Mac Mini 256GB SSD users: How is your experience running MacOS from an external drive?

[spaceballl]

So many posts about different issues that pop up when you migrate a home folder or when you have newly installed apps on a separate drive. I appreciate that some of you like to live the "split drive" life, but man just running the OS from the thunderbolt SSD has been so clean. Again, my boomer dad has been having no issues with it for the past two weeks while I'm not there. It properly goes to sleep, wakes from sleep, etc. Speed is fantastic. Everything works. I highly recommend it!

 

[genexx]

So many posts about different issues that pop up when you migrate a home folder or when you have newly installed apps on a separate drive. I appreciate that some of you like to live the "split drive" life, but man just running the OS from the thunderbolt SSD has been so clean. Again, my boomer dad has been having no issues with it for the past two weeks while I'm not there. It properly goes to sleep, wakes from sleep, etc. Speed is fantastic. Everything works. I highly recommend it!

That is exactly it.
Since decades it is working like this and the Home Folder Split thing is nothing i would try, why?

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Has anyone else done this and either found it works 100% or experienced any problems (especially with Spotlight)?

I'm seeing all the YouTubers, and especially this fellow, pushing this hard. But I see no acknowledgment or discussion of the major limitations I and others have experienced and commented on. I remain interested if the problems are rare (I'm unlucky) or the YT'ers are conveniently ignoring problems to make happy tech videos.

I have used Carbon Copy Cloner, quite successfully to copy my home folder to an external drive, and then switch over to that folder using System Settings / Users & Groups.

As mentioned previously, Apple Intelligence doesn't work. But, then mine doesn't work before coffee either...

Doing this does add a few extra seconds to booting up, as the Mac looks around for your Users folder.

You don't need to use a Thunderbolt drive, unless you are transferring terabytes of data. I get along quite nicely with a Samsung T5.

Backing up with Time Machine works fine. Spotlight searching works fine. iCloud synching works fine. ( I also have MEGAsync, Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox set up ( mostly for historical reasons, and I haven't bothered to disconnect them yet) and they all work fine.)

Problems -- Sometimes Ulysses takes a minute or so to find its iCloud files the first time you run it after boot up. But then, the alternatives to Ulysses (Obsidian, Zettlr, Joplin, Visual Studio Code, Typora, R Studio) all work fine, with no delay. Word sometimes takes a few seconds to find its OneDrive files.

 

[fong01fong]

I fixed my spotlight searching problem for external drive by the following:-

It has been working for my MacMini M4 with external drive for a few weeks.

 

[hajime]

Has anybody tried to boot MacOS from a USB 3.2 Gen2 SSD? Is the system responsive? Is it noticeably slow compared with the stock 256GB SSD? I read that on paper, the internal 256GB SSD is about 2-3 times faster.

 

[spaceballl]

Has anybody tried to boot MacOS from a USB 3.2 Gen2 SSD? Is the system responsive? Is it noticeably slow compared with the stock 256GB SSD? I read that on paper, the internal 256GB SSD is about 2-3 times faster.

The internal SSD is 2 to 3 times faster, but that's for benchmarks. In real world usage, assuming you're not doing video editing or something super tasking on the disk, you won't notice a difference. In terms of USB3.2, I would assume the speed is fine, BUT, and I cannot confirm this, but I've heard that USB3.2 may not be as good for things like going to sleep, waking from sleep, etc. I originally went with USB3.2, and my logic was that my dad is upgrading from an iMac with an SSD that is like 5+ years old... so even a USB3.2 SSD should be faster, but when I read about potential issues, I just went for the Thunderbolt 4 enclsoure. I've had no problems.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Has anybody tried to boot MacOS from a USB 3.2 Gen2 SSD? Is the system responsive? Is it noticeably slow compared with the stock 256GB SSD? I read that on paper, the internal 256GB SSD is about 2-3 times faster.

From my earlier post, you can see that the difference in booting up is 2 seconds booting from a Samsung T7 connected to one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports at the back. All other real world tests show no significant difference. (And even 14 seconds over 12 seconds boot up is typically unnoticeable unless you are watching it with stopwatch in hand.)

Even a Samsung T5 is between the T7 and T3 in performance, but is much closer to the T7.

Except in the specific case of copying to or from a high speed NVME drive in a Thunderbolt 4 case, you will never get to the theoretical speed of the internal SSD. This is because of the overhead the OS imposes on real world tasks, like booting up, opening an app, processing a file and the like.

 

[drrich2]

Has anybody tried to boot MacOS from a USB 3.2 Gen2 SSD? Is the system responsive?

