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How Do I Cope With Mac mini M4 Dismal 256GB Storage?

S

sammyman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 21, 2005
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I picked up a Mac Mini M4 with all the excitement for fun, for my work desk, and also to run my Plex server. I currently have a Synology NAS running Plex but sometimes movie playback stutters.

The obvious solution to the mini's poor storage is an external hard drive. But what about using the NAS with 10gbe connection?

How would you handle storage?

I'm thinking of putting my photo library on the NAS (1tb), keep my documents folder on the mini synced with either One Drive or Synology Drive (50-100gb), and other projects like editing movies will either be Synology or external drives.

Will 10gbe be fast enough for editing movies (just home videos)? or should I just plan on external?

Any other tips to keep this small storage working for me? I was too cheap to upgrae the storage.
 
If you were to set up a RAID0 or RAID5 array, you'd get about the speed of a SATA SSD. Personally, I wouldn't recommend doing this, because it's not only really expensive but it's also just needlessly difficult. I've done this before, and it's just not worth it. I've thrown far too much money at servers and NAS systems, I've learned it's simply not worth the time or money. Instead, spend all the money you'd normally allocate to NAS drives, etc. on a nice, fast external SSD. It'll be faster and more reliable.

"Off-the-shelf" NAS systems are even worse, because you're stuck with THEIR proprietary parts, and the only solution to that is to build something yourself which has a high risk of failure, yadda yadda...
 
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rm5 said:
If you were to set up a RAID0 or RAID5 array, you'd get about the speed of a SATA SSD. Personally, I wouldn't recommend doing this, because it's not only really expensive but it's also just needlessly difficult. I've done this before, and it's just not worth it. I've thrown far too much money at servers and NAS systems, I've learned it's simply not worth the time or money. Instead, spend all the money you'd normally allocate to NAS drives, etc. on a nice, fast external SSD. It'll be faster and more reliable.
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I currently have a NAS is RAID5 (maybe 100tb! That’s mostly full) because my wife is a photographer. But it’s not ssd. So the equipment is there. Plex and her pictures along with backups of all devices sit on the NAS.
 
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Here's my suggestion: Keep the NAS for backups, that's great you've got that! Then get maybe a 1 or 2 TB external SSD to store active projects and frequently-accessed files on. Of course this is just how I do it, and what works for me might not work for you. Just one way to go about it.
 
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USB 4 / Thunderbolt 4 enclosures for NVMe drives are well under US$100 now. Buy that and a decent NVMe drive and you're set. Just make sure you're getting an enclosure well-designed for heat dissipation, because those enclosure chipsets and SSDs can run quite hot otherwise.

Or if that's too complicated, you can buy external USB 3.2 SSDs, like the Samsung T7 Shield or the Crucial X9 Pro. Those run quite cool and use way less power than the USB 4 / TB 4 SSDs, but are about 1/3rd the speed.
 
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EugW said:
USB 4 / Thunderbolt 4 enclosures for NVMe drives are well under US$100 now. Buy that and a decent NVMe drive and you're set. Just make sure you're getting an enclosure well-designed for heat dissipation, because those enclosure chipsets and SSDs can run quite hot otherwise.

Or if that's too complicated, you can buy external USB 3.2 SSDs, like the Samsung T7 Shield or the Crucial X9 Pro. Those run quite cool and use way less power than the USB 4 / TB 4 SSDs, but are about 1/3rd the speed.
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I think I have a 1tb nvme in my pc that I’m not using. An older Samsung 750 maybe? Maybe I’ll get the enclosure and start with that.
 
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rm5 said:
Here's my suggestion: Keep the NAS for backups, that's great you've got that! Then get maybe a 1 or 2 TB external SSD to store active projects and frequently-accessed files on. Of course this is just how I do it, and what works for me might not work for you. Just one way to go about it.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I always want to push my NAS more than needed. I’ll keep it going for backups and plex storage.
 
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sammyman said:
I think I have a 1tb nvme in my pc that I’m not using. An older Samsung 750 maybe? Maybe I’ll get the enclosure and start with that.
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That’s a good idea! Yeah, definitely start with what you already have.
sammyman said:
Thank you! I always want to push my NAS more than needed. I’ll keep it going for backups and plex storage.
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Of course!! Hope I’ve been somewhat helpful.
 
