My new mac mini wont startup

i bought my new mac mini this morning and when i wanted to instal it all i got was a grey/blue screen with a flashing map with a question mark.
i tried to start it up with other cable to tv with my mothers computer screen disconnected the internet, mouse and keyboard all didnt work
anyone got an idea on how to fix this?

Hi, try this...
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partition & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.

Similar Messages

New Mac Mini wont boot after OS upgrade

I bought a Mac Mini Yesterday i7 1tb disk
Wire keyboard and track thingie
my first mac
First decided to upgrade OS to latest version
Its been 24 hours and I have not gotten past the grey screen with these 2 spinnung wheels
Dave

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 3
Boot in safe mode.* The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Shut down your computer, wait 30 seconds, and then hold down the shift key while pressing the power button.
When you see the gray Apple logo, release the shift key.
If you are prompted to log in, type your password, and then hold down the shift key again as you click Log in.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
*Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t boot in safe mode. Post for further instructions.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 6
Boot into Recovery again. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.
Step 7
Repeat step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a backup.
Step 8
A dead logic-board battery in a Mac Pro can cause a gray screen at boot. Typically the boot failure will be preceded by loss of the startup disk and system clock settings. See the user manual for replacement instructions.
Step 9
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

Intel Mac Mini wont startup

I know this is not a new one but I have spent hours going through the other posts and trying stuff and I am getting nowhere.
Heres what happens:
I turn it on, the bloop noise sounds and the white screen with the apple comes on. The "gears start going round and round and thats it!
Heres what I have tried:
I have pressed d to run both the regular and long tests which have told me there's nothing wrong.
I have pressed the alt key and got the number 1 disc that came with the mini to show and have clicked on that which has just continued to the "gears" which went on and on again.
I have started in verbose mode and there was a lot of jibber jabber and an error reported on what looked like several lines.
I have tried to power on and press c as soon as the bloop sounded. To no avail.
I believe that I must be missing something. Either I am not doing it right or I have serious problems.
I came down this morning and the machine had frozen. I reset it with the power button and thats when the troubles began.
Oh yeah I also did that thing to reset the smu but that doesnt seem to have had any affect.
I am sorry if I am not helping myself much but I have been trying to sort this all day and my head is gone. HELP PLEASE

WOW! I never thought I would whip up such controversy. Many thanks to all who have so kindly replied. I have to say I am not too fussed that someone got offended. I was referring to the matter of apple support costing so much. £50 a question on the phone is pretty steep when you are trying to break into the market. Heres something I would like to say about apple support though. I was called by my local store who said they wanted to ask me how things were going for customer satisfaction prurposes. I said ok as long as they wouldnt try and sell me something. They said no that wasnt it at all. I talked to them about my experiences for 10 minutes or so when the ******* comes out with "I can see you use your mac for a lot of important things, would you like to take out applecare?" It was read off a card or something. It was that articulate! Anyway I just said to him thats why you called and he said yes. You dont need to know what I did next. The long and the short is I dont have warranty anymore cause its 2 years old and I dont trust warrantys or extended care or any of that. I really need help from people who want to help. which is nearly everyone. If there is anyone who works for apple who knows how to fix this and isnt saying anything cause I said I dont want to spend £100 plus to fix a £350 machine, thats ok. I guess it just proves what i am saying. If you do tell me then I will be a beaming apple acolyte again. Please continue to help me guys. This is more common than you might think and it could happen to any of us. Google it and see.
Many thanks keep up the goood work. I havent given up yet.

Created 3 partitions on new Mac Mini, deleted one, and now Bootcamp wont boot anymore! Need help please!

