Couple questions about upgrading external HDs on 2018 Mini

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MIKEinMICH Author

Level 1

20 points

Couple questions about upgrading external HDs on 2018 Mini

Hi, I've used Intel Mac Minis for my two recording studios for many years. I maintain a legacy Mojave OS

setup for editing software I don't want to part with that isn't sympatico with generations beyond 10.14.

Anyway, I've been using external Samsung 870 drives for quite awhile as my "write-to" disk, connected via

the USB 3.2 port. I've decided to pick up some newer gen Samsung SSDs for faster write times/lower latency.

From what I gather this should roughly double my transfer speeds...and they could be even higher with other, newer drives via the TB port(s)...but for my purposes 3.2 speed should be plenty fast.

Now, in the past when I've made a simple change like swapping out drives that are associated with an existing user architecture, i recall running into problems with Permissions. Like, this ain't as drop dead simple as early generation Macs where you could just change a drive and the recognition would not change. It just worked. What I'd LIKE to do after formatting them HFS+ (also a requirement of the "Legacy" editor DAW I use) - is transfer all the existing content on the old HDs over to the new drives and ideally, just start 'writing' to them like nothing changed. I also recall, last time i made a change like this...there were some internal things to adjust such as disabling "SIP" and enabling TRIM. (Anything else?)

Bottom line, I want to make this switch - on two different but identical i7 2018 Minis - as seamless as possible. So first off, what's the best way to move the stuff on the old drives to the new drives that are replacing them... and... what if anything do i need to do to avoid some weird anomalies like lockouts of certain folders or files ("Priveleges"). This sort of stuff is why I always get anxious making changes like this..It shouldn't be a big deal...but it always seems to have some catch.

Thanks for any thoughts on how to do this without issues.

Mac mini, macOS 10.14

Posted on Feb 18, 2025 04:37 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

66,806 points

Feb 21, 2025 08:30 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

I would run Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Containers on all your drives (internal & external). If the HFS+ file system doesn't use a Container, then run First Aid on the volume instead. Within Disk Utility click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Containers appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if the First Aid summary says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll back through the report to see if any unfixed errors are listed. If errors are shown, then run First Aid again until they are gone, but if after several scans if those errors remain, then First Aid is unable to fix them. If an HFS+ volume cannot be repaired, then let me know as there may be another option.

How are these external drives connected to the computer? I have seen some reports where connecting an external drive to a USB3 hub can help stabilize some external drive connections (I had to do this with a 2014 Mini where the USB3 ports became disabled whenever I would directly connect a drive to them). If you are already using a hub, then try connecting the drives directly to the computer.

Also, disconnect all other external devices from the computer except for the display of course just in case one of them is causing a problem. Also try one drive at a time.

How much data are you writing to these SSDs? SSDs tend to have a small write cache that fills up in about 30-45 seconds.....after which the SSD's write speed is likely to decrease....sometimes by a little bit, other times by a lot. Every model SSD is different in how it behaves. Sometimes once the SSD's write speed decreases, it can take a while for the SSD to recover its performance (again it varies by model).

Try running the Black Magic Disk Speed Test (free) to check the read & write speeds of both external drives. Make sure you select a folder with write privileges on the external volume in order to test the speed of the external drive because the default configuration is to test the boot drive.

To look for possible software issues, run the third party app EtreCheck and post the complete report here so we can examine it for possible clues.

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

23,535 points

Feb 18, 2025 06:13 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

What "newer gen Samsung SSDs" are you considering?

The 2018 Mac mini supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) via the USB-C ports & USB 3.0 (5Gbps) via the USB-A ports.

If you are thinking of putting an M.2 SSD in a USB 3.2 enclosure you are still going to be subject to the mini's 5Gbps or 10Gbps limitation depending on which port you use. I don't know if you are going to see the improvement you are thinking you will get.

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

66,806 points

Feb 20, 2025 08:41 AM in response to MIKEinMICH

MIKEinMICH wrote:

Hi, ok so one configuration would be using an internal  Sabrent USB 3.2 Type-C Tool-Free Enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs (EC-SNVE)   with this: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 NVMe Internal SSD - (MZ-V7E1T0BW) in it. The other is this external: SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD, 2TB External Solid

State Drive, Speeds Up to 1,050MB/s, USB 3.2 MU-PC2T0T/AM

If you have a 2018 Mini, then you cannot remove the internal SSD since it is integrated into the Logic Board. You can only use external USB3 or Thunderbolt SSDs. The 2014 Mini was the last one with a removable internal SSD.

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Answer 4

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,074 points

Feb 18, 2025 06:02 PM in response to MIKEinMICH

Follow the steps in How to setup an external SSD as your startup disk and it should be just fine.

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Answer 5

MIKEinMICH Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 18, 2025 06:27 PM in response to MartinR

Hi, ok so one configuration would be using an internal  Sabrent USB 3.2 Type-C Tool-Free Enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs (EC-SNVE)   with this: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 NVMe Internal SSD - (MZ-V7E1T0BW) in it. The other is this external: SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD, 2TB External Solid

State Drive, Speeds Up to 1,050MB/s, USB 3.2 MU-PC2T0T/AM

The drives i've been using are this: SAMSUNG 870 EVO SATA III SSD 1TB 2.5” Internal. MZ-77E1T0B/AM.

I think the specs are such that we'd be looking at twice the speed with either of the newer Samsungs I mentioned.

Sabrent USB 3.2 Type-C Tool-Free Enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs (EC-SNVE)

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Answer 6

MIKEinMICH Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 18, 2025 06:36 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Hmm, hadn't occurred to me to use the SSD as a startup. I primarily need the external because... the legacy audio app I use can't write to APFS+. It needs an HFS+ formatted drive. The app itself will work fine on APFS+...it just can't record to the same drive. I'm using the external as a 'scratch disk' - and assign it as the "record-to" drive. within the DAW app. Hence, a fast speed for lower latency and read/write matters. In this situation, the app is still stable in Mojave but broken in anything after that OS. It's just the 'write' disk that it has to see in HFS+ format for it to record. So I'm recording TO the HFS+ - and then saving it back to the AFPS+ volume.

Also based on that article my 2018 Minis would not qualify - (tho i do have 2012 Minis that could benefit from this i guess.. but not sure it's worth the hassle for whatever difference in performance it really would be.

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Answer 7

MIKEinMICH Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 20, 2025 09:17 AM in response to HWTech

Thanks for that reminder.

Good reason to run a fresh backup I guess,since i was running into some flaky behavior just yesterday.

I record audio for a living and routinely need to scroll through lots of media files and do a quick click on the icon for playback (where the audio is simply mapped through system audio output without having to, say, open Itunes or the recording app to listen to it). I started randomly getting an indefinite "spin" (wouldn't resolve to the player mode and play) on files, where i had to force quit finder (which didn't resolve it) and also when the files were being accesed on the external HD, (happened with files on both internal and external volumes) - the HD icon disappeared. I tried reboot and playing with connections but did not seem to be the root of the issue.

I can expect a lag time for larger files to resolve, but, short ones...not normal. Not sure what this is about! I did the usual stuff.. reset SMC, and disk utility checked out ok. I speculated it might be a hardware issue but if it happened with files on BOTH drives? hmm.

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Couple questions about upgrading external HDs on 2018 Mini

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