Should You Run Applications on an External Drive on Mac

Should you run your applications on an external drive on a Mac? I want to talk about running applications on an external hard drive whether using Windows, Linux, and specifically with MacOS. It is possible to run applications and software on an external drive, however the bigger question is, should you run these programs exclusively on that drive.
I also test out gaming on an external SSD, which does seem to hold up well and appears to be a viable option. So, for those of you that want to save space and game on a Mac and use an external SSD, this may be an option for you.
bit.ly/dynamiclibrary
Intro: 0:00
Your buying decision: 0:42
Installing Applications: 02:36
Types of Libraries: 03:03
Keeping Media on the External: 04:35
Pitfalls of the app on the external: 05:10
Memory Swap: 06:56
Application FIle Size: 08:27
Gaming on an external drive: 09:46
Summary: 12:05
External SSD Options:
OWC I edited on: amzn.to/36hzzyO
OWC Direct: bit.ly/OWCElektron
Fledging TB3 Enclosure: geni.us/flJqziY (Amazon)
Acasis: geni.us/1vu6Jqc (Amazon)
WD SSD (gen 3 option): geni.us/N2FAzD (Amazon)
SanDisk Extreme (T00-G25): geni.us/n0B9Q (Amazon)
Samsung T5: geni.us/oS8Hv6K (Amazon)
Samsung T7: geni.us/IwAMY8 (Amazon)
Gear mentioned in this Video:
M1 Macbook Air: geni.us/aB6N (Amazon)
M1 Mac Mini: geni.us/pDK2b (Amazon)
Anker Mini Dock: geni.us/ACcOo (Amazon)
Thunderbolt 3 Dock: amzn.to/2K0b7JO
MX Master 3: geni.us/pfEgz (Amazon)
MX Keys: geni.us/4wiTh (Amazon)
Ultrawide Monitor: geni.us/un9I (Amazon)
Monitor Arm: geni.us/7j1xeS (Amazon)
Audio Gear:
Overhead Microphone: bit.ly/DeityS2SMic
Overhead Mic on Amazon: geni.us/s1A9eNK (Amazon)
Broadcast Microphone (Q9U): geni.us/QkBCC (Amazon)
Handheld Recorder: geni.us/MTyrz (Amazon)
MOTU Interface: geni.us/NMoYwcJ (Amazon)
ATR Dynamic Microphone: geni.us/0V4K0Rk (Amazon)
Samson Dynamic Microphone Choice: geni.us/fVng5fM (Amazon)
Studio Headphones (250 Ohms): geni.us/BuzD (Amazon)
Yamaha Monitors (single): amzn.to/3yfREtN (Amazon)
Studio Monitor Stands: geni.us/MiBAiE6 (Amazon)
What I use to Film:
My Primary Camera: geni.us/gQQxjr3 (Amazon)
Prime Lens 16mm: geni.us/BlBd9 (Amazon)
Sony 18-105: geni.us/Jb3O0 (Amazon)
SanDisk Extreme: geni.us/9MHZlT (Amazon)
Manfrotto Tripod (for vlogging): geni.us/0SYQD (Amazon)
Light Dome: geni.us/TzffFw (Amazon)
Key Light: geni.us/n2kAe (Amazon)
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Kevin Ross
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[@fortwoods]

I feel more stupid after watching this video. You rambled on for more than 13 minutes and really didn’t say anything. But you know what? That’s an art form.

[@KevinRossRN]

Hey I’ll be here all night. Thanks so much for your kind words. And hey, if you dropped a few IQ points, I feel certain you’ll be able to get them back in no time. Best of luck!

[@fortwoods]

@@KevinRossRN hey I'm the one who spent the 13 minutes. I'm usually in and out of videos quickly but you kept my attention. Like I said, you are an artist.

[@KevinRossRN]

I’ll continue to work on my artistic craft. In the meantime I hope you found or will find what you’re looking for. Go rock faces, friend 🤘

[@mzzcognac6459]

Lol you funny.But he said some stuff and I found it educational.

[@KevinRossRN]

Well I’m glad you found it educational. Much appreciate you hanging out with us over here. 👊🤘

[@richaellr]

You've been one of the youtubers with most value and information provided, both on tech specifics and general tech use-cases. Thank you.

[@KevinRossRN]

Well I certainly appreciate you taking the time to hang out here, and for the comment. Very thankful.

[@azizaelghali]

You literally just answered a question i had asked on another videos of yours...you are really great at explaining things, god bless you i really appreciate your videos. please do more of them (beginner friendly) and btw you deserve way more subs 👍🏼

[@KevinRossRN]

Just glad to help. Glad you’re here. The community here is continuing to grow and I’m very thankful. 🙏🤘

[@serenatonin]

Thank you for your thorough explanation, especially in terms of keeping the application inside the internal drive. This helped so much! :)

[@KevinRossRN]

Hey, I’m just glad you spent a little time here. Happy to help.

[@jackawesomebruce]

Really really awesome video and informative. I appreciate you answering the real questions

[@KevinRossRN]

Trying to just fill in the gaps where I can. 🤘 Appreciate you.

[@tekamer6566]

Amazing explanation especially with the editing software comparison

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! Glad you found this helpful. Best of luck on your workflow. 🤘

[@JonathanBaileyn2u]

Thank you.. I am a new Mac user (M1) and I had this thought..coming from a Linux OS. This makes a lot of sense.. and I really appreciate you taking the time to share this as thoroughly as you have.

[@KevinRossRN]

Well congratulations on the M1 my friend. I’m glad you found this helpful. Good luck with your setup and I hope you enjoy your Mac for many years to come. Thanks for your time here. 🤙

[@themotobanditshow]

High quality video bud thank you!

[@KevinRossRN]

And that’s a mighty fine comment you got there. Thanks! 🤙

[@CED.Dweller]

Much respect for the way that you explained dll and sll. I'm readying for my A+ certification, and your explanation was the simplest walkthrough and lead-in for explaining the pros and cons of running applications on external storage.

[@KevinRossRN]

Glad that you spent some time here and very thankful that you found it helpful. Best of luck on your certification and your future setup if you go this route. 🤘

[@eoslove2022]

A real and rational POV. THANK YOU.

[@KevinRossRN]

Many thanks. Appreciate your time.

[@imlucaswhitecastle]

Exactly the review I was looking for. Great work! I love it. I’ll definitely do this to an Mac Mini M1 with 256 gb. I want to open different programs to code, edit videos, design and play. Thank you!

[@KevinRossRN]

There you go. Glad it was helpful. Appreciate you being here.

[@msnspy]

I don’t know how or where you get your topics but they are very well interesting. The next Gerald undone 😍🙌🏻

[@KevinRossRN]

Ha! Let’s get undone. It’s funny as I was thinking about this the other day. I have a massive amount of respect for Gerald and he puts in a ton of work. I was hoping to find a balance between some of these videos, but on some them, I really just need to dive deeper, which I suppose is out of my own curiosity, which then ends up here 😀 Hope this helped, or was at least entertaining. Much appreciate you 👊🤙🤘

[@gunquixtar]

Best Info and case study

[@KevinRossRN]

Many thanks friend.

[@Snowflake_Maja]

Thank you for the info, it is still valid. It really helps understand if you move from Windows to Mac.

[@KevinRossRN]

My pleasure to help. Thank you for being here.

[@dallesmike]

depends always on what you want to do and time doing it. You rock and stay the course bro!

[@KevinRossRN]

You know it. 👊 Go rock those faces 🤘

[@jbandabbie]

Kevin, thank you so much for spending the time to build this channel. Your info and communication style is so helpful to many! Is it true that the new Mac Mini can only run 2 displays? Do you know if you can use a third using AirPlay?

[@KevinRossRN]

So it definitely runs two displays. Airplay and sidecar are really sketchy on this device. I can sometimes get my iPad connected, and other times it can’t find the iPad...that is of course with the built in...I’m looking for a third party solution to get better consistency.

[@jaronjohn-charles1159]

Great vid,brother!

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! Appreciate you.

