Please, PLEASE before copying your home folder, ENABLE SHOWING HIDDEN FILES, you can do that by pressing Command + Shift + . This is SO important because there are config files that, if you don't enable it, won't be passed and thus losing some configuration you had and there are lots of other important files in that format
As long as you copy the whole home folder all the hidden library and files are copied. In this video I did this on a new Mac so the hidden files are created by the OS. So this is not an issue. Just make sure to copy the whole home folder when doing this with a Mac you have been using for a while and def watch part 2 and 3. Some apps are installed for all users and cannot be moved like Pro Tools apps like that need to stay in the internal app folder. Most apps are moveable to the external drive. Pro tools is the only one I found that needs to live in the internal drive.
This is how Mac professionals (and some amateurs) have handled their data vs OSes for over a decade (it’s a timesaver & best practice), it’s great to have an updated video for reference. Much appreciated!
As of macOS 15.1 there is now an option to default to have large applications (1GB or greater) install on the external drive of your choosing. Nobody talks about this.
Exactly … this just works … maybe a combination of the home folder move and the option to auto install 1Gb+ files on an external TB4 drive is the sweet spot 👍
This is a great option, However what about the people who have large storage issues, for instance iPhoto with large library. You can definitely make the library external, however I tried this and the Mac really doesn't like it. The external drive is also nice when you have a large icloud storage solution for desktop and documents. It may not seem like those fill up, but they do. Of course, others don't use that so ymmv.
@@guyncali2 True. I don't use iPhoto so I didn't think of that. My "iTunes" files are all external and default to the external drive. I use a 2015 27" iMac with 500GB of SSD and I still have 440GB free! LOL. I'm a photo editor and graphic designer who does video so I have Lightroom, Photoshop, Davinci Resolve, and lots of other smaller apps. Everything I do and store is external.
Pro tip: create a second account on your Mac and make sure you give it admin access, but don't move that accounts folder off the internal drive. I've been using an external drive for my home folder for at least a few years now and this has saved my butt more than once. As long as you only use that second account for emergency needs, there's no harm in leaving its home folder on the internal boot drive.
@@psychurch In case something bad happens to the external drive. I.E., if it gets damaged or won't mount for whatever reason or if you lose it. By having the second admin account with its home folder still on the original SSD, you can log into the Mac even without the external drive attached.
Lance….I am old, slow and modestly "tech-savy"…THANK YOU for your careful, thorough, self-effacing explanations on walking us through these new Mac Mini, side-stepping, money-saving tech challenges, (with help from your commenters!). You are the BEST on the web!!! 👍🏼
This setup is not only better because of the larger storage for cheap. It also reduces the writes on the internal drive which will make the drive last longer. Good job! 👏
As someone who uses multiple Macs in different locations, this is actually really useful. It means I can just carry my Home folder around with me and plug it into any of the Macs I use and have all my stuff, without needing multiple copies everywhere. Edit: Just to be clear, I haven’t tried this yet but it’s something I will try once I get a spare SSD.
I don’t do it with my home folder, but that’s how I work with Lightroom. I have a super fast external ssd. I can even plug it into my iPad and preview my library on the move. I have a second slower one that I back the entire machine up on, and a third even larger spinning drive to backup all my machines.
Wow, that's a great idea! I hadn't thought of that. Does that actually work? I work from multiple Mac Pros, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, etc., daily and that would be fantastic to have "one" Home folder.
@@vincentpolisi It should work unless you have an application that for some reason "only" wants to work with files that are only available internally. Unlike Windows programs that sometimes require something in C:\* drive and won't work unless it finds that in C:\*, Most of MacOS applications are self contained, and the data are usually get put in ~/Library which is inside your home.
Funny this, was something that was suppose to come with iPod back in 2004, where you had your home folder on the iPod and wherever you connected your iPod there was your home.
Great Video, one thing I learned the hard way. SetApp doesn't work nicely on external drive to get it to work I had to do these steps: Make sure that the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" option for your external drive is disabled. Otherwise, you have a permissions mismatch condition with macOS ignoring the folder and its contents: Select the drive containing your home folder. Click on File > Get Info. Expand the Sharing and Permissions section. Click on the padlock icon and enter your admin password. Deselect the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" option if selected. 2. Restart your Mac.
Thanks so much for this detailed explanation. I’ve been thinking about buying a Mac mini, but when I saw the ridiculous storage prices I started to rethink it. Now you’ve given me a solution I can work with.
I'd already picked up the base M4 mini and a TB4 enclosure before seeing this video so this is good to know. The Thunderbolt 4 enclosure with a fast NMVe drive seems to return pretty much the same read and write performance as the internal drive, even very slightly faster reads so I'm happy with my choice to go down this route.
Ive got a new M4 base Pro Mini and it's set up already. Im considering the new OWC TB5 external drive, expensive but fast and utilises my TB5 ports. In this instance I think storing apps externally would be as fast as if they were on the internal SSD. So is that a good strategy? I think using an ext drive for data and files is OK but not sure running apps from it is the best utilisation of the Macs resources???
BTW I was using EMagic Logic Audio back in the late 90s and 00s when I was working for Euphonix on the System 5 and then the Max Air when Apple bought out EMagic.. Just to kill the PC/Windows version... That's when I first bought an apple... And felt ill for doing it. Hans Zimmer was on the board of euphonix at the time, and I'd see him now and then... And that's how I got turned on to Cubase. Another German engineering team like EMagic, but when yamaha bought them, they were encouraged to keep up the cross platform work. I loved logic... The "environment" was a playground unlike any other. But the brutal nature of the Apple beast turned me off big time. It's clear from your video that the world is still struggling against them, and for that I am grateful. If you feel you must take the apple pill I get it. They've worked hard to make their OS the only way to run some of the best software out there. And the whole hardware situation is just ridiculous. Ok, enough of my soap box. Again, kudos for what you're doing. Cheers 🍻 🎶
Great idea. However, by moving your home folder off the internal SSD you are sacrificing having the home folder automatically encrypted by the SoC HW and optionally having the encryption keys protected by FileVault. Yes, you can format the external as APFS Encrypted but there's no direct way to enter the encryption passphrase to unlock the external SSD at boot. First you will need to log into the secondary admin account to unlock the external SSD to be able to log into the account located on the external SSD.
@@MacSoundSolutions Yeah, not a good idea to allow a user to auto log-in, especially an admin account. I would do the extra step of performing a manual log-in.
Copying the home folder via some command like "rsync -av $HOME /USERS/$USER" instead of using Finder would ensure that timestamps and permissions are preserved. THX for the vid.
Crucial P3 Plus SSD 4TB costs almost the same what increasing 256GB to 512GB in Apple Store. So Apple’s asking up to 8x more for space compared to external SSD drives. This video is really useful for novice users! You can buy the minimal version of MacMini and upgrade it by self.
