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Beelink Mate Mini A With Pre-Installed Crucial SSDs Questions

J

jdana24

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 14, 2025
2
0
I have recently purchased the Mac Mini M4 512GB - 16GB (to replace my mid-2014 MacBook Pro, which I am getting rid of), and like many, I now need to get a dock for additional ports. After researching many dock options, I’m leaning towards the Beelink Mate Mini A since it has the necessary ports I will need and the SSD options. In addition, my initial thoughts are to use one SSD for Time Machine backups, and the other SSD for general document, photo, and video storage. I will do some occasional photo editing with Lightroom. Currently, I am using a WD My Passport 2TB (2015) for my external storage for my MacBook Pro, and I have used approximately 500GB. In addition, I have a second WD Passport 1TB (2019), which I use for my Time Machine Backups; however, my MacBook Pro has had some issues recognizing the drive on occasion recently, so I don’t know if the drive is starting to fail or not. In my research, it seems like most of the users/reviewers are not using the pre-installed Crucial SSDs. Is there a reason people aren’t buying the Mate Mini A with the pre-installed SSDs for $279? It seems like a good value. Would I be making a mistake if I went this route? Or should I just buy the dock with no SSDs, and get Samsung SSD’s which many reviewers used, or WD_BLACK SN850X, which I’ve seen other users/reviewers put in the dock? And lastly, should I not even use one of the SSDs for Time Machine, and get an external HDD for that purpose, which I saw recommended in a video by MacMost Video? I do not want to spend unnecessarily, and I prefer not to overdo it. Any feedback is appreciated.
 
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