que j'avais mal remises. Encore merci pour les explications, très claires.
I have the i7 version. I installed 2 EVO SSD and 16GB ram and use it as a server with Sonoma. My main machine is. M1 MacMini. these are superb machines.
Hi Jens. Yesterday I bought a used i7 Late 2012 where I would like to replace the built-in 2TB HDD with a 1TB SSD. I have already owned such a model and replaced the serially installed Ram and HDD a few years ago. However, the German TH-cam videos on the subject were more elaborate because in these videos the motherboard was also solved to pull it a little forward to remove the HDD. In your video, removing the HDD as well as inserting the SSD without loosening the motherboard. Thanks for your instructions and greetings from Germany, Thomas.
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 .
@@-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.
Puxa cara, vc ne deu uma esperança ❤. Meu mac mini é exatamente igual o seu. Late 2012, vou procurar alguém kra fazer o patch xerto desse ventura pra eu renovar a vida util dele.
I use my i7 16GB 2012 mac mini as a server my main machine is a M1 Mac Mini. The 2012 machine has dual 500GB SSD and an external matching Hub with 2TB storage.
Great video thank you. I have the late 2012 model with the same processor, back when it was still new upgraded to a dual disk with the ssd carrying the OS and upgraded to 16g of RAM. This summer bought the new mini with only 8g of RAM but it still is so much faster. Should I take the time to upgrade the old mini to Ventura also? Does it run better or worse than Catalina in your opinion? I love both and the 2012 still has life in it. thx
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.
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.
Thanks for this exceedingly helpful video. Just wondering; will the cooling and fan sensors be affected by the newly swapped SSD. Is there any settings to be done from the system after installation regarding the fan?
Your videos are very good. Slow concise clear . Really appreciate it. Can you show us how to put legacy patcher for different OSes on one USB? Or is that even possible?
Thanks so much for this and the other more detailed vid for upgrading to Mac OS Ventura. I’ve just finished swapping out my HDD for an SSD. I did however notice that in this vid when installing Ventura after new SSD is installed, you use install Mac OS Ventura; but in the other vid you use the EFI file instead. May I know what’s the difference?
Your video is absolutely helpful. After watching it a few times, i give it a go today, i upgraded my mac mini late 2012 i7 to macOs Ventura 🫣🤭 also upgraded my OS SSD to 1tb plus added a 4tb samsung 870 evo ssd for my files and photos. I am planning to upgrade the ram next to 16GB again. your video is easy to follow, really on point. I was able to install it easily rather than re-installing macOS Catalina when I reformatted my macmini yrs ago 😅 i only have a question, how does the fan works? Does your macmini gets so hat easily? If yes, what do you do to minimize the heat? Before this upgrade, my macmini was running smooth and quiet. I added an external usb fan on the back which help to lessen the heat. I was able to run my macmini for two days without shutting down and doing browsing and little youtube, the temp only goes as far 60 celsius. But now after the upgrade, i cant make it lower than 75 celsius. Anyone running the same problem? Is it because of the ram? Please if anyone have any idea how to fix the heat issue, i am happy to listen and try to do it. ☺️😉 TIA 🙃 Again thanks for this video. Its awesome ☺️
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.
I have the same Mac Mini i5, exactly the same SSD disk and 16GB of RAM. After install Ventura GUI is much slower than on Catalina for example. Selecting an option in System Settings from sidebar take 1-2 seconds
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: th-cam.com/video/ZI7pjHKyuJY/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the advice from your video. I had successfully patch my OS to ventrura. Was initially having problems with the graphic rendering which is more or..less😅resolved with the latest patch. I am curious if there is any potential net safety issues I should pay attention to. I am a first time mac user hence pls pardon me if I had raised stupid questions.😅
I purchased logic pro X software years ago. If I do this HDD to SSD exchange, will I be able to log into my Apple account and reinstall logic Pro X to SSD? Or will apple logic software recognize the processor’s serial number, and reject reinstall?
I just cracked my 2012 Mini 2.6 i7 for the first time because I wanted to eliminate HDD spin-ups from my life. I followed the instructions on Macfixit to swap in the SDD. It did not go well. I destroyed the IR harness (which I've never used and never will) and had a really hard time getting the new hard drive seated with the ribbon in any kind of reasonable positioning. Ended up with the SSD hanging at an angle, fingers crossed that the connector doesn't pop off the motherboard. Not sure I got the wifi antenna connected properly again. But it works and I'm booting from an intrernal SSD finally.
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.
