Soldered. From the Apple Store page for the 'mini: "Memory This Mac mini comes standard with 8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory. Please note that the memory is built into the computer, so if you think you may need more memory in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase."

IIRC, there has never been a quad in the 'mini. Heat dissipation issues.

You're right, of course.

When I looked into ZFS on OS X as a way to do an ultra-fault-tolerant RAID for a friend's massive media collection (after I painstakingly recovered the data on his Buffalo RAID, as per my original post), the state of the state wasn't very promising, and so I ultimately punted on the idea. But it most certainly looks like the situation has MUCH improved, thanks in large part to the efforts of the OpenZFS Group.

Maybe now Apple will come around and take another look at full-support of ZFS, like what was going to happen in Snow Leopard Server, before Apple got cold feet.

Fortunately, Apple tends to listen to its Userbase pretty well, and there appears to be renewed interest among Users for full-on ZFS Support in OS X. At least we can hope...

At least OpenZFS is now compatible with the newly-released OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).

Thanks for the info!

Well, at least a few ZFS (albeit non-bootable?) versions that work at least up to Mavericks (10.9) seem to be alive and well on OS X, as seen here and here. And here is an informative forum thread from someone who has been using ZFS as his primary filesystem on OS X for over 2 years.

However, to answer the GGP's concerns about not supporting ZFS on a boot drive: If you are truly running a "Server"-type of setup, why, oh, why would you be keeping your main data stores on the System (boot) Drive, anyway? And once you are past that point, then it seems like ZFS is pretty much as "supported" on OS X as it is on most *NIX-based systems. That is to say, to a somewhat greater or lesser extent, depending on your needs/expectations.

But if does seem like ZFS on OS X is anything but a "dead" issue, at least as far as the F/OSS community is concerned. Yes, it would be very nice for Apple to take another look at full-support of ZFS, now that it has matured. Let's hope they get serious about it again someday...

Speaking of specs, does anyone know why there is no i7 configuration, or did I miss a BTO option?

I'm wholeheartedly with you on the consumer-grade NAS RAIDs, been there, painstakingly recovered that...

But I thought that ZFS won't boot on any system. And that Apple was done with its fling with ZFS. Did I miss the memo?

I admit I couldn't find a dual drive configuration, either; but I would bet that Apple sold next to none of those before, or else they wouldn't have killed it.

But wouldn't a TB or even USB 3.0 HD be fast enough for mirroring these days? I mean, I doubt you'd be running an airline reservation or stock-brokerage on it; so what's a few milliseconds between friends?

What? The iMac is anything but sealed.

True, you aren't going to find a dozen choices for a replacement mobo on the shelf at Fry's (anymore than you would for, say a Dell or HP AllInOne); but there are at least some commodity, replaceable parts in an iMac.

And as far as accessibility for repair being a bit tedious, again, I refer to other AIO designs. I would hazard a guess that changing a bad Power Supply in ANY AIO would be a painful experience. But it can be done.

So, "no user changeable parts" is simply hyperbole.

My feelings exactly. And I cried too when I posted my previous Reply. So I know...

The dogs, or the neighbors, want to live there? ;-)

BTW, thanks for your kind words.

You know, as much as I loved my late Sister and my late Mom, I hardly EVER "talk to them". But I never, ever pass by the kitchen window (which looks upon where my two dogs are buried) without telling them they're "good boys", and/or "Daddy loves them", etc. And same thing when I pass by their graves (they're buried side-by-side in separate, home-built, quilt-lined "coffins"), I always say at least "Hi, babies!" to them...

Yes, it is a profound thing to be the instrument of death for something so innocent, loving and loved. A VERY profound thing. Even though I know academically that I was doing the right thing, you can almost NEVER know whether THEY feel it's "Time to Go"... And that is what tears me up, and will likely continue to tear me up for some time to come.

And even though we have gotten a new Mutt (all my dogs have been mixed-breed), this one a sweetie-pie male Pit Bull mix that was being abandoned by (yet another) next-door neighbor who "Couldn't take him with them...", and have already had dozens of heartwarming and funner-than-fun, laugh-out-loud moments with him, there is still a hole in my heart where my babies C.J. and Little Bit live on...

Are you kidding me, Barbara???

Yow!!! As someone who still has nightmares about the two pets (dogs) I have had to have euthanized, one with Osteosarcoma at 17 years old in 2009, and the other with Cronic Renal Failure and Adrenal Gland Cancer at age 13 just last July, something like that makes me insane...

At the risk of getting flamed for "Godwin-ing", I just thought they were a way-over-the-top animal protection group; not the ones who had the "Final Solution" to animal cruelty...

I think they will try it again with some version of the Surface Pro. Trust me, MS is full-steam-ahead these days with "Software As A Service".

Actually the dialog that would have popped up would warn that it was downloaded from the internet, and would have supplied a link to the URL.

LOL! You've made my day...

Mods: Parent is "Informative" in exactly what way?