Cosmo M3 said:
I'm using the OWC 1M2 M.2 MVME enclosure running USB-4/TB4 speeds. Really happy with this solution. 3100mbps read and write speeds for an external is pretty amazing.
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Which SSD and how hot does it run? Any slowdowns with heavy use? I'm a little concerned about the power utilization of the Samsung 990 Pro.
 
sammyman said:
I picked up a Mac Mini M4 with all the excitement for fun, for my work desk, and also to run my Plex server. I currently have a Synology NAS running Plex but sometimes movie playback stutters.

The obvious solution to the mini's poor storage is an external hard drive. But what about using the NAS with 10gbe connection?

How would you handle storage?

I'm thinking of putting my photo library on the NAS (1tb), keep my documents folder on the mini synced with either One Drive or Synology Drive (50-100gb), and other projects like editing movies will either be Synology or external drives.

Will 10gbe be fast enough for editing movies (just home videos)? or should I just plan on external?

Any other tips to keep this small storage working for me? I was too cheap to upgrae the storage.
Click to expand...
If one considers 256 GB mass storage to be "dismal," instead of complaining [the OP headline] buy the new mini with more storage; or (my preference) cheaply add external SSD storage ad nauseam.
 
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Cosmo M3 said:
I'm using the OWC 1M2 M.2 MVME enclosure running USB-4/TB4 speeds. Really happy with this solution. 3100mbps read and write speeds for an external is pretty amazing.
Click to expand...
I'm curious which drive you are using as well. This enclosure is on my shortlist and I'm currently looking at the most suitable NVMe drives.
 
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sammyman said:
I picked up a Mac Mini M4 with all the excitement for fun, for my work desk, and also to run my Plex server. I currently have a Synology NAS running Plex but sometimes movie playback stutters.

The obvious solution to the mini's poor storage is an external hard drive. But what about using the NAS with 10gbe connection?

How would you handle storage?

I'm thinking of putting my photo library on the NAS (1tb), keep my documents folder on the mini synced with either One Drive or Synology Drive (50-100gb), and other projects like editing movies will either be Synology or external drives.

Will 10gbe be fast enough for editing movies (just home videos)? or should I just plan on external?

Any other tips to keep this small storage working for me? I was too cheap to upgrae the storage.
Click to expand...
You shouldn't need a 10 GB connection for movie playback.
 
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Donka said:
I'm curious which drive you are using as well. This enclosure is on my shortlist and I'm currently looking at the most suitable NVMe drives.
Click to expand...
I've got a few wd black models and the fastest they write is about 1400 in the high speed OWC TB3 enclosure rated for much higher than that. There should be a chart somewhere we can compare notes.
 
Donka said:
I'm curious which drive you are using as well. This enclosure is on my shortlist and I'm currently looking at the most suitable NVMe drives.
Click to expand...
I’m using their Aura Ultra IV 1TB right now, which will give you the advertised speeds of 3,100mbps read/write speeds. It’s highly dependent on what SSD you install, but their OEM SSD is top notch.
 
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PsykX said:
Just buy a Samsung 990 Pro 4TB with an external case if you can. Stick it behind your screen with a velcro and voilà.
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With an external TB4 enclosure (not USBC speed)! It should be pretty good for many years. Love the idea for desktops! Hate it for MacBooks. Cheers.
 
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brsilb said:
Since you are in the 14 Day return period, exchange it for 512GB for $200 more no matter what you do with external storage. Software is getting bigger and you should future proof yourself.
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Thats why I got the 16/512 version. I got the ED discount and paid only $699. Best bang for your buck Mac in existence. Return for a 512GB version and get a Samsung 990 Pro and a TB4 enclosure that dissipates heat very well. I got a ACASIS TBU401 pro and I am getting high speeds at 2800 read and around 3500 for write.

The M4 Mac Mini is with the 512GB is around Read:3200 Write: 4300. The external will give about the same user experience. You will not notice a difference between the two with everyday workloads.
 
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Not sure what the internal drive speeds are on the M4 Mini.

But with TB4 and a Samsung 990Pro SSD/enclosure, I was getting equal speeds to my internal Mac Studio M2 Ultra SSD.

Could run multiple streams of 4K video for editing off of the Samsung.
 
Steve686 said:
Not sure what the internal drive speeds are on the M4 Mini.

But with TB4 and a Samsung 990Pro SSD/enclosure, I was getting equal speeds to my internal Mac Studio M2 Ultra SSD.

Could run multiple streams of 4K video for editing off of the Samsung.
Click to expand...
Which enclosure do you run and how hot does it get?

I haven’t yet decided whether to get the fast but hot 990 Pro, or the sometimes slower but cooler 990 EVO Plus.
 
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