[@xSaliva]

Nice work man

[@KevinRossRN]

Appreciate that. 🤙🤘

[@iforgot3942]

I maxed out the RAM on my 27” iMac (added 128gb from OWC) & the Unified Memory on my 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro with 64gb. I added 2TB storage on both at the time of purchase. I been using the Thunderbolt4 Acasis 40Gbps NVMe enclosures & boot of them now with out needing to touch any of the internal storage. The Samsung T7’s were way to slow to run off. But great for back ups. Having two of the enclosures I use them now for everything without loss of performance. I have no need to write to either internal drive since I’ve got the enclosures. Except to write or store my most important things. 6 places have all my most important Apps, files, folders, duplicate systems, backup’s, etc. 2x Internal drives, x2 external boot/system drives, x2 backups. I love using the external SSD enclosures. It change my work flow tremendously. I hope these Mac’s last forever. I’ll swap out the NVMe SSD’s when full with a new one & repeat. As long as I don’t use up the TBW’s on the internals these Mac’s should last 4ever.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah these enclosures are so clutch. I appreciate you sharing your setup and use case here. It’s always great to hear about how things are working out for others. As far as the TBW, I hear you. I know we don’t really have a firm understanding of the exact number, but I’ll bet those machines last a good long while. 🤘

[@kawabus]

I used to run MacOS on an external SSD for my work laptop without any issues. That way the external sandboxed my data and allowed my to install my own apps. Great topic!

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! And, thanks for sharing. I used to run MacOS on an old laptop as well, and have run Windows on one of my iMacs on an external. As you said, it’s great to just keep all of that on the external, especially by not having to partition the internal drive. Glad you popped over 👊🤙

[@Tudoricu.Cristian]

what an amazing person. so many good and precious informations this person provides its incredible. good job.

[@KevinRossRN]

I appreciate you too. 🤘😉

[@KimEidem]

Excellent as always my friend.

[@KevinRossRN]

Many thanks 🙏 Hope you’re doing well.

[@KimEidem]

@@KevinRossRN Yeah i am well, but my brother got covid, so I had to help the family with their children. Been a few very hectic weeks, but everything is fine now thank god! I hope all is well also with you ? Il throw you a mail during the week my friend!

[@KevinRossRN]

Sending my best. Until it affects you directly, or someone you care about, it’s hard to have full context. One of the reasons why I’ve mostly been filming in this studio. I’m exposed to high risk folks all the time, so just doing my part. For some it’s a blip, and for others it’s life changing. But again, sending my best. If you do reach out, just hang tight. My primary inbox is sitting at 3,700 🤪😆

[@KimEidem]

@@KevinRossRN lol, no worries :D be safe my friend!

[@KevinRossRN]

😉🤙

[@puredistancegolf]

Good video. Thanks.

[@KevinRossRN]

And thank you. 🤘😊

[@HypeOmanic]

Interesting, thanks for the breakdown. Got my wheels turning now.

[@KevinRossRN]

Alrighty then. Keep those wheels spinning. 🤘

[@JayemelMusicUniverse16]

Thank you so much for this!! Clearing misconceptions and how to organize and optimize my storage to the best efficient possible. Im doing music production and some vst and plugins will take space so if i can save them and operate them from there will be a huge plus for me. What do you think is best? Thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, I would say your libraries/media is a great place to store and run these from the external SSD. The plugins will definitely be dependent on each one as to whether they need to be installed on the internal where the software is, however all that media that’s generated should be just fine on the external. I rely on these heavily as a creator and run quite a bit off of them.

[@sfk1066]

I just did this for my 2019 IMac with only 500 gb. I got the Glyph atom pro nvme ssd for the five games that took up 165 gb of storage in addition to a steam game whose cloud files were also stored on internal drive. They operate fine on the external drive and I’m now using it partitioned for other regular files and Time Machine as well. For a four year old iMac, this made sense. However I just purchased the new MacBook Pro m2 max chip with 32 gb ram and 4 tb internal storage rather than initial decision to stick with two tb. Since I’m replacing a 2014/2015 MacBook Pro I’m transferring close to 500 gb of that storage into the new one, which made me realize the longevity and future proofing of the machine since I’ll likely have it for 6-8 or more years. I may eventually add an external drive for the new MacBook Pro with 4 tb but forking out extra money on internal drive gives me insurance when I’m too mobile to carry the external drive. It also gives more time not to have to worry about buying another pricy external hard drive for a while.

[@KevinRossRN]

Appreciate you sharing, and agree on the (extra) portability of that internal investment you made. The external SSDs are nice to have and can certainly “upgrade” a machine that’s not upgradeable, but not being tethered is also really nice if you can swing it. 💰

[@philmojii]

Great video very informative, I decided to go with the Base MB Pro which is running like a beast no issues so far. Looks I'll be using external storage for Photoshop and video editing catch files.

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s awesome. It’s a great value. And that external SSD will definitely come in handy.

[@philmojii]

@@KevinRossRN Yes it will just got to decide which one to get.

[@KevinRossRN]

Do you have your eye on any specific ones?

[@philmojii]

@@KevinRossRN Considering the SanDisk Extreme 500GB & the ArmorATD 2TB since I'll get a little more storage at a low price point.

[@KevinRossRN]

Either one should serve you well. I have a couple of SanDisk drives myself.

[@MarieSlim]

Thank you - I appreciate your perspective on this. My HD is so cramped so now I know where to store what.

[@KevinRossRN]

Awesome! Very glad to help. Best of luck on getting things cleaned up and organized.

[@RJUnleashedVideos]

Hi Kevin, thanks for video. After switching to the M1 Mini from 2009 IMac, I decided to store as much content in IPhoto since it’s my only photo editing software I use. With that said photos in IPhoto is taking up the most space on the 512gb HD. My question is what are your thoughts of moving the entire IPhoto software to an external?

[@KevinRossRN]

Yes, those photos can definitely add up. I personally use a combo of Google photos for the cloud back up and I have them living on a NAS so that I also get that redundancy. I rarely keep photos on the machine itself as it’s one on those pieces of media that slowly starts to encroach on that valuable space.

[@anonymousperson9226]

Hi Kevin, I'd like to ask a question. I watch a lot of KZbin videos, songs mostly in 4k quality. so if a install chrome on an external SSD, will I be able to save my SSD's total "TBW" ? I have 256GB base model 2019 MBP13, SSD wear is my worst nightmare.

[@KevinRossRN]

There is certainly an option to install Chrome on an external drive. I mean honestly though, just steaming content, even in 4K wouldn’t necessarily wear out your internal drive that fast. However if it’s a concern, there are more and more software options you can run on an external. I’ve got Windows running on an external SSD.

[@MankindFilm]

Nice, I got the 512gb model and I have like 380gb free space with lots of programs installed onto the mac mini. All my 6k BRAW footage is on a G-Drive 2STB SSD and it runs like so smooth even with color but for the 256gb models, this is a great solution, just get a blazing fast SSD and run projects and programs on it. Great work Kevin!

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, definitely keeping that BRAW on an external is the way to go. All five of these drives I’m holding in this video are almost full 😀 Time to offload that media 😉 And I think getting that 512 will serve you longer. As time goes on those things tend to fill up.

[@3csinapod195]

Never heard of G-Drive till this post. Did a search and feeling like a kid in a candy store looking at the various options. Thanks

[@KevinRossRN]

Just like monitors, it’s a deep rabbit hole 🕳 😀😉

[@brandennfinch]

So you put the applications straight to the gdrive (I got one as well) and just run and save everything to the gdrive? I've done similar w other apps. Figured it would take some weight off the Mac is this thought correct?

[@KevinRossRN]

So in this case some of the apps are installed on the internal drive, which might take a couple of gigs, but the media and the bulk of the data is on the external, although for some apps you can run them entirely on the external. Same with an entire operating system. I have one SSD that I run Windows on.

[@Daniel-wt9bh]

I don't get it, at the end, apps are bundle and can be moved around and config files remain in Library folder. The only problem I see is when the external drive dies or fails to connect for some reason. Dynamic libraries are not a problem as those are going to be located at startup on the file system.