Nice explanation on upgrade. I have few doubts: 1) Can Mac Mini late 2012 (intel i5) take 1TB SATA Crucial SSD MX500 series. 2) Is it adviceable to add 500GB Samsung SSD. (I mean Addition and not replacement). Will it work properly with 2 different type of Hard drives.? 3) I have already upgraded my mac mini with 16 GB RAM (8+8) of Crucial. Should I upgrade SSD also of CRUCIAL or it does not make any difference.
Thanks for the complete guide. I want to ask, what if we in the future want to upgrade our Mac mini to a newer Mac OS, do we have to install it the same way?
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.
I have a Mac mini (late 2012) running on Catalina with an SSD. My question is : is it possible to update to Ventura without doing a fresh installation with OpenCore Legacy Patcher ?
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.
Bonjour bravo pour cette vidéo ! j'ais 2 questions je voulais savoir combien de RAM peut supporter le Mac mini 2012 ? et est ce que le fait de mettre Ventura ne bloque pas le Mac mini pour d'éventuelles et prochaine mise à jour d os ? Merci Hello congratulations for this video! I have 2 questions I wanted to know how much RAM can the Mac mini 2012 support? and does putting Ventura not block the Mac mini for possible and next OS update? Thank you
Nice job Jens. Dank U wel!!! One doubt please: Is Ventura or Sonoma stable with the Mac Mini late 2012 6.1 (i7 3615QM)? Thanks a lot and happy new 2024 year!!
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.
I followed the steps and installed the Monterey OS, which brings back my old device to be a truly usable one, thanks so much! I just want to ask, after successfully setting up the Mac, there is software update option available to install Sonoma. Is it possible to install it with my Macmini6,2?
It should be possible to upgrade to Sonoma. Best is to first install the latest version on OCLP before that. I did create a specific video on Sonoma as well in case you would be interested: th-cam.com/video/acpQuCIy3GA/w-d-xo.html
Mac mini (Late 2012),2.3gHz, i7 processor, 16GB RAM, new WD 500GB SSD, freezes every coup[e days and needs a hard restart. Not sure if it's Catalina, Chrome or something else. When I do the command for a Hardware Test, I'm taken to internet recovery? Not sure what to do with this machine. It's basically used for its HDMI port and connected to my HDTV for internet.
i have mac mini late 2012 16 gb ram i7 2.3 GHZ so it is the macmini 6.2 .. i install Ventura with the latest opencore root patch i do everithing fine. works fine only problem is the CPU TEMP AVG of 80 c on max CPU FAN !! max cpu i get was 100 c
Hi there - could you run the latest Xcode on this older 2012 machine after Ventura update ? You can u update the machine in the future or are you stuck with Ventura ?
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.
Hello i try this video for a macmini end 2012. The weather app and imessages app don t work and crash after ventura installation on my mac. Do you know how to fix it easy? Thank you very much
I’m right now setting up a 2014 mini with 8GB RAM which was standard on it new and a swapped 256GB SSD but i DONT want to install Ventura on it since it’s not supported. Instead i want to run MacOS 10.12 or 10.13 with the last working full service version of macOS Server
Hi and thanks for the video, but I have a problem when booting and installing Ventura on my Mac mini 6.1. When selecting Install Ventura on EFI boot, it requires some internet connection, when connected, it tries to download some kind of files that "can't be downloaded now". What am I doing wrong?
hello Jens, do you share somewhere which hardware you selected? I am not super knowledgable about the options and I would like to just copy what you did :D I also would recommend you to start an affiliate account to gain some profits out of these links. But that is definitely your call.
I’m trying to basically do the exact same thing on my late 2012 (mine is i7, only difference). Catalina expiring has led me here. I started with an attempt to use OCLP for Sonoma, but quickly realized it was time to upgrade my Boot HDD (I have 2-1TB HDDs). I want to keep my Backup HDD and replace my Boot HDD (in the upper bay) with a SSD and upgrade to Sonoma. Same setup with the hard drives- not trying to do a Fusion setup- old HDD for backup and new SSD to run the system as a Boot drive. My question is, since I will want to backup from Time Machine via my old HDD Backup drive, should I install the new SSD with Catalina OS rather than doing both SSD upgrade and the OS upgrade as you did in the video? I’m wondering if I do them together like you did, will the Time Machine backup from the old Backup HDD just reverse the Sonoma upgrade back to Catalina anyway? Since I am backing up from Time Machine after the SSD upgrade, should I just wait and run OCLP for the Sonoma upgrade after I install the new SSD? Thanks in advance for any advice!
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.
thanks for the video , I have mid 2011 Mac mini with 4 gb ram , can I upgrade it with more ram and ssd drive? if yes kindly suggest which ram and how much ram should I install , thanks again
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).
