M4 Mac mini internal storage upgrade due to low space

I suggest you consider an external SSD instead of replacing the internal drive. I opted to get a 2TB Thunderbolt 3 SanDisk PRO G-40 for my base Mac mini M4. It's been working excellent for me. It tends to run a bit hot, so I have it up in the air in a cheap metal iPhone stand. That improves the air circulation around it, and being metal, I hope it acts as an external heat sink.

I have all of Logic's Sound Library on the external drive with room to spare. It's very, very fast at both writing and reading. Unfortunately, the price has almost doubled since I bought mine last year (tariffs?).

I still have my AppleCare+ warranty intact. Since wiping the disk and re-installing macOS 26, I make it a point to only install what I need on my base Mac mini M4. I install data libraries and support files on the external drive, not programs or plug-ins. My personal data gets written to iCloud, such as documents I created in Apple's (office) apps, Numbers, Pages, etc.

Songs, templates and custom keyboard shortcuts I create in Logic Pro are written to the internal drive, so I back them up to the external drive, and delete what I don't need anymore from the internal drive.

I DON'T use TImeMachine! It backs up anything you've ever had on your Mac, even files and apps you've deleted and no longer use. I realized I didn't need it with an Apple One subscription with 2TBs of iCloud storage.

Using iCloud, everything remains in sync between all of my Apple devices, Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Apple's integrated ecosystem works great for me! Yesterday I was working on a music chart in Apple Pages and I had it open on both my Mac and iPad at the same time. Some features are only available on the Mac, and other things are easier to do in Pages on the iPad. Using iCloud works really well for me and spares me needing all kinds of internal storage space.

Ian R. Brown wrote:

Only a person with a date-wish would consider fiddling with the innards of an M4/6.

I think you meant death wish.

From the teardown reports that I've seen, the M6 Mac minis do not have their flash chip(s) on a separate board. Flash chips in M6 and M5 Pro Mac minis are soldered directly to the motherboard.

The M4 Mac minis do have flash chips on a separate board, but it's a proprietary "raw flash" module – not a full-blown M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD. The M4 chip itself carries out some of the duties of a flash controller. Most or all of the data in the internal SSD is encrypted, which probably implies that if you replace the flash board, you'll need a second Mac running Apple Configurator to try to revive the M4 Mac mini you just operated upon, so you can then install macOS and your data all over again.

Hi Zak,

It may be hard to do that as you cannot use a regular M.2 SSD you have to have a custom module or a compatible third-party upgrade kit;Since you are an IT Technician and are growing specialization in Apple Devices you may be able to do it yourself if not you can consider the following.You can consider using an external drive, although the speed will be slower and it will be easier to accidentally damage it, there is no change of accidentally breaking or bricking your Mac Mini. You can also consider paying for iCloud+ or a different cloud storage provider. 265GB to 2TB is a big upgrade and may cost a lot due to AI making SSD prices higher.

I wrote "death" but the auto-correct has struck once again.

I can't understand the mentality of these guys on YouTube who get a new Mac and immediately void the warranty and risk destroying their new computer. I suppose they are thrill-seekers like those who jump off high buildings!

I saw one professional mechanic actually smashing part of the fan cover on the bottom!

Sticking on a 2 TB Thunderbolt plugin NVMe is cheaper, quicker and completely safe and the performance is perfect . . . plus you don't have all your eggs in one basket should the computer pack in . . . you just plug it into the next machine and carry on.

I personally would not even attempt to open my Mac Mini.

I've got 6 external SSD drives sonneted to my Mini and have my large Photos and music libraries located on them along with lots of other storage.

Each external SSD is formatted APFS with GUID Partition Map. I have a couple of the 1 TB in the configuration for economy:

The others (4) are in dire docks (2):

You can get docks for NVMe SSDs or get them in their own case. They will be faster than those that I have.

The bottom line: don't spend the money to open and replace the internal drive. Use it for you system and the external for your files

Zak_N wrote:

Im an IT Technician growing a specialisation in Apple Devices, I thinking of upgrading the internal storage of my personal M4 Mac mini according to the guide below:

Would you say this is worth it?

No.

I currently have 265GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. I am running out of storage and as this is a perfectly capable machine I know that the SSD module can be replaced, upgrading this internal storage to 2TB.

Any insights into this would be greatly appreciated!

I recommend moving the larger Photos, Music or Movie Library to an external drive.

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support

Move Logic Pro for Mac and MainStage content - Apple Support

Move your iMovie for Mac library - Apple Support

Move a Final Cut Pro library - Apple Support

Ian R. Brown wrote:

... . . . plus you don't have all your eggs in one basket should the computer pack in . . . you just plug it into the next machine and carry on.

That is my approach. I put as much data on external drives as I possibly can. The internal has only apps and what ever data apps hide in ~/Library/ApplicationSupport or ~/Library/Caches and an occasion hidden file in the home folder.

Switching a computer is just restore apps, settings, and hidden data from my clone (much faster restore than my Time Machine backup), plug in drives and go.