Here's my dilemma. I have a new Mac Mini - a week old. I installed Windows 7 on it using Mac's Bootcamp assistant. I then set up and configured my Windows 7 world and everything worked fine. No issues logging in between Lion or Win7 via the restart/option key procedure. Well, yesterday I split my Mac HD partition one more time to create a third partition (was created as an "extra", e.g. possible future partition for another operating system). After creating it, I then decided that I didn't really need it. So I deleted it in Disk Utility and attempted to drag the Mac HD partition line downward so as to "fill in the gap" and reclaim the lost hardrive space. It seemed as if I could reclaim about 1 gig or so, but I figured...oh well.
Well, the Mac HD partition seems to work just fine, but now I've noticed that I can't get into the Bootcamp partition anymore. It wont boot. If I try to verify the partition [doesn't even give me "repair" as an option), then it fails and gives me the following error message: "verify volume failed. invalid request." When I go to the Startup Disk option in my System Preferences section, it displays the bootcamp partition as a folder and not as a drive anymore.
I'm assuming that I messed up some permissions or lost some vital links during my attempted resizing/reclaiming of harddrive space. How do I fix this without having to reload either all of my Mac info or all or my Win7 info? I'd hate to consider the last two days of my life loading this crap up a complete loss.
Thanks in advance!

Hi surroundsound,
you can't put more partitions on internal HD once you install winOS with Boot Camp.
The sure fix is to delete the windows partition (with Boot Camp Assistant, not Disk Utility), then getting rid of the extra partition (with Disk Utility).
then you can re-install your win& (recreate the win. partition with Boot Camp) - don't add any partitions after.

My G4 imac wont read a dvd burned on my new mac mini

I burned some pictures on a dvd on my mac mini and when I went to load them on my imac the disc wont show up??? The drive is working as it reads dvds burned on the imac, just not the ones burned on the new mac mini............any ideas? Thanks

You can only use the App Store version to reinstall on your new Mac if you bought Logic via the App Store in the first place.... and then it will appear under the Purchases tab in the Mac App Store App so long as you are signed in using the same Apple ID you used to purchase Logic via the App store in the first place.
If you bought the DVD edition of Logic Studio then you must initially install using those original DVDs to begin with and then update to the latest version of your version of Logic via software updates.
No DVD drive? Buy an external one.. Amazon do a very cheap basic one that works well..
or...
Use Remote Disk if you still have your older Mac which has a built in DVD drive...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5287?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I have a new Mac mini and are using an Acer monitor. Unfortunately, the Acer will not show any image on a startup from cold. It does however work completely correctly when restarting from 'sleep' condition. Can anyone help? Thanks in anticipation.

I have a new Mac mini- changed from Windows XP. I have a peculiar problem. I use an Acer monitorwith the Mac which works fine when the Mac is 'un-sleeped'. But, if I have shutdown the Mac the Acer does not recognisethe start up - at least it shows nothing on screen. When I have shut down - nowknowing the problem, I use an old Samsung monitor to cope with the start up -it does so fine - and then put the Mac to 'sleep', then change monitors andrestart the Mac - the Acer is now fine. I am using the same cables for theSamsung and the Acer. The Acer had no problems with my old Windows system -from sleep or shut down. I really do not think there is anything wrong with theAcer - could it be some sort of recognition problem? Please can anyone assist.Donald Picton

I posted the same question a day ago with no response. I'm using an Acer x193w. You actually don't have to switch monitors to get it to work. Just make sure you turn off the monitor after shutting down the Mac mini (actually push the power button on the monitor, not just let it go to sleep). If you turn on the monitor (push the power button on the monitor), then power up the Mac mini, the monitor is recognized. The issue didnt exist with Snow Leopard for me. It only started after I started using Lion. Hope this issue gets fixed In a future OS update.

