I'm upgrading my parents from a 2013 iMac to a 2024 M4 Mac Mini. Will they REALLY notice if their home drive is on a 10Gbps USB enclosure?

[spaceballl]

Hey There,

My parents are on a Core 2 Duo iMac. I upgraded it to a 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM a while back. It's actually not TERRIBLE for what it is, but yeah it's time to upgrade. They're going to be getting an M4 Mac Mini from me, and I declined the Apple upgrade tax this time around so they're getting a unit with base storage.

So... I've been reading about the different options here, booting from internal vs external, moving the home drive, etc. I've decided I'll be moving their home drives. I have an extra 1TB NVME drive in the house. It's fine. I don't wanna drop $100 on an enclosure, and this USB 3.1gen2 enclosure is literally $10 this week, and it has great reviews. I think it will be fine for their home drive, but I need some validation.

Their use-case: reading online news and getting riled up, showing baby shark videos to grand kids, occasionally using streaming services, and maybe viewing some photos from time to time.

Everyone is saying DO NOT get a USB3.1g2 enclosure, but like... it wasn't that long ago that we operated with SATA3 SSDs, and the speed there is capped a 6Gbps, and everything loaded just fine...

Am I stupid for not getting a TB4 enclosure for this use-case? I just can't see how 10Gbps is going to feel slow for anything other than video editing or something super I/O intensive. Thanks!

 

[waloshin]

No. Just a few years ago 500 MBs SSDs were “amazing”…

T their current drive probably does not even do 1/5th the speed.

 

[Mac mini power user]

Any modern NVMe SSD should be fine for your parents. That enclosure looks great, and at that price you're not betting hundreds on it. Buy it and let us know.

 

[PaulD-UK]

MacOS can have a problem if it is trying to access a system component that is not on the boot drive, but on an external SSD that, for whatever reason, is suddenly not available.

The trouble with external USB 3.* SSDs is that they can occasionally disconnect (especially after the Mac has been put to sleep) giving rise to an error message.
Not all the controller chips used in external enclosures play well with MacOS, so using external SSDs that play well with MacOS is essential if you are storing system data on them.

Apple ensures compatibility with Thunderbolt 3/4, with USB not so much, maybe...
SSDs from a Mac-centric manufacturer are a better bet, especially if the computer user is not a tech support expert...

 

[CharlesShaw]

Have you considered moving them more into iCloud and seeing if they could manage with the 256 and some iCloud optimization prior to the migration? That would allow them to access all their stuff on their iPad(s) as well if they were to get one.

 

[spaceballl]

Have you considered moving them more into iCloud and seeing if they could manage with the 256 and some iCloud optimization prior to the migration? That would allow them to access all their stuff on their iPad(s) as well if they were to get one.

Yeah I use iCloud for their photos, but honestly I just don't trust 256GB to not slowly fill up over time. Keeping the default 256GB of storage is not an option I'll consider.

 

[QuickDraw]

They will notice, once they accidentally unplug the external ssd . My parents would certainly do that.
Speedwise I don't think they will notice. I wouldn't probably notice either, when not obsessing over it and doing benchmarks, or copying lots of stuff.

 

[nanosour]

I'm probably the same type of user as your parents and I just picked up the base M4 mini a week ago. Find out how much data is on the iMac. I suspect they would be fine with a 200G icloud subscription for $2.99/month and stay with the 256 M4 mini using storage optimization. It's working great on my new M4 and I have an M.2 enclosure with a 1TB stick for Time Machine backup. The added bonus is that all their other devices (iphones, ipads) will have access to the photos. For reference, my photo library is 93GB of a total of roughly 110GB used. Don't see this growing much in the future as our days of taking photos of every moment in our life is over, and I don't make too many new documents anymore being that we're both retired. My basic use is surfing the web, email, and a few budget spreadsheets. Typically have 8-10 applications up and running 24/7 and this new M4 mini is snappy.

I did look into putting the home folder on the external, but decided to go with TM instead and just trust apple optimization algorithms. Also, aftermarket upgrades to the internal ssd will be available in the near future so there will always be that option if needing more storage in the future.

 

[DankeBrutus]

I'm going to assume your parents aren't super tech savvy. I've both bought PCs and/or upgraded storage for different relatives. With the exception of one person, my partner, I have seen relatives fit comfortably within 256GB. My MIL takes pictures of seemingly every waking moment and when I set up a Thunderbolt 3 boot drive for her on her 2019 iMac I found she was using only about 100GB on the internal drive.

So 256GB might work just fine depending on how much of that 512GB your parents are already using.

 

[brentsg]

I’ve had some of the worst experiences with these types of enclosures and OSX. I’ve been using a Thunderbolt enclosure forever and it has been stable, but disconnects with OS or other important files will be a huge headache for you.