Apple's internal SSDs are much faster than pretty much any external SSD, but not many people actually need that kind of speed because they're just storing photos, music, office documents, etc. on there. So it makes so much sense to buy the base model Mini, and hang an external drive off the back. Actually I'm currently using a 5TB Lacie spinner. It's all the speed I need for my music, photos, and documents. The Mac mini M4 is pretty much the best desktop computer ever made in my opinion.
Yeah. One of the big reasons I prefer my PC over my Mac Mini is because I have 2 of those exact M.2s inside of it. Makes all the difference in the world for me! I have a bunch of external storage, but it's not the same. I really wish the Mac Mini kept the same form factor, but instead just made the computer better. Two standard full size M.2 slots on the board, a card reader, a 3.5mm on the back and front, and a battery inside. This all would have been so easy to do. This obsession with smaller devices has gone overboard imo.
@@KingstonHawke , I do not prefer PC over Mac for various reasons. Interestingly, the Intel NUC 12 Pro consumes more power, despite the fact that I use it less frequently than the M1 Mac mini. Also, the Mac Mini is always silent, whereas the NUC 12 Pro is quite noisy. I am running Linux on the NUC 12 Pro for testing purposes. I prefer the user experience on macOS.
My Home folder has been cloned to an external drive and then blessed in preferences as Home folder on my iMac since Yosemite years ago. I will now do this on my Mini :) Thanks :)
Good video, but it should have made a clear case at the beginning for WHY you should move your home folder to the external drive. What are the advantages of doing that? I know you mentioned watching another video but it would be nice to have it all explained in this video as well.
I was planning to do this, and roughly knew the procedure, but almost no videos on TH-cam about this. I picked up a couple of tips about not enabling iCloud etc. fantastic video!
Nice video. I must say you answer viewers questions and help like a champ. Cool to know there are nice humans out there. That just made me sound like an alien.👽
Thanks!In the old days, I¡m talking about when I was in college, everyones home folders were on a cluster of NFSD drives, that is drive servers.. You can still do stuff like that.. SSHFS, OR SSLFS, is for secure mounting of drives locally that exist remotely, and that was how servers and machines were configured to deal with user accounts.. In Linux mounting a drive is as simple as creating a folder in /media and mounting a remote folder to it.. I'm sure the mac line can do it if Linux can..
Are the file aliases a apple os concept, or are they symbolic links.. The difference is, the term "alias" refers to a way of macro-identifying commands with line parameters. Symbolic links are file that contain reference to other files. Hard links are only possible on the same drive.. If your operating system is hardlinking your home folders, the links have to be local to that drive,
Aliases are a macOS specific shortcut that works in Finder. If the original file is moved or renamed, the alias can still find it. Works mainly on macOS and stores extra metadata to track files.
I did this when the M1 Mac Mini first came out. The issue I ran into was once in a while that drive would disconnect. Then the Mac would create a new home folder on the Internal drive because it can't really work without it. Then I had to spend time reconfiguring it again. In the end I just felt it wasn't reliable enough and just kept the home folder in the internal drive.
You could probably get away linking the larger folder like Music, Pictures, Music, Documents, Videos. Unlikely that you’ll max your PC’s internal drive with the config and cache files.
@@evm6177 the point is that if someone is worried about the PC malfunctioning if the external drive gets disconnected, it’s also possible to only use the external drive for the larger folders and create symbolic links back to the home drive. The rest of the config files, etc… stays on the internal drive.
Brilliant video & good to know. I'm currently still on an intel Mac mini. I've been using an external OWC Express 4m2 NVMe enclosure as my boot drive. When I eventually get to a Mac Studio, This will. come in extra handy. I better get there quick, as I have no doubt Apple will try again to close what your video is showing :D
@7:14 are you intentionally not copying hidden folders like ~/Library ? this is the reason it asks you to set up the user account again after rebooting
@@udance4ever no need when it’s a brand new account library files will get stored on the external. Part 2 will show moving hidden library files etc for folks who have been using their Mac’s.
Thanks Lance, Great Video, I did a similar thing after installing and using my previous Macs, but, only AFTER using my previous macs, i moved all of the "Files / data" manually, but still had the internal SSDs as the StartUp drives. and had ALL of my Applications on the internal SSD
@angelvillafan9478 well if u can read the title of the video, u will understand that the video is all about the base model, which is TB4 .. so check your IQ
Found me at the right time. I have a Mac Mini with a 1TB SSD connected from the satechi hub. I also have a 2tb LaCie drive through thunderbolt. I’ve just bought a new 8tb firecuda (for my PC but will be ‘shared’) so when I put all me media from the LaCie (that has my content for plex server) in to the 8TB and clean out the 1TB SSD. I’ll move the home folder to the 1TB SSD.
Fantastic communication skills, great practical help, musician recording studio mac help, tech support, friendly overall vibe. You're invited to our homestead for dinner. Great work! SUBSCRIBED. ❤
Recent teardowns revealed that the SSD is removable/replaceable in the new Minis. Hopefully, there will be reasonable aftermarket options down the road.
Thank you, you were very helpful. I will just note that if you copy all the hidden files from the home folder on the internal drive to the home folder on the external drive, you will not need to go through the initial setup again.
You probably want to also copy over hidden directories/files to your new home folder. It's probably more of an issue if you are already copying over a mature system.
Thank you so much I wish I would have watched your video and its entirety when I first caught it I moved on to other videos and totally lost two weeks worth of installing my update didn't go so well but now that I have your video and I've done it the way you did it I feel more secure cuz I seen your video from the other night with yours rolling over🎉 thanks again for a wonderful tutorial
This was extremely useful info! I need to see your follow-up video on what to do if you’ve been using your Mac for a while. I bought an M2 Pro mini to use for my amateur music recording and editing and got help from Apple getting it working with the 2GB external drive. I think I am booting from that drive, which it seems means that I can’t yet make use of the Apple Intelligence functions. There are some built into in Logic Pro now as I understand it, so having access to the new intelligent functions could be a great boon. Thanks for this! I’m waiting with bated breath for the next installment!
I tried the method you show when I switched from a 2015 iMac to base M2 Pro Mini. I dedicated a 2TB NVME as my "home" directory and left the OS and apps on the internal SSD. I can't remember the exact issue, but eventually something would go awry and would not work with the home directory on the external. I wound up with the path of least resistance by simply making aliases of my home directory folders on the internal to the corresponding folder on the home directory on the external. This has been working well for the past 18 months. I still have 375GB of the 512GB remaining on the internal. EDIT: Sorry, I misremembered how I did this. I left the Movies, Music, Pictures and Public folders alone and kept them in the home folder on the SSD. I don't use those folder anyhow. Inside of my Documents folder are where the aliases live that point to the Documents folder on my external. The Downloads folder has an alias in there that points to a Downloads folder on the external. I point my downloads to there.
Quick question if you don't mind helping: So if I understand you correctly: 1. you have an app or app folder within the original, default Applications folder. For instance, Photoshop 2024 (which is a folder with the app and other stuff). 2. You then move this folder or single app to an external drive, and create an Alias / Symlink. 3. Then, you place the Alias / Symlink back the original, internal Applications folder. Is that how you do it? And are you using Symlink or Aliases? Would this work with complex apps, like Adobe, Final Cut Pro etc. that have plugins etc.? Also, complex apps like Adobe also have their own update processes / uninstallers, and I am concerned this would break things. Thanks for more insights!
