Install Mac Apps on External Storage in macOS Sequoia

[MacRumors]

If you're running out of space on your Mac's internal drive, macOS Sequoia 15.1 includes a handy new feature that lets you install large apps directly to external storage. Here's how to use it to preserve space on your boot drive.

Apple is known for charging customers a very high markup for additional storage when buying a new Mac. Given that internal storage usually can't be upgraded after purchase, it's no wonder that external drives are a popular solution for many Mac users who want the extra space but don't want to pay a premium for the privilege.

Until recently, macOS automatically installed new apps downloaded from the Mac App Store to a Mac's boot drive, which was not particularly helpful to users with dwindling internal storage. In macOS Sequoia 15.1, however, Apple has added a new option that lets you download and install apps that require more than 1GB of storage to an external drive. Anyone working with large apps like Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro, or gamers with space-consuming titles, will surely welcome this ability to download and install large apps to a separate disk.

Installing Mac Apps to External Storage

1. Connect your external drive to your Mac.
2. Open the App Store.
3. Click App Store in the menu bar and select Settings....
4. Check the box next to "Download and install large apps to a separate disk."
5. Select your external drive from the dropdown menu.

Some considerations to keep in mind: The feature only works with apps larger than 1GB, and your external drive must be connected when enabling the setting. (Make sure the drive you connect is APFS formatted.) Additionally, while apps will install to your external drive, bear in mind that, depending on the app, some app data may still be stored on your main drive.

It's also worth noting that you can't choose installation locations using this method on a per-app basis – it's an all-or-nothing setting for qualifying apps. Lastly, for the best experience, use a fast external SSD (or an internal SSD in an external enclosure) to ensure optimal app performance.

Article Link: Install Mac Apps on External Storage in macOS Sequoia

 

[Slix]

This is convenient! You could always move big apps after downloading them to the external disk, since day one essentially on the Mac. But having it automatically happen for big apps is a nice option.

 

[kirky29]

Once again, a very Apple way of doing this... :-/

 

[Kissmo1980]

Or you can move your Home folder to an external SSD - IF AND ONLY IF you plan to use the drive always connected.
You will however, always need to download the app and manually move it to the external drive.

I am using my Base M4 Mac mini like this with an external 4TB SSD

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Apple killed the ability to keep local MS OneDrive files on an external drive but you can run apps from one? Seems suspicious...

I've always kept my OneDrive files cached locally, but now they can only reside on the internal drive -- like I'm going to buy a 1TB Mac Mini just for that?

 

[guzhogi]

Or you can move your Home folder to an external SSD - IF AND ONLY IF you plan to use the drive always connected.
You will however, always need to download the app and manually move it to the external drive.

I am using my Base M4 Mac mini like this with an external 4TB SSD

If I actually had the need (and the money), I'd get a Mac Pro, put in an SSD PCIe card and do this. Probably get a NAS for local backup as well.

I wonder if there's a way to assign this using MDM for larger media companies?

 

[PsykX]

OK this might actually be terrifyingly useful. For games, of course, but not only that.

I had an M1 iMac and concluded that it was absolutely impossible to use Xcode on a Mac with 256 GB, exactly because of that and all the temporary files it would create. You have no idea what workarounds I use to put all my stuff on an external storage, and honestly, it just wasn't possible. The M1 iMac was sufficient for Xcode, even with 8GB, but the SSD storage I had made it absolutely impossible.

Maybe this would fix the issue.

 

[CarAnalogy]

A tiny step in the right direction. I don't know why it had to be this limited.

This is an absolute requirement to even begin to be taken seriously for games. Steam has had very flexible support for multiple libraries on multiple disks in whatever subfolder you choose, for like ten years.

 

[PsykX]

Apple killed the ability to keep local MS OneDrive files on an external drive but you can run apps from one? Seems suspicious...

I've always kept my OneDrive files cached locally, but now they can only reside on the internal drive -- like I'm going to buy a 1TB Mac Mini just for that?

I was about to quote you and say you're wrong and I can put my OneDrive wherever I want, but...
I just checked, and... you're right 😕

I don't know what to say, it makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Anything other than "no longer charging extortion level SSD upgrade pricing", it would seem

 

[bzgnyc2]

If you're running out of space on your Mac's internal drive, macOS Sequoia 15.1 includes a handy new feature that lets you install large apps directly to external storage. Here's how to use it to preserve space on your boot drive.

Apple is known for charging customers a very high markup for additional storage when buying a new Mac. Given that internal storage usually can't be upgraded after purchase, it's no wonder that external drives are a popular solution for many Mac users who want the extra space but don't want to pay a premium for the privilege.

Until recently, macOS automatically installed new apps downloaded from the Mac App Store to a Mac's boot drive, which was not particularly helpful to users with dwindling internal storage. In macOS Sequoia 15.1, however, Apple has added a new option that lets you download and install apps that require more than 1GB of storage to an external drive. Anyone working with large apps like Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro, or gamers with space-consuming titles, will surely welcome this ability to download and install large apps to a separate disk.

Installing Mac Apps to External Storage

1. Connect your external drive to your Mac.
   
2. Open the App Store.
   
3. Click App Store in the menu bar and select Settings....
   
4. Check the box next to "Download and install large apps to a separate disk."
   
5. Select your external drive from the dropdown menu.

Some considerations to keep in mind: The feature only works with apps larger than 1GB, and your external drive must be connected when enabling the setting. (Make sure the drive you connect is APFS formatted.) Additionally, while apps will install to your external drive, bear in mind that, depending on the app, some app data may still be stored on your main drive.