[@waynebeamer]

Hi Kevin: Enjoy the heck out of your YT vids. You keep it simple, especially for geezers like me. Right now, I’m running my 2015 iMac from a 2 TB SSD external drive. I don’t cut video (for the moment) or audio, but I have a crapload of media (movies and music I’ve downloaded plus images)all of which are backed up on Time Machine along with work files. All of those files plus programs are about 820 gigs, give or take. I’m thinking about an m1 Mac mini 16 RAM/2 TB HD, always looking ahead to what parameters I may need over the next 5-6 years. I’ve had awesome luck with the iMac, but I’m thinking the comparable 16/2 with a 5K monitor could be pricy, even considering the monitor I may need to get. Two questions for your opinions: 1. Based on you video, downloading those movies, music and images sounds like an excellent strategy. But how do you back up files like those you really cannot afford to lose or they’re gone? 2. How is Bluetooth working on your m1 Mac mini? I’ve heard/read that’s the only minus about using this rig... A lot to unpack here, but any thought you have would help me get close to making a good decision for me. Keep on creating great content... Cheers! Wayne

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks Wayne. So, as far as my backups (archiving), I utilize a Synology NAS into my workflow. Storage is probably one of the most boring pieces of gear, but I rely on it so much for everything from personal to professional archiving. I think we’ve all been devastated from losing documents, photos/media that couldn’t be recovered. I’m hoping to have a video out on a NAS setup, but still working on those details. As far as BT, I haven’t had those issues. The only thing I recommend is that you’d likely need a wired mouse and keyboard, or the BT (USB) dongle for the wireless mouse and keyboard upon initial setup. Big Sur has caused a few issues for both Intel and M1, but the recent 11.2 update has fixed most of the BT issues, or rather for most users. I have a BT mouse and keyboard, AirPods, an Xbox controller, I connect to my iPad via BT, and several other BT peripherals I’ve tried. So far, so good. But, I did run into that issue of needing a wired setup in the initial boot up. Are you considering the updated 16” ? I was thinking about a video on discussing the rumored 14 and 16.

[@waynebeamer]

@@KevinRossRN Already have a Mac Book Air but from late 2018, so no new laptop for me. Honestly, I’d prefer a desktop machine, but the Mac mini gives me easily portability in driving cross-country. Thanks for the backup suggestions! Cheers! Wayne

[@KevinRossRN]

Heck there’s so much room in that Mini as it is right now that they could shrink it down to the size of the Apple TV 😀 Glad to help friend. Much appreciate the chat 🙏

[@HarikrishnanSrinivasan]

Great video , thanks a lot for the useful information , you explained it in a detailed and structured way.But I’m still not able to decide , should I upgrade the ram or the storage , my use case - coding,music production,occasional video editing.I would be grateful if the community could help me out

[@KevinRossRN]

What are you using for music production? I’m only using Logic, but I know it’s pretty RAM hungry right now.

[@HarikrishnanSrinivasan]

@@KevinRossRN I'm using logic, I have a lot of plugins and sound libraries

[@KevinRossRN]

That would make me nervous for you. I have tested some of the plugins, and you’d have to use the Rosetta 2 version, but it’s definitely hungry for that RAM

[@HarikrishnanSrinivasan]

@@KevinRossRN ohhhh okay... So I should definitely upgrade the ram and if possible the storage also right?

[@KevinRossRN]

If you can, I would recommend it.

[@patricemothie5299]

Thank you for making the digital world more common sense. Well thought out.

[@KevinRossRN]

Many thanks 🙏

[@yookaze]

Awesome video. Do you happen to have videos where you approach the same topic but for beginners?

[@KevinRossRN]

What specifics are you interested in knowing more about?

[@keijansevanrensburg8780]

I don't know if I missed it but how do I run my Adobe programmes and make sure that they are running from my external? Without moving the apps into my external? Am I making sense?

[@joseabraham777]

I really enjoy using my iMac with an external SSD and HDD, I even run macOS from the SSD but I don’t like to do that on a MacBook.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, with that portability factor that’s probably a good idea. Appreciate you hanging on this.

[@spookybooscarystorytime]

the limited space they sell with the new macs is nuts with the size of the apps and the small 2TB with iCloud. I have an external drive where I put all of my docs. I have some apps on there that work from there. I have all of my important apps on the internal drive but I have so many problems trying to install system updates because I'm always running out of space. I miss the days of drag and drop. They need to sell bigger internal disks.

[@KevinRossRN]

I’m in full agreement. As much as they’re pushing the cloud, we still need more space internally (at the base level).

[@itsworldtours]

Hii , What about the cache it is also stored in ssd or in internal Storage

[@jonathanhjelm7979]

Question? Which external drive would you recommend for a Mac M1 mini? I see a lot of conflicting opinions. Thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

You mean aside from the ones in the description of the video? And as far as conflicting options, are you referring to compatibility with the M1?

[@rnerissa3843]

Really appreciate this POV. While I do think that using apps via external drive is a great hack, I agree that it may not be ideal for power users/intensive users. Does the benefit outweigh the risk? Again, love your content! 😊

[@KevinRossRN]

So awesome to see you over here. I was literally just writing a comment on your Luna Display setup, but got a call and got bumped off the video. I’ll pop back over in a sec. Many thanks 🙏

[@Thisnthat979]

@@KevinRossRN hey this is a long second, 2 years has passed, did you go to a difficult universe?

[@KevinRossRN]

More like a challenging one 😉🚀

[@TheBerkeleybob]

Terrific, informative video, Kevin! Quick question: I'm preparing to buy the new Mac Studio w/ 512 GB storage. I am NOT a power user but do have a fair amount of data on my internal iMac 3 TB fusion drive - about 1.7 TB. Goal is to buy a 4 or 5 TB external drive and use that for all of my files. I DO want to keep all of my applications on the local drive, so do you recommend "selective" copying to the new local drive and external drives, or do you suggest instead using Migration Assistant and AFTERWARD dragging the Applications over to the the Mac local drive? I only have about 25 GB of space that my apps are taking up on my iMac 27 inch. Thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

Migration assistant is nice, but a fresh install is what I recommend. So since you’re already in the ecosystem, just sign in with your Apple ID and have those apps and history available on the new machine….just do an iCloud back up of that data. Doesn’t have to be all of your files, but just the iCloud info related to apps if you want. I’d then manually migrate those over to an external drive, but I prefer HDD for archiving because it’s much cheaper, however for files you’re working on or need frequently then an external SSD is advised. So to your question, I would do the selective copying because sometimes you just end up with “garbage” files that are created over the years from installs and application data you don’t even want or need on the new device.

[@TheBerkeleybob]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks Kevin; yes, agreed that seems to make the most amount of sense. I suppose in the past I've always liked the seamless nature in which the Mac OS migrates most all apps such that very little needs to be done in order to configure for a new Mac to recognize - referring primarily to printing and scanning peripherals and such. Clearly not an issue relating to anything Cloud based like a password manager I use, as but one example. To your point about "losing" a bunch or redundancy, yes, great idea! I have all of these iCloud Archives (Archive, Archive - (1), Archive - (2) etc which drives me nuts. Suppose I could lose those as well as a "Relocated File" which appeared mysteriously on the desktop some time ago by avoiding Migration Assistant. :-) In any case, you ROCK and so happy I discovered your channel!

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, it’ll take a bit more time, but this is a great opportunity to do a little summer cleaning 🧹 😉 Great to have you here.

[@guapepenguin]

Thank you so much for this video, I got a little confused but I think I got the point. Basically I should install the apps/programs in the internal storage but I should put all the large files within the application into the external storage? Sorry if i misunderstood something

[@KevinRossRN]

Unless you want to run the entirety of the operating system on an external drive, which I did a quick video on this where I installed Windows on an external SSD, yes, have the app on the internal and all of the media and libraries on the external. 👍

[@guapepenguin]

@@KevinRossRN Alright, than you!

[@KevinRossRN]

You got it 🤙

[@partizanbgd0113]

Thank you for your time and excellent review. Quick question... I am looking to buy either macbook air or pro for my daughter. I realize pro is an overkill for what she will be using it for, with that said, I am leaning towards pro with 16gb of RAM since the price is decent however I want to save money on memory. Since she will be using the laptop mostly for schoolwork, do you think the external memory would suffice for any photos, movies, work files etc with 256gb of internal memory, while keeping the internal ssd available for those necessary apps and files, or am I better off with the macbook air with 512gb of storage and additional 8gb of RAM (16 combined) to future proof the laptop? Personally, I like the sturdy look of pro and few extra features. Thank you to anyone who chimes in.

[@KevinRossRN]

Well I’ll give you a similar example. My wife has the Air with 16GBs of RAM and uses it for work (Marketing). It’s never slowed down or had any issues with what she uses it for. We have iCloud so photos really just get synced there, so that frees up space. It is plenty powerful as all of the M1 chips pretty much perform the same. I personally always prioritize RAM and then storage. Not sure if you’ve checked out Apple’s refurbished store, but you’d never know the difference, and save some money, although there are so many deals on these machines right now that you could likely find a really good price on one that has 16GBs of RAM. Personally I think the MBA is still the most aggressively priced and capable ultrabook right now.

[@partizanbgd0113]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks, I agree MBA is a way to go in our case. Again much appreciated.

[@KevinRossRN]

You got it. Best of luck with your decision 👍

[@kittyroneworton]

Just ordered Mac studio / 8 tb internal/ work w fcp and logic /trying to decide on what Ext and backup drives I should buy

[@KevinRossRN]

Congrats. So do you want to primarily work on that drive, or is it more for archiving?