Hi Jens, Another great video😊 Of course all the best wishes for 2023! Question, Ido have a Mac mini mid 2011. Do you think I can upgrade this also to Ventura? At the moment is still runs on latest supported os high Sierra. Thanks, Hans
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
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.
Hi, I have watched who’s video and your other video related to this. Followed every step and have used a 32gb Toshiba usb. Since trying to launch from flash drive it will load partially then produce a prohibited sign. Is that fixable? I cannot find a work around at present… 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.
Caution on upgrades of operating systems, as I believe 10.13 (High Sierra) is the last OS to do both 32 bit and 64 bit apps. If you Need an app which isn't available in a 64 bit form, or the developer isn't making the larger format version easily available, your only option is to partition the drive and have a bootable 10.13 version handy. Or a second drive with 10.13. I liked several options in High Sierra better than in Catalina, and have reverted while I suss out some drive issues. In particular Catalina loses the F12 option with the calculator and calendar, which is in my muscle memory, thus Fast to access. I also loath the way items display visually in a folder with 10.15. It's far harder to find a particular item when it's visual and I'm trying to sort it out from a larger sample. Relabeling everything before they go into folders would partically solve this, but I'm not that guy.
Maybe check in the sound settings - output - check if the internal speaker is selected as output. Didn't really test this myself as the quality of it isn't really great.
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.
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.
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.
Its 2024 now - After following these steps, can the OS be upgraded to Sonoma directly? Or can the Sonoma OS be chosen to start with to download on the USB drive?
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.
yo lo hice hace un mes pero no lo recomiendo, la 2012 corre perfecto con big sur y algunos bugs como colgarse toda la mac, monterrey corre mejor (recomiendo hasta aqui) y ventura se cuelga y va muy lento. en conclucion me quedo con bigsur para trabajos pesados y monterrrey para algo intermedio, catalina y usas cosas muy pesadas antiguas pero pesadas
Very good video ;-) I have the same Mac Mini (Late 2012, i5, Intel HD 4000 Graphics, SSD disk(installed after I bought it)) running still on last Apple supported MacOS(Catalina 10.15.7). I am still happy with it beside one item, the graphic card. I have a Monitor which has a resolution of 3440x1440 pixels , but the Intel HD4000 can just run on 2560x1440. Can this update to Ventura get me a higher resolution or is the graphic hardware the limit? Thanks!
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 :-)
Awesome!!! Great video. So I did this same thing to my 2012 Mac Mini SSD with 500GB and 16 GB ram. I also went ahead and installed OS Ventura.. That was 2 weeks ago and everything is still running lightning fast. I loaded the latest Logic Pro on it and it still runs great. There is one issue. If I try to bring audio in with my audio in-outbox it just won't work. Logic recognizes it. It allows me to select it as audio-in but it won't record. I'm thinking it's because of the old USB ports on this 2012 Mac? Could it be that they are not strong enough? What might be a workaround? Thanks
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
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
Not mac user here, was thinking of buying a second hand Mac Mini 2012 model (either i5 2.5 ghz with 8 gb Ram/ 1 TB storage or i7 2.5 ghz with 4 gb of ram and 500 gb storage) for my secondary machine. Not going to use it for heavy work (maybe light movie editing, etc in the future) Which one should i choose? Cheers.
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!
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
On the last step when I choose Mac OS installer and it takes some minutes after that it shows me that I have no any software on it and now I can’t come back to Mac OS Catalina on Mac mini 2012 that I have please someone to help me or to get contact with
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.
Hello. I had the same Mac mini i5. But working with big sur . Ventura will get worse or should I update to this one ? I fell big sur and Monterrey quite similar,but BS seems a little faster. Thanks !
Hello, I have mac mini 2012 2.6 GHz intel quad core I7 fusion drive...16 G ddr3 memory .is the replacement procedure to switch to an SSd works the same as in the video? thank you very much.
can you tell me if there is a maximum limit in the SSD storage for the Mac mini 2012 ? I read few articles about a limit of 250Go SSD for this generation of Mac mini…
@@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
After performing the whole process, it stucks in the last boot on my Mac Mini 2012. I only get the apple logo and a milimeter white progress line, and thats all. I have tried it several times without any result. Somebody an idea
Hey I am having the exact same issue right now and you are the only person I have seen describing this! I know this is a year after, but did you find a solution ? I tried reinstalling 2 times already and it always gets stuck at the begining of the progress bar...
In ventura I cannot reboot the machine with displayport , just show no signal , while hdmi works fine. Any solutuion for that ? Anyone have the same bug with me ?
Although this is amazing and I am writing this comment on my mac mini 2012 as well, the only downside of this outdated mac mini is that it cannot run 60hz on a 4k scaled monitor. Does anyone know how to work with this? I can only run 30hz on 4k screen and it is a noticeable difference coming from an imac 2022.