On an old 2017 27" 5K iMac with Intel processor the Fusion Drive messed up, so I started booting from an external Samsung T7 Shield SSD. The system had issues with frequent kernel panics, and the restarts were slow, but that's not typical booting off an external SSD from what I understand.

In terms of daily use, I was pleasantly surprised to find the iMac's performance subjectively felt snappier. Opening a large book file in Blurb seemed to pop open faster. And that's a USB-C external SSD drive.

If I were buying an external SSD drive to use as an external boot drive for my recently acquired M4Pro Mac Mini, I'd consider Thunderbolt 4 vs. 5, to give myself some bandwidth overhead just in case, but that T7 Shield did a surprisingly good job.

 

[hajime]

Given that the M4 series has issues with 5K2K monitors and perhaps other not yet discovered video issues, I am considering to just buy the cheapest stopgap machine until the M5 comes out. Hopefully these issues will be fixed hardware-wise.

I have a spare T7, USB 3.2 10Gbps NVMe SSD enclosure and a NVMe SSD. I wonder if I could use them as an external boot drive for Mac Mini without noticing lag in performance. Seems to be possible according to some of you.

I know TB4 enclosure is better but given that TB5 enclosures are available, it may not be good to invest on those TB4 enclosures. As those TB5 enclosures just came out, it also may not be a good idea to buy now.

It is hard to decide. Why Apple always releases computers with some issues?

 

[drrich2]

Interesting about the 5K2K display thing with M4 series Macs; I didn't know that, but quick Googling turned up articles on it. Here's a link to one from 9to5 Mac. I wonder if it's near universal, mainly affects some models, or is 'hit and miss' - affecting some and not others?

I have a spare T7, USB 3.2 10Gbps NVMe SSD enclosure and a NVMe SSD. I wonder if I could use them as an external boot drive for Mac Mini without noticing lag in performance.

That depends on what you're doing (e.g.: how demanding your workflow is, such as whether you read and write large files often), how much you pay attention and how picky you are. I would guess if you set up 2 systems side-by-side you'd occasionally notice a little difference, but whether you'd care I have no way to know. Are you a casual, low-demand user? Do you do 4K video editing? How big is your NVMe SSD?

I'm used to T7 being a Samsung model of external SSD drive with the drive already included. Do you have a T7 and an external enclosure, or do you have a spare 'T7 external enclosure?'

What is your plan for when you buy a new Mac, whether an M4 or M5-based? Do you plan to pay Apple's ridiculous internal storage upgrade price, or maybe get 512-gig internal SSD and keep most of your big stuff on an external SSD, or even run off an external SSD as your boot drive?

 

[hajime]

That depends on what you're doing (e.g.: how demanding your workflow is, such as whether you read and write large files often), how much you pay attention and how picky you are. I would guess if you set up 2 systems side-by-side you'd occasionally notice a little difference, but whether you'd care I have no way to know. Are you a casual, low-demand user? Do you do 4K video editing? How big is your NVMe SSD?

I'm used to T7 being a Samsung model of external SSD drive with the drive already included. Do you have a T7 and an external enclosure, or do you have a spare 'T7 external enclosure?'

What is your plan for when you buy a new Mac, whether an M4 or M5-based? Do you plan to pay Apple's ridiculous internal storage upgrade price, or maybe get 512-gig internal SSD and keep most of your big stuff on an external SSD, or even run off an external SSD as your boot drive?

Under MacOS, mostly basic productivity stuffs. However, I want to run one Windows VM under Fusion or Parallels for 3D software. I don't do 4K video editing. I have a spare 1TB NVMe SSD and a spare 1TB Samsung T7 as well as a spare NVMe USB 3.2 enclosure.

I ordered a MacBook Pro 16" with 1TB SSD but after hearing those 5K2K issues, I am considering to cancel it and just get a cheap M4 Mini with 256GB SSD + some kind of external boot drive for temporary use until the M5 comes out.

 

[drrich2]

However, I want to run one Windows VM under Fusion or Parallels for 3D software.

Got a question hopefully others can answer. That sounds memory intensive, and you're talking about getting a cheap M4 Mini with 256 GB SSD and running off an external drive.

If you haven't already, might ought to find out how much RAM will be needed to run Windows via virtualization, and I don't know how much 3D software adds to that.

Macs can use the SSD for swap, but it's slower. Apple upgrade costs for RAM and SSD storage are expensive. If you plan to resale it in a year to buy an M5-based Mac as a replacement, wonder what the demand will be for a base M4 Mac Mini with 256 gig SSD and 32 gig RAM, for example? Maybe 24 would do?