IPhoto - crash on startup on brand new mac mini

Hi
Just bought a new Mac Mini, ran migration assistant to move all my files over to the new machine. My iPhoto library is stored on an external hard drive.
Every time I launch iPhoto on the new Mac, it immediately crashes.   The first 30-40 lines of the crash report is below. I have deleted and reinstalled iPhoto with and without the external hard drive connected, no change in result.    Any advice would be appreciated.
Process:               iPhoto [828]
Path:                  /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhoto
Identifier:            com.apple.iPhoto
Version:               ???
Build Info:            iPhotoProject-910029000000000~1
App Item ID:           408981381
App External ID:       729712666
Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [1]
Responsible:           iPhoto [828]
User ID:               501
Date/Time:             2014-10-25 15:12:47.393 -0700
OS Version:            Mac OS X 10.10 (14A389)
Report Version:        11
Anonymous UUID:        2C6F20BE-7212-5D65-8BD7-D2A602BFE128
Time Awake Since Boot: 1600 seconds
Crashed Thread:        0
Exception Type:        EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries
Dyld Error Message:
Library not loaded: /Library/Frameworks/NyxAudioAnalysis.framework/Versions/A/NyxAudioAnalysis
Referenced from: /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Frameworks/iLifeSlideshow.framework/Versions/ A/iLifeSlideshow
Reason: image not found
Binary Images:
    0x7fff65826000 -     0x7fff6585c837 dyld (353.2.1) <4696A982-1500-34EC-9777-1EF7A03E2659> /usr/lib/dyld
    0x7fff8c0a8000 -     0x7fff8c0b1ff7 com.apple.iChat.InstantMessage (8.0 - 4701) <D24EA18F-C735-35F9-91AD-8A6740CCC333> /System/Library/Frameworks/InstantMessage.framework/Versions/A/InstantMessage
    0x7fff8c0b2000 -     0x7fff8c0bfff7 libbz2.1.0.dylib (36) <2DF83FBC-5C08-39E1-94F5-C28653791B5F> /usr/lib/libbz2.1.0.dylib
    0x7fff8c0c0000 -     0x7fff8c0fbfff com.apple.Symbolication (1.4 - 56045) <D64571B1-4483-3FE2-BD67-A91360F79727> /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Symbolication.framework/Versions/A/Symbolicat ion
    0x7fff8c0fc000 -     0x7fff8c13cff7 libGLImage.dylib (11.0.7) <7CBCEB4B-D22F-3116-8B28-D1C22D28C69D> /System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework/Versions/A/Libraries/libGLImage.dyl ib
    0x7fff8c245000 -     0x7fff8c3f5ff7 com.apple.QuartzCore (1.10 - 361.11) <7382E4A9-10B0-3877-B9D7-FA84DC71BA55> /System/Library/Frameworks/QuartzCore.framework/Versions/A/QuartzCore
    0x7fff8c3f6000 -     0x7fff8c413ffb libresolv.9.dylib (57) <26B38E61-298A-3C3A-82C1-3B5E98AD5E29> /usr/lib/libresolv.9.dylib
    0x7fff8c414000 -     0x7fff8c4e6ff7 com.apple.PubSub (1.0.5 - 65.39) <9A915B29-496B-3653-B450-EB1B6EF2BBD7> /System/Library/Frameworks/PubSub.framework/Versions/A/PubSub
    0x7fff8c4e7000 -     0x7fff8c542fff com.apple.QuickLookFramework (5.0 - 675) <D71CD23B-643B-341B-A890-57FE099B36C7> /System/Library/Frameworks/QuickLook.framework/Versions/A/QuickLook
    0x7fff8c543000 -     0x7fff8c544ff7 libsystem_blocks.dylib (65) <9615D10A-FCA7-3BE4-AA1A-1B195DACE1A1> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_blocks.dylib
    0x7fff8c545000 -     0x7fff8c7bffff com.apple.CoreData (110 - 526) <AEEDAF00-D38F-3A15-B3C9-73732940CC55> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreData.framework/Versions/A/CoreData
    0x7fff8c7c0000 -     0x7fff8cac2fff com.apple.HIToolbox (2.1.1 - 756) <9DD121B5-B7EB-3C43-8155-61A4417F8E9A> /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.fra mework/Versions/A/HIToolbox
    0x7fff8caf9000 -     0x7fff8cb45ff7 libcups.2.dylib (408) <9CECCDE3-51D7-3028-830C-F58BD36E3317> /usr/lib/libcups.2.dylib
    0x7fff8cb46000 -     0x7fff8cb4afff libspindump.dylib (182) <7BD8C0AC-1CDA-3864-AE03-470B50160148> /usr/lib/libspindump.dylib
    0x7fff8cb58000 -     0x7fff8cd98ff7 com.apple.AddressBook.framework (9.0 - 1498) <EFCD7F23-4654-3B3F-997B-88054D29D442> /System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/Versions/A/AddressBook
    0x7fff8cd99000 -     0x7fff8cd9fff7 libsystem_networkextension.dylib (167.1.10) <29AB225B-D7FB-30ED-9600-65D44B9A9442> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_networkextension.dylib
    0x7fff8cda0000 -     0x7fff8cde1fff libGLU.dylib (11.0.7) <8037342E-1ECD-385F-B4C3-545CE97B76AE> /System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework/Versions/A/Libraries/libGLU.dylib
    0x7fff8cde2000 -     0x7fff8cdfbff7 com.apple.CFOpenDirectory (10.10 - 187) <0ECA5D80-A045-3A2C-A60C-E1605F3AB6BD> /System/Library/Frameworks/OpenDirectory.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CFOpen Directory.framework/Versions/A/CFOpenDirectory
    0x7fff8cdfc000 -     0x7fff8ce61fff com.apple.framework.internetaccounts (2.1 - 210) <DC8D9230-B7C8-3100-8B2F-399B51A4483A> /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/InternetAccounts.framework/Versions/A/Interne tAccounts
    0x7fff8ce62000 -     0x7fff8ce8efff libsandbox.1.dylib (358.1.1) <9A00BD06-579F-3EDF-9D4C-590DFE54B103> /usr/lib/

