Changing Internal SSD on M4 Mac Mini?

I’m curious if Apple is ok with this...

You need to ask Apple for an official answer; they almost never respond in this user-to-user. Apple's repair manual for the 2024 M4 Mini:

Mac mini (2024) SSD Module - Apple Support

shows the process but does not state if this is an approved action. You can read the warranty info regarding self repairs here: Mac mini Introduction - Apple Support

Fiddling with the internal SSD is not only dangerous (almost certainly destroy the Mac) but completely unnecessary.

External SSDs are a fraction the price, pose no risk and can be attached in seconds.

Furthermore, should your Mac die you will be left with a fully functional SSD which can be used on another Mac.

It's a no brainer as they say in the U S of A!

Yes, it’s part of this Self Service Repair - Apple Support which is official Apple policy. Follow the instructions carefully and you should be fine.

It’s linked to this Mac Manuals and Downloads - Apple Support which links to

Mac mini (2024) Repair Manual - Apple Support which links to Mac mini (2024) SSD Module - Apple Support.

Looks like you’re good to go. Choose the SSD manufacturer wisely (like others have said), follow the instructions to a T and ignore the over-the-top scare-mongering 😂 - n/a to you.

+1 I would not buy a drive unless it is from a reputable company like Samsung, WD or other reputable company. I do not trust the merchants on the Ali Express site. I have been burned before.

first please see Allan Jones' reply.

besides that, it can be difficult to replace components in a Mac. and no matter how careful you are, there is a real danger of breaking something that could render the Mac totally useless.

if you need more storage, then IMHO, your best bet would be to employ one (or more) external HDDs or SSDs.

I wouldn't touch it. I ordered my M4 Pro mini with 512 GB of space. Even with Photoshop, DaVince Resolve (full version) and many other apps installed, I still have 383 GB of free space.

If you do a lot of video work, you're familiar with how fast you run out of free space, and gobs of free space needed for rendering.

Apple's RAM prices have always been WAY above the cost of RAM essentially anywhere else. No one really understands why they charge so much, and is the reason I didn't order the mini with a 1TB drive.

Instead, get a true Thunderbolt 5 external drive from OWC. Thunderbolt is essentially an extension of the internal bus, and these drives operate at close to the same speed as the internal SSD. At a fraction of the cost for Apple RAM.

Even on your M4's Thunderbolt 4 interface, it will still be plenty fast enough to work off of without having to try and change the RAM in the mini itself, or paying Apple to do it.

First, the only "upgrades" i have found with a Google search are from some company found selling on AliExpress which I would not trust as most items on AiExpress are not great products. After spending the money on a new Mini, I would not trust putting anything into it that was not from a reputable vendor (OWC, Crucial, etc.).

Second, putting any third party item inside a new MacMini would likely void your warranty and you could end up with an expensive MacMini brick.

So, if you need more storage space, spend the Apple tax and buy it with more storage or purchase external drives that are much cheaper. If you do tasks that are disk intensive and you need the speed get an external Thunderbolt SSD, otherwise, just get a normal spinning hard drive which will perform just fine even viewing video content from it.

I don't really know what people mean by moving the home folder to the external?

For the last 15 months I have been booting my base model M2 mini from an external SSD.

To begin with I used a 1TB SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure (total cost £60). Although its speed was a mere 360MB/s it did all tasks including video rendering and exporting within 4% of the internal . . . to all intents as fast. Only copying massive files would have taken longer.

Three months ago I got a 1TB NVMe in a Thunderbolt enclosure. This drive is faster than the internal but the improvement over the USB 3.0 for normal tasks is minimal and only shows up in a side-by side timed test.

As for how I set it up, the first thing I did was startup the mini in the usual way putting in my details.

Then I connected the external and installed Sequoia (from a previously downloaded installer). After that it was simply a matter of inputting my details as they were asked for.

I use the external as my "computer" and could always boot into the internal SSD if I wished but I don't.

I have heard that certain items like Apple AI and Pay may not work on an external but I don't need them. If I did I would simply boot into the internal whenever necessary.

Regarding DIY on your Mac, your warranty will become void the moment you take the back cover off. So if it suffered some failure (nothing to do with you) Apple would refuse to cover it.

I agree that using a clone of your internal as a boot drive is the easiest and yes AI will not work from an external drive. I would not move my home folder to an external because if not done correctly it can cause all kinds of issues. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to make bootable drives for testing OS changes before I update my internal. However, I do use an external TB drive with my 2019 27" iMac all the time as it is faster than the internal and has a larger capacity. Intel Macs cannot support AI anyway so no big deal.

Sure, do that but well documented feedback Product Feedback - Apple is better IMO than a friendly voice on the phone (unless that’s what you’re looking for).

Well, self-repair is obviously for machines out of warranty. I’m finding that bit extremely 😆 , sorry about that!