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Announced on October 16, 2014, identifiable by the model number A1347 and EMC 2840.

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Add an SSD (Not PCIe) to Upper Bay

I would like to add a Non-Pcie SSD to the place where an PCIe Blade would normally go. Top shelf behind the fan. My problem, as I see it, is that the available port is PCIe and not SATA. I purchased a "Mac mini 2011 - 2014 Upper SATA cable" from iFixit relying on the phrase Upper SATA Cable. Is there any adapter, PCIe to SATA, anywhere that will do that?

Other than the OWC blade, are there any other options?

Thanks in advance

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The logic board interface is strictly PCIe/NVMe it is unable to support SATA drives. The M.2 interface was designed to support a few different protocols as you can see here.

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Sadly, Apple’s custom interface does not offer what the M.2 interface offered.

There are no custom Apple slot adapter unlike a desktop PC with PCIe slots which offer a SATA interface.

I do strongly recommend sticking with either Apples custom SSDs or going with OWC SSD which meets Apples specs. The adapters and M.2 drives people try to use may appear to work for a time, sadly they don’t hold up.

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I am going to assume based on your references to the "Upper SATA Cable" That you intend to install a 2.5" SATA SSD since that's the style which would connect to that cable. I'm not sure it matters, ultimately since PCIe to SATA is not just a simple conversion, Desktop PCs make use of an entire card for this purpose. But other drive form factors which use the SATA standard exist, so I wanted to make sure I understand correctly.

I have never seen that sort of converter, or adapter. If you want to install a second drive, then your only option would be to install a compatible drive. So yes, realistically OWC, or an m.2 drive via an adapter are your only options. Though if you wanted to try for the adapter method, which could save some money I would do research as to your best options. There are a bevy of substandard adapters and drives.

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mrmacfixit will be eternally grateful.
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