Use a Mac mini (Late 2014) as external drive with a new Mac mini M1?

Question

Level 1

13 points

Use a Mac mini (Late 2014) as external drive with a new Mac mini M1?

I’m wondering if I can connect my current Mac mini (Late 2014, 1TB SSD) to a new Mac mini M1 (256GB SSD) and use the Late 2014 and its existing files as an external hard drive. The new M1 would, of course, be used as the startup disk. I imagine I’d transfer all applications to the M1’s hard drive, but keep all other files on the Late 2014. This sounds like such a logical way to upgrade to a new M1 without having to order it with a large hard drive. Doable?

Mac mini, macOS 12.6

Posted on Mar 11, 2023 10:10 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

den.thed

Level 10

83,038 points

Mar 11, 2023 5:23 PM in response to DD445

Not really.

Target Disk Mode is not really a long term solution.

File Sharing over your local network is slow.

Besides if and when the 2024 dies, then you lose everything.

Best solution, is to purchase the new Mac mini with the same size or larger drive.

Second best solution, is to copy your 2014 Mac mini’s User Libraries and Other data to an external drive and plug that into the new Mac mini.

In either case especially the second, I recommend using two external drives, one for your user libraries and other and one to backup the first.

Reply

Answer 2

dwb

Level 7

33,100 points

Mar 12, 2023 1:12 PM in response to DD445

den.thed is absolutely right about using the old mini as an external drive. Disk accesses will be very slow and eventually the old mini - more likely its drive - will die. I’ve had several Macs last 10+ years but not their drives. If possible your best bet is to purchase a new mini with a large enough SSD to use now and allow you to grow in the future. Then all you’d need is an external drive for backing up. TimeMachine is my first choice for backups and most of us recommend a drive that is 2-3 times larger than your current storage usage. In other words, if your computer is using 150GB of its 256GB drive, you’d want a backup drive between 300 & 450GB.

Reply

Answer 3

DD445 Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 12, 2023 2:37 PM in response to dwb

dwb and den.thed, thank you both for your replies. A few months back, I replaced the original drive in the Late 2014 with a new 1TB SSD. It works incredibly well and has given my Mac mini new life. Will disk access still be slow if I use it as an external drive as I originally proposed?

Reply