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External hard drive as an extension of the internal drive

Is it possible to set up and external hard drive on my 2018 iMac such that it would automatically be treated as an extension of the internal drive(s)?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 22, 2020 7:51 AM

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Thanks, It's kind of what I thought but I thought I'd ask to see if someone knew something that had escaped me. I use Time machine and have a TB WD drive devoted to that. I just ordered a 2 TB drive since my internal drive is getting full. I suspect I have to ditch some apps that I'm really not sing as wel.

Posted on Jun 22, 2020 12:02 PM

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7 replies

Jun 22, 2020 8:43 AM in response to Risacher

Some pro apps (Final cut Pro and the now no longer existing Aperture) would allow you to automatically "park" some space hogging project files onto an external drive, but that is about as close to making it an "extension" as you could get. As rkaufmann87 noted, you can put your libraries there, but that really isn't an extension either. You can also put your User folder on an external and direct files to a folder within your User folder. Most of this is "manual labor" though as you need to direct the files when you create them.


But, remember, that you will need a backup of that external drive if that is the only location for some of your files.

Question marked as Best answer

Jun 22, 2020 12:02 PM in response to babowa

Thanks, It's kind of what I thought but I thought I'd ask to see if someone knew something that had escaped me. I use Time machine and have a TB WD drive devoted to that. I just ordered a 2 TB drive since my internal drive is getting full. I suspect I have to ditch some apps that I'm really not sing as wel.

External hard drive as an extension of the internal drive

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