@@stevenp6761 Hi, I have not moved the applications folder. It still lives at /Applications. I currently have 43GB in the Applications. I don't see any benefit of moving it off the internal SSD. In my Documents folder I only have 18 folders. Those are the top-level folders I need: financial, home, autos, health, etc. Several apps (Adobe, BBEdit, Zoom) have created folders in my Documents folder. I've left them alone. Those other 15 folders are aliases. I used the finder version (right click > Make Alias or ctrl click > Make Alias) and not the Unix ls -s command to create the aliases. If I double click into the Health folder alias in /Users/Me/Documents I wind up at /Volumes/ExternalHD/Users/me/Documents/Health So far I have not run into any issues using or updating Adobe PS, LR or FCP. Hope this helps to clarify. Feel free to follow up with additional questions.
While I'm not a MAC expert, it seems that a bit of shell scripting / console commands might be able to make the process to copy the apps to applications more automated.. something like a small script that is aware of the names of the default apps and moves anything not in that list over to the external? After all, MacOS is based on BSD Unix...
I've an old mac mini (late 2014), everything saved in time machine on external HD, can I buy a new mac-mini M4, do what you describe to move the home folder to an external drive and then use the time machine HD to recover all my old files (mostly photos and music) in it?? Thank you anyway for the smart and clear suggestion.
I'm a Windows user who has been thinking about converting over to Mac. Im just tired of Windows now, their bloat, telemetry, licensing. I want to try something new and simple. This is great info! The new Mac mini is actually what has been catching my eye lately. Its powerful enough and cheap enough to "test" my exposure to Mac without spending thousands. I want to get back into DAW stuff and interested in the new AI phenomenon and coding, so Mac seems like a great option right now. Thanks again!
512 storage apparently has faster transfer speeds than 256. I heard you cant take advantage of 24 gb ram with internal 256 storage. not sure could be speculation.
Common practive on MS machines. And an excellent practice I have gladly applied to MacOS the second I started to use it. It does save you marvels of time and gets you out outta jams for real. Even my plugins, all on external drives (make sure you format them to APFS for reliability and faster files reading / writing) this way, a format of the main drive becomes a very simple thing. You also can save 1000s of dollars way.
Great video! I'm definitely doing this on my new M4 Mini as soon as I can get a decent external drive. I've already nearly filled up the 256 with just my apps and plugins for music production. I also saw that in Mac OS Sequoia they added a feature in the app store settings where you can set it to automatically install any apps over 1Gb directly to an external drive, which makes this whole setup even more convenient!
It’s crazy that the difference between then and chips for 256gb and 512gb is 10$ and Apple wont spring for it. This “workaround” is just a poor bandaid for an anti customer design decision.
Yes there is something very wrong with a company that sells high end computers but actively prevents it's users from utilizing them to the full without forcing a lot more cash out of them.
At least the modules are replaceable, and there are no security chips on those modules. Now it's just a waiting game to see who can bring blank Mac Mini SSD PCBs to market first.
I removed the acrylic shell from my Zike drive enclosure. Acrylic is a good thermal insulator, and I figure the heat fins will dissipate heat to the air if the thick acrylic shell is off. It was not easy to take off, though .... its on there pretty good!
@@johnplainsong9769 it is on there pretty tight, just be aware that non of these metal enclosures do well when hit by a static charge, with the plastic on it’s not really an issue but heat could be so it’s a trade off. I have seen some of my metal drives eject when zapped by static.
Your VDO just helped me made a final decision on purchasing a mac mini m4. I'll go for a 256GB with RAM upgraded. I have been hesitated about upgrading internal storage for a week. However, I am still wondering about the using-experience of the external home volume method, if this can run smoothly even when you have to work with an app that located in internal storage while the data that is used by the app, is stored in the external storage ? ...... ..I'm waiting for 2nd clip. one more thing... Can I ask you to measure the speed of read/write of both internal and external storage after finishing the set up? (From my google research, 256GB Mac mini m4 is about 1800/2800 MB/s (Write/Read) speed ) Thank you.
02:58 That‘s what I prefer for years now: Upgrade the RAM first instead of upgrading the Storage size first with every new or refurbished Computer regardless if Apple, Lenovo / IBM Thinkpads or any other manufacturer. Swapping because of not enough RAM was always the less performing situation than being able to keep everything in the RAM and not to use a Swap file on HDD. But nowadays it feels even more important not to have Swapping because of the limited life span of SSD‘s. It just doesn’t feel good to have unnecessary write operations on any SSD. For Apple-Computers there are (at least) two knowledge tools/databases where you can learn about the maximum supported RAM and what specifications the RAM memory modules need to be.
@@lederermc I believe those get re written when you point system prefs to the new home directory but I will verify this in Part 2, this video is for a brand new Mac part 2 deals with moving your pre existing data.
I’ve been wondering how to do this for the past year. I have not been able to find any info on the procedure. So, thanks very much for your video. Can’t wait for Part Two.
@@stairjoke its best to just copy the whole home folder all hidden files get copied even when hidden, but if it’s a brand new Mac the hidden files get written when you point the os to the new home folder. Watch part 2. New video posting today as well.
Awesome job! I saw your previous video and thought of doing all this. As a Mac Admin, I can confirm you're spot on with this recommendation. Just make sure that external gets backed up, folks.
@@damsonskyduo7945 while I don’t use Time Machine I would think it’s best to do your backups on a second external drive. I use Corbon copy cloner for backups.
It works yeah but sometimes permissions are funny and I found my family setup is a bit weird it shows my family under my account but it’s like it’s not set up also noticed iCloud Photos don’t sync trips at all, on the internal it does so yeah it works but not exactly the same as the internal drive unfortunately
@@Juan-k7p I will be really putting this to the test for the next few weeks with a new Mini, we will see how it goes. So far my Zike USB 4 drive has been rock solid.
@@MacSoundSolutionsIm also very interested to hear if iCloud photo sync works and the database file is saved on the external drive. I'm currently on an old MacBook Pro 15. mid 2012 16 GB ram and 1 tb SSD. My dream setup would be the new Mac mini with a 2*4Tb as raid 1 as an external with home folder on it.
In the late 90's I started moving my home folder on another parttion. Now storage is so affordable I change it to another drive. It does not matter what OS you are using. It is efficient when you need to reinstall the operating system. It doesn't wipe your partition/disk where your personal files are ( photos, videos, music and adjustments ).
I have the same question since this is what I use as the boot drive on my Mac Pros and for my own personal external USB drive that I use with my MacBook Pro.
@@quandingleberry445 He's referring to an external NVMe in a USB enclosure that would be powered via USB-C rather than BUS powered with a power button.