Zak_N wrote:

Would you say this is worth it?

It depends. Are you still paying for Apple Care on that machine? If you did replace the SSD, you'd definitely want to discontinue Apple Care. I'm sure Apple wouldn't touch it after that, so no point in paying for a service you can't use.

Also, you might want to consider your professional needs. While lots of storage is really nice, having a nicely running Mac may be detrimental to being able to help other people. Storage is a huge problem, and the more you know about dealing with it, the more effective you will be at helping others. Not everyone is going to be able to swap out their SSD.

I know that the SSD module can be replaced

Well, let's say you "suspect" based on something you saw on the internet.

Just be aware that, if it fails, you'll be going in to buy a brand new Mac mini. It will be even more capable, but the storage will be soldered into the logic board.

I don't know what 2TB SSDs cost these days but it might be a pretty costly upgrade.

All the warranty stuff etresoft was mentioning.

My mini has way too little internal storage for my needs. Since a Mini is a desktop unit, I just purchased a couple of docking stations and several external drives. 80% of what I create is not something I need on my computer 24/7. In addition, my computer is not going anywhere and my desk doesn't need to be a showpiece of beauty. I use bare HDDs. Sure they are a tad slower but what difference does a few milliseconds make? They are also cheaper than SSDs and I bet those are hard to find with data centers abound.

Johne154 wrote:

I suggest you consider an external SSD instead of replacing the internal drive. I opted to get a 2TB Thunderbolt 3 SanDisk PRO G-40 for my base Mac mini M4. It's been working excellent for me. It tends to run a bit hot, so I have it up in the air in a cheap metal iPhone stand. That improves the air circulation around it, and being metal, I hope it acts as an external heat sink.

I have all of Logic's Sound Library on the external drive with room to spare. It's very, very fast at both writing and reading. Unfortunately, the price has almost doubled since I bought mine last year (tariffs?).

I still have my AppleCare+ warranty intact. Since wiping the disk and re-installing macOS 26, I make it a point to only install what I need on my base Mac mini M4. I install data libraries and support files on the external drive, not programs or plug-ins. My personal data gets written to iCloud, such as documents I created in Apple's (office) apps, Numbers, Pages, etc.

Songs, templates and custom keyboard shortcuts I create in Logic Pro are written to the internal drive, so I back them up to the external drive, and delete what I don't need anymore from the internal drive.

I DON'T use TImeMachine! It backs up anything you've ever had on your Mac, even files and apps you've deleted and no longer use. I realized I didn't need it with an Apple One subscription with 2TBs of iCloud storage.

Using iCloud, everything remains in sync between all of my Apple devices, Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Apple's integrated ecosystem works great for me! Yesterday I was working on a music chart in Apple Pages and I had it open on both my Mac and iPad at the same time. Some features are only available on the Mac, and other things are easier to do in Pages on the iPad. Using iCloud works really well for me and spares me needing all kinds of internal storage space.

on using an external SSD for additional storage over Cloud storage and far faster and more efficient. I prefer external drives from OWC (MacSales.com) for reliability and warranties.

I agree that spinning HDDs are more than fast enough for most people and a lot cheaper than SSDs nowadays thanks to the recent price hikes.

Certainly fast enough for editing 4K footage and if you are editing higher resolutions you probably aren't worried about cost anyway.

A couple of years ago NVMe SSDs were no-brainers as they were only slightly more expensive than HDDs but thanks to AI we have gone back 5 years with prices.

Only a person with a date-wish would consider fiddling with the innards of an M4/6.

I updated my Mac mini M4 pro from 512GB to 2TB and the process was straight forward and I had no issues. I have also used external TB drives and no issue but having a larger internal drive is more convenient. That being said I have taken apart many PC's over the years so I have much experience. There are many YouTube videos on changing the internal drive that you can review.

Zak_N wrote:

Im an IT Technician growing a specialisation in Apple Devices, I thinking of upgrading the internal storage of my personal M4 Mac mini according to the guide below: Would you say this is worth it?

Maybe, if it succeeds 100%, you can then sell your experience and skill to other people wanting to upgrade their storage (with a warranty if you break their device...).

If it does not succeed, you have to buy a new device.

Johne154 wrote:

I DON'T use TImeMachine! It backs up anything you've ever had on your Mac, even files and apps you've deleted and no longer use. I realized I didn't need it with an Apple One subscription with 2TBs of iCloud storage.

iCloud is great. I strongly recommend it. However, iCloud is most definitely not a backup. It's a file sync service. If something goes wrong, and there are many ways for that to happen, your files are gone forever.

You don't have to use Time Machine if you don't want to. Even a manual copy to an external drive every so often is fine. Just make sure you have a copy of your iCloud data locally.

Ian R. Brown wrote:

I can't understand the mentality of these guys on YouTube who get a new Mac and immediately void the warranty and risk destroying their new computer. I suppose they are thrill-seekers like those who jump off high buildings!

Why not? Add up the value of the equipment they destroy over a year, double that, and that's the minimum income from those channels.