6 ways to avoid prices for upgrading the Apple Mac Insane storage

Apple offers very good prices on the standard configurations of its Mac. $ 599 for an M4 Mac Mini? $ 999 for a new M4 MacBook Air? $ 1,299 for a new iMac M4? These are at an attentive price. But these prices involve some sacrifices, including the starting storage of only 256 GB. A quarter of teraoctet may seem a lot, but a large part of what we do on the Mac implies large files – images, videos, games, games (literally the biggest culprit), and much more. 256 GB is quickly exhausted.

Apple gives customers the possibility of upgrading storage at the point of purchase, of course, but their prices are high. The upgrade from 256 GB to 512 GB (the minimum amount we recommend) is $ 200 $ 200, and jumping into a teraoctet is still $ 200, transforming an attractive entry -level offer into an expensive offer.

But if you do not want to lower additional money, you can always extend the storage of your Mac without paying exorbitant Apple prices. The alternatives here are mainly external storage solutions – in other words, you will have to transport and connect an additional device, but the compromise can help you respect your budget.

SSD external and hard drives

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An external storage device offers the best price and capacity combination. For example, you can get a LACIE mobile reader of 1 TB for about $ 80 / £ 56 on Amazon which connects to your Mac via USB-C. LaCie sells this same disc with 5 storage to for less than $ 170 / £ 115 less than the upgrade at 512 GB of internal storage on a Mac.

With external discs, you can opt for a hard drive or a semiconductor player (SSD). The SSDs (which are used internally on the Mac) are faster and higher than hard drives. You can also choose between desktop readers who have a larger design and you force you to connect it to a power outlet, or portable discs small enough to hold in a bag or pocket and which are supplied through love at first sight or the Mac USB port.

External discs use USB-C or Thunderbolt to connect to Mac. Thunderbolt readers are more expensive but faster, while cheaper USB-CC discs often support slower data transfer rates. Find out more about the differences between Thunderbolt and USB.

igamesnews has guides to the best external SSDs and the best external hard drives to help you find the best device for you.

USB flash drives

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Often called “thumb readers” or “memory sticks”, a USB flash reader is essentially a flash memory stick that plugs into a USB port. They are small and easy to hide in a bag or pocket. They are available in capacity as high as 2 TB, but capacities of 128 GB and 256 GB are most often found, often for less than $ 30, like this Samsung USB key.

USB flash readers vary as a price depending on capacity and speed. Some have additional features such as a USB-A plug-a on one end and a USB-C plug on the other, or integrated encryption.

You can leave a trendy USB flash drive, but if you want to read frequently and write on the reader, you will want to opt for a portable or desktop player instead. USB flash readers are more likely to extend than a full -fledged reader, because flash memory has limited durability and USB flash players do not have the measures to maintain good health. In addition, they tend to use lower quality parts so that they can be cheap and treated like products (for example, the corner near my home sells USB flash players).

Although you do not want to count on the USB flash discs are main storage, they are practical, for example, to store photos or videos of a shoot, file management when you want to keep files for a project separate from everything else, backups, etc.

SD cards

SDXC cards are memory cards often used in cameras and other portable devices, but you can also use them on the Mac. However, only two Macs (MacBook Pro and Mac Studio) have integrated SDXC card locations. For all the other Macs, you must buy an SD card adapter, which is inexpensive at around $ 10 / £ 10. You can also find hubs and Thunderbolt quays with card locations if you plan to buy one anyway.

SDXC cards are good for uses similar to USB flash discs: file transfers, specifically storing files for projects, backups, etc. They have similar problems concerning memory epices; They are more reliable because they use a better quality memory, but they are not ideal as a reader that is always connected, and you read frequently and write files.

If you plan to use an SDXC card as a method of transferring files between Mac or other devices, consider buying another card as a backup. I had cases where metal contacts for the card are used or damaged from frequent insertions in devices. These cards have had several years of mileage on them, but understand that they are delicate compared to the other storage devices mentioned here.

The cards are available in capacity between 32 GB and 2 TB and are available at different speeds. The more capacity / faster cards can be more expensive than external SSD training of the same capacity, as you pay a bonus for extremely small size.

Network attached storage

If you are not familiar with the storage attached to the network (NAS), think like a cloud storage, but specifically for your home. A NAS device connects to your domestic network, and your macs, iPads, iPads and even Windows PC and Android devices can access it whenever necessary. A NAS device is a good way to store files that must be accessible by several devices or users, or it may be a way for individual users to move a device to release space.

Because the NAS device connects to a network, the configuration is not as simple as the plug-and-play, but it is not too difficult. Once it is operational, you can access it via the network menu in the Finder, either via an application, a browser or both. Some NAS devices can give access when you are far from your home, but this may require using a paid service from the device.

NAS devices range from those with fixed hard drives from 2 TB for $ 150 / £ 150 to discs with several removable hard drives with capabilities greater than 8 TB and other features for several hundred dollars. Consult our choices for the best NAS reader for Mac if you are interested.

Cloud storage

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Cloud storage is provided by an online service for fees, generally a subscription. Apple offers iCloud, which includes the iCloud reader with other services. Other popular cloud storage suppliers include Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft Onedrive and Box. Find out more about the best cloud storage services for Mac.

What is great about cloud storage is that it is accessible by almost all devices with an internet connection. But because your ability to access it depends on the internet, cloud storage should not be used as main storage. It is good for storing files to which you want to access, but not those you use frequently, things like backups, photo and video storage and file transfers. But it is a great way to free up space on the reader of your Mac.

In addition, as you should pay for recurring costs, you will have to determine how the cost benefits you. Many services have a free level with a small storage allowance; For example, iCloud Drive offers 5 GB for free. This limits what you can do.

Mac Mini upgrades and Mac Studio SSD

The M4 Mac Mini and the Mac Studio have internal SSDs which are installed in slots, which makes them modern, but Apple does not officially take improvements after purchase by the company, a third party or by Rodons. Some small businesses have published SSD upgrade kits, such as Expand Mac Mini and Polysoft Services with video instructions on their websites.

The installations of these kits are not trivial but if your mechanical aptitude is limited, you should be able to do so. There is a risk of harming your Mac and this installation could cancel your warranty, especially if there is obvious evidence of your work.

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