saving all files onto the external ssd hard drive

If you are looking to free up space, you can move your Photos, Music, Movie Libraries to an external hard 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

Ideally you should use minimum of two external drives. 1 drive for your Libraries and 1 or more for backup.

Your welcome.

Moving folders is OK, but moving the entire Home Folder to an external drive can cause problems.

The better options are to:

1) move the largest Library or various Libraries to an external HD or SSD as I suggested above.

2) setup an external 1T SSD as the startup disk, then migrate your data and run from it.

see > Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community

Mikedogg1972 wrote:

Thank you.

you're welcome. :)

I have another question. Can I do that if I have a Time Machine backup on the external ssd?

sorry, no. once you assign a drive for TM, the only thing that can write to that drive is TM itself. and besides, as affordable as external drives have become, there is really no need to use a drive for more than one purpose.

Mikedogg1972 wrote:

Oh thank you friend.

You're welcome.

Keep in mind, if you just randomly move files to an external drive, then you'll just have a bunch of random files on that drive.

The nice thing about moving an entire Library, is that it keeps the Library intact and usable just as it was on the internal drive.

Yea' nothing wrong with copying and backing up the Home Folder that way.

I was more worried that the OP might try moving their Home Folder to an external drive and then delete the one on their Mac mini to save space.

den.thed wrote:

Moving folders is OK, but moving the entire Home Folder to an external drive can cause problems.

good to know. but would I be correct that it would depend on how much data would be contained within the home folder? because a part of MY backup strategy includes copying my entire home folder once a month to an external drive. and I haven't yet had an issue. but also note that there really isn't a whole lot of data in my home folder on my local drive. almost all of my data is spread across an assortment of external HDDs and SSDs.

you can open TWO finder windows. one for the local drive, and one for the external drive, and then "drag and drop" from one window (drive) to the other window (drive).

den.thed wrote:

Keep in mind, if you just randomly move files to an external drive, then you'll just have a bunch of random files on that drive.

thanks for bringing that up. my directions of "drag and drop" could imply moving one file at a time. but you can actually move entire folders at a time, or even "edit > select all" and move your entire home folder with one movement. :)

den.thed wrote:

I was more worried that the OP might try moving their Home Folder to an external drive and then delete the one on their Mac mini to save space.

ok. I now understand your thinking. I bet that would cause big issues. :)

👍 Sorry I was busy and unable to respond until now.