Hi Jens. I followed your video for my mid 2012 mac mini i7. I am not able to boot to ventura and during installation an error in the log shows "Cannot find bridged device". Any help on this?
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?
I recently upgraded to Sierra from El Cap because there were some things Safari could no longer do (I don't use it as my main browser but like to use it for certain things.) Can anyone give me a picture of what I'll be breaking by moving to Ventura? Some of the things I'm worried about losing are my old old install of MS Office, old old versions of P-shop and Illustrator that still run, an older version of Security Spy, and maybe EyeTV (which I think may still be updateable for free.) Would cost mondo bucks to update these things.
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.
In case you'd like to install latest macOS Sonoma on unsupported hardware instead, check out the video I did for that: th-cam.com/video/acpQuCIy3GA/w-d-xo.html
I'm an 81-year-old grandma and have probably had 10 2012s run through my life and upgraded them all with SSDs, 16 gigs of ram for my two sons and myself. I just bought another one to upgrade and install Ventura. This is a perfect video for doing it. None of us have busy lives so the few more seconds it takes to load anything is of no consequence. Plus the 2012s are getting cheaper and cheaper. I seem to be a loose ends if I don't have a 2012 to fool around with.😉 They are the best streaming/media boxes ever using TVs as monitors. Thanks for your good work!
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.
@@greenhorngameplays5743if 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.
I‘m exactly in this situation. I got a late 2012 Mac Mini, installed the latest MacOS version possible, which is Catalina. It‘s incredibly slow. Your video is the third one I watched to make it faster, and your video is by far the best. Really great! You tell us that we can install Ventura too, but I don’t see myself beyond that. The only thing I‘ll do is to upgrade it with a 1 TB SSD and 16 GB of RAM. This video helps me to do that best. A big, big THANK YOU!
I had one of these exact machines back in 2019/2020! I used it as my daily machine when we were all online, and it worked like a charm! I upgraded to an M1 though just because I needed something faster for video production, but these are still quite usable I think!
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?
This is EXACTLY what I wanted. I didn't know OpenCore Legacy Patcher existed. THANK YOU!
Ça y est ! Mon Mac Mini fin 2012 est opérationnel. J'ai installé précédemment le système Ventura sur un disque externe SSD (2,5 pouces installé dans un boitier) sur lequel je bootais. Après avoir constaté qu'OpenCore Legacy Patcher fonctionnait, j'ai pu installer le SSD dans le Mac Mini selon vos conseils. Je n'ai juste pas déconnecté l'antenne wifi en mettant délicatement la grille de côté. Il y avait également une troisième vis à dévisser sur le FAN en bas à droite.
Lors de la tentative de redémarrage, 3 bips successifs et récurrents sont apparus. Il s'agissait des barrettes mémoire que j'avais mal remises.
Encore merci pour les explications, très claires.
Thank you for this very clear video. Just upgraded my 2012 Mini to an SSD (but still on Mojave) and it's like a new box!
Glad it helped!
I have the i7 version. I installed 2 EVO SSD and 16GB ram and use it as a server with Sonoma. My main machine is. M1 MacMini. these are superb machines.
Hi Jens. Yesterday I bought a used i7 Late 2012 where I would like to replace the built-in 2TB HDD with a 1TB SSD. I have already owned such a model and replaced the serially installed Ram and HDD a few years ago. However, the German TH-cam videos on the subject were more elaborate because in these videos the motherboard was also solved to pull it a little forward to remove the HDD. In your video, removing the HDD as well as inserting the SSD without loosening the motherboard. Thanks for your instructions and greetings from Germany, Thomas.
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.
Puxa cara, vc ne deu uma esperança ❤. Meu mac mini é exatamente igual o seu. Late 2012, vou procurar alguém kra fazer o patch xerto desse ventura pra eu renovar a vida util dele.
I need to do this on y Mac mini 2012 ASAP
I use my i7 16GB 2012 mac mini as a server my main machine is a M1 Mac Mini. The 2012 machine has dual 500GB SSD and an external matching Hub with 2TB storage.
Do you need any adapters to do dual SSD? All the dual HD videos on YT show one Physical drive and one SSD
Great video thank you. I have the late 2012 model with the same processor, back when it was still new upgraded to a dual disk with the ssd carrying the OS and upgraded to 16g of RAM. This summer bought the new mini with only 8g of RAM but it still is so much faster. Should I take the time to upgrade the old mini to Ventura also? Does it run better or worse than Catalina in your opinion? I love both and the 2012 still has life in it. thx
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.
Hi! Great video :)
One questions, could you please tell why the open core is necessary to apply to the system post install?