Thank you for this! My mini is on the way, and I was looking at how to expand the storage for it. I too have terabytes upon terabytes on shelves of 20+ years of snippets of the past. [edit because i cannot english today it seems]
One point. Do not name your drive with a space in the name. Here "External Home" is not a good choice. The reason being is that many command line scripts assume that there isn't a space in your path, which will now start with /Volumes/External Home/
Thanks! hey.. do you know how to assign the sliders from an hand-offed ipad screen from a VST.. I took advantage of the arturia Vintage synth collection black friday sale.. And I want to map knobs from the synclavier plugin into those simple sliders in the inside the remote ipad display.. Also is there any apps I can use with garageband or VSTs that make it easy to assign midi controller knobs , x/y pads, etc. And what exists in the way of custom rigging virtual midi controllers, say I wanted to create a control that controls multiple devices or vsts, from a single knob or combination, using things such as scripting or special flow graph or midi routing tools.
Hey thanks for the super thanks, this app might do what you need, can map midi devices and I have used a midi controller over Wi-Fi it works great but honestly have not been using any midi lately except pro tools and the controle app.
Thunderbolt 5 drives will make this so much nicer. Kensington have announced a Thunderbolt 5 hub with three T-5 user ports and also three USB-3.2 ports. Also SD pot and ethernet, and a sound jack. Of course only M4 Pro macbooks and Mac mini Pro get the T-5 ports. Worth the extra cost? Probably ...
This is genius. I am salivating to jump on the base model Mini M4 but I knew I'd need more than the 256GB storage. Also knew 16GB memory may be a little light. So I knew I'd have to upgrade something, if not both, and it has kept me on the fence. You just provided a seamless solution to solve all issues. Bravo my friend. Now - what is the best route to go enabling iCloud sync with the new setup you have proposed?
hehe. find a way to save your apps DIRECTLY to the external drive. It prevents wear and tear to your internal SSD. REMEMBER! internal SSD is also embedded. once it writes something you reduce the internal SSD just that little bit more. you can't replace that. unless you're dosdude. haha
@@v0ldy54 At least the SSD's NAND chips are replaceable on a module. Just disassemble it, take it out and put a new one. Of course, we have to wait for a third party like Polysoft to create a new PCB for other to make new NAND modules out of, but that's a matter of when, not if.
For some weird reason, photos messed up my library on the external drive. I now just boot from external and created a new library. Just cloning the internal to external doesn’t work anymore with modern macs but the author of carbon copy cloner was pretty helpful with that
Yep! This isn’t a good idea if you’re running audio vst plugins. Updates and fresh installations don’t all install the same way. iCloud doesn’t function properly will Mail etc. I’ve tried it, nice idea but ran into issues. I’ll revert back and just store my files on a external SSD
Mass storage is so cheap these days the fact that a company is effectively forcing people to jump through these hoops just to get a reasonable amount of storage for the price is honestly despicable. One of the worst examples of planned obsolescence in decades.
wow, Thanks for the video. I learned a lot from you! I'm a first time Mac user (not purchased yet, but by Christmas I will) and I seriously didn't want to buy the expensive storage from apple :)
Thanks, mate! I have a new Maci Mini 4 (Base Model 16 GB RAM) arriving any day now. I will definitely be doing as you suggest during initial setup and creating the "Home" folder on my 1TB external drive. So a big Thank You! for explaining how to do it. (PS: Ive been a Windows user since the late 1980's and have never owned a Mac, so I will also have to now gwt used to the MAC OS ... should be interesting ... 😆
Be sure to watch part 2.
th-cam.com/video/YFuOcsi_eFY/w-d-xo.html more good info and part 3 posting soon
Please, PLEASE before copying your home folder, ENABLE SHOWING HIDDEN FILES, you can do that by pressing Command + Shift + . This is SO important because there are config files that, if you don't enable it, won't be passed and thus losing some configuration you had and there are lots of other important files in that format
Could you please tell me what I’m doing wrong? I press Command/Shift/+ and it just enlarges the icons of the files.
@@trashcat1031You need to press Command + Shift + Period
As long as you copy the whole home folder all the hidden library and files are copied. In this video I did this on a new Mac so the hidden files are created by the OS. So this is not an issue. Just make sure to copy the whole home folder when doing this with a Mac you have been using for a while and def watch part 2 and 3. Some apps are installed for all users and cannot be moved like Pro Tools apps like that need to stay in the internal app folder. Most apps are moveable to the external drive. Pro tools is the only one I found that needs to live in the internal drive.
@@trashcat1031isn’t it cmd, shift and dot (.)
@@trashcat1031 maybe you didn't press also the dot, the exact sequence is Press Command+Shift+Dot
This is how Mac professionals (and some amateurs) have handled their data vs OSes for over a decade (it’s a timesaver & best practice), it’s great to have an updated video for reference.
Much appreciated!
As of macOS 15.1 there is now an option to default to have large applications (1GB or greater) install on the external drive of your choosing. Nobody talks about this.
Exactly … this just works … maybe a combination of the home folder move and the option to auto install 1Gb+ files on an external TB4 drive is the sweet spot 👍
This is a great option, However what about the people who have large storage issues, for instance iPhoto with large library. You can definitely make the library external, however I tried this and the Mac really doesn't like it. The external drive is also nice when you have a large icloud storage solution for desktop and documents. It may not seem like those fill up, but they do. Of course, others don't use that so ymmv.
@@guyncali2 True. I don't use iPhoto so I didn't think of that. My "iTunes" files are all external and default to the external drive. I use a 2015 27" iMac with 500GB of SSD and I still have 440GB free! LOL. I'm a photo editor and graphic designer who does video so I have Lightroom, Photoshop, Davinci Resolve, and lots of other smaller apps. Everything I do and store is external.
Pro tip: create a second account on your Mac and make sure you give it admin access, but don't move that accounts folder off the internal drive. I've been using an external drive for my home folder for at least a few years now and this has saved my butt more than once. As long as you only use that second account for emergency needs, there's no harm in leaving its home folder on the internal boot drive.
Why is having a second account with a home folder on the disk important?
@@psychurch In case something bad happens to the external drive. I.E., if it gets damaged or won't mount for whatever reason or if you lose it. By having the second admin account with its home folder still on the original SSD, you can log into the Mac even without the external drive attached.
@@ThomasLockney Yes! I show this towards the end of the video to have a backup internal user admin with its own home folder.
You're also able to set App Store apps over 1GB in file size to install to a different drive; within App Store Settings.
Nice tip thanks will add that to part 2🤘😉
is it free ?
without any apple taxes ?
@@anandmishra-wl3ksyes
They should give you the option to do that for all apps. Perhaps with symbolic link this could be achieved.
@@OfficialDJTazeralso for cracked daws, plugins?
Lance….I am old, slow and modestly "tech-savy"…THANK YOU for your careful, thorough, self-effacing explanations on walking us through these new Mac Mini, side-stepping, money-saving tech challenges, (with help from your commenters!). You are the BEST on the web!!! 👍🏼
One of the most complete "DIY guides" I've ever seen. Fabulous. Cheers mate.
