Running out of disk space on a 1TB MBP 15-Inch 2019. I have a 1TB M.2 Sabrent SSD in a cage with USB C cable and would like to use this as an external 2nd disk drive. I don't want it as a Start Up disk. How do I achieve this? Any advice or direction to achieve this as a seamless storage expansion would be grateful.
MacBook Pro Apple Silicon
all you need to do is erase and reformat it as APFS. then you can move any of your files to it as you see fit.
also please see these two apple support pages:
Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
all you need to do is erase and reformat it as APFS. then you can move any of your files to it as you see fit.
also please see these two apple support pages:
Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Suggest following the advise from previous posting but to Add.
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Other / System Data: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
If your backup solution is Time Machine, then the guideline for sizing of an external TM backup drive should be 2.5 - 3x the size of your internal drive. I am using a 2TB Crucial X8 SSD for my TM backup solution on a 1TB 2021 MBP M1 Pro, and that will be a tight fit eventually. There is no known migration solution from one APFS TM drive to another.
If you are not using that external Sabrent for TM, and if it will respond to an APFS format (default case-insensitive), then that is all you need to do.
Many thanks JtF, appreciate your input.
Thank you VikingOSX. Much appreciated.
you're welcome.
How to Setup and Use an External SSD as aback disk for a MBP