[@Nyrana]

I have an I7 MBP 2019 with 16GB Ram and 8 GB Radeon Pro 5500M. I’m looking at creating a Window’s operating system and gaming on an external drive. I’m running into games becoming exclusive M1 despite me having a fairly powerful system still. I’m checking to see if you recommend this as an alternative.

[@KevinRossRN]

Oh there will definitely be support for Intel for awhile and you could certainly pursue this avenue. You can trial it for feee before making the investment.

[@pauldonnell6223]

So I'm looking to speed up how my mac processes when I'm working in photoshop, after effects, and premiere. Do you have a video that shows how to setup an external hd to help process when rendering?

[@KevinRossRN]

Totally understand. Unfortunately I just have a video on this workflow for FCPX, but not for Premiere. But as far as photoshop that’s just a matter of setting up your scratch disk and having all your backups on the external. I usually keep a separate SSD dedicated to Photoshop. Anyway, the Adobe community usually has a pretty active user base with the walkthrough on these.

[@Tudoricu.Cristian]

how about installing Ventura on an 990 PRO NVME SSD, put it in an enclosure and boot and run your MAC from that?

[@KevinRossRN]

Of course. Quite a few folks boot and run their OS from an external.

[@patkundesu]

Hello! I’m 9 months late we have the newest MacBooks released already. I am an iOS developer, and I’m still using the 2017 Intel MacBook Pro, and I am coding in it. But seeing a lot and lots of reviews for M1, it makes me really want to get. I’ve been wanting one of these new Macs with M1 because it may reduce my build time drastically. I want to jump off to the M1 Pro MacBooks, but considering their price, I need to save for a couple of months. But for the practical side, I’m thinking of picking up one of those Mac Mini with the M1 chip and just get an upgrade to 16gb memory. It’s way cheaper and can help me get productive and produce more money to get the M1 Pro or Max. Lol And I have crossed your video while I’m searching for informational video about making use of external SSDs to run applications, because Xcode, Android Studio, their simulators and other stuff gets so large that it leaves you wondering what in hell the MacOS is putting on your drive. I haven’t finished your video as I’m writing this, but I’m at the point where I see you talking about the Video editing stuff and apps being saved on the drive. I’d assume it’s pretty much riskier for you to get your videos corrupted during rendering. And I’m thinking of just having a very fast external SSD run my Xcode, and store simulators for that matter, so I don’t need to worry much about the internal storage. Anyway thanks for this video and it gave another factor for me picking up my next Mac.

[@KevinRossRN]

Hey friend. It’s okay to be late because you’re here now. And as far as working on external SSDs I do it all the time and so far, so good. I’m running an Xcode test today on the M1 Max, but what I will say is that the Apple silicon machines are saving folks a lot of time, especially when this is what you’re doing for a living.

[@patkundesu]

@@KevinRossRN thank you very much!

[@KevinRossRN]

And thank you 🙏

[@raktim369]

I am getting my first Mac...and I want to use it for audio production...my question is can I put my libraries in an external SSD and go for. A 512 gb M1 pro?

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah any app that allows for external storage, which many of them do including the Apple developed software like LogicProX and Final Cut, etc. will be on that external.

[@JorgeGomez-lw9xo]

How do you keep the program on the internal drive but move the memory of the program to external

[@KevinRossRN]

Are you asking about a specific program? Many of them have the option to put the media on the external while keeping the actual program on the internal.

[@kellyhopkins7108]

What's the best way to transfer all my media files/folders to my external HD and then clear those files off my Macbook in order to make more space?

[@KevinRossRN]

Aside from just dragging and dropping, some external drives come with software to sync from one drive to an external drive. I use Chronosync to sync large folders to a hard drive. But sometimes I’ll just drag and drop those files if I’m in a bit of a hurry from one drive to another. Then, once I’ve confirmed that transfer, I’ll delete the folders on the drive, empty the trash and clear the drive out. I’ll also sometimes reformat the drive (if it’s an external).

[@julianvan-toller2880]

I'm brand new to Mac and Parallels. So thank you for the video. I have 3 sata HD which I want to put in a docking station, at the moment they are shared from my PC. When I try to open the old programs the win11 says something about the register. It can't open the programs. If I move the VM to the old drive will that allow me to open the programs or do I have to re-install all the old programs again in the VM.

[@KevinRossRN]

Have you by chance tried the Parallels Transporter Agent to move those over to the virtual machine? www.parallels.com/pc/

[@muanngaihte]

My mac Mini M1 16Gb. 2Tb will be arriving within a week. Is Partitioning the 2Tb internal Hardrive recommended. In meantime i will be using Spinning Hard Drive for my export Drive. I will later add another external 2Tb ssd (say may be after a month ) as my Project media drive. and export drive.FCPX is my main editing application

[@KevinRossRN]

Congrats! So are you wanting to partition for Windows or are you thinking about partitioning for your projects and media?

[@muanngaihte]

@@KevinRossRN , i am thinking about second partition for projects and media. is partitioning my 2tb necessary or better use the drive without partitioning.

[@KevinRossRN]

I’d use it without partitioning unless you were wanting to divide it for another operating system. The external SSDs could house the media to work from and the HDD for archiving.

[@jvitorsouzaa]

Is this possible only on the new MacBook M1 or can I also do it on my MacBook Pro 2018?

[@KevinRossRN]

You can indeed.

[@anirudhpratap7454]

Planning to buy MB air m1 will be using it for MATLAB (more into research studies) working on ML (python). On the creative side I'll be using complete adobe set and edit upto 70gb of raw 1080 videos. My edits usually have 4-6 overlays. What specs would be best for me. Will it be good to get the base model nd have an external ssd (samsung t7 1tb) cuz that's preferable for me. Or do i need to upgrade the storage internally (can only upgrade RAM or storage, and after any upgradation i would be left with no money for any external ssd). So what do u suggest??

[@KevinRossRN]

I would definitely recommend upgrading the RAM, especially for video editing, and I would highly recommend that extra RAM for the Adobe suite.

[@ChrisWalterVisuals]

What app is that on the top toolbar showing the disk speeds? at 5:31

[@KevinRossRN]

iStat Menus. It’s a great tool.

[@jamesmccarte1609]

I'm not sure if this issue is different in Mac vs Windows, but for years I've run ALL my applications from an external drive, and have never had any of the problems you mention. I bought a 2014 Mini and when I tried to install Atom, it said there wasn'ty enough space on my internal SSD. And I had hardly any apps installed

[@KevinRossRN]

So you can definitely run your entire OS on an external, and I do (currently) have the entirety of some apps on an external, but for some I just find that they work much better with the app on the internal and the rest of the media can live on the external.

[@jamesmccarte1609]

@@KevinRossRN Is there a category of apps that run better on the internal, or is it a per-app issue (I’m new to Mac)

[@KevinRossRN]

I really like to keep apps for photo editing, video and audio on the internal. They really don’t take that much space. However I keep all of their libraries and media on the external whenever I can. But I have an entire SSD allocated to games because those of course can take up quite a lot of space.

[@kawabus]

Off topic - just received the M1 Mac Mini and I am realizing I need a dock. Do I need to do thunderbolt 3 or would a USB-C hub work? Currently running Samsung T7 & T5 but looking to do an NVMe thunderbolt as you've done in a previous video? Will USB-C hurt performance noticeably?

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s never off topic. So the USB-C dock would only give you (usually) about 5Gbps throughput, whereas the TB3 would give you 10 and 40Gbps options. However, not sure what your budget is, but Caldigit has a brand new TB4 dock. Basically backward compatible, and utilizing USB 4, and likely going to be a decent choice when TB4 is fully supported. 🤷‍♂️ It’s on their website, but still preorder, however OWC also has one. Not that you’d go wrong with a TB3 option, but I like to share any info I have on the latest 😉

[@kawabus]

@@KevinRossRN thanks for the info. That's why I ask the guru 😎

[@KevinRossRN]

Ha! That definitely made me smile.

[@Kngkupi]

HELP..HELP, I have an 256 m1 and i ran out of space. Is the T5 (2tb) going to slow my production down if i run application o ff of it

[@KevinRossRN]

What are you mostly running?

[@Kngkupi]

@@KevinRossRN in terms of apps FCPX, logic pro couple application relating to streaming and thats it . Thank you for reaching out .

[@KevinRossRN]

So you’d keep the application on the internal and all of the media and libraries will exist on the external, and your workflow should be just fine. I always use external drives to work off of.