This setup is not only better because of the larger storage for cheap. It also reduces the writes on the internal drive which will make the drive last longer. Good job! 👏
This what I was planning on doing next week when I purchase my new Mac Mini. This was a great video, with great instructions, and great humor.
You're the best...I never thought of moving "home" folder to external drive. Thanks.
This is the true buying guide we’ve been looking for for the Mac mini M4. Very helpful and informative. Kudos.
Couldn't agree more bro. 👍👍
As someone who uses multiple Macs in different locations, this is actually really useful. It means I can just carry my Home folder around with me and plug it into any of the Macs I use and have all my stuff, without needing multiple
copies everywhere.
Edit: Just to be clear, I haven’t tried this yet but it’s something I will try once I get a spare SSD.
I don’t do it with my home folder, but that’s how I work with Lightroom. I have a super fast external ssd. I can even plug it into my iPad and preview my library on the move. I have a second slower one that I back the entire machine up on, and a third even larger spinning drive to backup all my machines.
Wow, that's a great idea! I hadn't thought of that. Does that actually work? I work from multiple Mac Pros, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, etc., daily and that would be fantastic to have "one" Home folder.
@@vincentpolisi It should work unless you have an application that for some reason "only" wants to work with files that are only available internally. Unlike Windows programs that sometimes require something in C:\* drive and won't work unless it finds that in C:\*, Most of MacOS applications are self contained, and the data are usually get put in ~/Library which is inside your home.
Does it really work well though?
Funny this, was something that was suppose to come with iPod back in 2004, where you had your home folder on the iPod and wherever you connected your iPod there was your home.
Great Video, one thing I learned the hard way. SetApp doesn't work nicely on external drive to get it to work I had to do these steps:
Make sure that the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" option for your external drive is disabled. Otherwise, you have a permissions mismatch condition with macOS ignoring the folder and its contents:
Select the drive containing your home folder.
Click on File > Get Info.
Expand the Sharing and Permissions section.
Click on the padlock icon and enter your admin password.
Deselect the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" option if selected.
2. Restart your Mac.
Thanks so much for this detailed explanation. I’ve been thinking about buying a Mac mini, but when I saw the ridiculous storage prices I started to rethink it. Now you’ve given me a solution I can work with.
I'd already picked up the base M4 mini and a TB4 enclosure before seeing this video so this is good to know. The Thunderbolt 4 enclosure with a fast NMVe drive seems to return pretty much the same read and write performance as the internal drive, even very slightly faster reads so I'm happy with my choice to go down this route.
I'm potentially looking at this setup too.
Ive got a new M4 base Pro Mini and it's set up already. Im considering the new OWC TB5 external drive, expensive but fast and utilises my TB5 ports. In this instance I think storing apps externally would be as fast as if they were on the internal SSD. So is that a good strategy? I think using an ext drive for data and files is OK but not sure running apps from it is the best utilisation of the Macs resources???
"Dude, duh!" I love it. You owned it like a champion. Lol. The world could use a few* more like you.
* million
BTW I was using EMagic Logic Audio back in the late 90s and 00s when I was working for Euphonix on the System 5 and then the Max Air when Apple bought out EMagic.. Just to kill the PC/Windows version... That's when I first bought an apple... And felt ill for doing it. Hans Zimmer was on the board of euphonix at the time, and I'd see him now and then... And that's how I got turned on to Cubase. Another German engineering team like EMagic, but when yamaha bought them, they were encouraged to keep up the cross platform work. I loved logic... The "environment" was a playground unlike any other. But the brutal nature of the Apple beast turned me off big time. It's clear from your video that the world is still struggling against them, and for that I am grateful. If you feel you must take the apple pill I get it. They've worked hard to make their OS the only way to run some of the best software out there. And the whole hardware situation is just ridiculous. Ok, enough of my soap box. Again, kudos for what you're doing. Cheers 🍻 🎶
I’m very glad I found this, because i would not have guessed it would be this cumbersome. Will save it for later.
I'm doing it. Just ordered the ZikeDrive enclosure. Thanks for the discount. Mini is on the way to Costco. Woo hoo!
Great idea. However, by moving your home folder off the internal SSD you are sacrificing having the home folder automatically encrypted by the SoC HW and optionally having the encryption keys protected by FileVault. Yes, you can format the external as APFS Encrypted but there's no direct way to enter the encryption passphrase to unlock the external SSD at boot. First you will need to log into the secondary admin account to unlock the external SSD to be able to log into the account located on the external SSD.
True but if you set the internal user to auto log in which some may not want to do it makes it quicker to get the the external account.
@@MacSoundSolutions Yeah, not a good idea to allow a user to auto log-in, especially an admin account. I would do the extra step of performing a manual log-in.
Copying the home folder via some command like
"rsync -av $HOME /USERS/$USER"
instead of using Finder would ensure that timestamps and permissions are preserved.
THX for the vid.
commenting here so I hope I can find it later :)
lol. That "self-duh" was priceless!
Great help. I’ve been using Macs since they debuted in 1984, but needed to know this.
Crucial P3 Plus SSD 4TB costs almost the same what increasing 256GB to 512GB in Apple Store. So Apple’s asking up to 8x more for space compared to external SSD drives. This video is really useful for novice users! You can buy the minimal version of MacMini and upgrade it by self.
Apple's internal SSDs are much faster than pretty much any external SSD, but not many people actually need that kind of speed because they're just storing photos, music, office documents, etc. on there. So it makes so much sense to buy the base model Mini, and hang an external drive off the back. Actually I'm currently using a 5TB Lacie spinner. It's all the speed I need for my music, photos, and documents. The Mac mini M4 is pretty much the best desktop computer ever made in my opinion.
Yeah. One of the big reasons I prefer my PC over my Mac Mini is because I have 2 of those exact M.2s inside of it. Makes all the difference in the world for me!
I have a bunch of external storage, but it's not the same. I really wish the Mac Mini kept the same form factor, but instead just made the computer better.
Two standard full size M.2 slots on the board, a card reader, a 3.5mm on the back and front, and a battery inside. This all would have been so easy to do. This obsession with smaller devices has gone overboard imo.
It appears that using a Mac mini base model with a TB4 external SSD enclosure may yield similar results. M4 Pro has a faster SSD than M4 standard.
@@KingstonHawke , I do not prefer PC over Mac for various reasons. Interestingly, the Intel NUC 12 Pro consumes more power, despite the fact that I use it less frequently than the M1 Mac mini. Also, the Mac Mini is always silent, whereas the NUC 12 Pro is quite noisy. I am running Linux on the NUC 12 Pro for testing purposes. I prefer the user experience on macOS.
@@RoastBeefSandwich and with thunderbolt 5 on the M4 Pro you will get near the same speeds externally
My Home folder has been cloned to an external drive and then blessed in preferences as Home folder on my iMac since Yosemite years ago.
I will now do this on my Mini :)
Thanks :)
Good video, but it should have made a clear case at the beginning for WHY you should move your home folder to the external drive. What are the advantages of doing that? I know you mentioned watching another video but it would be nice to have it all explained in this video as well.