Try reinstalling iPhoto from the App Store. You may have to move iPhoto to the Trash bin in the Dock (but don't empty yet), go to the App Store and download and install it again.
If that doesn't help you'll need to boot into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down) and reinstall the system.
Lastly you have 90 days of free phone support from Apple so if all else fails call them.

Just setting up new mac mini however system seems stuck on Bluetooth at startup and not seeing new trackpad or keyboard both wireless?

My new mac mini seems stuck whilst launching for the first time - looking for bluetooth peripherals - they are a new trackpad and wireless keyboard - both in pair mode so I can't see what the issue is..Do I really need to find wired mouse and keyboard to set this up?

Hehehe... Yes, a freshly-booting Mac from the factory can get confused with all that wireless traffic. In the past I've been able to get new Macs to pair with a keyboard and mouse/trackpad by switching the keyboard/mouse/whatever off and then on again while the computer is attempting to find something to pair with. The computer will attempt pairing with the newly-activated device and otherwise pretty much ignore all the other Bluetooth chatter is sees.
That said, whenever I set up a Mac for someone, I always bring a USB keyboard and mouse with me. It makes the process faster and easier. I then set up their Bluetooth input devices later, using System Preferences.

Bootcamp will no longer boot after deleting partition #3 of my new Mac Mini. What happened? Was it the way I tried to reclaim the HDD space for Mac?

Here's my dilemma. I have a new Mac Mini - a week old. I installed Windows 7 on it using Mac's Bootcamp assistant. I then set up and configured my Windows 7 world and everything worked fine. No issues logging in between Lion or Win7 via the restart/option key procedure. Well, yesterday I split my Mac HD partition one more time to create a third partition (was created as an "extra", e.g. possible future partition for another operating system). After creating it, I then decided that I didn't really need it. So I deleted it in Disk Utility and attempted to drag the Mac HD partition line downward so as to "fill in the gap" and reclaim the lost hardrive space. It seemed as if I could reclaim about 1 gig or so, but I figured...oh well.
Well, the Mac HD partition seems to work just fine, but now I've noticed that I can't get into the Bootcamp partition anymore. It wont boot. If I try to verify the partition [doesn't even give me "repair" as an option), then it fails and gives me the following error message: "verify volume failed. invalid request." When I go to the Startup Disk option in my System Preferences section, it displays the bootcamp partition as a folder and not as a drive anymore.
I'm assuming that I messed up some permissions or lost some vital links during my attempted resizing/reclaiming of harddrive space. How do I fix this without having to reload either all of my Mac info or all or my Win7 info? I'd hate to consider the last two days of my life loading this crap up a complete loss.
Thanks in advance!