In fact, once you know what the added upgrade costs will be (e.g.: to upgrade RAM and maybe buy the virtualization software and Windows), I'd price that against a cheap Windows notebook PC that can do the work natively.

 

[hajime]

Got a question hopefully others can answer. That sounds memory intensive, and you're talking about getting a cheap M4 Mini with 256 GB SSD and running off an external drive.

If you haven't already, might ought to find out how much RAM will be needed to run Windows via virtualization, and I don't know how much 3D software adds to that.

Macs can use the SSD for swap, but it's slower. Apple upgrade costs for RAM and SSD storage are expensive. If you plan to resale it in a year to buy an M5-based Mac as a replacement, wonder what the demand will be for a base M4 Mac Mini with 256 gig SSD and 32 gig RAM, for example? Maybe 24 would do?

In fact, once you know what the added upgrade costs will be (e.g.: to upgrade RAM and maybe buy the virtualization software and Windows), I'd price that against a cheap Windows notebook PC that can do the work natively.

I have tested already. Even a M4 Mini 16-256 is sufficient for my "current" use. Problem is while I had it, I did not test booting the OS from an external drive. That is why I am asking for experience here.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

I have tested already. Even a M4 Mini 16-256 is sufficient for my "current" use. Problem is while I had it, I did not test booting the OS from an external drive. That is why I am asking for experience here.

As I mentioned above, booting and operating from a Samsung T7 is virtually indistinguishable from booting from the internal SSD.

I would expect that booting and running from a faster drive would make the difference even less.

I have also set up Ubuntu and Windows 11 Virtual machines (using the free VMWare Fusion and ARM versions of the OS). I set them up with four cores and 4 Gbytes of RAM. That leaves lots left for the Mac. Increasing the cores made no difference in performance, and the amount of RAM you need will depend on what you are trying to do.

They are at least as fast, if not faster, than the real PC in the other room. No, I don't use them for heavy gaming, but for normal use, they work quite well.

 

[hajime]

As I mentioned above, booting and operating from a Samsung T7 is virtually indistinguishable from booting from the internal SSD.

I would expect that booting and running from a faster drive would make the difference even less.

I have also set up Ubuntu and Windows 11 Virtual machines (using the free VMWare Fusion and ARM versions of the OS). I set them up with four cores and 4 Gbytes of RAM. That leaves lots left for the Mac. Increasing the cores made no difference in performance, and the amount of RAM you need will depend on what you are trying to do.

They are at least as fast, if not faster, than the real PC in the other room. No, I don't use them for heavy gaming, but for normal use, they work quite well.

I read that there are some potential issues using USB 3.2 external drive such as the T7 as the boot drive. How do you avoid those issues?

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

I read that there are some potential issues using USB 3.2 external drive such as the T7 as the boot drive. How do you avoid those issues?

There are specific problems with the Samsung T7, which are mentioned in various articles on the Internet.

The first is that it can overheat under heavy load, sometimes to the point of self-destruction. A cooling solution is necessary. (I used a pair of NVRAM fins and a USB powered fan.)

The second is that after the drive gets too full, it can slow down dramatically. In my case, it was when it was 75% full. Later it got worse, so I returned it under warranty.

I have not read of these problems with any other drive, either Samsung or any other brand.

 

[hajime]

I boot off the internal SSD and all my apps are stored there just out of convenience. I haven’t brothered to move my home folder to the external storage, so my ~/Library and other files are still on the internal SSD as well. But all my media files, documents, etc., are stored externally.

In MacOS, is there anything special about the home folder and ~/Library?

What is the difference between those folders and a newly created folder on the desktop by a user?

 

[hajime]

Thank you.
Another approach is to run MacOS from the internal, have an Admin account with no data on the internal (in case the external SSD fails), and then create a User account with standard permissions on the external SSD. This frees up about 120 GB on the external, but all of the apps and all user data still installs seamlessly on the external, so you’ll never fill the internal. You also should get better performance, because the System divides reads and writes between the two drives.

But perhaps you prefer the simplicity of your approach.

Do you mean “This frees up about 120 GB on the internal”?

Any disadvantage in this approach?

If I am the only one using the Mac, I shouldn’t give myself all permissions like the root user?

Under which account should the apps be installed to?

Some users ended up returning the base model and got one with a 512GB internal. They mentioned that the OS and some apps may need temporary space and the internal 256GB SSD would run out in about half a year. If I opt for this approach, I can just go for 256GB without worrying that?

 

[Alameda]

Do you mean “This frees up about 120 GB on the internal”?

Any disadvantage in this approach?

If I am the only one using the Mac, I shouldn’t give myself all permissions like the root user?