[@hjalchemy]

So quick question in regards to this. I have a 2017 iMac and the internal 2TB Fusion Drive is really slowing down. I have a 2TB NMVe Gen 4 drive in an enclosure with Thunderbolt 3. I am planning on running the Mac off of this going forward as a permanent boot drive. In this scenario, would you then think it a better idea to run the applications (or certain applications) on the much faster SSD? Thanks for the vid.

[@KevinRossRN]

I mean you can run the whole OS on that drive if you want. The throughput on your TB ports along with that NVMe will be faster than the Fusion drive. If you can set that up, I’d go that route.

[@hjalchemy]

@@KevinRossRN thanks. That is the plan and once everything is running smoother, I can go back and convert the Fusion Drive to just data and backups. Trying to clean up 3TB of images is waiting to be finished.

[@KevinRossRN]

Oh yeah, cleaning that up takes time, but that’s not a bad idea to transition that one over for archiving. I’ll be curious to hear how it’s going.

[@ghosh__abhijit]

Can I run virtualbox ubuntu installed in it, in external drive?

[@KevinRossRN]

The last I heard, virtual box isn’t compatible with M1, but I’d have to double check. Parallels runs great, but I haven’t tested virtualbox.

[@DB-wx1zs]

Hello, I have a question. I’m a photographer and I mainly use my MacBook Pro mid 2012 laptop for editing. I have two hardrives installed in it. The main drive is an SSD and the back up drive is a regular HD with more GBs. So do you think it would be best to store the media files that take up space like pics and videos on the second hard drive, while keeping the programs I use on the main SSD? Then Whenever I need something to run in one of the program’s in the main SSD drive like a photo or video I should pull it from the second drive? Is that what you’re saying? Will that make it run better? Please I would love to know your answer. Thank you

[@KevinRossRN]

Having your programs stored and running off of the SSD will certainly help, and yes, you can just put the media on the HDD. Freeing up space on the SSD should help some with the performance.

[@DB-wx1zs]

@@KevinRossRN Thank you :)

[@kbwfgg6400]

A good detail of the reason, but I am looking for how to do it. I have already put all my files: music, other mp3 audio, documents, my sketches files, etc. on my external ssd from my iMac. But I need to see how to be able to access the external files from the MacBook Pro ssd?

[@KevinRossRN]

So you’re saying that you’ve moved files from your iMac to an external drive and you’ve now connected it to your MacBook Pro?

[@kbwfgg6400]

@@KevinRossRN yes, that's it. Now I am trying to figure out how to use those files on my external from my MacBook.

[@KevinRossRN]

Well you should be able to access all of your folders on the MacBook Pro. Are you seeing these files/folders on the external when connected? Also, are you trying to run the actual programs on the external, or just access the files externally when you have the program opened on the MacBook?

[@fjphoto23]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXiWhJ-pbKx8a7Msi=3RKV2PPyEgMd9YU5

[@sin_phany_tv]

my question is on the mac, running 10.14.6 32gb ram and I7 with 1tb SSD, would like to get a external to run programs but here is the question when formatting the ssd to APFS and click and drag the programs over does it also drag the library folders within application support, or that would have to stay in the internal memory? I am running nexus 3 and it has about 200gb of space should like to know thanks :)

[@KevinRossRN]

I’m uncertain of Nexus 3, but typically the application would remain on the internal. Not necessarily in all cases, but the program itself shouldn’t take that much internal space. It’s usually the libraries. And often, the program sets those libraries up somewhere else (initially), so even if you drag the program you’d have to find the libraries. However, you’d set this up within the app so that it stores and points to the external for the libraries.

[@sin_phany_tv]

@@KevinRossRN you’re absolutely right, I understand but with this mean that I will have to drag the library folder to the external drive as well and it would work like normal or do you recommend me leaving the library folder in the internal? My overall objective is to have the external SSD to work like the internal one and free up some of my internal space

[@KevinRossRN]

What I would do is that dragging and dropping can sometimes cause an issue, so if you drag the library, I’d leave a copy on the internal just to make sure that when you setup the new “direction” where the program has to pull from (the external), just double check that when you open the program that it will populate all libraries, skins, plug-ins, etc. The important thing is making sure you’re pointing that program to the external to find all of those items. Once that occurs, then it should be able to find that media you’ve dragged over.

[@sin_phany_tv]

@@KevinRossRN I want to thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions, here’s my last question, if I drag the library folder from my internal hard drive to the external where do I drag it into the external drive would I have to make a sub folder and Collett for instance Nexus three library, how would I know where to find the library even though you say you don’t know too much about the program but that has me off the wall

[@KevinRossRN]

Since I don’t have access to Nexus 3 I’ll have to use a video editing program as an example. So I typically will manually create folders that are identical to the folders on the internal when it comes to any templates or media, plug-ins, etc. When I’m working in the program itself I automatically choose to have all media and libraries, project files point to the external. This all happens within the program itself. So let’s say I put all the old libraries onto the external. Well, when I open up a project that I worked on in the internal drive I may have to sometimes relink that media or those libraries to that project, but once that happens then the program knows to check there because that’s where I’ve pointed the program to look. Just be mindful that your program may keep very small sized backups of your projects on the internal, and that’s not a bad thing, it just helps the system lay that project out as it was when you last worked on it. But to reiterate it just comes down to making sure everything you need is pointing in that direction, through the program. If you drag and drop, just make sure you’re noting where you’re dragging from because if you have to put it back then you’ll know where you past had it. So it’s not so much about the operating system as it is about the program itself and you setting that up within the preferences.

[@namansinghvig4175]

Can I download windows on the external SSD and use it separately

[@KevinRossRN]

You have to run it through an emulator like Parallels, but you can have it sandboxed on an external. Boot camp doesn’t work on the M1, so that’s why you need it in parallels.

[@ayoubsadouk4399]

Guys I have a question so I just received my father's macbook air 2015 and the storage is almost full and I was thinking of buying an external ssd drive and use it to work with programmes like adobe ...and I also need to work with programmes that aren't supported by mac like solide works so my question is is it possible to install windows on ssd? and is it obligatory to install macos on the external ssd to work with programmes like adobe ? And is it possible to install macos and windows on the same ssd?please guys I'm really really lost 😢😢

[@KevinRossRN]

Since you have the Intel Mac you can run Windows through boot camp, which is a feature that’s built into MacOS. And you can run the OS on the external SSD. You can also do this with Parallels, which I also did a video on. As far as putting both MacOS and Windows on the external, I’d save yourself some time and potential issues of running MacOS on the internal. Partition the external SSD for Windows and keep the other patron for your apps and other software. Also, you may want something like clean my Mac to see what files you can remove so you can get some space back.

[@melvashrum]

I followed one of your videos to set up parallels and a windows 11 VM on an external hard disk. I’m rethinking having the VM on an external disk just because I have accidentally unplugged it before. I’m using the VM TO RUN Corel Paintshop Pro, which doesn’t have a Mac application. Is it possible to move the VM back to my MacBook Pro, but keep the Corel media on the Scandisk? Is that too much programming for a simple user?

[@KevinRossRN]

You can move the package over to the internal and if you want just setup another one (specifically for Corel) on the external. So basically running two virtual machines. Unless you have a lot of memory I wouldn’t recommend running them at the same time.

[@melvashrum]

@@KevinRossRN thank you.

[@KevinRossRN]

Best of luck 🤞

[@KnightBott]

How about Unreal Engine? Load on M1 MacBook w/8 gig ram /256 GB or 4TB external ssd?

[@KevinRossRN]

I haven’t tested that one, but could. I’d still recommend 16GBs when possible though.

[@ifeelverygood]

If you want to use the adobe suite then upgrading to 512GB is a must to keep the apps internal, adobe simply takes up too much space

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, if you’re keeping the bulk of the media on your internal, indeed, it will fill up fast.

[@ifeelverygood]

@@KevinRossRN no just the apps themselves take around 40GB. Not to mention cache and application support etc. Even if you keep all media external 256GB is too small just for keeping all applications internal.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, I use Lightroom pretty frequently, but I’ve started to use it more on my iPad these days.

[@DB-wx1zs]

Hi I have a question I hope you can please answer. I have a MacBook Pro 2015 and I was wondering would it be faster to run gaming or photo editing apps from an external Nvme m.2 ssd rather than the internal one? Please I’d like to know your answer if it would make the apps faster that way.

