6 methods to spice up your Mac’s storage with out paying Apple’s insane improve costs

Apple provides fairly good costs on the usual configurations of its Macs. $599 for a M4 Mac mini? $999 for a brand new M4 MacBook Air? $1,299 for a brand new M4 iMac? These are attractively priced. However these costs contain a number of sacrifices, most notably the beginning storage of simply 256GB. 1 / 4 of a terabyte would possibly sound like so much, however a lot of what we do on the Mac entails massive information–high-resolution photos, movies, video games (actually the most important perpetrator), and much more. 256GB runs out rapidly.

Apple does give clients the choice to improve storage on the level of buy, after all, however their costs are steep. Upgrading from 256GB to 512GB (the minimal quantity we advocate) is an additional $200/£200, and leaping to a terabyte is one other $200, turning a gorgeous entry-level providing into a dear one.

However in the event you don’t wish to plunk down the additional cash, you possibly can nonetheless develop your Mac’s storage with out paying Apple’s exorbitant costs. The options listed below are largely exterior storage options–in different phrases, you’ll want to hold and plug in an additional machine–however the compromise might help you meet your finances.

Exterior SSDs and onerous drives

An exterior storage machine provides one of the best mixture of worth and capability. For instance, you may get a 1TB LaCie Cell Drive for about $80/£56 on Amazon that connects to your Mac by way of USB-C. LaCie sells that very same drive with 5TB of storage for lower than $170/£115–nonetheless decrease than the improve to 512GB of inner storage on a Mac.

With exterior drives, you possibly can go for a tough drive or a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs (that are used internally on the Mac) are quicker and higher-priced than onerous drives. You can even select between desktop drives which have a bigger design and require you to plug it into an influence outlet, or moveable drives which are sufficiently small to slot in a bag or pocket and are powered via the Mac’s Thunderbolt or USB port.

Exterior drives use both USB-C or Thunderbolt to connect with the Mac. Thunderbolt drives are costlier however quicker, whereas cheaper USB-C-only drives typically help slower information switch charges. Study extra in regards to the variations between Thunderbolt and USB.

Macworld has guides to the greatest exterior SSDs and the greatest exterior onerous drives that can assist you discover one of the best machine for you.

USB flash drives

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Typically referred to as “thumb drives” or “reminiscence sticks,” a USB flash drive is basically a stick of flash reminiscence that plugs right into a USB port. They’re small and straightforward to stash in a bag or pocket. They’re out there in capacities as excessive as 2TB, however 128GB and 256GB capacities are mostly discovered, typically for lower than $30, reminiscent of this Samsung flash drive.

USB flash drives range in worth primarily based on capability and velocity. Some have extra options reminiscent of a USB-A plug on one finish and a USB-C plug on the opposite, or built-in encryption.

You may go away a USB flash drive plugged in, but when you’ll ceaselessly learn and write to the drive, you’ll wish to go for a conveyable or desktop drive as a substitute. USB flash drives are extra vulnerable to sporting out than a full-fledged drive as a result of flash reminiscence has restricted sturdiness and USB flash drives don’t have the measures in place to take care of correct well being. Additionally, they have an inclination to make use of lower-quality elements to allow them to be low-cost and handled as commodities (for instance, the nook close to my house sells USB flash drives).

Whilst you don’t wish to depend on USB flash drives are major storage, they’re useful for, say, storing pictures or movies from a shoot, file administration once you wish to maintain information for a venture separate from all the pieces else, backups, and extra.

SD playing cards

SDXC playing cards are reminiscence playing cards typically utilized in cameras and different moveable gadgets, however you may as well use them on the Mac. Solely two Macs (MacBook Professional and Mac Studio) have built-in SDXC Card slots, nonetheless. For each different Mac, it’s essential to purchase an SD Card adapter, which is cheap at about $10/£10. You can even discover hubs and Thunderbolt docks with card slots in the event you plan to purchase one anyway.

SDXC playing cards are good for makes use of much like USB flash drives: file transfers, particularly storing information for tasks, backups, and extra. They’ve comparable points concerning the reminiscence chips sporting out; they’re extra dependable as a result of they use higher-quality reminiscence, however they aren’t superb as a drive that’s at all times related, and you might be ceaselessly studying and writing information to.

In case you plan to make use of an SDXC card as a technique of transferring information between Macs or different gadgets, contemplate shopping for one other card as a backup. I’ve had cases the place the metallic contacts for the cardboard get worn out or broken from frequent insertions into gadgets. These playing cards did have a number of years of mileage on them however perceive that they’re delicate relative to different storage gadgets talked about right here.

Playing cards can be found in capacities between 32GB and 2TB and can be found at completely different speeds. The upper capability/quicker playing cards could be costlier than an exterior SSD drive of the identical capability, as you’re paying a premium for the extraordinarily small measurement.

Community-attached storage

In case you’re not acquainted with network-attached storage (NAS), consider it as cloud storage, however particularly on your house. A NAS machine connects to your property community, and your Macs, iPhones, iPads, and even Home windows PCs and Android gadgets can entry it each time obligatory. A NAS machine is an effective solution to retailer information that must be accessed by a number of gadgets or customers, or it may be a method for particular person customers to maneuver information from a tool to unencumber area.

As a result of the NAS machine connects to a community, the setup isn’t so simple as plug-and-play, but it surely’s not too troublesome. As soon as it’s up and operating, you possibly can entry it both via the Community menu within the Finder, or via an app, browser, or each. Some NAS gadgets can present entry once you’re away from house, however this will likely require utilizing a paid service from the machine’s firm.

NAS gadgets vary from ones with mounted onerous drives beginning at 2TB for $150/£150 to drives with a number of detachable onerous drives with capacities over 8TB and different options for a number of a whole lot of {dollars}. Try our picks for the greatest NAS drive for Mac in the event you’re .

Cloud storage

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Cloud storage is offered by a service on-line for a payment, normally a subscription. Apple provides iCloud, which incorporates iCloud Drive together with different companies. Different well-liked cloud storage suppliers embrace Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Field. Study extra about one of the best cloud storage companies for the Mac.

What’s nice about cloud storage is that it’s accessible by virtually any machine that has an web connection. However as a result of your potential to entry it’s reliant on the web, cloud storage shouldn’t be used as major storage. It’s good for storing information you wish to entry however not ones you utilize ceaselessly, issues like backups, photograph and video storage, and file transfers. But it surely’s an effective way to unencumber area in your Mac’s drive.

Additionally, since it’s important to pay a recurring payment, you’ll want to determine how the fee advantages you. Many companies have a free tier with a small allocation of storage; for instance, iCloud Drive provides 5GB free. That limits what you are able to do.

Mac mini and Mac Studio SSD upgrades

The M4 Mac mini and the Mac Studio have inner SSDs which are put in in slots, which makes them upgradeable however Apple doesn’t formally help upgrades after buy by the corporate, a 3rd celebration, or by do-it-yourselfers. Some small firms have launched SSD improve kits, reminiscent of Broaden Mac mini and PolySoft Providers with video directions on their web sites.

The installations for these kits aren’t trivial but when your mechanical aptitude is proscribed, it is best to be capable of do that. There’s a danger of damaging your Mac and this set up may void your guarantee, particularly if there may be apparent proof of your work.

When you’ve got an M2 Mac mini there are different methods to improve its reminiscence. Study extra.