Upgrade M4 Mac Mini to 1TB | Set Up an External SSD as Your Main Drive!

[@lucasbeier]

Hey! Thanks for the video. I did a very similar approach: 1) Setup the Mac mini with the admin utility account 1.1) Don't log into iCloud 2) Once the setup is done, login into admin utility account 2.1) Connect the external drive 2.2) Create the new admin user (the one I will use daily, in your video the "mini" account) 2.3) On the users and accounts setting, set that user home folder to that external directory. 2.4) Copy files from the /User/ folder to the external drive 3) Restart 4) Login to my new user 5) Setup iCloud as usual Still, there is something weird. When in the user account (mini in the video), if I go to App Store and install an app, then open finder, click on the Applications on the side bar on the left, and then try to remove the app I just installed (either by moving to trash or via Cmd+Opt+Del), I'm prompted to add my password and then to confirm, but I get the following error: "The operation can’t be completed because some items had to be skipped. For each item, choose File > Get Info, make sure “Locked” is deselected, and then check the Sharing & Permissions section. When you are sure the items are unlocked and not designated as Read Only or No Access, try again." Removing the app via terminal with "sudo rm -rf /Applications/.app" works. It works via Finder when using the Admin utility account too. Other users in Reddit had the same issue. Wondering if you also do. BTW, I tried many different ways of setting up the accounts, and it didn't make any difference. I've got the error on all attempts. Wondering if you could test installing an app via App Store when logged in with mini account and then trying to remove it via the UI (ie, Finder > Applications on left sidebar).

[@MrMikebae]

Same issue for me

[@Tolbiny]

I’ve seen a few videos on this, but this is by far the clearest. Really useful, thanks very much.

[@aslamsean]

Glad to hear that feedback!

[@SCHULTZ-nt5jz]

I agree. I have had the same experience. This video has been very informative and step by step, easy to understand and follow through. Thank you.

[@VividTheater]

It’s sad that Apple is still charging so much for storage as if these ssd’s just made it to the market yesterday morning for the first time.😢

[@yohanag3408]

agreed, they could have just use the standard nvme slot… sad that apple is now going current path on upgrading hardware…

[@TheDanEdwards]

The only Mac that has a room for NVME slots is the very expensive Mac Pro, and people who buy that don't care. If you look on KZbin at the teardowns of the new Mac Mini you will see that there is no room for a full size or even half-length NVME stick. Indeed, the M4 Pro Mac Mini has internal storage that is quite oddly shaped (to fit physically.) Additionally, the NAND boards in these machines are not SSDs. They are just the NAND chips, as the device controller is part of the SoC. This is part of the security with modern Apple systems, and the security is why no one can write to the protected areas of the internal storage, without using the installer package.

[@sandert8901]

@@TheDanEdwards thereis no way they did that for security, they only did that so they can charge a lot of money for storage

[@rorywalters1614]

Considering this enclosure is very expensive compared to other ASM2464PD enclosures, I’d go with 2TB SSD with it at least.

[@aslamsean]

Yeah you can go as high as you like. 2 TB would be the sweet spot.

[@mtoscano343]

This is exactly what I did…it was a great way to maximize the value of the M4 Mac Mini…

[@aslamsean]

Glad to hear that!

[@darrenferony9769]

This is one of the clearest and most thorough tutorials I’ve seen, instant sub great job!!!

[@aslamsean]

Glad to hear that!

[@loekos]

thank you so much for running these tests! i've been considering the base model mac mini with an external ssd but i've been concerned about what happens if anything fails, so your clear explanation of the backup process really helps me understand how it can be managed. personally i might consider the 512gb version for applications and an external ssd for files so i can at least have the peace of mind, but it's good to know that the base model is still a fantastic deal that just needs a little more care. thanks for the video!

[@aslamsean]

I am glad you found this useful in your decision making. I think 512gb paired with 2 tb external ssd will be good for many years.

[@sanye4k]

that what i did got with 512 on costco online 80.00 off be here monday can't wait, aslo got 2tb external it be my first mac comp coming from a pc ya i know why take so long i don't know

[@victorchoi1318]

This is gold. You made me order m4 rn

[@aslamsean]

Haha hope you enjoy your m4!

[@areiorum]

I have an SSD that gives me around 800mbs read and write speeds, is it enough to run as the main drive of my new m4 mac mini or do I need the ones above 2000 mbs?

[@EverydayTaiwan]

Thank you so much for making this video much appreciated 🙏 it would also be cool if you also put a step by step in your description or a PDF.

[@tptwk]

Thats a great idea!