It's also worth noting that you can't choose installation locations using this method on a per-app basis – it's an all-or-nothing setting for qualifying apps. Lastly, for the best experience, use a fast external SSD (or an internal SSD in an external enclosure) to ensure optimal app performance.

Article Link: Install Mac Apps on External Storage in macOS Sequoia

Does anyone know if this works for MS Office too? It used to be that one could drag and run Office to any disk they wanted but this became unsupported after they forced the installer method. Then if one can download MS Office to an external disk, does it still work if you take to another system (understanding license keys and/or subscriptions need to be reenabled)?

I like keeping non-Apple applications somewhere other than the system drive. This seemed better supported on earlier versions of MacOS.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Or you can move your Home folder to an external SSD - IF AND ONLY IF you plan to use the drive always connected.
You will however, always need to download the app and manually move it to the external drive.

I am using my Base M4 Mac mini like this with an external 4TB SSD

How well does the drive stay connected when the Mac idles/sleeps? Sometimes the biggest challenge to this approach is that the drive occasionally gets unmounted by the OS for some unknown reason, and then you have trouble until a reboot.

 

[CharlesS]

Why would anyone need this? It's always been possible to have your apps on a separate drive. Just drag them over. LaunchServices will detect the apps in their new location and they'll just work. It's one of the best things about the Mac, and it's been that way basically since the beginning.

 

[Rradcircless]

I’m close to moving my Logic sound library to an external drive, with each new MacOS more and more of it gets offloaded.

 

[bzgnyc2]

OK this might actually be terrifyingly useful. For games, of course, but not only that.

I had an M1 iMac and concluded that it was absolutely impossible to use Xcode on a Mac with 256 GB, exactly because of that and all the temporary files it would create. You have no idea what workarounds I use to put all my stuff on an external storage, and honestly, it just wasn't possible. The M1 iMac was sufficient for Xcode, even with 8GB, but the SSD storage I had made it absolutely impossible.

I was able to do a manual install of Xcode 11.4 to a seperate disk under Mojave. I haven't tried it with more recent MacOS but are you sure they've disabled that semi-hidden option?

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I was about to quote you and say you're wrong and I can put my OneDrive wherever I want, but...
I just checked, and... you're right 😕

I don't know what to say, it makes absolutely no sense to me.

Yeah, OneDrive allows you to choose the external drive, but Apple just puts an alias/shortcut on external drive that points BACK to your internal drive and soon and unknowingly, your internal drive fills up with cloud files!

It used to work and now it doesn't.

 

[Macalway]

Ok, I'm a little confused now. I thought I could do this already. Maybe this is a content thing for Logic and Final Cut. I've never tried to offload content from these.

One app I use have over 2tb of content, and by default go to an external drive. I use a couple others that have over 200GB content.

 

[PsykX]

I was able to do a manual install of Xcode 11.4 to a seperate disk under Mojave. I haven't tried it with more recent MacOS but are you sure they've disabled that semi-hidden option?

I even tried downloading it from Apple Developer's website.
I can put it wherever I want, on my external drive for example, but my internal drive quickly became saturated with all those derived data and all the junk stuff Xcode generates.
This probably won't change ? I don't know. I'd have to test it.

I really felt pushed against the wall - I needed to pay Apple for all the extra storage. 500 CAD to go from 256GB to 1TB. Meanwhile, I can buy a 4 TB Samsung 990 Pro for 400 CAD when it's on special. I'm OK with Apple making an additional profit over upgrades, but at this point, I mean, they're truly robbing us.

 

[Magidan]

I have tried this with external ssd running thru my sonnecttech echo 20 and a caldigit TS3 tb dock and it always indicates "Unable to Download App". However, it does work when the external ssd is connected directly to my m4 max. It seems connections via docks is not supported (at this time).

 

[Mega ST]

Good news. This might be helpful for very large data like satellite map packages or similar.

I wonder why Apple is doing this? Do they want to keep "boring" and static non-relevant external code out of the apple intelligence scanning cycle? Will they offer much bigger internal storage at lower prices in the future and want to encourage people to buy "small" for now first? What is behind it?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Apple killed the ability to keep local MS OneDrive files on an external drive but you can run apps from one? Seems suspicious...

I've always kept my OneDrive files cached locally, but now they can only reside on the internal drive -- like I'm going to buy a 1TB Mac Mini just for that?

I can make an external drive the location of my OneDrive, unless I’m missing something?

 

[Corefile]

I'm impressed by this advanced technology Apple has invented in Sequoia to allow this to occur.

 

[subjonas]

This is convenient! You could always move big apps after downloading them to the external disk, since day one essentially on the Mac. But having it automatically happen for big apps is a nice option.

Why would anyone need this? It's always been possible to have your apps on a separate drive. Just drag them over. LaunchServices will detect the apps in their new location and they'll just work. It's one of the best things about the Mac, and it's been that way basically since the beginning.

Maybe you can move the app itself to external but app data can still be generated and stored on internal depending on the app? Maybe this way it’s more thorough and supported? (and automatic)

 

[subjonas]

Good news. This might be helpful for very large data like satellite map packages or similar.

I wonder why Apple is doing this? Do they want to keep "boring" and static non-relevant external code out of the apple intelligence scanning cycle? Will they offer much bigger internal storage at lower prices in the future and want to encourage people to buy "small" for now first? What is behind it?

I’m sure the “Apple is evil” crowd will come up with entertaining conspiracy theories. Or they will ignore this.

 

[Hank001]

I don't get it; we've always been able to install software on an external disk. For 30+ years.