[@KevinRossRN]

With this configuration it would be better to upgrade the internal SSD if you’re finding you need more space or speed. Because of the Thunderbolt 2 protocol on this machine you unfortunately won’t be able to come close to the advertised speeds of the NVMe…depending on the NVMe you’d choose. And as I’ve mentioned once the game is loaded it’ll usually play, even on a spinning hard drive, but the loading is what takes time. As far as photo editing it could help your workflow if you’re just running out of space on the internal, but going back to an upgrade of the internal SSD, you’ll likely appreciate a nice bump in performance.

[@DB-wx1zs]

@@KevinRossRN Thank you for this insightful explanation, i understand now, it’s better to upgrade the internal SSD with the NVME m.2 with an adapter to make it fit instead of using and running apps from it externally. I kind of had that thought but I wasn’t sure, so that’s why I thought I should ask an expert like you first so I can better understand what’s best. So thank you 🙏🏽

[@KevinRossRN]

@DB-wx1zs my pleasure. I’ve definitely upgraded the SSD on older machines that allow for an upgrade and have always found better performance.

[@DB-wx1zs]

@@KevinRossRN Wow Awesome :)

[@ISPLTube]

What size internal memory would you recommend to work in this way, with apps on the internal and media on the external?

[@KevinRossRN]

What are you mostly using the machine for?

[@ISPLTube]

@@KevinRossRN mostly photo and video editing - just personal home movies not professional

[@KevinRossRN]

Well, I’m a minimum 1TB kind of guy when it comes to that, even with external drives because sometimes I need the space for offloading certain projects back and forth, but I will say that my projects mostly live on external drives anyway. I have a 256GB in the MBA and it’s been fine, however I mostly use it for general tasks, but if it was my choice for creative work I wouldn’t go less than 512. Even with externals I’ve still seen so many folks regretting getting the bare minimum internal drives. Not to mention that these SSDs are really fast and responsive.

[@TheGippy30]

do you game native on M! mac or do you use parallels

[@KevinRossRN]

Mostly native as I (many of us) are still waiting on compatible options because some games won’t load due to lack of support even though they could run on that architecture.

[@3csinapod195]

Mindreader much? Woke up today trying to figure out the M1 I'm getting Davinci workflow and this def helped. Thanks

[@KevinRossRN]

Awesome! Well, and I know I didn’t do a full walkthrough on Davinci, but just like FCPX, you’ve got external media options. And Resolve does work pretty well on M1. I’m on the 17 beta version.

[@3csinapod195]

@@KevinRossRN I'm going Full Davinci on the M1 with Mini ISO Pro, Davinci Speed Edit and 17 since they say it's optimized for M1... Going to be interesting to say the least.

[@KevinRossRN]

Alright! And yeah, I’m still testing Resolve, but it has performed pretty well. A heck of a lot better than Premiere on the M1. Feel free to pop back over and let me know how things are going as you start diving deeper into that workflow. Always curious to hear how things are going for others.

[@3csinapod195]

@@KevinRossRN Definitely will do that

[@KevinRossRN]

Sweet!

[@Dgdrew]

Hello kevin I just got my macbook, and Im planning on gaming on it, is samsung t7's transfer speed enough?

[@KevinRossRN]

As far as playing a game from that SSD, you should be fine. You’re limited by the CPU and GPU, so your read and write will be based on that.

[@Dgdrew]

@@KevinRossRN thankyou kevin!!

[@KevinRossRN]

@Dgdrew Best of luck 🤘

[@naomiwong8945]

can you put your programming work on a hard drive?

[@KevinRossRN]

It depends on what you’re using on how well it will perform, but yes. Definitely research your specific workflow.

[@lewisgon6272]

Awesome , I have a question lol How do you set up your external drive to keep all the media and final cut on inter storage , THANKS IN ADVANCE 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@KevinRossRN]

Well, not to throw another video at you, but I walk through it on this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3nCmoeqnqZ1ntE Basically, it’s about putting your library/bundle on the external. FCPX will take about 3-4 GBs on the internal, while all your project media can live on that external.

[@lewisgon6272]

@@KevinRossRN THANK YOU SO MUCH ! keep up the good work 🔥

[@KevinRossRN]

Best of luck.

[@lewisgon6272]

@@KevinRossRN HI Kevin ,hope you’re having a good day! , I got a question lol sorry , What are the best settings to export your videos in high better quality on final cut , lol THANKS IN ADVANCE 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@KevinRossRN]

You mean what settings to export for KZbin?

[@aminesmaeilnia]

Does apps like Final Cut Pro run noticeably slower when running from external SSD? or it is negligible?

[@KevinRossRN]

Well, you’re keeping the app on the internal, which takes about 3GBs, but all of the bundled media and really the bulk of what you’re working will live in the SSD, and I haven’t ever had any issues with speed.

[@aminesmaeilnia]

@@KevinRossRN and what if i also move the entire application file to the external SSD?

[@KevinRossRN]

@aminesmaeilnia you could, I wouldn’t recommend it, but it’ll really depend on that drive because the program will still be trying to access the internal and there’s going to be a bit of a bottleneck there.

[@radityarana4315]

Can you let me know something, I recently bought the m1 air 256 gb and want to play games like black ops 2 and tomb raider but do not have much storage. You showed that u can put these games in an ssd and play, but will this also work on an hdd, since I am not Sure if I can afford an external ssd right now, but an hdd I can, can u please test and let me know.

[@KevinRossRN]

I’ve tested it. A HDD works it’s just that the load times are slow. Once the game is loaded it’ll continue to load scenes as you play. But honestly, you’re not buying tech, you’re buying time. I would still opt for the SSD. Save yourself some time on those loading speeds, not to mention when you’re updating the game it’ll go much faster.

[@radityarana4315]

@@KevinRossRN alright, I will get a 512gb ssd only then, I only plan to keep games like black ops 3, Gta 5 and some offline games which we can play with controllers, Games like Genshin, Diablo, LOL i can just keep on my mac since i still have about 100 gb left, its just the 70+ gb games that i need to keep on a hdd

[@KevinRossRN]

You’ll be much happier with the SSD. I’m most certain it’ll be the better use of your money in the long run.

[@gautamt5014]

Very very good video. I have a 16GB M1 Mac Mini have got a 1TB SSD installed - and now I will look to move the 'media storage' in my apps to the SSD rather than loading the entire apps from them.

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s a good plan if you’ve got a lot of games, video projects or similar. Best of luck dialing that all in.

[@gautamt5014]

@@KevinRossRN Cheers, I'm a Photoshop & InDesign user mostly - i've just seen the options for 'scratch disks' I think i will have it from the ssd instead!

[@KevinRossRN]

It does really help with all of those PS and LR libraries. I really appreciate that aspect because those libraries can get out control 😀

[@ItsNyxdrah]

Welp, I got a 120gb MCP, guess I don't have much of an option, especially with wanting to run logic, final cut, xcode & more

[@KevinRossRN]

Oh yeah, you could definitely use the extra space.

[@ItsNyxdrah]

@@KevinRossRN Do you have any specific recommendations for usb c externals? I know the Lacie and OWC are good but that's about all I know. Also, really cool how you added chapters to the video. Makes it very easy to navigate specific sections. Thanks for the great info!

[@KevinRossRN]

The drives linked in the video are the ones I use, and I lean more to the SanDisk, but really for no particular reason. But the USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 (1050MBs read and write) is pretty decent.

[@robbykhen]

Too many chit chat, just right to the topic bro...

[@jonny777bike]

Until Mac makes it easier to install m.2 internally I think we simply don't have a choice. But I think you need an extremely fast m.2 to usb 4.0 enclosure. The problem with lower amount of SSD sizes is the number of write cycles. Then you that internal ssd for virtual ram is bad too. I think that you need to mount the external ssd drive physcially so it doesn't more also if there could be a way to mount the connector on the Mac mini and m.2 storage. I have a mac m1 mini 2020 configured with 512 GB SSD and 16 GB ram. With the new m2 mac mini's I recommend getting enough ram memory so the use of virtual drive becomes less and less. I built my other windows 10 computer and will use that for steam or any other games because with Windows or Linux you can build your own computer and upgrade your computer. Yes im not happy that to upgrade to Windows 11 I have to get a new motherboard but at least its easier to upgrade Windows and Linux computers. Thank goodness for Linux it doesn't require much upgrades and you can always get a low end linux to work on any age computer. I like Mac because its use of Mission Control with two monitors. I don't like Windows 10 and probably Windows 11 use of task viewer with dual monitors. I haven't been able to get Linux windows management to work like Mission control as well.