[@plotfi1]

I did booting from nvme on my M2 Macbook Pro and it worked great, but this is even better!

[@INBRO-VIDEO]

For over a year I have been running my M2 basic mini from a 1 TB Crucial SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure (total cost £60). However my method is simpler. When I got the mini I set up everything on it normally to try it out and then plugged in the Crucial and installed Sonoma and all my apps on it. I therefore had a dual-boot mini but found that even though the Crucial was only a fifth the speed of the internal, the whole lot was under 4% slower at rendering and exporting video from FCP and Resolve . . . which is negligible. The speed of the drive is of little importance. I have since bought a Thunderbolt NVMe to run the mini and although it is marginally faster the jury is still out on whether it's worth it. I believe that doing this may stop you using Apple Intelligence but that's no big deal and if you need it you can always boot into the mini's SSD which takes less than a minute.

[@aslamsean]

Thanks for sharing your experience

[@christianmahne]

Invaluable advice. Really helpful video. Bookmarked!

[@adamwoodworth5758]

Thank you...very interesting video. I would love to get the m4 mac mini...I used to be a computer technician...I don't use my computer these days. But it's a wonderful deal, except for the storage which you expertly solved.

[@aslamsean]

It’s a great choice!

[@yossi.shaish]

Amazing! I’ve seen some videos about that, this is by far the best. thanks

[@aslamsean]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tptwk]

Thank you for the tutorial. I would like to try tis on my new M4. What about my large Photos library and all my Apple music. I currently have them on external drives and a Macbook. It is not easy moving those files around thanks to Apple. Can those reside on the external main drive? Can you do a video on migrating those photos and music files?

[@rossdonald594]

Well done Sean....... that was quite an operation!! As a matter of interest, what's the performance difference, 1. running your system from the external ssd vs original setup?........ and 2. if you left your system on the internal drive and were just accessing your project from an external ssd, such as a Logic Pro song with a large arrangement? The second option is what I'd be more likely to use.

[@aslamsean]

When using the Crucial T1 Pro, it performs smoothly overall but is noticeably slower compared to an internal SSD. However, when paired with the OWC SSD enclosure, the speeds were almost on par with the Mac’s internal SSD. That’s because it’s runnning on thunderbolt 4. As for Logic Pro, I don’t have extensive experience. But i tested by keeping everything internal and also tried using DaVinci Resolve with project files stored externally. The performance was pretty good when using the OWC SSD enclosure, delivering excellent speeds….. I’m currently working on another video where I’ll directly compare internal vs. external SSD speeds. it’s coming out soon!

[@jacobkan6034]

You can move to an external ssd non-system apps too if you can't install straight on external and link it to the launcher.You can try that and check if your remove app problem resolved. Also,you can move User and System Library folders to external ssd

[@emersonVZLA]

Thanks for the video! Great tutorial. One question: what if I have already set up my mini and logged on to icloud?

[@aslamsean]

Yes you can, first i recommend sign out of current profile then sign into new profile

[@Givovanova]

Hi, beautiful and very useful video, if one day I wanted to change external memory, will it be easy?

[@aslamsean]

thanks! i appreciate it. Currently no memory upgrade option is not available.

[@FancyPlants]

Apple intelligence and many other features are not available when you start up from an external hard drive which you note. There’s a couple of other videos floating around that explain what Apple has prevented if you start up from another type of hard drive besides the built-in one. Sucks. Thanks for this video!

[@sarinsahil]

Do the new Mac M4 Pro allow Samsung T9 to be used to it's full potential with Thunderbolt 5 ports? I mean is it USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 ready or still capped at 10GB/s speeds? Thank you :)

[@isabellavision]

Great video-- Apologies if I missed this-- you put all the home folder files & folders into the root of the external drive, but if I wanted to have multiple users, the external SSD could have multiple "User" folders in the root, right? Also curious if copying Davinci Resolve's application folder to the external and then creating a symlink in /Applications would allow Resolve to run (and update) correctly? Thanks

[@aslamsean]

That’s a great point .. I didn’t test with multiple users but in theory you should be able to create users folders on the external drive and places user profile folder inside of them. When specifying the path in settings you will just need to go 1 folder deeper.

[@MarcosRavena]

Did you try to just reconnect your external drive after the crash? If I accidentally disconnect mine it would my first attempt in real life.

[@aslamsean]

I did try it works in the sense that all my data is back. But I got signed out of many things including iCloud .. chrome etc… unplugging while macOS is running will mess things up for sure .. but you won’t loose data or apps if thats that’s you are wondering

[@sgroadie6367]

@@aslamseanthanks for this. So if I set up the external SSD as raid5, all will be fine if one ssd fails.