Thanks for checking in, BDAQua.
Problem solved.
In the docs that came with my Powerlogix accelerator card, I found this sentence buried:
"If you reset the PRAM, the NVRAM code for OS9 compatibility is cleared, so you will have to boot from the Firmawre Update CD and perform this process again in order to boot in OS9."
The "process" it's referring to is the process of setting up the NVRAM for booting into OS9 from the CD.
Fortunately, I was able to find the disk, and it worked as expected. I can now, once again boot into OS9.
Conclusion: My (unadvised) attempt to load Leopard on this old machine apparently reset the PRAM on the accelerator card and cleared the NVRAM code for OS9 boot. Although I did attempt to reset the NVRAM via Open Firmware, it did not reset it on the accelerator card.
So, thank you BDAQua, for your "Ah yes" . . . that's all I needed to steer me in the right direction.
Gratefully,
tupester

2011 i5 Mac mini no startup screen, but computer starts fine...

I just got a new Mac mini MC815 i5 2.3 Ghz a few monrhs ago, and I added 8 GB of RAM and a 750GB 7200 HD then did a fresh install of Lion 10.7.4 a few weeks ago. When I use the Mac mini on any normal 24" Acer PC LCD via HDMI to DVI adaptor or Thunderbolt/Display port to VGA adaptor the Mac mini boots normal. I see the Apple logo and and spinning wheel for about 35-40 seconds and then see the desktop like normal.
As long as I use the mini on a PC LCD panel, there is no problem. When I try to connect the mini to a 32" or 42" television via direct HDMI cable... the colors are all screwed up. I see the apple boot logo, but it is green instead of grey. I tried 2 different TVs and 2 different HDMI cables. Both TVs are 1080p capable and work fine with Windows 7 PCs over HDMI or VGA at 1920x1080@60 or lower. The TVs have 2 HDMI inputs and 2 VGA inputs, so I have to use the VGA adapter. (can't use DVI)
I used the Thunderbolt/Display port to VGA adaptor and the colors are fine. All resolutions work, but I nomrally use 1280x720@60 so I can see the icons better from across the living room. Anyhow everything works perfectly with VGA, except there is no startup screen or logo and it takes a long time to boot after the chime. The TVs are blank and say "No Signal". I timed it with my watch on several occasions and it takes between 90 seconds to 2.5 minutes to boot to the desktop, but the TV says no signal while it is waiting. After the desktop finally comes up, all is well.
I tried 1920x1080, 1280x720, 1366x768... still the same problem. Slow boot, no bootup screen or logo but after boot is finished, everything shows on the TV and fits in the frame (no underscan problems) and the color is normal. The computer is fast and responsive. If connect the mini to a normal 24 inch Acer LCD to VGA I see the logo and it boots in 35-40 seconds.
Any ideas here? Do you think the mini is displaying the startup screen at an unsupported resolution and that is why the TV is blank? After the boot sequence, it finds the proper refresh rate or size then finally shows up? Or do I have 2 bad TVs? Or 2 bad Thunderbolt/Display port to VGA adaptors?
When I hook my 2011 2.3 GHz Macbook Pro (same 8GB RAM and 750GB HD upgrade on it too) to the Thunderbold/Display port to VGA, I don't have this problem at all. When I turn on the Macbook Pro, the Macbook screen shows the grey logo and the TV shows a grey screen until it is fully booted. However, the Macbook Pro also cannot use the Thunderbolt/display port to HDMI adapters either, the colors are usually green.
Anyone else have this problem with their 2011 Mac minis? I want to solve this problem before I buy a second mini for the bedroom TV. When I use my Windows 7 PCs via HDMI or VGA, I have never experienced these problems.

