Boost Your M4 Mac Mini: How to Set Up an External SSD as Your Main Drive!

Are you tired of being limited by the smaller, slower internal storage on your Mac Mini? In this step-by-step tutorial, I’ll show you how to configure your M4 Mac Mini to use a faster external SSD as the primary disk drive. This simple tweak can supercharge your system's performance, save space, and keep your workflow smooth and efficient.

💡 What you'll learn in this video:

Why an external SSD is a game-changer for your Mac Mini
Tips for optimizing performance and storage management
📦 What you'll need:

An external SSD (I'll recommend a few options!)
Your M4 Mac Mini
A USB-C or Thunderbolt cable
👉 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more tech tips and Mac hacks!

BEST External Drive Video:

Tech discussed in today's video ( links are affiliated and help with the content creation for this channel):

OWC Express 1M2 Portable NVMe Thunderbolt (USB-C) SSD USB4 Ultra Fast External SSD Drive with Aluminum Heat Sink Enclosure (Enclosure Only):

The NVME SSD I use: Crucial T500 2TB Gen4 NVMe M.2 Internal Gaming SSD:

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 Certified M.2 NVMe SSD Tool Free Solid Aluminum Enclosure:

SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD, 1TB External Solid State Drive:

M4 Mac mini ($50 off on Amazon for a limited time!!):

The Camera I use:

The ND Filter I use:

The Key Light I Use:

The Softbox I use:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click on one of the product links in this video/description and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your support helps me continue creating content like this. Thank you!

#sigma #blackmagiccinemacamera #blackmagicfullframe

[ReachFilms]

Just want to note, this method is not about using an external hard drive to boot from. I don’t personally do that nor do I recommend it either

[photosbyjf]

one youtuber also mentioned to set up a secondary admin on the internal drive in case of catastrophic failure of the external drive. This gives you an opportunity to still access those internal only files to recover from

[cyberlizardcouk]

I think this video is more to do with moving the home folder location to an external drive rather tan using the external drive as the main (read that is startup) disk. i think this is what is confusing commenters.

[panamouse]

I bought the Mac mini pro….an enclosure for 4 TB card….all to be set up before I check in…..BUT HOW do I then migrate all my iMac materials to the new Mac mini and enclosure ?

[jimwoods]

Geoff, when you completed this process, does your iCloud Drive sync to the external drive? Or, does it still sync to the internal drive?

[seanb]

Fantastic informative video. Quick question, do you need to use specialized Thunder Bolt 4 cables when making the physical connection from the Mac M4 to an external HD, or will a regular USB-C cable do the job? Thanks'

[JoseMesta]

Hi Geoff, I have an iMac which is running from an external drive (I also have another external with the Time Machine back up), just bought the new Mac Mini M4 and an external SSD with enclosure (Which I want to be my main drive). What are the steps that you would recommend in this case? Thank you in advance! Great video btw 👍🏻

[DrAlanWeinstein]

I bought the OWC you recommended . I have theM4Pro. I already loading every thing on the Mac Mini in fact I loaded it from my old iMac. I then connected my external Time Machine backups to the new Mac mini? Does having the Time Machine backs ups of any value in getting the SSD set up? Thx

[chriscoetzer]

If you do a new setup like this, can you restore your old machine data from a time machine backup and will it then put your old home folder on the SSD?

[mkonradx]

Great Video, thanks. Is a time maschine backup on another external harddrive possible with this method?

[riccia]

If use external as your main can you still use apple intelligence?

[renepouliot]

I just received my m4 mini and
I will set the “home” on the external drive.
As far as next steps do I just follow the prompts?

[bigdaddyo]

Good one. Booting from external drove breaks AI. Tip I saw in another vieo: create a second user with admin rights without changing the documents location. So you can boot in cases anything goes wrong with your external drive.

[joseaavellanet]

Great video! How about if I am moving from an iMac 2017 to a new Mac mini 1TB. And I have a new 2TB external SDD drive for my new Mac mini, but my computer information it’s in my old external hard drive that I connect using Time Machine. What my best way to do this, transferring what I have in my actual iMac 2017 to my Mac mini.

[snubdawg]

will this also work for macbook air m4 or is there a problem because of the screen?

[peterwelpton]

curious about how migration works with this setup from your old osX machine to the new one set up this way.

[yolandab]

Thank you for the video; it's very helpful. When using the Samsung External SSD as my main drive, is it necessary to connect it to the usb c thunderbolt port on the back of the Mac Mini or can I connect it to a dongle since my other ports on the back of the mini are already used to connect other gear, e.g., mic, camera, etc.?

[MikeFromNashville]

Thanks Jeff. By using this particular drive, would the read write speed be faster than the internal 512GB drive on a Mac Mini M4?

[LiquidTurbo]

Does Time Machine work with this method enabled?

[AG-bpll]

Mac programs are small. I have a ton installed and I'm only using 80 gigs. Just save all files to the external and keep your programs on the internal. This ends up being a hassle in the long run.