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New Mac Mini's Storage Can Be Upgraded, But It's Not Easy

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Quinn Nelson has shared a super informative teardown video for the new Mac mini on his YouTube channel Snazzy Labs, offering the most comprehensive look inside Apple's smallest computer ever that we have seen so far. Give it a watch below.



Yesterday, we reported that the new Mac mini features modular storage, and YouTube channel dosdude1 has already opened up the base model and upgraded its storage capacity from 256GB to 1TB. The steps included removing the original NAND storage chips from the board with a heat gun, preparing the new NAND chips by reballing them, soldering the new NAND chips to the board, and restoring the Mac mini in DFU Mode.

While those steps are impractical for the average customer, the video proves that storage in the new Mac mini can technically be upgraded without having to pay for Apple's overpriced storage upgrade options when ordering the computer.



Article Link: New Mac Mini's Storage Can Be Upgraded, But It's Not Easy
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/11/09/more-teardown-and-storage-upgrade/
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Best (and cutest) Mac ever! And now expandable too, even with a Thunderbolt 3, 4, or 5 external drive as your Startup Drive. I took my base M4 Mac mini, added a 4TB SanDisk PRO-G40 External Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive, and set it up as my Startup Disk with macOS on it, and now I boot up having a 4TB SSD M4 Mac Mini for less than $1,000. The External Thunderbolt 3 SSD speed (at up to 3,200 MB/second with both read and write) is even faster than the Apple internal 256GB SSD drive. Thunderbolt 5 External SSD drives (coming out soon from OWC) should be up to twice that speed on M4 Pro Mac Minis.

Note: I recommend a Thunderbolt 3, 4 or 5 External SSD drive, and not a USB 3 or USB 4 external SSD drive for your Startup Drive, as they usually can't maintain speeds as well as a Thunderbolt SSD drive. USB drives work great for data storage, but for use as a Swap Drive for full flash RAM memory and for your macOS and Program Applications, I recommend a Thunderbolt 3/4/5 SSD drive as your primary Startup Drive on your Mac. Just make sure that you set it up per the below Apple instructions which SSD drive (Internal or External) is your Startup Drive for your Mac to boot up with, and use for reading and writing to. You will have to change your Startup Drive back in the General Settings to boot up with the 256GB Internal SSD drive, if you ever need to use it, otherwise it is good for read only use. I had to use the macOS Recovery method (by holding the power button down on boot) outlined in Apple's link below to install macOS on my external Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive, before I could set it up to be my System Startup (Boot) Drive.

Here are Apple's Instructions on how to install macOS on an external storage device (like a Thunderbolt SSD drive) and use it as a startup disk: https://support.apple.com/en-us/111336

WARNING I was not aware of previously: If you boot off an external Startup Drive with your Mac, due to Apple's New Security, you can NOT run Apple Intelligence, and likely Apple Pay, and other security related things from your external Thunderbolt or SSD drive. See this video from a guy who just discovered this limitation:

Thanks to gargetfreak98 for this potential workaround of moving your home folder to the external SSD drive:
appleinsider.com

How to move the Home Directory in macOS Ventura

In macOS Ventura you can move your user's Home directory to a larger or faster external drive. Here's how.
appleinsider.com appleinsider.com

Here are some videos to help you Install Your Home folder on an External Drive to make Apple Intelligence, macOS, and other Apple apps work properly. This goes along with the above linked instructions about how to move your Home folder to your external drive:


 
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So you can’t use an off-the-shelf part because the controller isn’t on the storage? Ok weird flex. Why can’t they use a standard part? Probably because they know the SSD prices are BS. If I was ever going to buy one I’d absolutely bust out my micro soldering station and do the same
 
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All we need is a handle to easily open it now

220px-Apple_Power_Mac_G4_Cube_-_Handle.jpg
 
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Chungry said:
So you can’t use an off-the-shelf part because the controller isn’t on the storage? Ok weird flex. Why can’t they use a standard part? Probably because they know the SSD prices are BS. If I was ever going to buy one I’d absolutely bust out my micro soldering station and do the same
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I’m sure Other World Computing will have a compatible module soon. They always do when Apple does this, which Apple always does
 
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Zapski said:
Dude, there are such things as segmented boxes to put screws in. As a former professional AASP tech the first video gave me so much anxiety watching them just be placed willy-nilly on the table top. 😭
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I used to be an AASP, I did so many repairs I didn’t need to separate the screws anymore. It was like viewing the matrix code when working on 12” PowerBooks
 
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contacos said:
The EU needs to look into this and their ESG sustainability rating should automatically receive a downgrade of X points each time they release another product with glued and other restrictive elements
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Or just hear me out you don’t have to buy products that done meat your needs. We don’t need regulations for stuff like this. The vast majority of consumers never upgraded their computer hardware even when it was an option.
 
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Tear-downs are the new unboxings. And dang it, my resolve to hold off buying a Mini is growing weaker and weaker.

[update: four hours after my post, I was at the Apple Store. To once again reference that infamous episode of Seinfeld, "I'm out." 😂]
 
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Zapski said:
Dude, there are such things as segmented boxes to put screws in. As a former professional AASP tech the first video gave me so much anxiety watching them just be placed willy-nilly on the table top. 😭
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I know. But I kind of think it was a flex and dude just doesn't need that.
 
adamw said:
Best (and cutest) Mac ever! And now expandable too, even with a Thunderbolt 3, 4, or 5 external drive as your Startup Drive. I took my base M4 Mac mini, added a 4TB SanDisk PRO-G40 External Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive, and set it up as my Startup Disk with macOS on it, and now I boot up having a 4TB SSD M4 Mac Mini for less than $1,000. The External Thunderbolt 3 SSD speed (at up to 3,200 MB/second with both read and write) is even faster than the Apple internal 256GB SSD drive. Thunderbolt 5 External SSD drives (coming out soon from OWC) should be up to twice that speed on M4 Pro Mac Minis.
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I have a difficult time understanding how it’s faster than internal storage? In my experience, I have never gotten anywhere near the speeds reported as theoretical highs - but even then the internal is much faster than TB5 due to a number of issues like proximity to the SoC, cable, heating up of external drive and etc.

Would love to be proven just wrong on this. I have all ready looked into the OWC TB5 4TB storage option to use with one of my studio displays and the new M4 Mac mini. Have a few Pro XDR displays and Mac Studio. But the new mini is super cute and etc for a show off setup like seen by all.

Watched the video by DosDude1. I think it would be very difficult to do that for the tech enthusiast. Even he had problems with the first two 1TB NAND storage pair not registering. And said possibly a bad NAND, but likely possible just as much that when he re-balled it something wasn’t lined up perfectly. Although I am sure he is way better at it than the rest of us. In my experience, I am okay at soldering and I would try it, but if could really get faster speeds externally that makes more sense.

Also, why wouldn’t two 4TB NANDs work with the M4? Just because Apple doesn’t sell it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible does it???

I don’t mind an external drive on my desktops. On my MBP, I really want 8TB of storage - prefer way more. When I don’t have it I realize it’s a limitation and pain to use an external drive. The cable dangling and inadvertent disconnect by a slight move sucks!

Anyways, love to hear some other suggestions on how to truly get those speeds from external storage. Cheers.
 
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