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.
Thanks for this exceedingly helpful video. Just wondering; will the cooling and fan sensors be affected by the newly swapped SSD. Is there any settings to be done from the system after installation regarding the fan?
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.
Your videos are very good. Slow concise clear . Really appreciate it. Can you show us how to put legacy patcher for different OSes on one USB? Or is that even possible?
Thanks for this vid tutorial. Planning to update my mac mini mid 2011 to ssd cos its very slow. I still want it to be useful somehow.
Makes a huge difference, good luck with the upgrade.
@@jensdbe thank you.
Thanks so much for this and the other more detailed vid for upgrading to Mac OS Ventura. I’ve just finished swapping out my HDD for an SSD.
I did however notice that in this vid when installing Ventura after new SSD is installed, you use install Mac OS Ventura; but in the other vid you use the EFI file instead. May I know what’s the difference?
thank you so much, I was looking for a video like this, it‘s so complete :)
Thank you so so much! I will do the same on mine next week.
The process is easy.
Thanks
Your video is absolutely helpful. After watching it a few times, i give it a go today, i upgraded my mac mini late 2012 i7 to macOs Ventura 🫣🤭 also upgraded my OS SSD to 1tb plus added a 4tb samsung 870 evo ssd for my files and photos. I am planning to upgrade the ram next to 16GB again.
your video is easy to follow, really on point. I was able to install it easily rather than re-installing macOS Catalina when I reformatted my macmini yrs ago 😅 i only have a question, how does the fan works? Does your macmini gets so hat easily? If yes, what do you do to minimize the heat?
Before this upgrade, my macmini was running smooth and quiet. I added an external usb fan on the back which help to lessen the heat. I was able to run my macmini for two days without shutting down and doing browsing and little youtube, the temp only goes as far 60 celsius. But now after the upgrade, i cant make it lower than 75 celsius.
Anyone running the same problem? Is it because of the ram?
Please if anyone have any idea how to fix the heat issue, i am happy to listen and try to do it. ☺️😉 TIA 🙃
Again thanks for this video. Its awesome ☺️
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.
Perfect explanation. All clear and precise.
Glad it was helpful!
I have the same Mac Mini i5, exactly the same SSD disk and 16GB of RAM. After install Ventura GUI is much slower than on Catalina for example. Selecting an option in System Settings from sidebar take 1-2 seconds
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: th-cam.com/video/ZI7pjHKyuJY/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the advice from your video. I had successfully patch my OS to ventrura. Was initially having problems with the graphic rendering which is more or..less😅resolved with the latest patch. I am curious if there is any potential net safety issues I should pay attention to. I am a first time mac user hence pls pardon me if I had raised stupid questions.😅
I purchased logic pro X software years ago. If I do this HDD to SSD exchange, will I be able to log into my Apple account and reinstall logic Pro X to SSD? Or will apple logic software recognize the processor’s serial number, and reject reinstall?
nice tutorial… this will work more faster on 870 SAMSUNG SSD EVO
Worked like a charm
Great tutorial! Now its time to look for Mac Mini second hand.
I just cracked my 2012 Mini 2.6 i7 for the first time because I wanted to eliminate HDD spin-ups from my life. I followed the instructions on Macfixit to swap in the SDD. It did not go well. I destroyed the IR harness (which I've never used and never will) and had a really hard time getting the new hard drive seated with the ribbon in any kind of reasonable positioning. Ended up with the SSD hanging at an angle, fingers crossed that the connector doesn't pop off the motherboard. Not sure I got the wifi antenna connected properly again. But it works and I'm booting from an intrernal SSD finally.
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.
if you just did the ssd upgrade and left the mac mini on catalina, would it be faster than ventura?
I did a video exactly on that subject. You can find it over here: th-cam.com/video/ZI7pjHKyuJY/w-d-xo.html
Nice explanation on upgrade. I have few doubts:
1) Can Mac Mini late 2012 (intel i5) take 1TB SATA Crucial SSD MX500 series.
2) Is it adviceable to add 500GB Samsung SSD. (I mean Addition and not replacement). Will it work properly with 2 different type of Hard drives.?
3) I have already upgraded my mac mini with 16 GB RAM (8+8) of Crucial. Should I upgrade SSD also of CRUCIAL or it does not make any difference.
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
Thanks for the complete guide. I want to ask, what if we in the future want to upgrade our Mac mini to a newer Mac OS, do we have to install it the same way?
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.
I have a Mac mini (late 2012) running on Catalina with an SSD. My question is : is it possible to update to Ventura without doing a fresh installation with OpenCore Legacy Patcher ?
I have the same question.
Great video, thank you! How do I mirror all my data and software from old hard drive?