[@Skye_the_toller]

On my Mac Studio, the internal SSD 2Tb is far more fast than the SSD proposed here… for excess storage… good… but the app will go faster on the internal drive (on the Mac Studio!)

[@sgroadie6367]

Thanks. If I accidentally unplug the external ssd with the Home directory, replug it in, will it work after a reboot?

[@aslamsean]

In my experience it did not work the same. Unplugging and repulsing, your data will be accessible but, you will be singed out of iCloud and email, messages FaceTime etc... so you have to be careful.

[@sgroadie6367]

@ thanks. But is that just sign in again, and all else works?

[@teroauranen4953]

What happens if you did log onto your Apple ID and iCloud before doing this? Does it fail in such a case, or is it just that you need to copy more data while moving the home folder?

[@aslamsean]

No it does not fail. You can just log out and log back in into new profile later

[@jasonbruno324]

I've already set up my mini. Will resetting the mini to default and then starting again with the crucial drive fallowing your instruction do the trick?

[@aslamsean]

You can reset it or just setup a new user profile .. just sign off iCloud from existing and sign into iCloud on new one.

[@jasonbruno324]

@@aslamsean Thank you for the reply ! Do I erase the old user profile?

[@kabirnanavati]

Great video! I'm planning to buy the Crucial X10 Pro, but I want to use it on both my Windows laptop and Mac Mini (majority of the time it'll stay plugged into my Mac Mini M4). Could you recommend the best file format to use for frequent file transfers between both systems?

[@aslamsean]

If you want to use it on both system. Just leave it as is. By default it will come as EXFAT format and that works with both windows and Mac. If you do NTFS then it won't work with Mac Likewise if you do APFS won't work with windows. Do note, that Crucial X10 Pro will run 900 MB Read and 900MB write speeds on the Mac as MACs do not support usb gen 3.2 2x2. Should get full advertised speeds on windows if it has usb gen 3.2 2x2

[@kabirnanavati]

@aslamsean Thank you for the detailed response! I'm planning to keep it plugged into my Mac mini and run Illustrator , Photoshop, After Effects and Lightroom files from the SSD and occasionally use it for some file transfers from my Windows laptop. Will this setup run smoothly?

[@isabellavision]

@@aslamsean Assuming that there is not a need to share files between the Mac and Windows computers on the X10 Pro, would it work better to partition the X10 Pro into an APFS and a FAT partition (and then use the Windows computer could reformat its partition to NTFS if needed), and each side would have its best native format? I would be concerned about using EXFAT format for a Mac Home folder, but maybe you've tested that sufficiently to say it works? GREAT video, thanks.

[@johnpwrites]

Can iCloud be turned on to backup documents , photos , and other default folders after you set the external SD up?

[@aslamsean]

Yes if you choose the route I showed you iCloud works fine plus all the icloud files and folders get placed on the external.

[@johnpwrites]

@@aslamsean Fantastic... I got a little lost in the tech and need to watch the vid again. Great job and thanks!

[@defyiant]

Can we do any of this if our mini is already set up.

[@aslamsean]

You can still do it .. will just need to sign out or iCloud and sign back in new profile

[@RRStudioVelsao]

Very informative video bro!!!! Does iCloud backup n sync document folder on your ext SSD which is x10 pro in your case?

[@aslamsean]

Yes icloud sync works fine when on external ssd.

[@ShoutingMan]

@@aslamseanWhen I did this, Spotlight no longer worked on all user files (and Finder Tags stopped working). Did you experience any problems with system functions after setting up the external user folder?

[@salharve5473]

Hey Sean, Excellent video. Thank you. A quick question, though. If we want to adopt an external SSD usage in a few months after use, how would the process differ? e.g; I would have already logged in and files would have been stored on the internal SSD. Could you share how i would access the pre-installation screens to hook up an externall SSD. Would creating a Guest user do that for me? Thank you for your efforts. Cheers!

[@aslamsean]

So I have been testing that. Process is similar. You should still make a new admin account for backup purposes. But instead of using admin account use the existing account. you can move user folder over to external ssd and reboot it moves onto external ssd and works fine. So far I am still testing this and seems to be promising.

[@salharve5473]

@@aslamsean Thank you, Sean. Appreciate your response, brother. Do let me know how it works out. Cheers!

[@jbrey8427]

Is it possible with APFS, to format one external SSD and the internal drive, together as one large drive?