[@KevinRossRN]

I appreciate you weighing in on this, and I agree that being able to upgrade physical components is becoming fewer and farther between on these devices…really, non-existent. Building a PC is becoming more like investing in a “classic” car where you can actually get under the hood and work on it and replace the parts.

[@TheGippy30]

Internal storage upgrades on the M! Macs is just way too expensive

[@KevinRossRN]

They are indeed. And with more support for external options it definitely makes it easier to get a smaller internal.

[@jray1343]

Hey Kevin, Maybe you can help me. Ive been looking everywhere but I can't seem to find a straight answer to this. It looks like you interact with your subs even though this is an older video so that's really cool. Anyways, I have an M1 MacBook Air, 8GB 512 SSD. I have been playing Minecraft and I keep getting a popup saying that I ran out of application data and it forces me to close apps. I run Minecraft using a Launcher called "Lunar Client" if that matters. Its just a launcher that makes Minecraft run smoother. If I were to buy an external SSD, would that solve this issue? Java seems to be very data heavy. It runs smoothly otherwise, its just annoying having that pop up every 15-20 mins. From what I understand, I just simply need more space on my computer to run big programs like that, and it seems like that's exactly what external drives are used for, so im hoping that's my solution. It handles everything else I do with ease. In not a photo or video editor or anything so I don't do anything else to really cause this. Is this what I should do? and if not, IS there anything I can do to solve this issue?? Sorry for the long comment. Im pretty illiterate when it comes to this stuff lol

[@KevinRossRN]

Well there’s a couple of things at play here. One is the 8GBs of RAM, so you’re likely immediately going into swap memory and if you don’t have enough drive space then this can be a cause (hence the solution of trying to run it off an external). Lunar Client if I’m not mistaken has a known memory leak, especially with the M1. I believe I read somewhere that after about 10 minutes it’s using as much as 40GBs of RAM and this starts to accumulate on the drive. Basically this is getting transferred to the internal drive. Have you tried another client just to test it? Also, do you have any other apps running in the background that you can quit? And have you looked at your activity monitor to see how much RAM you’re using?

[@jray1343]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks for the reply man. To answer your questions, no I haven't tried another launcher. I found this one on KZbin and it worked for me so I just stuck with it. But I suppose I should keep looking. As far as the RAM its using: Again, im not very good with this stuff, but I looked at my activity monitor and it looks like Java was using 55.59GB when I got the popup. And as for Lunar, the pop up window said 37.4MB, but when I went into the activity monitor, there were 3 different Lunar Client things running.... Lunar Client: 37.4MB. Lunar Client Helper (Renderer): 69.5. And Lunar Client Helper (GPU)... No idea what all of that is but it doesn't sound good. I also noticed another thing called "Window Server" that is using 311MB. And the only apps that were running at the time of the popup, Just Activity Monitor: 73.6MB. Java: 55.59GB. Lunar: 37.4MB. Finder: 30MB. I took pictures of all of it but unfortunately I can't post them here. I just took a picture of the pop up and then the actual full list of running programs in Activity Monitor. I can tweet you if that would help. I just wanna play one damn game lol that's all I want. Let me know if there is anything else I can tell you that would help or what you recommend me to do. Thanks again for the quick reply!

[@phuocnguyenlong4941]

can i ask you this? If when running applications on such external ssd or using external ssd as boot drive on mac, which ssd will read that those applications. My macbook m1 ssd or the External ssd ?? because my macbook m1 is getting pretty heavy ssd swap.

[@KevinRossRN]

It depends on whether you’re running the application entirely on the external SSD, but the operating system still needs to access it to run it, so you’ll still get some internal SSD swap. You’ll also obviously be using the RAM, but those paging files (swap files) will occur on the internal as it’s always on and connected. You’ll get the majority of read and write on the external depending on what you’re doing, but there’s still some of that workload on the internal.

[@jaimeaugusto5538]

I have the same doubt, if I create a thunderbolt external case with macos for some more intense uses, will the memory swap occur on the disk that the system/application is running on or on the internal disk? I am very worried about having problems in the future.

[@KevinRossRN]

For MacOS it’ll still be the internal. But also keep in mind that if the majority of that use is happening on the external, then that swap on the internal really isn’t taking a big hit.

[@jaimeaugusto5538]

@@KevinRossRN Thank you, I will test both uses to see if anything changes. But I find it difficult to evaluate. I have to really lose the fear of using the Mac because of these things. Your videos helped me a lot too, thank you

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah once you start getting into your flow and really using it I think you’ll find that you’re going to have plenty of life with that Mac. Sending you my best.

[@bordersinbloom]

i've been trying to run a couple of photography editing programmes on my all-in-one second hand, very slow pc and my computer (suprise suprise) can't cope with the amount of memory being used (uses 80% just to run firefox, so there is no hope), I can't afford a new computer right now, but wondered if I could use an external usb ssb drive to run the programmes so it uses the resources of that and not my computer? If so any budget friendly suggestions? Thanks.

[@KevinRossRN]

Are you running low on internal drive space at the moment?

[@KevinRossRN]

Briefly saw your reply but then it went away.

[@bordersinbloom]

@@KevinRossRN Disk c: 101 used, 629GB free

[@bordersinbloom]

Sorry 829 free

[@KevinRossRN]

And for whatever reason that one disappeared too, but saw that you have over 600GBs available. In that case you have plenty for swap memory. So now it comes down to the RAM you have and the processor, which the external SSD wouldn’t “fix.”

[@alanjackson2540]

Hi I'm looking for a method of how to essentially have 2 independent working computers from my Mac mini. I need a 2nd for trading sports events so there can't be any sort of delay as split second timing is essential. I would need this to be anonymous from my Mac mini and my IP. Can you or anyone advise please? Thank you.

[@KevinRossRN]

So you’re basically wanting two operating systems that are running simultaneously on your mini?

[@alanjackson2540]

@@KevinRossRN yes. but is it possible to have the 2nd one anonymous from the IP? Thanks.

[@KevinRossRN]

If you’re using a VPN.

[@alanjackson2540]

@@KevinRossRN so set up an external SSD and add a vpn and that should be ok? Cheers.

[@KevinRossRN]

Well, you’re not adding the VPN to the external, but let’s say you have MacOS on the internal drive, and then Windows on the external. You’re going to be “behind” the VPN regardless, but just set it up on the MacOS side, and then for windows you’re either going through your ISP as it is, or just have a VPN running on that as well. However, when switching between the OS, just understand that Windows will “pause” when you’re in MacOS. It’s pretty quick to go back to Windows, but just so you know that’s the situation. But yeah, just run with a VPN regardless, even if you’re not trying to run two operating systems.

[@KevinRossRN]

Alright friends. I’m ready for this unpopular opinion. For those apps that don’t require intensive resources or that use rarely, it may be fine to put those on the external, but what about applications you heavily rely on and need them to work? Keep that workflow simple, but let’s nerd out anyway. Go rock faces 🤘

[@dillankerai532]

Would running XCode from a external drive be suitable ? (Since my Macbook hasn't got a large storage size )

[@KevinRossRN]

Do you already have Xcode? And are you talking about the M1 or are you on Big Sur?

[@dillankerai532]

@@KevinRossRN Big Sur

[@KevinRossRN]

There’s a lot of steps with Big Sur that don’t make that functionality very easy or fun so to speak. Big Sur still has a ways to go and has broken some workflows that used to work well. There are definitely forums on this very topic. I can’t give my 100% with it on Big Sur, but you can certainly pour over those forums (with a simple search) and find a handful of folks piecing this together.

[@TheDude1764]

You may want to do a follow up video on this topic… word on the street is macOS is moving away from bootable external drives and off-system drive applications. Gonna bust up a LOT of workflows.

[@shabuj00009]

Dear Kevin, I would like to buy Mac Mini M1 16GB+256; and my primary goal is video editing. for say any continuous video size is 230 GB. So how can I load it in FCP? Will my system crash? What will happen if file size go beyond 256 GB? What is s my solution?

[@KevinRossRN]

If you’re editing off of an external SSD, then you’ll be fine because you’ll load the library and all the media on the external while FCPX just remains on the internal. I edit this way all the time.

[@shabuj00009]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks. So you mean if I have a 256GB mac mini M1, with an external SSD I will be able to edit any file in FCP though my single video is over 500 MB in size? Can I use USB C SSD or need an Thunderbolt SSD for faster workflow?

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s correct. And if you’re going USB-C then a 3.1 Gen2 will work great. ~1,000 MB/s FCPX on the M1 can only write so fast, and I’ve tested these against TB3 enclosures and the performance is similar.