 

[CharlesShaw]

The past few comments are inspiring some television tv drama scenarios in my imagination where charming elderly parents must use whatever unwanted Apple cast-offs their controlling son decides are good enough for them ("Don't ever unplug that cable, that's the brains of this entire setup, even if there is dust. No, the iMac is gone, you'll be using these separate components from now on and do not touch anything.")

 

[Che Castro]

don't do it, their old people, make their life easier not harder

 

[nanosour]

The past few comments are inspiring some television tv drama scenarios in my imagination where charming elderly parents must use whatever unwanted Apple cast-offs their controlling son decides are good enough for them ("Don't ever unplug that cable, that's the brains of this entire setup, even if there is dust. No, the iMac is gone, you'll be using these separate components from now on and do not touch anything.")

Quite astute.

 

[Fishrrman]

They're your parents.
Make it easy for them.
Buy a Mini with "enough" on-board SSD storage to begin with.
Things will go MUCH EASIER for you and for THEM, that way.

(if YOU don't want to pay for some extra storage, ask THEM if they will contribute that much...)

 

[azentropy]

How much are they using now? Unless they have tons of photos and videos you might be surprised with how little they actually use. Even if they are using a bunch, I'd relocate just the Photo and or Music Libraries rather than their whole home directory.

 

[ultratiem]

1) yes they’ll notice and an external’s speed isn’t the only metric. You’re going from 6000 Gbps to 800 bro. Also, cheap external enclosures run HOT AF, and when they reach thermal limits, their speeds plummet. Not to mention having it disconnect means catastrophe.
2) not only are you a terrible son, but you should not be setting up computers for anyone.

 

[CharlesShaw]

They're your parents.
Make it easy for them.
Buy a Mini with "enough" on-board SSD storage to begin with.
Things will go MUCH EASIER for you and for THEM, that way.

I don't want to pick on the OP, so let's make this a fictional family, LOL. My first thought was why not just replace their old iMac with a new iMac, but the previous upgrade is a clue. My simple solution would have eliminated the need for a new base mini, and perhaps for the unloading of an unwanted monitor, and for overcoming the storage issue with a project.

 

[bzgnyc2]

Hey There,

My parents are on a Core 2 Duo iMac. I upgraded it to a 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM a while back. It's actually not TERRIBLE for what it is, but yeah it's time to upgrade. They're going to be getting an M4 Mac Mini from me, and I declined the Apple upgrade tax this time around so they're getting a unit with base storage.

So... I've been reading about the different options here, booting from internal vs external, moving the home drive, etc. I've decided I'll be moving their home drives. I have an extra 1TB NVME drive in the house. It's fine. I don't wanna drop $100 on an enclosure, and this USB 3.1gen2 enclosure is literally $10 this week, and it has great reviews. I think it will be fine for their home drive, but I need some validation.

Their use-case: reading online news and getting riled up, showing baby shark videos to grand kids, occasionally using streaming services, and maybe viewing some photos from time to time.

Everyone is saying DO NOT get a USB3.1g2 enclosure, but like... it wasn't that long ago that we operated with SATA3 SSDs, and the speed there is capped a 6Gbps, and everything loaded just fine...

Am I stupid for not getting a TB4 enclosure for this use-case? I just can't see how 10Gbps is going to feel slow for anything other than video editing or something super I/O intensive. Thanks!

For this use case, no. I keep my home directory on the external 10Gbps enclosure I bought as a stop-gap back in 2020 for my Mac Mini 2018 when I couldn't find a TB3 enclosure I liked. There are better TB3 (TB4/USB4/etc) enclosures now but I can't justify swapping it out because ~ 1GB/second is fine for the type of work on that system (which is more demanding than what they do). The existing NVMe in it would go ~ 2x faster on TB3 and give me acess to the SMART counters but for now not even sure those are worth 20 minutes of my time to order and fuss with it when it gets here.

These days, computers are really much faster than what's needed for the most common use cases like the one above as long as the software is reasonably efficient. Ignoring the screen, etc issues they probably would have been fine with today's entry-level iPad.

What is worth my time in this context however is anything reliability related. Do you know the remaining life on that spare 1TB NVMe and/or is that enclosure reliable? I don't recall my relatively cheap Plugable enclosure disconnecting unexpectedly once in 4 years so I consider that the baseline. If you get that enclosure and it disconnects even once in the first week, chuck it. Time fixing/cleaning up from disconnects/failures is a waste.

 

[kirbyrun]

not only are you a terrible son

That's...a little extreme. Consider dialing it back. OP is generously giving his parents a pre-existing mini of his own and he's trying to figure out the best way to make it work for them. A "terrible son" wouldn't even be talking to his parents about this at all.

 

[DankeBrutus]

My first thought was why not just replace their old iMac with a new iMac, but the previous upgrade is a clue. My simple solution would have eliminated the need for a new base mini, and perhaps for the unloading of an unwanted monitor, and for overcoming the storage issue with a project.

