6 ways to enhance the storage of your Mac device without paying crazy Apple upgrade prices

Apple offers very good prices on the standard configurations of its maximates. $ 599 for M4 Mac Mini? $ 999 for a new M4 MacBook Air? $ 1,299 for a new M4 IMAC? These are an attractive price. But these prices involve some sacrifices, most notably storing the start of only 256 GB. A quarter of TERABYTE may seem a lot, but much on Mac includes large-definitive files, videos, games (literally larger reason), and more. 256 GB run out quickly.

Apple gives customers the option to upgrade storage at the purchase point, of course, but its prices are very slope. The upgrade is from 256 GB to 512 GB (the minimum amount we recommend) is an additional $ 200/pounds, and jumping to Terabyte is another $ 200, which turns an attractive offer for beginners into costly offer.

But if you don’t want to drop the additional money, you can still expand your Mac storage without paying the exorbitant Apple prices. The alternatives here are mostly external storage solutions – in other words, you will need to carry and connect an additional device – but the settlement can help you meet your budget.

External ssds and hard drive engines

The external storage provides the best set of prices and capacity. For example, you can get a 1 TB capacity for about $ 80/56 pounds on Amazon connected to Mac via USB-C. Lacie sells the same drive with 5 TB of storage with less than $ 170/115 pounds – less than upgrade to 512 GB of internal storage on Mac.

With external drives, you can choose a fixed drive or hard -working driver (SSD). SSDs (internally used on Mac) faster and higher the price of hard drives. You can also choose between desktop drivers that have a larger design and require you to connect it to an power outlet, or small portable engines to suit a bag or pocket and are run through the Mac Thunderbolt or USB port.

External drives are used either USB-C or Thunderbolt to connect to Mac. Thunderbolt engines are more expensive but faster, while USB-C drives are only cheaper that support databases slower. Learn more about the differences between Thunderbolt and USB.

MacWorld has the best external SSDS and the best external hard drive engines to help you find your best device.

USB flash drive

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It is often called “thumb engines” or “memory sticks”, which is a USB flash drive is mainly a stick of flash memory that is connected to the USB port. It is small and easy to hide in a bag or pocket. It is available with a capacity of up to 2 TB, but 128 GB capabilities and 256 GB are found commonly, often at less than $ 30, such as this Samsung flash drive.

USB flash engines differ in price based on capacity and speed. Some have additional features such as the USB-A Dam on one end and the USB-C plug, or built-in encryption.

You can leave a connective USB flash drive, but if you will read frequently and write to the drive, you will need to choose a laptop drive or desktop instead. USB flash drives are more likely to wear off than a full drive because flash memory has limited durability and USB flash engines contained measures in effect to maintain appropriate health. Also, they tend to use low -quality parts so that they can be cheap and treat them as commodities (for example, the corner near my house sells USB drives).

Although you do not want to rely on USB Flash drives are the primary storage, it is easy to use, for example, storing photos or videos from a shooting, and file management when you want to keep files for a separate project for everything else, backup, and more.

SD cards

SDXC cards are memory cards often used in cameras and other mobile devices, but you can also use them on Mac. However, only two MACS (MacBook Pro and Mac Studio) have built -in SDXC Card openings. For each other Mac device, you must buy a SD card adapter, which is not expensive at about $ 10/10 pounds. You can also find Thunderbolt axes and sidewalks with card openings if you plan to buy one anyway.

SDXC cards are good for uses similar to USB Flash drives: file transfer, specifically files for projects, backup copies and more. They have similar problems regarding memory cotton corrosion; It is more reliable because it uses a high -quality memory, but it is not perfect as a always connected engine, and you are reading files and writing them frequently.

If you are planning to use the SDXC card as a way to transfer files between Mac or other devices, think about buying another card as a backup. I had cases where the metal connections of the card fade or were damaged from the frequent inclusion in the devices. These cards had several years of miles on them, but they understood that they are sensitive to other storage devices mentioned here.

Cards are available with a capacity of 32 GB and 2 TB and are available at different speeds. The higher capacity/fastest capacity cards can be more expensive than the exterior SSD engine with the same capacity, as they are pushed in addition to the very small size.

The storage tied to the network

If you are not aware of the storage of the network (NAS), think about it as a cloud storage, but specifically for your home. NAS connects to your main network, MacS, iPhone, iPads, even Windows and Android devices can access it whenever necessary. NAS is a good way to store files that you need to access by many devices or users, or it can be a way for individual users to transfer files from a space to edit space.

Since the NAS connects to a network, the setup is not simple like delivery and operation, but it is not very difficult. Once you run it, you can access it either through the network menu in the researcher, or through an application, browser or both. Some NAS devices can provide access when you are away from home, but this may require the use of a paid service from the device company.

NAS devices from those with fixed solid engines that start from 2 TB ranges for $ 150/150 pounds to multiple removable drives with capabilities more than 8 TB and other features of several hundred dollars. Check our choices to get the best MAC engine if you are interested.

Storing the cloud

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Cloud storage is provided by online service for a fee, usually a subscription. Apple iCloud, which includes an iCloud engine with other services. Other famous cloud storage providers include Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Box. Learn more about the best cloud storage services for the Mac operating system.

What is great in cloud storage is that it can be accessed through almost any device that has an internet connection. But since your ability to access it depends on the Internet, cloud storage should not be used as a basic storage. It is a good thing to store files you want to access but not that you use frequently, things like backup, storing images and videos, and transfer files. But it is a great way to free space on your Mac engine.

Also, since you have to pay frequent fees, you will need to know how the cost is entitled. Many services have a free layer with a small customization for storage; For example, iCloud Drive provides 5 GB. This limits what you can do.

Mac Mini and Mac Studio SSD promotions

M4 Mac Mini and Mac Studio contains drives drives drives driving drives drives driving drives CDs installed in holes, which makes them upgradable but Apple does not formally support promotions after purchasing by the company, a third party, or by DO-IIT-YROURSELF. Some small companies have released SSD upgrade groups, such as Mac Mini and Polysoft services with video instructions on their web sites.

The installation of these groups is not trivial, but if the mechanical efficiency is limited, you should be able to do this. There is a risk of destroying your Mac device and this installation may nullify your warranty, especially if there is a clear evidence for your business.

If you have M2 Mac Mini, there are other ways to upgrade its memory. Learn more.