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.
Bonjour bravo pour cette vidéo ! j'ais 2 questions je voulais savoir combien de RAM peut supporter le Mac mini 2012 ? et est ce que le fait de mettre Ventura ne bloque pas le Mac mini pour d'éventuelles et prochaine mise à jour d os ? Merci
Hello congratulations for this video! I have 2 questions I wanted to know how much RAM can the Mac mini 2012 support? and does putting Ventura not block the Mac mini for possible and next OS update? Thank you
tu peux mettre 16GB de ram dans le mini 2012
Nice job Jens. Dank U wel!!! One doubt please: Is Ventura or Sonoma stable with the Mac Mini late 2012 6.1 (i7 3615QM)? Thanks a lot and happy new 2024 year!!
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.
Thank you so much!! I love you :>
I followed the steps and installed the Monterey OS, which brings back my old device to be a truly usable one, thanks so much! I just want to ask, after successfully setting up the Mac, there is software update option available to install Sonoma. Is it possible to install it with my Macmini6,2?
It should be possible to upgrade to Sonoma. Best is to first install the latest version on OCLP before that.
I did create a specific video on Sonoma as well in case you would be interested: th-cam.com/video/acpQuCIy3GA/w-d-xo.html
I’ve watched several of these videos and my hard drive will not come out . I’ve followed every step.
It takes a bit of wiggling to get it out. Just be careful and look good at each side.
Mac mini (Late 2012),2.3gHz, i7 processor, 16GB RAM, new WD 500GB SSD, freezes every coup[e days and needs a hard restart. Not sure if it's Catalina, Chrome or something else. When I do the command for a Hardware Test, I'm taken to internet recovery? Not sure what to do with this machine. It's basically used for its HDMI port and connected to my HDTV for internet.
Who are dominic feira, gullian xiao, mykola grymalyuk? And why are those apps running in the background after Ventura installation?
i have mac mini late 2012 16 gb ram i7 2.3 GHZ so it is the macmini 6.2 .. i install Ventura with the latest opencore root patch i do everithing fine. works fine only problem is the CPU TEMP AVG of 80 c on max CPU FAN !! max cpu i get was 100 c
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?
Hi there - could you run the latest Xcode on this older 2012 machine after Ventura update ? You can u update the machine in the future or are you stuck with Ventura ?
After installing this, how do you run the MacOS updates?
Can you update it though the MacOS as before?
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?
Hello i try this video for a macmini end 2012. The weather app and imessages app don t work and crash after ventura installation on my mac. Do you know how to fix it easy? Thank you very much
Nice!
Happy new year 🎉
Same to you!
I’m right now setting up a 2014 mini with 8GB RAM which was standard on it new and a swapped 256GB SSD but i DONT want to install Ventura on it since it’s not supported. Instead i want to run MacOS 10.12 or 10.13 with the last working full service version of macOS Server
For my Mac mini show a Magic Mouse and keyboard but I don’t have it and Istaletion doesn’t continue
Thanks. Very clear
Thank you so much you saved my mac
Hi and thanks for the video, but I have a problem when booting and installing Ventura on my Mac mini 6.1. When selecting Install Ventura on EFI boot, it requires some internet connection, when connected, it tries to download some kind of files that "can't be downloaded now". What am I doing wrong?
hello Jens, do you share somewhere which hardware you selected? I am not super knowledgable about the options and I would like to just copy what you did :D
I also would recommend you to start an affiliate account to gain some profits out of these links. But that is definitely your call.
I have the same Mac mini as you. Does universal control work on Mac OS Ventura for you?
Great video, but how is the performance of Ventura on the system, I hear it is a bit sluggish which is why I have stayed on Monterey...
I do plan to do a video on that subject exactly. So far it feels pretty fine but a few benchmarks would be good.
Great video. Thank you :)
I’m trying to basically do the exact same thing on my late 2012 (mine is i7, only difference). Catalina expiring has led me here. I started with an attempt to use OCLP for Sonoma, but quickly realized it was time to upgrade my Boot HDD (I have 2-1TB HDDs). I want to keep my Backup HDD and replace my Boot HDD (in the upper bay) with a SSD and upgrade to Sonoma. Same setup with the hard drives- not trying to do a Fusion setup- old HDD for backup and new SSD to run the system as a Boot drive. My question is, since I will want to backup from Time Machine via my old HDD Backup drive, should I install the new SSD with Catalina OS rather than doing both SSD upgrade and the OS upgrade as you did in the video? I’m wondering if I do them together like you did, will the Time Machine backup from the old Backup HDD just reverse the Sonoma upgrade back to Catalina anyway? Since I am backing up from Time Machine after the SSD upgrade, should I just wait and run OCLP for the Sonoma upgrade after I install the new SSD? Thanks in advance for any advice!
btw happy new year
Hey great video. So for some reason my disk utility is a mountain lion version of it and the opencore will not open up to install maverick? Any help?
