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User profile for user: Birck Cox
Birck Cox Author
User level: Level 2
191 points

How to distribute system parts at first sysem install?

I'm upgrading my system from a 2012 Mac Pro-which can no longer accept system or app upgrades-to a 2018 Mac mini which can. There's not a problem with the RAM in the Mini, which will be 32GB where the Pro had 48GB, but the Mini's built-in storage, which can't be changed, is only 256GB. With the Pro, I'm used to working with boot drives calibrated in terabytes, but, clearly, them days is over. I can add drives, mechanical or digital, around the Mini, and I have some of both sitting around unused, so: is it safe and wise to install some OS parts, e.g., Users, (which can be a real whopper-right now it's 409GB, mostly in Desktop) and Applications, currently 59GB-somewhere other than the boot drive? I'm going to need to distribute the install, somehow, so I have two questions about doing that: 1: How do I do it? and 2: Does it make a working-speed difference what species of disk-SSD or HDD-the system parts are installed upon? What I'm getting at is: Am I going to experience slower working speed, with beach balling, if I take a file saved on an HDD and work on it with an HDD-based app, than I would if both app and file came from an SSD? What governs the working speed of the RAM?

Posted on Feb 5, 2022 4:36 AM

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User profile for user: woodmeister50
woodmeister50
User level: Level 7
20,503 points

Posted on Feb 5, 2022 5:21 AM

Birck Cox wrote:
....Users, (which can be a real whopper-right now it's 409GB, mostly in Desktop) and....

Probably a huge part of that is photos, music, and movie libraries all of which can be placed separately on the external drives separately from the user directories. Then keep just a basic user directory on the internal.


Apps should really be kept on the internal drive or boot drive for the most efficiency. In addition, some apps simply may not work installing them anywhere else.


Another alternative, get a 1TB SSD, and use it as your boot drive. Even a USB 3.0 SSD will be way faster than any spinner. You could also get a 1TB Thunderbolt SSD drive and you would have speeds nearly what you would have on the internal SSD. You would then simply maintain a base install on your internal drive as a backup should something go wrong.


As a side note, any macOS version newer than Mojave cannot run any 32 bit apps and are 64 bit only.

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User profile for user: woodmeister50
woodmeister50
User level: Level 7
20,503 points

Feb 5, 2022 5:21 AM in response to Birck Cox

Birck Cox wrote:
....Users, (which can be a real whopper-right now it's 409GB, mostly in Desktop) and....

Probably a huge part of that is photos, music, and movie libraries all of which can be placed separately on the external drives separately from the user directories. Then keep just a basic user directory on the internal.


Apps should really be kept on the internal drive or boot drive for the most efficiency. In addition, some apps simply may not work installing them anywhere else.


Another alternative, get a 1TB SSD, and use it as your boot drive. Even a USB 3.0 SSD will be way faster than any spinner. You could also get a 1TB Thunderbolt SSD drive and you would have speeds nearly what you would have on the internal SSD. You would then simply maintain a base install on your internal drive as a backup should something go wrong.


As a side note, any macOS version newer than Mojave cannot run any 32 bit apps and are 64 bit only.

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User profile for user: woodmeister50
woodmeister50
User level: Level 7
20,503 points

Feb 5, 2022 7:24 AM in response to Birck Cox

Two ways:

  1. Clone the internal drive of the new Mini to the external SSD with either Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. Boot to the external drive and use Migration Assistant to bring things in from the older drive.
  2. Do a clean install of macOS on the external and use set up Assistant at that time to migrate the data or compete the install and then use Migration Assistant. Using the Setup Assistant is pretty much an all or none scenario where as Migration Assistant after the install gives a bit more control on what gets migrated.


You can't simply move system files as macOS expects to see certain items in a specific locations relative to the install.

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How to distribute system parts at first sysem install?

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