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just purchased an m4 Mac mini base and I'm trying to find an m.2 NVMe enclosure and an external ssd to expand storage and don't know where to start! I have researched the internet and amazon a concerned about compatibility. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!
Mac mini, macOS 15.2
The empty OWC Envoy Express is a good choice.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/envoy-express/thunderbolt-3
For other OWC Thunderbolt enclosures and storage options.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/external-storage#drive-configuration:single-bay-1-drive
I’ll second den.thed’s recommendation and add another.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-express-1m2
It’s an m.2 enclosure that advertises 3151MB/s real world performance. Buy what you need or buy the enclosure and build your own.
In my opinion OWC is the premier supplier of ultra-fast SSD drives for Macs. Every one I’ve had performs as advertised and I’ve never had an issue.
I have a 2TB Envoy Pro FX that gets over 2100MB/s on the Blackmagic Speed Test app on my M1 Studio Max.
First thing: do you aim for passive storage (just to store stuff) or active storage (for instance ongoing video work)?
if just to store photos or anything you aim to pull out once in a while, there’s probably no reason to go for some expansive ssd.
In terms of compatibility, almost any external drive would do the job.
Another decision point is how ut connects: usb-c / usb-3 ? Be careful as many drives out there will say TB but that often just refer to the connexion type (usb-c ports are often also TB): such drives, even though they connect to these ports, simply don’t carry the TB specs for speed traffic.
My Mini M4 pro uses the following enclosure with a WD SN850X drive. It will provide over 3000MB/s. You may not need one this fast but I also use as a boot drive.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9PWKJT3?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
This enclosure is the same as the Qwiizlab.
FWIW, the Thunderbolt enclosures mentioned are great if you use the external SSD for speed critical items that are stored on it like editing raw video. For most anything else, 5-10 GB speed USB 3.x enclosures will be more than adequate and about 1/3 the price or less.
Also, these enclosures tend to be much less problematic when it comes to the SSD/enclosure combination. With the Thunderbolt and USB4 enclosure, on both Macs and PCs, the combination of SSD and enclosure need to be "just right" for flawless operation.
One more thing, you can easily stream any video (even 4K UHD) and music from any of the slower devices. Even working with photos that are stored on the slower drives and some basic iMovie type video editing will not be any sort of issue. Also, you can save a few more bucks on the SSD itself as you don't need the latest and ultra fast versions.
So, unless you have some reason that you just have to have the fastest access to an external drive, save your self some money.
Just as an example, I have a Sabrent USB 3.1 Gen2 enclosure (up to 10 gigabit speed) with a 1 TB Samsung 980 Pro (had a great sale price at the time also bought for its durability) that I use solely for my photo library and editing which works great and the total cost was only a few dollars more than that of a Thunderbolt or USB4 enclosure alone.
trying to expand the storage for my M4 Mac mini base