Thanks for easy to follow tutorial. Kudos to you and whoever it was that mentioned this.
I have the base 16GB RAM and that's more than enough for using Ableton. Good advice for storage!
I was planning to do this, and roughly knew the procedure, but almost no videos on TH-cam about this. I picked up a couple of tips about not enabling iCloud etc. fantastic video!
Nice video. I must say you answer viewers questions and help like a champ. Cool to know there are nice humans out there. That just made me sound like an alien.👽
Thanks!In the old days, I¡m talking about when I was in college, everyones home folders were on a cluster of NFSD drives, that is drive servers.. You can still do stuff like that.. SSHFS, OR SSLFS, is for secure mounting of drives locally that exist remotely, and that was how servers and machines were configured to deal with user accounts.. In Linux mounting a drive is as simple as creating a folder in /media and mounting a remote folder to it.. I'm sure the mac line can do it if Linux can..
@@udiorockmeamadeus thanks man much appreciated!
Fantastic stuff Lance. Really useful information. This deserves so many more views!
@@Z-C-M thanks!
Are the file aliases a apple os concept, or are they symbolic links.. The difference is, the term "alias" refers to a way of macro-identifying commands with line parameters. Symbolic links are file that contain reference to other files. Hard links are only possible on the same drive.. If your operating system is hardlinking your home folders, the links have to be local to that drive,
Aliases are a macOS specific shortcut that works in Finder.
If the original file is moved or renamed, the alias can still find it.
Works mainly on macOS and stores extra metadata to track files.
I did this when the M1 Mac Mini first came out. The issue I ran into was once in a while that drive would disconnect. Then the Mac would create a new home folder on the Internal drive because it can't really work without it. Then I had to spend time reconfiguring it again. In the end I just felt it wasn't reliable enough and just kept the home folder in the internal drive.
You could probably get away linking the larger folder like Music, Pictures, Music, Documents, Videos. Unlikely that you’ll max your PC’s internal drive with the config and cache files.
@@Batwam0 Sorry this got me confused, Your Point?
@@evm6177 the point is that if someone is worried about the PC malfunctioning if the external drive gets disconnected, it’s also possible to only use the external drive for the larger folders and create symbolic links back to the home drive. The rest of the config files, etc… stays on the internal drive.
I had that very problem with any sandisk disk. However, I haven't had any issues with a samsung drive.
@@Batwam0 Don't forget Library (~/Library/Application Support can get pretty big on macOS)
Brilliant video & good to know. I'm currently still on an intel Mac mini. I've been using an external OWC Express 4m2 NVMe enclosure as my boot drive. When I eventually get to a Mac Studio, This will. come in extra handy. I better get there quick, as I have no doubt Apple will try again to close what your video is showing :D
@7:14 are you intentionally not copying hidden folders like ~/Library ? this is the reason it asks you to set up the user account again after rebooting
.
@@udance4ever no need when it’s a brand new account library files will get stored on the external. Part 2 will show moving hidden library files etc for folks who have been using their Mac’s.
Thanks Lance,
Great Video, I did a similar thing after installing and using my previous Macs,
but, only AFTER using my previous macs, i moved all of the "Files / data" manually,
but still had the internal SSDs as the StartUp drives.
and had ALL of my Applications on the internal SSD
Now that the Mini Pro has TB5, speeds in the just released caddy's will match speeds of the internal drives!
Actually, i think the base model is TB4, and TB5 is only available for the M4 Pro model
@@TheMiEN2009That’s what he said
@@TheMiEN2009cant you read?
@angelvillafan9478 well if u can read the title of the video, u will understand that the video is all about the base model, which is TB4 .. so check your IQ
Found me at the right time. I have a Mac Mini with a 1TB SSD connected from the satechi hub. I also have a 2tb LaCie drive through thunderbolt. I’ve just bought a new 8tb firecuda (for my PC but will be ‘shared’) so when I put all me media from the LaCie (that has my content for plex server) in to the 8TB and clean out the 1TB SSD. I’ll move the home folder to the 1TB SSD.
Fantastic communication skills, great practical help, musician recording studio mac help, tech support, friendly overall vibe. You're invited to our homestead for dinner. Great work! SUBSCRIBED. ❤
@@kentbyron7608 hey thanks Ken! What times dinner?
@@MacSoundSolutions Up to you... I'll send you an email, I just found it.
Just moved my applications folder to the external drive and the GarageBand and similar apple apps moved over as well. I’m running macOS Sequoia 15.1.1
Recent teardowns revealed that the SSD is removable/replaceable in the new Minis. Hopefully, there will be reasonable aftermarket options down the road.
Thank you, you were very helpful. I will just note that if you copy all the hidden files from the home folder on the internal drive to the home folder on the external drive, you will not need to go through the initial setup again.
Yes if you drag over the whole home folder all hidden files will copy with it.
You probably want to also copy over hidden directories/files to your new home folder. It's probably more of an issue if you are already copying over a mature system.
Thank you so much I wish I would have watched your video and its entirety when I first caught it I moved on to other videos and totally lost two weeks worth of installing my update didn't go so well but now that I have your video and I've done it the way you did it I feel more secure cuz I seen your video from the other night with yours rolling over🎉 thanks again for a wonderful tutorial
Nice video, I will have to listen to it maybe more than a few times to be able to do it.
This was extremely useful info! I need to see your follow-up video on what to do if you’ve been using your Mac for a while. I bought an M2 Pro mini to use for my amateur music recording and editing and got help from Apple getting it working with the 2GB external drive. I think I am booting from that drive, which it seems means that I can’t yet make use of the Apple Intelligence functions. There are some built into in Logic Pro now as I understand it, so having access to the new intelligent functions could be a great boon.
Thanks for this! I’m waiting with bated breath for the next installment!
I tried the method you show when I switched from a 2015 iMac to base M2 Pro Mini. I dedicated a 2TB NVME as my "home" directory and left the OS and apps on the internal SSD. I can't remember the exact issue, but eventually something would go awry and would not work with the home directory on the external. I wound up with the path of least resistance by simply making aliases of my home directory folders on the internal to the corresponding folder on the home directory on the external. This has been working well for the past 18 months. I still have 375GB of the 512GB remaining on the internal. EDIT: Sorry, I misremembered how I did this. I left the Movies, Music, Pictures and Public folders alone and kept them in the home folder on the SSD. I don't use those folder anyhow. Inside of my Documents folder are where the aliases live that point to the Documents folder on my external. The Downloads folder has an alias in there that points to a Downloads folder on the external. I point my downloads to there.
Quick question if you don't mind helping: So if I understand you correctly:
1. you have an app or app folder within the original, default Applications folder. For instance, Photoshop 2024 (which is a folder with the app and other stuff).
2. You then move this folder or single app to an external drive, and create an Alias / Symlink.
3. Then, you place the Alias / Symlink back the original, internal Applications folder.
Is that how you do it?
And are you using Symlink or Aliases?