[@aslamsean]

No that’s not possible

[@jbrey8427]

​@@aslamsean You do a very thorough job of explaining the process of running from an external. Thank you! But I have to tell you, there are other ways to do this. About a month before the new macs came out, the SSD in my iMac Pro died. I got the idea to run from an internal SSD until I could get a new M4 Mac Mini. Turned out my Time Machine backups were corrupted so i had to get as much off my icloud backup as possible, and recovered more from the internal SSD which I could sometimes mount for a limited time. Fortunately I had long stored important things like music and all long term file storage on an external, so I was able to somehow get everything running perfectly from the external SSD. By the time I could buy the new machine, I almost didn't do it, because the old iMac Pro was running like new from the external. But I wanted the M4 Mac Mini and had been with the iMac Pro for 7 years, so it was time to move on. But that is now my backup machine, and I learned so much about rebuilding and resurrecting, via an external thunderbolt SSD. Now I have two very decent desktop machines. I doubt I will need the iMac Pro but what can I get for a seven year old iMac with a dead internal SSD? Anyway, not much. Besides, I am proud to have found a way to make it run like new. Thanks again for your very orderly methods of doing things right. Wish I had this tutorial 6 weeks ago ;-)

[@NXBYL_PMG]

Not sure if I missed something but it seems like you set this up with an already active Mac or was this done on a fresh Mac? I would like to switch I just don't wanna reset my Mac Studio up lol

[@aslamsean]

that’s a good thought. I am gonna try to test it out. Try to move existing profile onto external one

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

Going to add an nvme to an external case after the weekend. All this talk about apple intelligence not working on external drives, does it matter? What the hell does it do anyway? I can’t even tell what it’s doing on my internal drive to be honest.

[@kevinkendall2182]

At 4:30 you show how the “admin” account can’t see into “mini’s” original home folders, as expected. Can you test whether these privileges held for these home folders after you copied them to the external drive? If you have multiple people using your computer you would want this privacy feature to be in place on all users’ external folders.

[@kyleritter3074]

question, why would one want to make the the external the main drive? why not use the main as main and an external as external like traditionally?

[@aslamsean]

Good questions … this process Automatically stores user-specific data, such as profiles and project files, on the external drive. Otherwise you would need to make all movements and configurations manually..

[@ShoutingMan]

My experience working this out the past two weeks is Spotlight no longer works with the User folder on an external drive and using iCloud Drive file sync. I’m curious if the KZbinr experienced the same issue. And if they did, how they fixed it?

[@MrSamPhoenix]

Just looked on Amazon… they’re only selling the M4 Mac mini for $559.

[@aslamsean]

Sadly looks like the additional $59 discount is now gone.

[@MrSamPhoenix]

@ Yeah. If it was still there I would’ve bought two!

[@dilip.rajkumar]

Pulling the external SSD forcibly crashes all the apps , that's crazy .Doesn't restarting the system with the SSD plugged in restore everything?

[@aslamsean]

You get files back but as far as profiles and configurations those are all gone

[@dilip.rajkumar]

If you eject the SSD normally using the eject button in finder or desktop icon, will this work or best to keep the external SSD always connected?

[@lavinchi6709]

Thank so much🎉

[@philipmatthew5209]

you are legend

[@lolo2lolo491]

What a great video and tutorial man :D your calm voice and pedagogical method and presentation just make it a joy to listen to u, keep watching the video and learn from you :D u need to do tutorials and youtube on full time! just sub btw :D i just wanna learn from you programming and anything tech related after just watching this video :D

[@aslamsean]

Thanks a ton! I appreciate and value your feedback!

[@CheugyLive]

I couldn’t get your m4 link to work. Just kept loading the same product over and over again.

[@aslamsean]

Thanks for mentioning it. I just fixed the link amzn.to/3Or13I7

[@aahh5281]

Hello, could you please advise me the best way to connect a MAC MINI M4 PRO to an AZUS PRO ART DISPLAY PA279CRV screen. Thank you

[@areiorum]

I have an SSD that gives me around 800mbs read and write speeds, is it enough to run as the main drive of my new m4 mac mini or do I need the ones above 2000 mbs?

[@aslamsean]

The crucial x10 pro I used and tested on gave me read and write speeds of 900mbps.. and gaming worked fine and apps worked fine. Only ssd that support thunderbolt 4 will give you faster speeds . It’s obviously better to spend extra and get the owc enclosure and nvme ssd then you will get read write speeds around 2100 write and 2800read … since it will be thunderbolt 4 .. but using slower ssd is fine as well.

[@areiorum]

@@aslamsean Great, thanks!

[@urbanvr]

OK, what if I already set up iCloud can I reverse this?