[@Neeko_Z]

wait... i want speed in rendering... so run app off the external drive?

[@KevinRossRN]

You’d still want/need the actual app on the internal...depending on the app. Either way, the program itself can only read/write at a certain speed. This would rely on the CPU/GPU and whether the program itself is able to fully utilize that architecture, which at this time FCPX is the only one to fully take advantage of it.

[@Neeko_Z]

@@KevinRossRN would running my OS off the external drive make the processing faster?

[@KevinRossRN]

You could certainly sandbox your OS over on the external, but then your bottleneck would be through thunderbolt, and depending on what drive you’re using. The thing is, I’ve done so many tests with the internal vs external and many of these results were negligible in difference in performance between the two, but it also depends on how you’re rendering/exporting.

[@Tigerex966]

Great insight. In the old days. It was always said to be better to have your apps and os on one disk, and data on another hard drives. This made everything faster, because hard drives do not read and write at the same time (not sure about ssds) So you were always reading and writing, instead of reading first than writing second and then reading again. It also put less wear on your main drive by 50% . this is important when your main drive is not repairable, or replaceable, with Apple, if it goes, you essentially have to buy a new computer, soldered memory, and ram, and lack of ports, and true egpu capability and non touch display and thick bezels and bad webcam are things I dislike about mac laptops, but I hear the next version will adress some of those. I really appreciate the laptops that give you 2 nvme ssd slots, and they are affordable now, even the 7000MBPS pcie 4 ones, and you can go up to 8TB for each, at about$1-$200 a TB, not $800 for 2TB unreplaceable ssd that Apple charges. It also freed up space which made the main drive faster and os faster. The same is true with android phones with a fast sd card for photos music and 4K video, while putting those files on ssd might be slower than the main storage, having them there is much faster than cloud storage, and does not need internet use, and better for privacy, and frees up your main storage for faster use and less lag. It's one of the main reason I NO LONGER HAVE AN APPLE PHONE. I WISH THE IPAD COULD USE AN SD CARD OR APPLE PROPRIETARY CARD, BUT THAT WOULD HURT THE AT TIME OF PURCHASE PROFITS, AND NOT ENCOURAGE BUYING A NEW ONE WHEN SPACE GETS TIGHT. Take care.

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! And yes, I would agree on these points. I don't think Apple is necessarily encouraging (directly) as a disposable machine by this soldered manufacturing, however (indirectly) they do seem to be promoting it because most consumers are going to be making these buying decisions with their wallet/pocket book tightly clutched. And I get it. So thereby "forcing" people to make such a hard financial decision for what they need now, and likely what they may need down the road, which who really knows what they need next year? So, without this upgradeability it really does emphasize that these are just disposable machines...Unfortunate on so many levels. I still have Macs from 2009 and 2010 that still work because I could upgrade them. And yes, I think just about every Android phone I have lying around does have the SD card slot. I don't think Apple will ever go down that avenue, and I'm happy to be quoted on that. Anyway, really appreciate you popping over for a chat here. 😉

[@Tigerex966]

@@KevinRossRN haha , i still have a powermac, and Mac Pro tower, and AM waiting to see the m1x, with magsdafe, more ports, sd card maybe, touch screen maybe. I do agree 16GB is great for creatives, or more, and I would upgrade that over internal storage first. at the base level the m1's are incredible bargains, but loaded a macbook air with 2TB ssd at $2049, and Macbook Pro at $2300, not so much, until more apps are optimized, and a few more ports and egpu capability.

[@KevinRossRN]

Nice! Yeah, at the base level they really have no competition at this price point. And I too am waiting on that eGPU support. Hopefully the next iteration 🤞

[@badryousef9019]

sometimes when I use photoshop in my iMac 8gbm it's fast but when I use it with discord or youtube it asks me to shut down due to memory shortage so is there any way I can solve this issue even by increasing the swap memory is it possible?

[@KevinRossRN]

Are you on the M1 iMac?

[@badryousef9019]

@@KevinRossRN yes

[@KevinRossRN]

I love Adobe products, but they are RAM hungry. So did you install the native M1 version or the x86 version running through Rosetta. Also, as far as the app size, it should be hanging around the 1 GB mark give or take so if you have an external drive solution just check that the media and all those libraries are there instead of the internal, because it’ll continue to take up that space if the internal drive is housing all of those libraries/media.

[@badryousef9019]

@@KevinRossRN I just download it from adobe website but how do I know if it's intel or M1 ?

[@KevinRossRN]

There’s actually a cool app called Silicon info. You can check all your apps with it.

[@kentaccordionist]

Do you know if it’s possible to run iPad apps from an external drive.

[@KevinRossRN]

You mean running iPad apps from a Mac I assume?

[@kentaccordionist]

@@KevinRossRN I mean is it possible to offload my iPad apps and run them on iPad from an external hard drive.

[@KevinRossRN]

I’ve actually tested this. Unfortunately not my friend.

[@kentaccordionist]

@@KevinRossRN hmm bummer. Thanks. Have a good day.

[@KevinRossRN]

Wish I had better news. Best of luck with your decision.

[@TheQuarter]

I need a 512gb external ssd (compact ish) and it needs to be able to hold and run big games well. Oh, and usb-c. Any recommendations? Thanks! Great video btw :) Also, thanks so much for this channel, so great and aesthetically pleasing. Dropping a sub 4 sure.

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! Do you have a budget in mind? And are you just looking for an already built solution, or a DIY setup?

[@TheQuarter]

@@KevinRossRN I was thinking £70 to £100 give or take a couple quid. Well it needs to be portable since I move a lot. Not sure what you mean by D.I.Y. Was not expecting such a quick reply on such an old video! Haha Oh, using an M1 MacBook Pro base model btw Additionally I don’t want to keep photoshop , Ai, and Ae files on the ssd because I use my laptop on the go and I can’t plug it in because I use a big adapter which is quite heavy and weighs down the ports a lot. Jeez I made a lot of edits to this comment aha

[@TheQuarter]

@@KevinRossRN Yo. Just checked your insta and realised you skate. I was literally just abt to comment bc you look like u skate or surf. we gotta see some clips

[@KevinRossRN]

So we won’t even address the DIY setup 😁 Have you looked at the SanDisk Extreme? The one with the read/write at 1050MB/s is the one I own and have tested. It should be in the description below under external SSD options.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yep! Still skate. A life changing sport for me as a kid. Looks like you do too?

[@pimaxmi36]

Hi Kevin, I work on music production and sometimes video editing (I have a Macbook Pro 16' 2019 i7 16Gb Ram) Am getting out of storage and want a better workflow so i was checking for SSDs. I saw that you use the samsung t5, t7 and Sandisk. Which one do you recommend? Have you had problems with overheating? Thanks for this video!

[@KevinRossRN]

Hey friend. All of them have performed well. I push these things really hard and I’ve never had any of them spontaneously eject or crash on me yet. The faster read/write speeds will bump that up a bit, but I do believe the SanDisk (vs the Samsung) is getting more rotations in my workflow as of late, but I still use the T5 and have been for a couple years now. Just as a heads up, if you do decide on the T7, try to avoid installing anything from the drive when you first connect it. It has this security app that’ll try to install. I typically just format as soon as I connect these drives.

[@pimaxmi36]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks Kevin! When you are talking about the sandisk it’s about the pro model or the normal one? The Sandisk (non pro model) is better/same than the T7?

[@KevinRossRN]

So the SanDisk non pro is the “new generation” which is the 1T00-G25 (1050MB/s). That’s the one I have and the one that is on par with the T7.

[@rud]

Lol. Just tried to edit a yt video on premier pro on my pc. My 2013 iMac died. But I lost a days work when it crashed. I will need to get back on Mac and FCPX. It is no fun on my pc.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yikes! That’s is seriously no fun. You do love the auto save feature in FCPX. And, if you’re still wanting to edit in Premiere it is finally out of Beta for M1. Just get 16GBs of RAM. That’s coming from a lot of other editors that would agree 😉

[@christophertybor]

So install the software (Adobe CC in my case) on the internal then every time I start a new project within CC I set the save destination at the external? After watching your videos I picked up a 16/256 M1 Mini and an OWC Envoy Express (TB3) with Samsung 970 Evo 1TB. Just getting it all setup now.

[@KevinRossRN]

Nice! Yes, so CC will force the software install on the internal...and besides, you’d really want it there. Then in setting you can designate the external as your scratch/storage disk.

[@jamesmccarte1609]

What do you mean, "It's like there are little people inside the computer"!?!??! THERE ARE! I've SEEN them! :P