My wife is old school. She doesn't want our photos in the cloud. She wants it on her computer.
Yeah, I’d skip the NAS for Time Machine. If you wanted to do auxiliary backup with one of the cloning apps that should be okay. But (also) yes:
www.macworld.com
Please do not spread false information, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act explicitly prohibits voiding warranty for opening up or even replacing internal parts, so long as YOU don't cause damage your warranty remains. The FTC has been doing major crackdowns on companies for this recently
Given Apples and Best Buys current holiday return policy id consider just getting an open box or refurbished and then returning it or borrowing a friends. Last time I did the whole external drive thing it was a nightmare for me and I ended up just doing an internal storage upgrade
Tinkering? Its a slotted drive, you replace it close your mac back up and do a fresh install. Look at all of the stuff you posted, thats not tinkering? Like 20 steps to make your external drive pretend its an internal drive and the slightest issue including an accidental disconnection can have catestrophic results in addition you will have to make constant adjustments for any and all new apps to use external but my suggestion is some how the "tinkering and troubleshooting more crap" solution.Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
To save storage space on your Mac, you can move your Photos library to a different storage device.support.apple.com
Change where your music files are stored on Mac
In Music on Mac, change where your content is stored on your computer, manage your files, and create folders for better organization.
Yeah, I’d skip the NAS for Time Machine. If you wanted to do auxiliary backup with one of the cloning apps that should be okay. But (also) yes:
How to make sure Time Machine backs up external drives
A reader wants to shift his Photos and iTunes libraries to an external drive and ensure they're backed up by Time Machine.
Lastly, forget the third-party drive upgrade. I don’t want to get into a ****ing match but unless you like the idea of tinkering and possibly dealing with troubleshooting more crap, it’s not worth it. Your approach, offloading media to external drives, is fine for that setup.
Having an external SSD for data is extremely simple, way easier than replacing the internal SSD for 99% of the population, and I say this as someone who has installed an SSD inside my 27” iMac. The boot drive can remain the internal SSD.
8 TB NVMe drives have already been available for years. An external TB 4 / USB 4 enclosure plus top tier name brand 8 TB SSD with DRAM costs much less than what Apple charges to upgrade a Mac mini from 256 GB to just 2 TB.
The mac mini takes less then 2-3 minutes to get to the SSD the iMac is like 30 steps and I stand by what I said, yes storing data externally is simple. Whats not simple is the constant headache of making sure apps arent storing it to the internal SSD and dealing with caching issues, etc. So to make it so you arent constantly juggling all of that nonsense, you then make the external SSD the boot drive which takes a lot more effort and tinkering to make it "just work"
Indeed, even as someone who has done the much, much harder process of installing an SSD in the 27" iMac, I still think most end users would be better off using an external drive with a M4 Mac mini than swapping the internal storage.
You're spreading FUD. There is no extra management involved if you're doing stuff like moving your Photos Library to the external drive. As mentioned there is no need to move your boot drive to the external.
I should mention that I know this because my M1 Mac mini was 1 TB. After using that a few years, when I upgraded to the M4, I downgraded my internal storage to 512 GB.
HAHA, try taking your mini to Apple for service with a 3rd party SSD. Let us know how it goes. LOLPlease do not spread false information, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act explicitly prohibits voiding warranty for opening up or even replacing internal parts, so long as YOU don't cause damage your warranty remains. The FTC has been doing major crackdowns on companies for this recently
AND APPLE THEMSELVES EVEN SHOW YOU HOW TO REPLACE YOUR DRIVE:
AND they sell the modules:Mac mini (2024) SSD Module - Apple Support
Repair procedure with removal and reassembly steps
Given Apples and Best Buys current holiday return policy id consider just getting an open box or refurbished and then returning it or borrowing a friends. Last time I did the whole external drive thing it was a nightmare for me and I ended up just doing an internal storage upgrade
Tinkering? Its a slotted drive, you replace it close your mac back up and do a fresh install. Look at all of the stuff you posted, thats not tinkering? Like 20 steps to make your external drive pretend its an internal drive and the slightest issue including an accidental disconnection can have catestrophic results in addition you will have to make constant adjustments for any and all new apps to use external but my suggestion is some how the "tinkering and troubleshooting more crap" solution.
There is nothing easier or more reliable about an external drive setup being the primary storage.
Agreed. Photos is very happy on an external drive, but that external drive should be a locally attached APFS drive, preferably USB 4 / TB 4 (and ideally not USB 3).
I've had a few SSDs fail, starting over a decade ago. One was a Samsung and one was an Intel. Actually, I also recently noticed my old 2009 MacBook Pro no longer boots, and I believe that one is also from a corrupted SSD. It was working last year but this year it doesn't. I haven't bothered fixing it yet though, since it is a machine I am keeping just for nostalgic purposes, and it'd take me a few hours to get everything working again (assuming it's just the drive).
I have before without any issues. This is well established federal law Apple cannot deny a warranty claim just because you swapped out the drives. Obviously if that 3rd party drive fails thats not on Apple but they cannot outright deny a warranty claim because something in your computer is custom. That would be like saying Mercedes won't replace a broken engine because you used a 3rd party headlights, completely illegal.
Sure, you can argue your federal law with the Genius Bar employee that says otherwise… not worth the hassle.
You're right. What I really mean is that in five years or so, 8TB SSDs will be at a price point that I'd be willing to pay.
For my wife, the bulk of what she does is with Photos to manage the photos for band and yearbook. She'll also put iTunes on the external. Some light video editing too. I don't think that she'll use the internal storage for much of anything.
All I have on my internal storage are the Programs I use. I keep all my files on iCloud, use an external for Backups and then for Tv/Movies/photos and music etc. Pretty much have given up the TV/Movies as streaming as come around. But used to a fairly good library.
Well, a third party internal drive swap isn't an option for me right now. We don't have a Mac capable of running the configurator app.