Would this work with complex apps, like Adobe, Final Cut Pro etc. that have plugins etc.? Also, complex apps like Adobe also have their own update processes / uninstallers, and I am concerned this would break things.
Thanks for more insights!
@@stevenp6761 Hi, I have not moved the applications folder. It still lives at /Applications. I currently have 43GB in the Applications. I don't see any benefit of moving it off the internal SSD.
In my Documents folder I only have 18 folders. Those are the top-level folders I need: financial, home, autos, health, etc. Several apps (Adobe, BBEdit, Zoom) have created folders in my Documents folder. I've left them alone. Those other 15 folders are aliases. I used the finder version (right click > Make Alias or ctrl click > Make Alias) and not the Unix ls -s command to create the aliases.
If I double click into the Health folder alias in /Users/Me/Documents I wind up at /Volumes/ExternalHD/Users/me/Documents/Health
So far I have not run into any issues using or updating Adobe PS, LR or FCP.
Hope this helps to clarify. Feel free to follow up with additional questions.
While I'm not a MAC expert, it seems that a bit of shell scripting / console commands might be able to make the process to copy the apps to applications more automated.. something like a small script that is aware of the names of the default apps and moves anything not in that list over to the external?
After all, MacOS is based on BSD Unix...
I've an old mac mini (late 2014), everything saved in time machine on external HD, can I buy a new mac-mini M4, do what you describe to move the home folder to an external drive and then use the time machine HD to recover all my old files (mostly photos and music) in it?? Thank you anyway for the smart and clear suggestion.
I'm a Windows user who has been thinking about converting over to Mac. Im just tired of Windows now, their bloat, telemetry, licensing. I want to try something new and simple. This is great info! The new Mac mini is actually what has been catching my eye lately. Its powerful enough and cheap enough to "test" my exposure to Mac without spending thousands. I want to get back into DAW stuff and interested in the new AI phenomenon and coding, so Mac seems like a great option right now. Thanks again!
512 storage apparently has faster transfer speeds than 256. I heard you cant take advantage of 24 gb ram with internal 256 storage. not sure could be speculation.
Thx 🙌 In the process of getting a M4 ectect. Looking forward to video 2. Subscribed.
Common practive on MS machines. And an excellent practice I have gladly applied to MacOS the second I started to use it.
It does save you marvels of time and gets you out outta jams for real. Even my plugins, all on external drives (make sure you format them to APFS for reliability and faster files reading / writing) this way, a format of the main drive becomes a very simple thing.
You also can save 1000s of dollars way.
Great video! I'm definitely doing this on my new M4 Mini as soon as I can get a decent external drive. I've already nearly filled up the 256 with just my apps and plugins for music production. I also saw that in Mac OS Sequoia they added a feature in the app store settings where you can set it to automatically install any apps over 1Gb directly to an external drive, which makes this whole setup even more convenient!
It’s crazy that the difference between then and chips for 256gb and 512gb is 10$ and Apple wont spring for it. This “workaround” is just a poor bandaid for an anti customer design decision.
Yes there is something very wrong with a company that sells high end computers but actively prevents it's users from utilizing them to the full without forcing a lot more cash out of them.
They know what they're doing. It's a cheap upsell for them.
At least the modules are replaceable, and there are no security chips on those modules.
Now it's just a waiting game to see who can bring blank Mac Mini SSD PCBs to market first.
Apple is so anti-consumer - it's hard to believe them when they say they're good to their suppliers or trying to reach Carbon neutral goals etc.
The base level would never be priced at $599 if they didn't overcharge on upgrades
I removed the acrylic shell from my Zike drive enclosure. Acrylic is a good thermal insulator, and I figure the heat fins will dissipate heat to the air if the thick acrylic shell is off. It was not easy to take off, though .... its on there pretty good!
@@johnplainsong9769 it is on there pretty tight, just be aware that non of these metal enclosures do well when hit by a static charge, with the plastic on it’s not really an issue but heat could be so it’s a trade off. I have seen some of my metal drives eject when zapped by static.
Your VDO just helped me made a final decision on purchasing a mac mini m4. I'll go for a 256GB with RAM upgraded. I have been hesitated about upgrading internal storage for a week. However, I am still wondering about the using-experience of the external home volume method, if this can run smoothly even when you have to work with an app that located in internal storage while the data that is used by the app, is stored in the external storage ? ......
..I'm waiting for 2nd clip.
one more thing... Can I ask you to measure the speed of read/write of both internal and external storage after finishing the set up?
(From my google research, 256GB Mac mini m4 is about 1800/2800 MB/s (Write/Read) speed )
Thank you.
02:58 That‘s what I prefer for years now:
Upgrade the RAM first instead of upgrading the Storage size first with every new or refurbished Computer regardless if Apple, Lenovo / IBM Thinkpads or any other manufacturer.
Swapping because of not enough RAM was always the less performing situation than being able to keep everything in the RAM and not to use a Swap file on HDD. But nowadays it feels even more important not to have Swapping because of the limited life span of SSD‘s. It just doesn’t feel good to have unnecessary write operations on any SSD.
For Apple-Computers there are (at least) two knowledge tools/databases where you can learn about the maximum supported RAM and what specifications the RAM memory modules need to be.
Love it!! no BS . This is TH-cam video should be .
Brilliant, great video easy to follow step by step
What about the hidden files in the home directory? You know the ones that start with dot.
@@lederermc I believe those get re written when you point system prefs to the new home directory but I will verify this in Part 2, this video is for a brand new Mac part 2 deals with moving your pre existing data.
Thanks!
@@ddwesson thanks much appreciated!
What will happen if external drive will be disconnected? If I connect it again and reboot mac will it work or everything will crash?
I’ve been wondering how to do this for the past year. I have not been able to find any info on the procedure. So, thanks very much for your video. Can’t wait for Part Two.
When you move the contents of your Home folder, souldn’t you also move the hidden files and directories?
@@stairjoke its best to just copy the whole home folder all hidden files get copied even when hidden, but if it’s a brand new Mac the hidden files get written when you point the os to the new home folder. Watch part 2. New video posting today as well.
@@MacSoundSolutionsLance, they don’t get copied. You have to force them to copy. That’s the user library folder and it needs to be copied over.
Thanks for the guide mate! It helped a lot just ordered mini with 252g and a nice docking station that has m.2 slot. will try to do this
Nice ! watch this video th-cam.com/video/9xPb8iKreJA/w-d-xo.html
Awesome job! I saw your previous video and thought of doing all this. As a Mac Admin, I can confirm you're spot on with this recommendation. Just make sure that external gets backed up, folks.
you have a great and clear voice. thanks for the explanation.
Cool idea but just make sure your external drive is on Thunderbolt NOT USB otherwise TRIM won't be available and it will slow to a crawl eventually.
Thank you , really, excelent video.
I'm waiting for the second part.
This is great! Will Time Machine backup work from the external home drive?
good question, i was wondering the same
@@damsonskyduo7945 while I don’t use Time Machine I would think it’s best to do your backups on a second external drive. I use Corbon copy cloner for backups.
