So my work MBA has a tiny 121 GB Flash memory, and I have this 1TB SSD (T5) that I want to use for storage but I need some help. I've moved nearly all of my music files off to another computer, but it hasn't made much of a difference in the amount of storage available on the main drive, so I'm looking to move other things like applications or maybe the entire OS onto the EHD. Is that even possible or recommended? Also I don't have any videos or pictures on this computer. I am at a loss as to what's on there taking up all of the space. If I could I think I would put every scrap of data from that flash drive to the external.
Want to offload stuff to external SSD, but......
- Thread starter sturg
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To see what is taking up space you can use DaisyDisk. It displays what is taking up space and you can drill down through the categories to get to the culprits. I'd start there.
You asked about the external SSD. Yes, you can put the OS and boot from there, and you can put your entire set of applications there, but...
Depending on the interface to the MBA, it may be incredibly slow. Which MBA is it? What ports does it have? Did your company (assuming you work for someone, given you called it a "work" MBA) put any security on the MBA that would prevent you doing what you are suggesting? Is the internal drive encrypted with FileVault?
If you sense that I'm not recommending you try that, you would be correct. It would be better to leave the boot system on the internal and get as much off of YOUR stuff as you can. Then it would boot more quickly, be more responsive and maybe free up some space once DaisyDisk is done.
You asked about the external SSD. Yes, you can put the OS and boot from there, and you can put your entire set of applications there, but...
Depending on the interface to the MBA, it may be incredibly slow. Which MBA is it? What ports does it have? Did your company (assuming you work for someone, given you called it a "work" MBA) put any security on the MBA that would prevent you doing what you are suggesting? Is the internal drive encrypted with FileVault?
If you sense that I'm not recommending you try that, you would be correct. It would be better to leave the boot system on the internal and get as much off of YOUR stuff as you can. Then it would boot more quickly, be more responsive and maybe free up some space once DaisyDisk is done.
ty Jake. Yes, I have that DaisyDisk app. I need to learn more about it. I ran it once and didn't completely understand what items would be safe to delete, and didn't want to screw up. I've done that before and ruined a computer, so I need to read up so I know exactly how to use that program before attempting to use it.
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Basically, don't delete anything related to the System. You can delete pretty much anything in the /User area, as that is all yours. However, if you get too aggressive even there, you might render some of the software you have installed (or your company installed) unable to operate, or operate strangely. But stay away from /System, /Library and /Applications.
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I remember when Apple released the new edition 12" MacBook back in 2015 (now discontinued). It was seemingly designed to be a small, lightweight portable workstation.
It didn't last long because like your MBA it had little storage, I think 125Gb for the base model. The idea seemed to be that this device only have the native applications plus any third party apps required for specific tasks or functions and all of the data they produced be stored on external drives.
This meant a lot of management and with its smaller 12" screen the device became unpopular and I believe it was discontinued around 2017.
So for example you could have MS Word for producing and editing documents but the default storage when you saved anything would be on an external HD. The same would apply to Photo Libraries, Movies, graphics, saved email attachments, downloads, Music, etc.
Since MacOSX 10 Apple introduced the option to store your Documents and Desktop Folders in iCloud Drive, this could be part of a solution for you but personally I dislike the idea.
For starters it requires that you have internet access at all times and that you have enough iCloud storage to contain your data.
This too only takes care of the Documents and Desktop Folders. See Use iCloud Drive to store documents on your Mac, iPhone and iPad
Your work may not like the idea of you storing their data on a remote source.
These days you could get a small portable SSD of 2TB to store all your data and more, that would require a backup for safety but that would be my preferred option.
As for running the device from an external device, yes, that is possible but we would need to know the MBA model, number and type of ports and the macOS it's running.
It didn't last long because like your MBA it had little storage, I think 125Gb for the base model. The idea seemed to be that this device only have the native applications plus any third party apps required for specific tasks or functions and all of the data they produced be stored on external drives.
This meant a lot of management and with its smaller 12" screen the device became unpopular and I believe it was discontinued around 2017.