To be fair a new iMac is significantly more expensive than a new Mini. It could be out of OP's budget. Of course one could look through the Apple's Certified Refurbished page or the local FB Marketplace for a deal and a newer iMac.

 

[genexx]

If you link your Home Directory to an external then you just need one occurrence of it not available and MacOS will create a new user.
It also happens that when the Mac goes to Sleep it will loose connection to USB Drive beside the Problem that the NVME will get Hot because energy saving states do not work.
To fix this you may have to visit your Parents then.

I had and will always use a different Boot drive.
With the newer MacMini M4 or any M based there is a different way you boot so you can´t just use any case with any cable.

Some have said you can use a USB3 Boot Drive if you connect it with an TB Cable.

So if you buy that Cable and the Case you are almost at the Price of an Acasis TBU405 AIR TB3/4 USB4 Case with Deliver and Tax (BF15) Code.

So i would buy the Acasis Case an WD SN770 or WD SN850X NVME 1TB or 2TB (do not buy a Samsung or anything else if you do not want to have problems) and use it as a Boot Drive.

I have just proofed it with my MBA M2 to prepare for a MacMini M4 Base 16GB/256GB and boot from this combo.
This way you can get 1TB for the Mini for 120 Bucks or 2TB for X Bucks and sleep well.

Or get an older Intel based Mac but...or or or...

 

[EugW]

Don't do it. Just get them a 512 GB iMac. If not that, then a 512 GB Mac mini. Or maybe 256 GB. My wife uses 120 GB on her Mac, and my daughter just 60 GB. My son who got my hand-me-down 27" iMac with 1 TB SSD, uses even less:

As @PaulD-UK states, USB drives occasionally disconnect. This happens occasionally with my USB 3 drives, although I've been having better luck with my USB 4 drive. Internal drives never disconnect. Plus very occasionally, some (poorly designed) software sometimes gets confused if the directories aren't where they expect them to be. This is especially true with uninstallers for low cost or freeware 3rd party applications.

I won't use the "love your parents, so spend the extra money" reasoning here. The reasoning I will use is that you don't want to be troubleshooting this stuff periodically for them.

 

[arc of the universe]

Don't do it. Just get them a 512 GB iMac. If not that, then a 512 GB Mac mini. Or maybe 256 GB. My wife uses 120 GB on her Mac, and my daughter just 60 GB. My son who got my hand-me-down 27" iMac with 1 TB SSD, uses even less:

View attachment 2456725

As @PaulD-UK states, USB drives occasionally disconnect. This happens occasionally with my USB 3 drives, although I've been having better luck with my USB 4 drive. Internal drives never disconnect. Plus very occasionally, some (poorly designed) software sometimes gets confused if the directories aren't where they expect them to be. This is especially true with uninstallers for low cost or freeware 3rd party applications.

I won't use the "love your parents, so spend the extra money" reasoning here. The reasoning I will use is that you don't want to be troubleshooting this stuff periodically for them.

i second this advice.

older folks appreciate a dongle-less life more than any other demographic. iMacs are almost purposefully built and intended for this type of user.
but, while i was writing a post to say as much, i re-read the original poster's post.
he is giving them a macMini that he has already (it seems to have already been bought). so buying an iMac now might not be an option in this case. the good news is that he seems to be a very attentive son, so that's wonderful to see.

as a person who has been in a similar position of being a "parental IT administrator" , for my own sanity and for their ease of use, all i can say is that a base M4 iMac configuration is saving us all a great deal of hassle. and iMacs prove to have great longevity of maybe 8 to 10 years. the only case against an iMac is that's very stationary. but iPads, which are of course the most portable of devices, are still very fidgety devices for other than pure consumption. typing on an iPad at all is not an option for older people, so a Magic Keyboard would be required. so, either iMac for parents who prefer a stationary device they go to and sit in front of, or, an iPad for the more portable preferring seniors.
either way, the closer that the device setup gets to be a "one button push" setup the better. (and to be clear, i'm not dumbing down the needs of seniors. seniors deserve a great computing experience and a frustration-less experience is the most important factor for that.)

 

[FreakinEurekan]

If it were a new computer for you, go for it.

For your parents, pony up the extra $200 and leave the User folder on the internal. You can put Media & Photos on an external.

The reason: You're not always there to support it. Your mom unplugs the cable while cleaning - your dad's moving something around on the desk & bumps the cable - lots of little problems will completely STYMIE them and prevent you from even remoteing in to diagnose it, since the computer won't even BOOT without that volume.

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

If your parents are over 70, keep it simple. They won’t notice an external drive’s barely perceptible slower speeds, but they may start doing stuff like wondering what that box is connected to it and then unplug stuff because they may get confused about everything. Eventually, they’ll point to the mini and ask, “What does that do?” not realizing it IS the computer itself.

If they’re over 80, it could get even worse. Hopefully, for you, it won’t.