Using an external hard drive

YES. I do it all the time. One thing to note and that is the Read and Write speeds of the SSD. Your internal SSD on the M1 Mac Mini has Read and Write speeds of over 2000 MB/s. That is very fast. Make sure that you get the fastest SSD that you can afford. Today, the external SSDs Read / Write speeds range from 500 MB/s to over 2000 MB/s. The mid range is over 1000 Mb/s. They get progressively expensive as they get faster. NOTE that if you get an external SSD that is slower than your internal SSD then performance will be affected.

I am using an external SSD with my M1 Mac Mini and its Read/Write Speed is 1050 MB/s (Half the speed of the internal) and I am able to launch applications directly from the external drive and it works well from my purposes.

Axel F.

The Samsung T7 is sold in various rated speeds. From 500 MB/s to 1050 MB/s and higher. Which one is yours?

Same thing with WD Black M.2 SSD. It is rated at over 2000 MB/s for some models. Which one is yours?

As far as my SSD is concerned, it is rated at 1050 MB/s however I get about 70% of its rated speed. The thing is that the real time speeds in real time conditions are always going to be lesser than what's published. The question is, how well does the SSD work with the connected device. I recommend that you move an application or two to your WD Black M.2 and see how it performs. You may not see any noticeable difference. At times, you may experience some slowdown however it may not bother you. Give it a shot.

Axel F.

Agreed.

Axel F.

Hi Axel. Great explanation. Question though...are you really getting those read and write speeds from your external SSD?

I'm assuming you are connected thunderbolt.

I have two externals connected thunderbolt and not getting nearly enough speed to run apps.

Samsung T7 gets 380 / 390 R/w

I also Have a WD Black M.2 in an enclosure This Im getting 800 / 825 R/W

I haven't relocated any apps to them thinking they were too slow. What are your thoughts?

You are welcome.

Axel F.

I’ll give it a shot. Worst case scenario, move them back to Mac ssd. Thank you