pullman wrote:
First -254 which happens right away. From googling a bit I've discovered this may have to do with having chosen the drive as opposed to the volume as source/target.
So selecting these (but being confused as to how the recovery partition could be included in the restore if I choose only the boot volume and not the boot drive) the restore began. However it stopped after a few minutes complaining about an "input/output error". No further information given.
Sorry, my instructions may have been too vague. Yes, when you boot into the Recovery HD on your internal HD and use the Disk Utility Restore you need to specify the Source and Destination as a volume (e.g. Macintosh HD). Don't select the drive. And make sure the SSD is formated correctly.
With Disk Utility's Restore it does a block level copy so it's like creating an "image" in the PC world (e.g. Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image). This means you get ALL visible and hidden partitions copied over and bootable. With CCC you get a bootable clone of your OS/Apps/Data, but you can't boot to a Recovery HD on that clone. There is none. So, when you clone back to an internal drive, CCC has the Disk Center feature to create a Recovery HD on your internal drive. Disk Utility's Restore, however, clones both OS/Apps/Data and the Recovery HD to your internal drive without having to execute a 2nd step.
Which Intel 520 Series SSD did you install? I have an Intel 520 Series 120GB SSD installed in my Mac Mini in the bottom slot (closest to the bottom opening) and my stock 500GB HDD in the upper slot (in the drive bracket).

Can the new Mac Mini boot Snow Leopard from an external hard drive?

I currently boot my 2009 Mac Mini from a FW800 external drive with 10.6.8. If I just plug my external drive into a new 2011 Mac Mini, will it boot into Snow Leopard if I set it as the startup disk or will I get a kernel panic?

I bought a 2011 Mac Mini, which came with Lion installed. I thought maybe I could repartition it and have a Snow Leopard partition. So I repartitioned it (500gb split into two 250gb partitions). I named the new partition "SnowLeopard" just to make it easy for me to tell the difference.
I attached the external DVD and put in a Snow Leopard installer disc, holding down the C key so it would boot and install from that, but it just spun for awhile. Doesn't appear to work.
Then I read somewhere else that someone had managed to clone a copy of Snow Leopard onto an external drive and boot from that. In their situation they were talking about a MacBook, but the principle seemed sane.
So I rebooted, holding down the T key to put the Mac Mini into Target hard disk mode, and attached it via Firewire to another MacMini (circa 2008 or so, not sure of year, but it was upgraded last year to Snow Leopard and has been upgraded along and along). Then I used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy Snow Leopard (that is, the entire hard disk-- System and all applications and data) to my newer Mac Mini's "snow leopard" partition.
For yucks, when it was done cloning, I restarted the older Mac Mini, and had it boot from the newer Mac Mini's snow leopard partition--- it worked! To make it easy to tell the difference, I changed the desktop background to something completely different. I think I tried booting from Lion but I can't remember if that worked.
Then I rebooted the newer Mac Mini, which booted up in Lion, of course. Going into System Settings, I changed the startup disk to the "snow leopard" partition, and rebooted, and it booted up in Snow Leopard.
I have yet to test the applications on the Snow Leopard partition. Another problem has arisen.
Because with both of the Mac MInis being active on the network, they both had the same computer and user name. So I renamed the newer Mac Mini to something completely different, and changed the password.
Unfortunately, now I cannot change any other setting in the System Settings that requires a password. While the newer Snow Leopard lets me log in with the new user and new password, whenever I try to click the "lock" icon to change something, I'm prompted for a username and password. Apparently this is some different username and password than either the new or old username/password.
I've tried various combinations of both: new user/old password, old user/new password, old user/old password, etc.
So if you do what I've done, be careful about changing the username and password on your cloned computer. I think it may be wiser to create a new user and then delete the old cloned users. I may just have to re-clone the old Mac Mini to the new one again.
If anyone has any ideas about this password conundrum, please pass along!