Under which account should the apps be installed to?

Some users ended up returning the base model and got one with a 512GB internal. They mentioned that the OS and some apps may need temporary space and the internal 256GB SSD would run out in about half a year. If I opt for this approach, I can just go for 256GB without worrying that?

You have options; there is not one single way to do this.

One option is to make the entire external drive bootable.
Another option is to boot from the internal SSD and put your User Home directory on the External. If you do this, then the 120 GB or so of System files will be on the internal and not on the external.

If you boot from the Internal and keep your Home directory on the External, where will you put your Applications? You have a choice: Internal or External. On MacOS, there is a /Applications and a ~/Applications directory. The ~/Applications is inside each user’s home directory. When you view your Applications, you see a combination of the Applications installed in /Applications and ~/Applications.

With a 256 GB Internal, you will probably have room for the System and also the Applications all on the Internal, unless you download massive games. If you want your Applications always installed on the External, then limit your account permissions and then Applications will always be automatically installed on the External, inside your Home directory, which is ~/Applications. If you give your account Admin permissions, then applications will be installed on the internal SSD at /Applicatiohns.

 

[hajime]

You have options; there is not one single way to do this.

One option is to make the entire external drive bootable.
Another option is to boot from the internal SSD and put your User Home directory on the External. If you do this, then the 120 GB or so of System files will be on the internal and not on the external.

If you boot from the Internal and keep your Home directory on the External, where will you put your Applications? You have a choice: Internal or External. On MacOS, there is a /Applications and a ~/Applications directory. The ~/Applications is inside each user’s home directory. When you view your Applications, you see a combination of the Applications installed in /Applications and ~/Applications.

With a 256 GB Internal, you will probably have room for the System and also the Applications all on the Internal, unless you download massive games. If you want your Applications always installed on the External, then limit your account permissions and then Applications will always be automatically installed on the External, inside your Home directory, which is ~/Applications. If you give your account Admin permissions, then applications will be installed on the internal SSD at /Applicatiohns.

I planned to boot from an external drive but I chicken out due to potential compromise of the Secure Envlave.

I still don't understand why there is a need to put the Home folder to an external given that I can just drag and drop the files to an external drive. Supposing that I do put the Home folder to an external, if there is a connection problem between the external drive and the Mac, then there will be issues?

 

[turbineseaplane]

I planned to boot from an external drive but I chicken out due to potential compromise of the Secure Envlave.

I still don't understand why there is a need to put the Home folder to an external given that I can just drag and drop the files to an external drive. Supposing that I do put the Home folder to an external, if there is a connection problem between the external drive and the Mac, then there will be issues?

Most of us that don’t want to just move the home folder have tried it and it sort of becomess self explanatory eventually.

 

[hajime]

Most of us that don’t want to just move the home folder have tried it and it sort of becomess self explanatory eventually.

Sorry I don't quite understand what you meant. Could you please clarify?

 

[Alameda]

I planned to boot from an external drive but I chicken out due to potential compromise of the Secure Envlave.

I still don't understand why there is a need to put the Home folder to an external given that I can just drag and drop the files to an external drive. Supposing that I do put the Home folder to an external, if there is a connection problem between the external drive and the Mac, then there will be issues?

As I said, there are many different ways to do this. I don’t view it as a situation where’s there is only one correct way to do things and everything else is wrong.

Of course you don’t need to put the Home folder on the external drive, but it may be more convenient to do so, because if you do, all of your applications will default to saving your documents on the external drive.

In my case, I have a 512 GB Internal and a 4 TB external, so I use the external only for storage of my RAW photos and everything else easily fits on my internal. Besides, mine is a MacBook Pro, so I don’t always have my external attached.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Sorry I don't quite understand what you meant. Could you please clarify?

Just not as tidy, clean and simple -- adds mental overhead I don't care for

Honestly, if you're going with an external drive anyhow (for either moving user folder or booting off of it), the best thing you can do is just dive in and experience the two options yourself

Nothing beats first hand experience to see what will work best for you

 

[hajime]

As I said, there are many different ways to do this. I don’t view it as a situation where’s there is only one correct way to do things and everything else is wrong.

Of course you don’t need to put the Home folder on the external drive, but it may be more convenient to do so, because if you do, all of your applications will default to saving your documents on the external drive.

In my case, I have a 512 GB Internal and a 4 TB external, so I use the external only for storage of my RAW photos and everything else easily fits on my internal. Besides, mine is a MacBook Pro, so I don’t always have my external attached.

OK. I will think about it. There are many guides on the internet. Which one shows the proper way to move the Home folder?