[@aslamsean]

Yes you can just sign out in old profile And sign in into new profile

[@lenanaH]

Thanks for the video. What if one accidentally unplugged the external storage? Does replugging in just fix it right away?

[@RiejWoode]

Yeah, same question

[@mario.crn_]

Bros have you watched the video? He explains everything

[@muzicmaken]

After you install the xternal drive can you migrate everything from the old Mini (M2 in my case) without having to reinstall everything?

[@aslamsean]

Yes process is similar to what I did after the crash. Using migration assist.

[@barryfoster5031]

Can I transfer my old progs and files from my old m1 ?

[@aslamsean]

Yes you can by setting up Time Machine on your current Mac and then do few backups and restore on new Mac using my process

[@barryfoster5031]

@@aslamsean any chance of a quick video showing how to do this? The video you have here is very clear and precise. Thankyou

[@mahfuzalam9621]

Monitor model please ?

[@aslamsean]

It’s not a monitor it’s a 55 inch hisene 4k tv model u6 It’s on a good deal at $347 amzn.to/3Zt5f0f

[@keithmarsh8120]

What about encryption on the external drive?

[@AlloffroadAu]

Maybe Apple should just release a computer with a usable hard drive size. 256 GB in 2024 is just a joke.

[@aslamsean]

It’s called the apple tax

[@TheDanEdwards]

Just order one with larger storage if that's what you need.

[@productiondunne]

where did you get the stand for the echo spot

[@ViralVayo]

Love it 😊

[@aslamsean]

Thanks 😁

[@-OzSteve]

Cant you just clone the original drive to a new SSD and put the new one inside the mac ?

[@njpme]

This is so complicated even as a tech savvy person

[@TheDanEdwards]

It was made a bit too complicated by not explaining why things were done. There are other videos you can find that explain what the MacOS "Home" folder is and how to change it, which is what is happening here.

How do you turn on file vault for external ssd?

[@walt6010]

You can’t. FileVault only works on the boot drive. Securing the relocated users to an external drive is one of the shortcomings of all these relocation YT videos. One method you can try, albeit untested by me, is to format the external drive as APFS Encrypted, which would require the external encryption passphrase to be entered via the admin account created on the internal SSD before any of the relocated users could log in. I'm not aware of any method to enter the passphrase during the boot process similar to how FileVault works.

[@sklynexd]

Sure but the MacOS is still installed on the internal drive not the external one

[@melchora7]

I run my m1 Mac mini on an external drive and you cannot tell the difference when booting and when using...I think this is the preferred way to go, which saves the internal..I don't know if the M4 Mini will allow this, because it took me a few tries to get the M1 to work, but eventually I figured it out....

[@aslamsean]

Yes if you install macOS on external then some features like apple intelligence stop working Edit: if you don’t care about that then yes you can install directly on external os

[@fidelsilva7374]

you dont save 400$ because you need buy, the thunderbolt case ssd 100$ + m.2 ssd depends of the TB and brand is around 100-200 so ...

[@mdeijaz7254]

Has anyone had any issues with the nvme thunderbolt ejecting randomly

[@danvypr2836]

Thanks = mac mini link is incorrect. Check)

[@aslamsean]

Thanks I corrected it in the description amzn.to/3Or13I7

[@AJCoReTV]

You will lose Apple Intelligence by running off external.

[@TheDanEdwards]

You made some of this unnecessarily complicated.

[@aslamsean]

sorry to hear this was complicated for you. I'll try to do better next time.

[@kmliuy]

太麻煩了, 直接買 512GB 的內存就好了 ...

[@pll66]

Why buy a Ferrari and then mod the brakes and cheap out on the tires….just spend the dough to make it go

[@aslamsean]

fair point lol

[@Monkore]

fire

[@MacSoundSolutions]

thief! 🤣

[@NXBYL_PMG]

I literally just watched your vid a few days ago and now I get more suggestions for this. I like Sean's content also so I'm all good with it lol

[@aslamsean]

Haha, I was slow to release my content took me a week to make this video

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@@aslamsean just kidding around, its a free for all on old YT you just popped up on my feed. Spotlight does not want to index the external icloud drive no matter what I have tried, it only does web searches seems to by tied to the internal only.

[@aslamsean]

I agree that this process has some limitations. The reason I did this because when I got my 256gb m4 Mac mini, just having few games and 1 DaVinci resolve project.. I ran out of storage .. that’s what got me researching this.

[@MacSoundSolutions]

@ someone yelled at my video for booting off an external ssd and said just move the home folder and I though hmmm gotta try that. 250,000 views later 🤷🏼

[@untuan]

Thank you so much