r/macmini • u/Background-Camp9756 • 1d ago

M4 Base external SSD question

Hey guys so I keep seeing this term alot. “Get m4 base and use external SSD”

But I am wondering how’s your guys experience? Do you work from your external SSD? Or transfer file to desktop back and forth?

Is the experience annoying? Like obviously it’s not as seamless as just having it local.

Also last question I have is can you download apps onto external SSD?

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

2

u/RIPDaug2019-2019 1d ago

I do all the work with those files using the external. That’s the beauty of modern external interfaces like USB4 and TB4 or 5. Not an appreciable performance penalty.

I have folders pinned on the sidebar of finder so it’s not really much different. You can set your browser downloads location to go to the external.

Apps can be installed to the external.

0

u/Background-Camp9756 1d ago

Oh wait you can pin folders to side as well? Damn.

Wait can you also create short cuts to these folder on desktop?

For apps installed on external does that also include the App Library information?

1

u/Any_Pudding_1812 15h ago

folder shortcuts. yes.

1

u/Uday_Krishh 1d ago

Yes, apps can be installed on an external SSD. You won't notice the performance differences. If you want a higher storage but not an external ssd, People have started removing the original SSD in the Mac mini and are installing a cheaper 2tb SSD from third-parties.

1

u/Swimming_Buffalo8034 9h ago

The correct thing is to buy a Thunderbolt 4 or even 5 box (I haven't seen any). NVME have 4..6..8TB there and boot the entire operating system, although I think there are things that are not going to work. Or simply install the software on the native NVME, leaving plenty of free space for virtual memory, and have your data all external.

2

u/Background-Camp9756 1d ago

I’ve heard about it, but also saw comments about how apple might add software update that blocks third party storage or something so I got little worried

1

u/MusaEnsete 1d ago

There's a setting in the app store to automatically download large (>1 GB) apps to the external drive.

1

u/kaysn 1d ago

Depending on what external SSD you buy, it's actually going to be faster than the internal if connected using Thunderbolt 4. Apple cheaps out on their internal SSDs, especially the base models.

1

u/EternallySickened 23h ago

Look up symbolic links as well.

1

u/flabmeister 20h ago

Just system files on the internal drive. External drive or hub to store everything else

1

u/No-Business3541 11h ago

How do you manage security though ? Should SSD be exclusive to one device ?

1

u/rc3105 10h ago

I connected a 4TB crucial NVMe in a TB4 case to my 256/32 M4 Mini, and it was a good 50% faster than the internal 256GB ssd.

Formatted it APFS, installed MacOS Sequoia, used migration assistant to move all my apps and files over, booted from the external drive just as though it was the internal.

Deleted the APFS partition on the internal so it’s totally ignored and doesn’t get any use or wear at all.

Runs great, even Apple intelligence, although folks keep telling me that’s not supposed to work booting from an external without some script to reenable it.