Hi Jens, I'm upgrading my Mac Pro 5,1 using your suggestions in previous videos. Can I bring it up to Ventura?
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.
thanks for the video , I have mid 2011 Mac mini with 4 gb ram , can I upgrade it with more ram and ssd drive? if yes kindly suggest which ram and how much ram should I install , thanks again
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).
Hi Jens,
Another great video😊
Of course all the best wishes for 2023!
Question,
Ido have a Mac mini mid 2011.
Do you think I can upgrade this also to Ventura?
At the moment is still runs on latest supported os high Sierra.
Thanks, Hans
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.
I did all the upgrades as well but stayed with Monteray. I found no need to upgrade to Ventura. It didn't offer anything of note.
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.
Pefect. Mulțumesc mult.
Amazing job!
I love this channell :)
Nice to hear! Thanks
Hi, just a quick question, if I install Ventura with open core, Im still having the airdrop and all that stuff right?
Hi, I have watched who’s video and your other video related to this.
Followed every step and have used a 32gb Toshiba usb.
Since trying to launch from flash drive it will load partially then produce a prohibited sign. Is that fixable? I cannot find a work around at present… 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.
Caution on upgrades of operating systems, as I believe 10.13 (High Sierra) is the last OS to do both 32 bit and 64 bit apps. If you Need an app which isn't available in a 64 bit form, or the developer isn't making the larger format version easily available, your only option is to partition the drive and have a bootable 10.13 version handy. Or a second drive with 10.13. I liked several options in High Sierra better than in Catalina, and have reverted while I suss out some drive issues. In particular Catalina loses the F12 option with the calculator and calendar, which is in my muscle memory, thus Fast to access. I also loath the way items display visually in a folder with 10.15. It's far harder to find a particular item when it's visual and I'm trying to sort it out from a larger sample. Relabeling everything before they go into folders would partically solve this, but I'm not that guy.
Mojave does 32bit, it was the last.
I'm running Ventura 13.2.1 on My Mac Mini 2012, run great, it however does not recognize the internal speaker, no biggie.
Maybe check in the sound settings - output - check if the internal speaker is selected as output.
Didn't really test this myself as the quality of it isn't really great.
@@jensdbe Did all that before I even posted,... but I didn't reboot, when I did my got my internal speaker, I probably should have posted sooner.
@@mikewilsher1005 good to hear it worked :)
Hi, may a connect second 8TB SSD HD for music server (ROKU, Audirvana)?
Will this system run the lastest Photoshop and or illustrator? I don't need blazing fast, just to work!
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!
Hi Jens,
I'm looking for a Mac Mini. Which one is a good one? I want to be able to make a couple of upgrades, like SSD, memory, and even the chip.
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?
i thought mac mini's dont have screws
I want to upgrade the Late 2012 i7 2.3 with 16 of ram and 480 ssd to Big Sur. wiill it work withouth problems?
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
Its 2024 now - After following these steps, can the OS be upgraded to Sonoma directly? Or can the Sonoma OS be chosen to start with to download on the USB drive?
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.
yo lo hice hace un mes pero no lo recomiendo, la 2012 corre perfecto con big sur y algunos bugs como colgarse toda la mac, monterrey corre mejor (recomiendo hasta aqui) y ventura se cuelga y va muy lento. en conclucion me quedo con bigsur para trabajos pesados y monterrrey para algo intermedio, catalina y usas cosas muy pesadas antiguas pero pesadas
Very good video ;-) I have the same Mac Mini (Late 2012, i5, Intel HD 4000 Graphics, SSD disk(installed after I bought it)) running still on last Apple supported MacOS(Catalina 10.15.7). I am still happy with it beside one item, the graphic card. I have a Monitor which has a resolution of 3440x1440 pixels , but the Intel HD4000 can just run on 2560x1440. Can this update to Ventura get me a higher resolution or is the graphic hardware the limit? Thanks!
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 :-)
Is this graphics card compatible with metal? Are you able to open recent apps?
Both are a yes. Metal-support comes with a patch in OCLP but it does work
My Mac Mini 2014 RAM 16G SSD 256GB HDD 1TB macOS Ventura Upgrade ???
Should run fine to my idea.
lolol for such a small pc u need a mobile processor. but this is not the case for the OptiPlex 5000 Micro Form Factor Though
can the installation proccess be done with the mac wireless bluetooth mouse and keyboard?
Don't have an Apple wirless keyboard/mouse so can't test this, sorry.