So for example you could have MS Word for producing and editing documents but the default storage when you saved anything would be on an external HD. The same would apply to Photo Libraries, Movies, graphics, saved email attachments, downloads, Music, etc.
Since MacOSX 10 Apple introduced the option to store your Documents and Desktop Folders in iCloud Drive, this could be part of a solution for you but personally I dislike the idea.
For starters it requires that you have internet access at all times and that you have enough iCloud storage to contain your data.
This too only takes care of the Documents and Desktop Folders. See Use iCloud Drive to store documents on your Mac, iPhone and iPad
Your work may not like the idea of you storing their data on a remote source.
These days you could get a small portable SSD of 2TB to store all your data and more, that would require a backup for safety but that would be my preferred option.
As for running the device from an external device, yes, that is possible but we would need to know the MBA model, number and type of ports and the macOS it's running.
Model number is A2179. Macbook Air 2020. Running Big Sur 11.6.2. 2 usb-c ports on left side. I believe that they are Thunderbolt ports, but not sure whether they are Thunderbolt 1 ports or Thunderbolt 2. There are no lightning bolt markings on the computer near the ports.
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So, that's the last Intel MBA. The ports are Thunderbolt. All that is good. If the SSD is TB, you should be able to boot and run reasonably well from an external SSD, although still not as fast as the internal.
Rod discussed iCloud storage. That would offload things from the MBA to the cloud, but then you can't get to them unless you are attached to the Internet. If that's not a problem, it could be another alternative for you. But if Internet is slow, or not always there, you may want your documents on something with you, not win the cloud.
EDIT: I'd stick with running DaisyDisk, see what it says and then make the decision of what to do.
Rod discussed iCloud storage. That would offload things from the MBA to the cloud, but then you can't get to them unless you are attached to the Internet. If that's not a problem, it could be another alternative for you. But if Internet is slow, or not always there, you may want your documents on something with you, not win the cloud.
EDIT: I'd stick with running DaisyDisk, see what it says and then make the decision of what to do.
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I have a T5. It came with two cables, one for USB-A ports and one for USB-C ports. The USB-C cable provides a very high speed interface. I still think it will perform reasonably well. But, if you are concerned, clean up the internal and use the T5 for storage of your stuff.
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I have that same 2020 MB Air, running Mojave OS, and to date have had no luck creating an external boot drive for it. The Mac will not recognize any external drive, other than an OS installer, when I go to select the startup drive. I've enabled external booting, and tried every trick from every source, but so far no dice. If it can be done, it's not the trivial task some people make it out to be.
That said, the OS is not all that large - maybe about 18 MB - so there's no reason to keep it anywhere but on the internal SSD. I have my larger "User" folders (photos, movies, work files) on an external drive, and have aliases pointing to them in place of the actual folders on the internal drive. So far, all of my applications (including MS Office) have fit onto the internal drive. It's a fairly seamless solution. One caveat: Time Machine has to be configured to pay attention to the external drive, and backups require both drives to be attached, so a full battery charge is advisable when running TM.
If you can't find the files that are consuming space on the SSD, there's a free program called Onyx that is quite reliable; you can ask it to "clean up" the drive and it will delete a lot of invisible/unnecessary/redundant detritus. If that doesn't do the trick, you can try restoring the OS from the recovery partition.
That said, the OS is not all that large - maybe about 18 MB - so there's no reason to keep it anywhere but on the internal SSD. I have my larger "User" folders (photos, movies, work files) on an external drive, and have aliases pointing to them in place of the actual folders on the internal drive. So far, all of my applications (including MS Office) have fit onto the internal drive. It's a fairly seamless solution. One caveat: Time Machine has to be configured to pay attention to the external drive, and backups require both drives to be attached, so a full battery charge is advisable when running TM.
If you can't find the files that are consuming space on the SSD, there's a free program called Onyx that is quite reliable; you can ask it to "clean up" the drive and it will delete a lot of invisible/unnecessary/redundant detritus. If that doesn't do the trick, you can try restoring the OS from the recovery partition.
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