The hard drives in the new 2018 Mac mini are PCIe which means they are very fast, but also expensive. Unlike previous models, you cannot upgrade the internal hard drive. It is soldered in. But thanks to the USB-C interface on the new Mac Mini, an external SSD drive is now a good option. I chose to buy the smaller (and cheaper) 250GB Mac Mini and supplement it with a 500GB external SSD drive.
Best Thunderbolt Devices for 2019. Our editors hand-picked these products based on our tests and reviews. If you use our links to buy, we may get a commission. These SSD drives are a standard 2.5 inch SATA drive, compatible with the 2005 to 2012 Mac Mini range. The 2014 model also had a SATA option, please see our notes on upgrading. 2TB Crucial MX500 SATA SSD for Mac Mini. But the truth is, not all drives are physically spinning HDDs anymore, and the Solid State Drive (or SSD) is becoming an increasingly common upgrade for MacBook Pros of all ages. Because SSDs have a number of advantages compared to HDDs, they are more speedy, reliable and quieter â yes, you wonât hear the click sound from a spinning hard drive. The hard drive (or SSD) is one component that you often can replace yourself, especially in older Macs. Letâs look at how to find out if you can replace yours. Macs have a reputation for being hard to upgrade or repair, but that isnât always true.
USB-C Gen 2 can handle the speeds of most (but not all) SSD drives. So unless you want a very high-end solution, youâll be fine using an external SSD over USB. An external SSD drive plugged in via USB-C will only be 1/5 the speed of the new internal PCIe drives, but itâs still fast. The external SSD drive on my new mac mini is faster than the internal non-PCIe SSD drive on my previous mac mini.
1. Buying a drive.
My first purchase was a Samsung S5. Itâs fast, itâs USB-C Gen 2, and itâs cheap. But it caused a 30-second delay each time my mac booted up. Apparently, this is a common problem nnd Apple support
The drive I ended up using was the Seagate Fast SSD. Itâs fast and works well. I purchased the 500GB version. Iâve already filled it up so end hindsight I publish should have gone for the 1 TB version but I was trying to save soem money.
2. What to put on it.
Now that youâve connected your drive you need to choose which data to store on it. I used to recommend using your new SSD as the boot drive, but given that the internal SSD drive is now faster, you are better off booting off your internal drive and just putting some files on the external drive.
I kept OSX and my applications on my internal boot drive, as well as my users home folder. So my internal SSD drive looks like this:
I moved most the large folders from inside my Users folder onto my external SSD. I did not change my home folder to be the external SSD. I copied the files out of my home folder. I did al this when I was migrating the data accross
Hereâs what I moved to my new external SSD Drive:
When you move your Music, Pictures and MainStage files you need to tell iTunes, Apple Photos and Mainstage the new location.
For iTunes, firstly copy all your music files across to the new SSD. (users/yourname/music/iTunes) Then go to Preferences, Advanced, and find âiTunes Media folder locationâ. Click âChangeâ and select the new folder.
For Photos you need to copy the folder called âPhotoâs Libraryâ across, then restart the Photos App while holding the Option key. This gives you the option to select your new Photo library from the external SSD.
Photos should open the newly copied library and you should be able to see your photos. If that is the case then go to preferences and select âuse as System Photo Libraryâ to make this change permanent.
There are some applications that will still want to use files from within your home folder on your internal SSD. Thatâs okay. I allow them to do that.
I find it helpful in my own mind to know which files are where so I have my documents, my music and my photos on my external SSD and I have everything else on my internal one.
Usually Mac comes with a bunch of cool screensavers. Nevertheless Newfreescreensavers.com offers new screensavers specially developed for mac for free. Select a screensaver you like and click Download. After that you will be able to download this screensaver on the page with its description. Customization of your screen saver can be found from the Apple menu System Preferences Desktop & Screen Saver Screen Saver tab. This applies to macOS High Sierra, but should be the same across the majority of OS versions. GitHub user agarrharr has compiled this useful list of a number of popular screensavers for Mac OSX below. Check 'em out. Free Mac Wallpaper and Screensavers. Cool Collections of Free Mac Wallpaper and Screensavers For Desktop, Laptop and Mobiles. We've gathered more than 3 Million Images uploaded by our users and sorted them by the most popular ones. Nov 10, 2016 You can set your Mac to display a screen saver, either manually or automatically after a period of inactivity. Choose a screen saver Your Mac comes with several screen savers that display photos, messages, artwork from your iTunes library or photo library, and more. Screensavers for mac.
But you can arrange them how you like.
Related posts:How to speed up your mac with a Solid State SSD DriveWhatâs the best SSD drive for a Mac and how do I install it?Does my mac need more memory?How to get the most out of your ipod and laptop batteryAdding Network Storage (NAS) to your MacRoss Smithsays:Ssd Drive For Macbook Pro 2019June 30, 2019 at 7:56 am
Hello Wayne â This article answered a question Iâve had about buying a Mac mini and its small amount of internal storage. I chatted with Apple support yesterday. They only spoke in generalities, so I said goodbye once that became obvious. Instead of needing to go into an Apple store, I have the answer in your article!
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I am not sure I need the speed of an external SSD, however, I will price them now. We use a 2011 iMac for using the internet, viewing photos and also watching TV. Its display is going, its internal HD is failing, and I cannot find a good repair shop. Everything about the mini seems to fit EXCEPT it wasnât obvious about the external drive.
I found your website through a link to your comment on a monitor for the mini. That was interesting, but this article gave me what I really needed to know. Thank you.
ReplyWaynesays:June 30, 2019 at 11:42 pm
Yes it will depend on what you want to store on it. If itâs just pictures or audio files or a time machine backup then a standard HD will be fine, if you are using it to store applications, or application data, or movies, or stuff that you access a lot, an SSD will be much faster.
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Thank you for the clear description in this article! Iâm in the situation of using a combination Mac Mini and external SSD.
Would you have suggestions for back-up configuration and software? Of course, Iâd like to back up both devices, but will I have to do it to two separate back-up drives or can I combine them in one ⦠?
ReplyWaynesays:
Ssd Drive For Macbook Pro 2010September 20, 2019 at 4:13 am
Yes grab a 2TB or 4TB drive and you can time-machine both drives to it, or split it in 2 partitions and use CCC to back up each drive to it.
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