Awesome!!! Great video. So I did this same thing to my 2012 Mac Mini SSD with 500GB and 16 GB ram. I also went ahead and installed OS Ventura.. That was 2 weeks ago and everything is still running lightning fast. I loaded the latest Logic Pro on it and it still runs great. There is one issue. If I try to bring audio in with my audio in-outbox it just won't work. Logic recognizes it. It allows me to select it as audio-in but it won't record. I'm thinking it's because of the old USB ports on this 2012 Mac? Could it be that they are not strong enough? What might be a workaround? Thanks
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
Not mac user here, was thinking of buying a second hand Mac Mini 2012 model (either i5 2.5 ghz with 8 gb Ram/ 1 TB storage or i7 2.5 ghz with 4 gb of ram and 500 gb storage) for my secondary machine. Not going to use it for heavy work (maybe light movie editing, etc in the future) Which one should i choose? Cheers.
I'd definitely go for at least 8GB of RAM. Video editing might not be very fluent with either option, depending on the resolution of the video.
@@jensdbe so the i5 option is better than the i7 one? I mean the Ram can be upgrade later on.
@@MrSteve238 if you plan to upgrade the RAM, then definitely the i7 :)
Hi, what if my 2012 Mac Mini hard drive completely dead, so can I create bootable USB using deferent computer? and then install new SSD? Thank you.
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
Does the late 2012 minis allow for a second SSD like in the earlier versions?
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
On the last step when I choose Mac OS installer and it takes some minutes after that it shows me that I have no any software on it and now I can’t come back to Mac OS Catalina on Mac mini 2012 that I have please someone to help me or to get contact with
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?
Hello. I had the same Mac mini i5. But working with big sur . Ventura will get worse or should I update to this one ? I fell big sur and Monterrey quite similar,but BS seems a little faster. Thanks !
Check my latest video for more on performance in Ventura on unsupported hardware: th-cam.com/video/ZI7pjHKyuJY/w-d-xo.html
Hello, I have mac mini 2012 2.6 GHz intel quad core I7 fusion drive...16 G ddr3 memory .is the replacement procedure to switch to an SSd works the same as in the video? thank you very much.
Should work in the same way as far as I know
have you tried running sonoma on your mac mini?
I have not yet. Waiting for the release to give it a try but I read promising comments on OCLP.
I've got a late 2011 mini mac and wonder if I can uograde from Catalina to ventra
That should be perfectly possible with the same method. I explain this in more detail over here: th-cam.com/video/rJlx28Zn6cY/w-d-xo.html
can you tell me if there is a maximum limit in the SSD storage for the Mac mini 2012 ? I read few articles about a limit of 250Go SSD for this generation of Mac mini…
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
After performing the whole process, it stucks in the last boot on my Mac Mini 2012. I only get the apple logo and a milimeter white progress line, and thats all. I have tried it several times without any result. Somebody an idea
Hey I am having the exact same issue right now and you are the only person I have seen describing this! I know this is a year after, but did you find a solution ? I tried reinstalling 2 times already and it always gets stuck at the begining of the progress bar...
Is it possible to install latest XCode too?
Yes
Is it possible to install Samsung 870 evo 500 or something with larger capacity ? Would there be a problem with the controllers ?
Shouldn't be a problem at all. It standard SATA.
I have one installed, no problems
In ventura
I cannot reboot the machine with displayport , just show no signal , while hdmi works fine. Any solutuion for that ?
Anyone have the same bug with me ?
Although this is amazing and I am writing this comment on my mac mini 2012 as well, the only downside of this outdated mac mini is that it cannot run 60hz on a 4k scaled monitor. Does anyone know how to work with this? I can only run 30hz on 4k screen and it is a noticeable difference coming from an imac 2022.
What is the maximum amount of ram., that can be installed in that computer? It would make a good Linux computer.
16GB would be the maximum
@@jensdbe Thanks for the information.
Hi Jens. I followed your video for my mid 2012 mac mini i7. I am not able to boot to ventura and during installation an error in the log shows "Cannot find bridged device". Any help on this?
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?
I recently upgraded to Sierra from El Cap because there were some things Safari could no longer do (I don't use it as my main browser but like to use it for certain things.) Can anyone give me a picture of what I'll be breaking by moving to Ventura? Some of the things I'm worried about losing are my old old install of MS Office, old old versions of P-shop and Illustrator that still run, an older version of Security Spy, and maybe EyeTV (which I think may still be updateable for free.) Would cost mondo bucks to update these things.
Also is Ventura the OS that requires you to do a fresh install rather than a clone if you want a bootable external?
I keep having this issue where it fails the software update installation? Any tips or tricks ?
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.