Adhesive…humbug! Give me magnets.

Go ahead; re-assemble it and make it work. :lol:

Very nice instructional. Replaced a dead HD and am now installing Mint Linux. This will make a nice media server for the house. Thanks!

After reading through this procedure, I now understand why a logic board swap costs about $300 (parts + labor). You’d better know what you’re doing and be precise (and delicate). I counted a dozen steps where I would probably munge things up pretty badly. So thanks for keeping me from destroying what would be, otherwise, repairable. :D

Be extremely careful removing the LCD Temp Sensor from the rear of the screen. If you pull the wire, you run the risk of severing the metal wire from the connector but not notice it because the surrounding plastic insulation may still be intact. Use a razor blade so “shave off” the sensor under the adhesive. I just had the screen replaced by a local shop and, upon boot, the fan was running full-speed and the Mac’s speed was miserable; Excel took 30 bounces in the Dock to launch rather than the expected 4-5. Novabench showed the Mac running at 4% of its expected speed (overall). The tech examined the sensor carefully, found the broken connection, soldered it back into place, and all was fine. Note that the (partially disconnected) sensor actually showed up when I ran Macs Fan Control in an attempt to work-around this. No problem controlling the fan speed then but the iMac’s running speed was awful until the disconnected sensor wire was fixed.

2012 model - Had to remove (slide out) the motherboard assembly (disconnecting power cable from rear of mobo) in order to reach the two screws holding the HD in its plastic frame. Then the two rubber bumpers (when attached to the new SSD) didn’t want to go back into the mating holes in the frame. I trimmed off some rubber all around the bumpers until they fit. I expect the age of the mini plus all the heat hardened up the bumpers.

The strange thing is that this 2012 mini is radically different (HD mounting-wise) than my old 2012 mini (that I no longer have). My old one was a snap to swap out the HD. Just glad this one (the one triggering this comment) went back together okay; I was not expecting the Spanish Inquisition. :D

Agreed. I just rotated the antenna plate out of the way.

Absolutely correct. Thanks. The wide-head screws holding in the antenna plate may be used on the upper side of the HD (SSD in my case) to help hold the side of the HD that slips under the case -up- so the two side mounting screws in the drive may be seated properly in the case. This is easier to do than to describe. (Others have noted this, as well and I followed the advice.)

60 steps in...then 60 steps out(!)

Clamshell mode for me, I'm afraid.

:D

If you rush through the reassembly, it's very easy to miss reconnecting the LCD Temp Display cable. I just did it and one of the fans came on full-speed and stayed there through a new macOS install. Did a Google search and found mention of this symptom. At first I was thinking I switched one or more of the inverter cables but this guide shows that this is not a problem. Once I reviewed this step, the problem was obvious as was the solution. Thanks again, iFixit, for saving my nappy behind.