My iPhone 14 1TB can no longer back up to my Mac mini M2 because "not enough free space is available on this Mac"

Batlo wrote:

Why can’t I use an external drive to back up my phone?

1) Because iPhone backups need to be kept on the Mac's internal drive.

see "Back up iPhone using your Mac" at > Back up iPhone - Apple Support

2) Running your Mac low on free space is also asking for serious trouble including data loss.

see "Move or delete files to free up storage space" at > Free up storage space on Mac - Apple Support

What you need to do is free up a large chunk of storage space on your Mac mini's 256GB internal storage drive.

One way to do that, is to move your larger Photos, Music or Movie Libraries to an external drive.

> Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

> Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support

> Move your iMovie for Mac library - Apple Support

Batlo wrote:

iPhone 14 1TB storage. 2023 Mac mini M2 256GB storage. Trying to back up my phone I now get the message "not enough free space is available on this Mac". What is the official work around for this problem?

The iPhone 14 only came with 128GB, 256GB or 512GB so you must be talking about an iPhone 14 Pro or Max.

Regardless, with only 256GB storage in your Mac mini and considering the space taken by macOS, your applications and a modicum of user data, there's hardly enough space to back up even a 128GB iPhone.

AFAIK the only viable "workaround" would be to install macOS on an external drive that is large enough (in your case I'd suggest a 2TB external drive) ... then boot from the external drive and back up your iPhone there.

Do yourself a favour and follow Martin's advice . . . get a 2TB SSD, install macOS on it and boot your mini from it.

I have been doing that for over 2 years on both my minis . . . one advantage is that it leaves your internal SSD untouched as all the wear takes place on the cheap external.

I would advise using a 2TB NVMe in a USB-C housing . . . this setup can be purchased from Amazon for £100 upwards.

You could use a Thunderbolt housing (£60 or more extra) which will be faster but you will never notice the difference in everyday use . . . except copying massive (100GB) files will be quicker . . . in every other way your Mac will be just as fast.

Backing up a 1TB device to a 256GB device will be problematic at best. Reduced thee size of the data ion your phone or backup to a larger computer. Or, use iCloud to backup.

Back up to iCloud instead.