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External Drive Mac mini M1 2020

Yes, I just want to have an external drive, to put all my photos on! Sorry not into computers that much. Can I do this easily by, just clicking and moving the photos into the external drive? or is going to be more complicated?? Never done this before, if I purchase a unit, will it show up as icon on my Mac, and once I do my editing on my Mac, drag those photos into the icon, and have them show up on external drive.or would it be easier to just use a flash drive for this purpose. I wanted to save space on my MINI hard drive. IF I can use the flash drive, then I can just delete photos off my MINI. Can all these photos be deleted at one time, once I get photos moved to Flash Drive?? Thanks for understanding.

Mac mini, macOS 13.4

Posted on Aug 1, 2023 6:19 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 2, 2023 1:37 PM

In addition to the anser of Barney-15E: here is how to move your photolibrary to an external drive

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

It is indeed very much recommended to also backup your MacMini + your external drive with your photo’s .

Here’s how to use TimeMachine: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support


8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 2, 2023 1:37 PM in response to picksme

In addition to the anser of Barney-15E: here is how to move your photolibrary to an external drive

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

It is indeed very much recommended to also backup your MacMini + your external drive with your photo’s .

Here’s how to use TimeMachine: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support


Aug 1, 2023 6:32 AM in response to picksme

When you buy a drive, it will be formatted for Windows. The first thing you need to do is erase the device using Disk Utility.

In Disk Utility, click the View button and select Show all devices from the popup menu.

Select the device name of the drive you attached.

Click the Erase tab and use GUID partition map and APFS format.


By default, external drives will appear on the Desktop and in the Sidebar. You can change that behavior in Finder Settings.


How are you handling your photo files? Are you just storing them in a folder in Finder or are you using Photos app?

Either way, once you move your photos to the external drive, you can remove them from the internal drive. If you are using Photos, you would move the entire PhotosLibrary to the external drive and then tell Photos to use that Library in the Settings.


If you've never used an external drive, I would imagine you also have never backed up your Mac. If that is the case, buy two drives, one for photos and one for a Time Machine backup. The Time Machine backup disk should be 3x the size of your internal disk + external photos disk.


A flash drive is not reliable storage. You should only store things on them for short-term functions like transferring from one device to another.

Aug 2, 2023 2:16 PM in response to picksme

I recommend drives from OWC (MacSales.com) as they have proven reliability, excellent customer support and warranties. 


For your particular model contact OWC's customer support and get their recommendation for the SSD model that would best suit your iMac model, work requirements and budget. OWC is considered by most as the premier 3rd party hardware supplier for Macs.


Aug 2, 2023 7:56 AM in response to Barney-15E

Many Many thanks, I am 80 years old, just take personal photos as hobby only.Thanks for great answer. Just wanted to ask you, would be more simple for me to just move these to a flash drive, then delete them out my Mack Mini M1 2020. I was thinking about purchasing a photo editing, and use it, and after I have edited each photo, would like then just to drag to the flash drive. What you think?? Then someway, I would like to delete all the photos from my Mini , to clean up storage on my hard drive. I only purchased the one with the min sage on hard drive from apple, to save a few dollars, since I really do not use mini that much, most would be with my photos.

Any simple answers would be great, PFM

Aug 2, 2023 12:42 PM in response to picksme

Just wanted to ask you, would be more simple for me to just move these to a flash drive, then delete them out my Mack Mini M1 2020.

As I noted before, Flash storage is not a long-term solution. It is very unreliable. It sounds like you are trying to archive the photos with the intention of possibly using them again. Storing them on a flash drive will likely result in them being lost forever.

You should get a good quality hard disk drive or solid state drive. You will generally get more for your money with a hard disk drive, but prices on solid state have been coming down. And, if you really care about the photos and don't want to lose them, get another drive to back them up.

External Drive Mac mini M1 2020

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