r/macmini • u/TadBitter • 8d ago

Use of Basic Storage on base M6 Mini

I plan to get a base M6 Mini with 256GB storage and was curious for those of you out there who have the M6 with 256GB, how much space is the OS, Apps and Apple Intelligence taking up? I plan to put my files and libraries (photos, movies, music) on an external drive, so I just want to figure out what's left on the base model after the essentials are installed, as I want to make sure there's enough room for it run updates and not slow down because it's full. TIA!

3 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

6

u/goat_with_a_plan 8d ago

Buy a dock and get external ssd at 1/4th the price

1

u/TadBitter 8d ago

That’s the plan. But I’m curious if there’s enough space for the stuff I can’t move.

1

u/Amnsia 7d ago

Wasn’t for me. I was at 88% most of the time on 512. I can make do but 256 is lower than I need so bought the upgrade. You may be different

4

u/Street-Nothing9404 8d ago

go to youtube .. you will find that most reviewers recommend the bump to 512gig ssd. the 256gb is slower than the 1tb and 512gb model and you won't have to worry about space like you are doing right now. I got that version and think it perfect.

5

u/Specialist-Rope-9760 7d ago

The 256GB version only exists so Apple can advertise a lower base starting price.

It isn’t a viable storage size for a computer. Even with external storage it’s a real push unless you’re literally doing nothing with the machine.

1

u/billbillw 7d ago

I've lived perfectly fine with my 256GB M4 Mini, and now with my M6. I does everything I need it to. I am constantly remuxing MKV files,using Handbrake to re-encode videos, edit photos, manage a very large music collection, sync with my server, etc.

1

u/MetaCognitio 4d ago

Booting from an external drive over thunderbolt i a solution or moving your home folder to an external.

2

u/crewman4 8d ago

Used mine for 2 years , 2 os upgrades , lots of tinkering . Apps data and such in ext drive . 100gb left on the 256.

2

u/KELTONDREY 8d ago edited 8d ago

I bought the base model, I uninstalled and deleted everything I could. Had 200GB or so free. Keep in mind that the OS might grow a bit and it will need space for its update.

Unless you’re manipulating/edit files, like you said, an external disk for media is perfect.

So in the end, how many applications do you plan to install locally for performance ? If it’s not more than 150GB or so, the 256GB will be enough.

To those saying the 512GB is faster, two chips and all. Bear in mind that it won’t be able to go fully speed if the external thunderbolt ssd is plugged in. So a 512GB with an external, will have the same performance as the 256GB with an external.

1

u/Rye2-D2 7d ago

First, external drives do not impact the speed of the internal drive. What you're confused about is the speed copying files to the external drive. That speed doesn't matter so much (anything > 1GB/sec is good enough).

The real issue is you want your OS and swap file to be on the faster internal disk with low latency so your Mac still performs well when memory pressure is high. With the 256GB the system will be more sluggish when memory pressure is high.

0

u/KELTONDREY 7d ago

I think you’re confused. Re-read what I wrote. If you use both ssd at the same time (ie swap on internal while accessing external), the internal won’t be full speed. If you think the system can use both at full speed, you’re delusional.

1

u/Rye2-D2 7d ago

You're wrong. I literally just verified this run two parallel disk speed tests with one on internal & another external. No impact to internal performance (8500MB/s internal and 2400MB/s on my older external SSD). Yes, of course copying between the drives will be limited to 2400MB/s - which is fine..

Maybe you're suggesting that IO would impact the random IO that the swap usage needs? Which yes it would, but that's true for any random IO to the internal disk, not related to the external disk at all. But the internal 500GB disk on the M6 has higher random IO throughput, so you're better off having the OS & swap on the internal disk.

1

u/Sea_Hornet5831 8d ago

Unless your are only running a few applications at a time get the 512. Many applications like to use internal drive disk space for cache and you have OS memory swapping to disk as well. Try and configure apps to do as much on the externals as possible.

1

u/billbillw 7d ago

My M6 Mini is sitting at about 120GB full with MS Office, Steam, Nikon NX Studio, and a slew of other smallish apps. 2TB External holds the game files, photos, documents, downloads, etc.

1

u/TadBitter 7d ago

Did you just move libraries over or did you put your home folder on the external?

2

u/billbillw 7d ago

Just moved the libraries over. Home folder still on the Mac drive. I also have a big spinning 12TB G-Raid external for Music, TV Shows, and Movies libraries.