MAC Mini Server Startup Problems

Help!
MAC newbee. Just bought a new MAC Mini Server, got monitor connections in place; have wireless keyboard and trackpad; at startup I get the white screen with apple background then followed by a screen with a graphic with some rounded-corners rectangle; it just sits there with the rotating gear, rotating forever.
SUpports says I need a wired, USB, keyboard to get it started. Makes no sense to me. Help anyone? I am about to return the product--with disgust.

Below is my the answer to a previous helper. Yes, you need to start with USB before setting your devices to work with bluetooth. Thank you jut the same. Best, Larry
----------------my response-----------
Thanks. You are right. I bought a cheap USB keyboard and mouse and have been doing fine ever since. All's well and working.
There is a rather subdued mention of the need for an initial USB connection in the documentation, however, you'd think that sales--that department is a bit on the weak side--would have said something to me while putting my order together for bluetooth devices only.
Oh well....have been doing fine ever since...all set up. Again, sincere thanks.

New Mac mini died

My brand new Mac mini arrived just a few days ago. Did the upgrade to 10.5.2 and everything was working fine. Tried to turn it on this morning and - nothing.
The machine wont power up; it just sits there. I tried all of the obvious things like checking the connections; the power supply, unplugging the keyboard and mouse, etc. But nothing has worked. It's as if the computer died.
Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be and/or what else I could try? While it's not a "disaster," I was still just exploring Leopard, it is going to be a major inconvenience to have to send it back to Mac Mall then wait for the fix.
Thanks

That is 100% correct. I should pay more attention...I'm used to seeing people posting problems with their old minis not powering up! So, to clarify, for Intel minis, try this:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303446
And from what I've seen on the thread, you already tried this. So, back to Apple Store you go.
I want to get a Mini for a headless server, but I'm waiting for an update. I think they are due.

HT4938 New mac-mini server setup without keyboard and mouse

Im trying to use the server app to setup my new mac mini server without mouse and keyboard, but the server is not listed. I have tried using its IP address with no username and the serial number as password but it won't connect. Any ideas?

You may have a version mismatch. If I recall, setup assistant is OS version dependent so if the refurb is 10.5 and the Mac Pro is 10.6 you will likely not be able to use setup assistant.
However, just use ARD or Screen Sharing to connect. If the mini is visible on the network and in the ready for setup mode, you can ssh into the machine using the root user and the first 8 digits of the machine serial number. Then you can use the kickstart command to startup the ARD agent on the system. Use these commands while in the SSH session.
cd /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources
sudo ./kickstart -activate
sudo ./kickstart -configure -access -on -privs -all -users <shortname>
For now, the user will need to be root because there is no user. Then screen share the system to complete the remainder of the initial setup.
In theory this will work. Works on Xserves, so I believe the minis work the same for initial setup.
Hope this helps

New mac mini server won't start up

Hi I've had the new Mac mini server for 2 day now and it was workinf fine untill I tried to restart it. When I turn it on I just get the apple logo and the gray processing wheel.
I've have used disc utility to check the disc. But that did nothing.
It is picking up the startup disc fine.
Is there anything I can do or will I need to re-install.
Any help would be appreciated.
thanks

Greetings Richard, I ran into a similar situation recently with my mini server. although I believe it to be a problem of my DNS settings getting hosed. I couldn’t log in no matter what log I used-even as the root user.
I had a back up on the second drive of the mini. I did buy the USB drive when I bought the mini, so I was able to boot off the install disc. Then from the menu I choose the back up partion as the start up drive. After restarting, I was at least able to recover and copy my important files to the back up partition. I have not been able to work out the login issue yet. I’ll probably just do a reinstall on the corrupted drive.
In any event, it maybe worth it for you to buy the USB drive and boot off of it.
The verbose mode is for you to be able to login through the command line and trouble shoot from there.
Also, in safe mode, any files that you may want to change permissions, you may need to change the owner and then change the permissions. This is done with the chown command and then chmod command. You’ll need to use the sudo command so you can become the root user to use the commands and make any changes.
Hope this will at least help you get further in troubleshooting this issue.
Bill B

My new mac mini wont startup

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