6 methods to spice up your Mac’s storage with out paying Apple’s insane improve costs

Apple does give prospects the choice to improve storage on the level of buy, after all, however their costs are steep. Upgrading from 256GB to 512GB (the minimal quantity we suggest) is an additional $200/£200, and leaping to a terabyte is one other $200, turning a pretty entry-level providing into an expensive one.

However if you happen to don’t wish to plunk down the additional cash, you possibly can nonetheless develop your Mac’s storage with out paying Apple’s exorbitant costs. The options listed here are principally exterior storage options–in different phrases, you’ll want to hold and plug in an additional gadget–however the compromise may also help you meet your funds.

Exterior SSDs and arduous drives

An exterior storage gadget provides the very best mixture of worth and capability. For instance, you may get a 1TB LaCie Cell Drive for about $80/£56 on Amazon that connects to your Mac by way of USB-C. LaCie sells that very same drive with 5TB of storage for lower than $170/£115–nonetheless decrease than the improve to 512GB of inner storage on a Mac.

With exterior drives, you possibly can go for a tough drive or a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs (that are used internally on the Mac) are quicker and higher-priced than arduous drives. You may also select between desktop drives which have a bigger design and require you to plug it into an influence outlet, or transportable drives which might be sufficiently small to slot in a bag or pocket and are powered by the Mac’s Thunderbolt or USB port.

Exterior drives use both USB-C or Thunderbolt to hook up with the Mac. Thunderbolt drives are dearer however quicker, whereas cheaper USB-C-only drives typically assist slower information switch charges. Be taught extra concerning the variations between Thunderbolt and USB.

Macworld has guides to the greatest exterior SSDs and the greatest exterior arduous drives that will help you discover the very best gadget for you.

USB flash drives

Usually referred to as “thumb drives” or “reminiscence sticks,” a USB flash drive is actually a stick of flash reminiscence that plugs right into a USB port. They’re small and simple to stash in a bag or pocket. They’re accessible in capacities as excessive as 2TB, however 128GB and 256GB capacities are mostly discovered, typically for lower than $30, akin to this Samsung flash drive.

USB flash drives fluctuate in worth based mostly on capability and velocity. Some have further options akin to a USB-A plug on one finish and a USB-C plug on the opposite, or built-in encryption.

You’ll be able to depart a USB flash drive plugged in, but when you’re going to ceaselessly learn and write to the drive, you’ll wish to go for a transportable or desktop drive as a substitute. USB flash drives are extra liable to sporting out than a full-fledged drive as a result of flash reminiscence has restricted sturdiness and USB flash drives don’t have the measures in place to keep up correct well being. Additionally, they have a tendency to make use of lower-quality elements to allow them to be low-cost and handled as commodities (for instance, the nook close to my house sells USB flash drives).

Whilst you don’t wish to depend on USB flash drives are main storage, they’re helpful for, say, storing images or movies from a shoot, file administration if you wish to maintain information for a undertaking separate from every little thing else, backups, and extra.

SD playing cards

SDXC playing cards are reminiscence playing cards typically utilized in cameras and different transportable gadgets, however you may as well use them on the Mac. Solely two Macs (MacBook Professional and Mac Studio) have built-in SDXC Card slots, nonetheless. For each different Mac, you have to purchase an SD Card adapter, which is cheap at about $10/£10. You may also discover hubs and Thunderbolt docks with card slots if you happen to plan to purchase one anyway.

SDXC playing cards are good for makes use of just like USB flash drives: file transfers, particularly storing information for tasks, backups, and extra. They’ve comparable points relating to the reminiscence chips sporting out; they’re extra dependable as a result of they use higher-quality reminiscence, however they aren’t excellent as a drive that’s all the time linked, and you might be ceaselessly studying and writing information to.

When you plan to make use of an SDXC card as a way of transferring information between Macs or different gadgets, think about shopping for one other card as a backup. I’ve had situations the place the steel contacts for the cardboard get worn out or broken from frequent insertions into gadgets. These playing cards did have a number of years of mileage on them however perceive that they’re delicate relative to different storage gadgets talked about right here.

Playing cards can be found in capacities between 32GB and 2TB and can be found at totally different speeds. The upper capability/quicker playing cards may be dearer than an exterior SSD drive of the identical capability, as you’re paying a premium for the extraordinarily small measurement.

Community-attached storage

When you’re not acquainted with network-attached storage (NAS), consider it as cloud storage, however particularly to your house. A NAS gadget connects to your private home community, and your Macs, iPhones, iPads, and even Home windows PCs and Android gadgets can entry it at any time when crucial. A NAS gadget is an efficient strategy to retailer information that have to be accessed by a number of gadgets or customers, or it may be a method for particular person customers to maneuver information from a tool to unencumber area.

As a result of the NAS gadget connects to a community, the setup isn’t so simple as plug-and-play, but it surely’s not too tough. As soon as it’s up and working, you possibly can entry it both by the Community menu within the Finder, or by an app, browser, or each. Some NAS gadgets can present entry if you’re away from house, however this will require utilizing a paid service from the gadget’s firm.

NAS gadgets vary from ones with mounted arduous drives beginning at 2TB for $150/£150 to drives with a number of detachable arduous drives with capacities over 8TB and different options for a number of a whole bunch of {dollars}. Try our picks for the greatest NAS drive for Mac if you happen to’re .

Cloud storage

Cloud storage is supplied by a service on-line for a payment, normally a subscription. Apple provides iCloud, which incorporates iCloud Drive together with different companies. Different widespread cloud storage suppliers embody Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Field. Be taught extra about the very best cloud storage companies for the Mac.

What’s nice about cloud storage is that it’s accessible by virtually any gadget that has an web connection. However as a result of your capacity to entry it’s reliant on the web, cloud storage shouldn’t be used as main storage. It’s good for storing information you wish to entry however not ones you utilize ceaselessly, issues like backups, photograph and video storage, and file transfers. But it surely’s an effective way to unencumber area in your Mac’s drive.

Additionally, since you must pay a recurring payment, you’ll want to determine how the fee advantages you. Many companies have a free tier with a small allocation of storage; for instance, iCloud Drive provides 5GB free. That limits what you are able to do.

Mac mini and Mac Studio SSD upgrades

The M4 Mac mini and the Mac Studio have inner SSDs which might be put in in slots, which makes them upgradeable however Apple doesn’t formally assist upgrades after buy by the corporate, a 3rd get together, or by do-it-yourselfers. Some small corporations have launched SSD improve kits, akin to Broaden Mac mini and PolySoft Companies with video directions on their web sites.

The installations for these kits aren’t trivial but when your mechanical aptitude is restricted, you must have the ability to do that. There’s a threat of damaging your Mac and this set up might void your guarantee, particularly if there may be apparent proof of your work.

If in case you have an M2 Mac mini there are different methods to improve its reminiscence. Be taught extra.