CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock - Bus Powered, Non Charging, 40Gbs, Dual 4K Display, USB 3.0 & 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet LAN for Mac and PC, Thunderbolt 4 Compatible (Dual HDMI 2.0, Black) 4.3 out of. If you want to make use of your Mac's Thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for Macs. It provides twice the speeds of standard USB 3.0 drives.
Apple Silicon Mac mini Q&A
Published December 15, 2020
All Mac Q&As >>Apple Silicon Mac mini Q&A (Home)
To be notified of new Q&As, sign up for EveryMac.com's bimonthly email list.
If you find this page useful, please Bookmark & Share it. Thank you.
What external storage options are available for the Apple Silicon Mac mini? Which is the best?
The initial Apple Silicon Mac mini -- the Mac mini 'M1' 8-Core 3.2 (2020) -- is equipped with two USB-C ports that Apple is referring to as 'Thunderbolt / USB 4' because the M1 processor does not support the true Thunderbolt 4 standard. It also is equipped with two USB-A ports that support the USB 3.0 standard.
Accordingly, the Apple Silicon Mac mini supports Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s) and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s) via its USB-C ports and USB 3.0 (up to 5Gb/s) via its USB-A ports. This is a bit confusing, but for all practical purposes, the Apple Silicon Mac mini works with Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) and USB 3.0 (USB-A).
Site sponsor Other World Computing offers a variety of good external storage options for the Apple Silicon Mac mini and earlier Mac mini systems and one likely will be among the best for you.
Attractive Mac mini-Specific External Storage
Although it uses slower USB 3.0 (USB-A) ports instead of Thunderbolt 3, the OWC miniStack matches the design of the silver Mac mini models and stacks nicely with the Mac mini.
Photo Credit: OWC miniStack (Left), miniStack Under Mac mini (Right)
The OWC miniStack is inexpensive and provides as much as 18 TB of storage.
Should OWC, or another company, offer a similarly designed product with faster Thunderbolt 3 support, this Q&A can be updated.
Portable Thunderbolt 3 Storage Option
If speed is more important to you than a matching design, and you want to keep things simple, one good option is the affordable, portable, and rugged OWC Envoy Pro EX from site sponsor Other World Computing.
Mac Mini M1 Thunderbolt
Photo Credit: Other World Computing (OWC Envoy Pro EX)
Mac Mini M1 Thunderbolt
Photo Credit: Other World Computing (OWC Envoy Pro EX)
Mac Mini Thunderbolt Storage Dock
Equipped with a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) connector, the OWC Envoy Pro EX provides up to 2800 MB/s performance and up to 4 GB capacity.
Although performance will be slower, it also is possible to use an an Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C to Thunderbolt 2) (MMEL2AM/A) adapter to connect older Thunderbolt 2-based external storage. Adobe premiere pro mac latest version.
High-Capacity Desktop Storage Options
For those interested in higher capacity storage, you might also want to consider options that are physically larger but that are easy to upgrade and that cost less on a per gigabyte basis.
Photo Credit: OWC Express 4M2 (Left), Thunderbay 4 (Right)
Two good desktop options include the OWC Express 4M2 and OWC Thunderbay 4.
The OWC Express 4M2 supports as many as four industry-standard M.2 NVMe SSDs, so it is affordable to start with a single SSD and add as many as three more fast SSDs as needed.
The Thunderbay 4 supports four 2.5' or 3.5' SSDs or hard drives and is not as fast, but it makes it inexpensive to add as much as 72 TB of storage.
Installation Videos
You might find these videos that explain how to install storage in the Express 4M2 and Thunderbay 4 helpful, as well:
Please do note that as of the time this Q&A was last updated, OWC's SoftRAID software requires a revision to work with the M1-based Macs like the Apple Silicon Mac mini. Controller games for mac. When the software has been updated, this Q&A can be updated, too.
Permalink | E-mail a Friend | Bookmark & Share | Report an Error/Typo
Suggest a New Q&A | Sign Up for Bimonthly Site Update Notices
<< Apple Silicon Mac mini Q&A (Main) | All Mac Q&As
EveryMac.com is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind whatsoever. EveryMac.com, and the author thereof, shall not be held responsible or liable, under any circumstances, for any damages resulting from the use or inability to use the information within. For complete disclaimer and copyright information please read and understand the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy before using EveryMac.com. Use of any content or images without expressed permission is not allowed, although links to any page are welcomed and appreciated.