@@MacSoundSolutions with your solution proposed in the video, will Time Machine be backing up both the internal AND external?
@@damsonskyduo7945 yes it will but you have to go into Time Machine settings and allow it to backup attached external drives.
That’s what I did…OWC Express 1M2 w/ 1TB…works like a charm.
It works yeah but sometimes permissions are funny and I found my family setup is a bit weird it shows my family under my account but it’s like it’s not set up also noticed iCloud Photos don’t sync trips at all, on the internal it does so yeah it works but not exactly the same as the internal drive unfortunately
@@Juan-k7p I will be really putting this to the test for the next few weeks with a new Mini, we will see how it goes. So far my Zike USB 4 drive has been rock solid.
@@MacSoundSolutionsIm also very interested to hear if iCloud photo sync works and the database file is saved on the external drive. I'm currently on an old MacBook Pro 15. mid 2012 16 GB ram and 1 tb SSD. My dream setup would be the new Mac mini with a 2*4Tb as raid 1 as an external with home folder on it.
Not an apple owner, but considering it. This was really good info to help make a switch from Windows to MAC OS.
256 gb is way too little in 2024, thanks for sharing a way of solving it
In the late 90's I started moving my home folder on another parttion. Now storage is so affordable I change it to another drive. It does not matter what OS you are using. It is efficient when you need to reinstall the operating system. It doesn't wipe your partition/disk where your personal files are ( photos, videos, music and adjustments ).
Why not an NVME 2TB drive? Smaller and all are powered thru the computer.
I have the same question since this is what I use as the boot drive on my Mac Pros and for my own personal external USB drive that I use with my MacBook Pro.
You can't connect a nvme into the Mac. It need the adapter case. Also they are already using a nvme drive.
@@quandingleberry445 He's referring to an external NVMe in a USB enclosure that would be powered via USB-C rather than BUS powered with a power button.
Thank you for this! My mini is on the way, and I was looking at how to expand the storage for it. I too have terabytes upon terabytes on shelves of 20+ years of snippets of the past. [edit because i cannot english today it seems]
What about the updates on macOS Sequoia ?
The OS still resides on the internal drive and gets updated on the internal drive.
I've wondered for years how this was done ... thanks so much for this instructional video.
One point. Do not name your drive with a space in the name. Here "External Home" is not a good choice. The reason being is that many command line scripts assume that there isn't a space in your path, which will now start with /Volumes/External Home/
Thanks! hey.. do you know how to assign the sliders from an hand-offed ipad screen from a VST.. I took advantage of the arturia Vintage synth collection black friday sale.. And I want to map knobs from the synclavier plugin into those simple sliders in the inside the remote ipad display.. Also is there any apps I can use with garageband or VSTs that make it easy to assign midi controller knobs , x/y pads, etc. And what exists in the way of custom rigging virtual midi controllers, say I wanted to create a control that controls multiple devices or vsts, from a single knob or combination, using things such as scripting or special flow graph or midi routing tools.
Hey thanks for the super thanks, this app might do what you need, can map midi devices and I have used a midi controller over Wi-Fi it works great but honestly have not been using any midi lately except pro tools and the controle app.
What everyone us missing is we now know how to "disable" Apple Intelligence...you know, that thing none of us asked for?
Exactly!!!! I don't want an Ai in anything... even though I know it is being pushed on me without my consent.
Thunderbolt 5 drives will make this so much nicer. Kensington have announced a Thunderbolt 5 hub with three T-5 user ports and also three USB-3.2 ports. Also SD pot and ethernet, and a sound jack. Of course only M4 Pro macbooks and Mac mini Pro get the T-5 ports. Worth the extra cost? Probably ...
FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC VIDEO!!!!!
THANKS FOR SHARING!!!!!
BLESSINGS 🙏🙏🙏
This is genius. I am salivating to jump on the base model Mini M4 but I knew I'd need more than the 256GB storage. Also knew 16GB memory may be a little light. So I knew I'd have to upgrade something, if not both, and it has kept me on the fence. You just provided a seamless solution to solve all issues. Bravo my friend. Now - what is the best route to go enabling iCloud sync with the new setup you have proposed?
hehe. find a way to save your apps DIRECTLY to the external drive. It prevents wear and tear to your internal SSD. REMEMBER! internal SSD is also embedded. once it writes something you reduce the internal SSD just that little bit more. you can't replace that. unless you're dosdude. haha
the wear and tear will appear after you changed computer or in your next life.
No, the internal ssd in this new mac mini isn’t embedded.
@@jensbronton not really, especially if the drive is only 256Gb is not even that hard to wear it out.
@@v0ldy54 At least the SSD's NAND chips are replaceable on a module. Just disassemble it, take it out and put a new one.
Of course, we have to wait for a third party like Polysoft to create a new PCB for other to make new NAND modules out of, but that's a matter of when, not if.
In my opinion I think the 1TB is a necessary option for performance and longevity. Anymore is just rolling over for dirty Mike and the boys.
This is too much. Apple just needs to be reasonable on storage
How do you explain that to stakeholders? They there to milk the cow, not to be "reasonable", welcome to real life.
Neat! I too just bought a Mac mini and I'm really excited to do some dance numbers, back flips, and hula hoop jumps in order to actually use it 🍹😎👍👯💃
For some weird reason, photos messed up my library on the external drive. I now just boot from external and created a new library. Just cloning the internal to external doesn’t work anymore with modern macs but the author of carbon copy cloner was pretty helpful with that
Please don't move your home folder, it will be pain down the line, trust me.
I’m a moron, please explain like I’m 5. Why will that be a problem? Thank you.
Yep! This isn’t a good idea if you’re running audio vst plugins. Updates and fresh installations don’t all install the same way. iCloud doesn’t function properly will Mail etc. I’ve tried it, nice idea but ran into issues. I’ll revert back and just store my files on a external SSD
brilliant video ! mac mini arrived today , so will use this 100% ! thank u
Mass storage is so cheap these days the fact that a company is effectively forcing people to jump through these hoops just to get a reasonable amount of storage for the price is honestly despicable. One of the worst examples of planned obsolescence in decades.
You saved me a lot of money. Thank you so much for your work & Advice. 🙏🏼🕊️
I'm glad I saw this video before pushing the purchase button on the 2TB drive option.
wow, Thanks for the video. I learned a lot from you! I'm a first time Mac user (not purchased yet, but by Christmas I will) and I seriously didn't want to buy the expensive storage from apple :)
Thank you so much for this video. I am definitely looking forward to the follow up video, as that will address my situation.
Thanks, mate! I have a new Maci Mini 4 (Base Model 16 GB RAM) arriving any day now. I will definitely be doing as you suggest during initial setup and creating the "Home" folder on my 1TB external drive.
So a big Thank You! for explaining how to do it. (PS: Ive been a Windows user since the late 1980's and have never owned a Mac, so I will also have to now gwt used to the MAC OS ... should be interesting ...
😆