New Mac Mini's Storage Can Be Upgraded, But It's Not Easy

Quinn Nelson has shared a super informative teardown video for the new Mac mini on his YouTube channel Snazzy Labs, offering the most comprehensive look inside Apple's smallest computer ever that we have seen so far. Give it a watch below.

Yesterday, we reported that the new Mac mini features modular storage, and YouTube channel dosdude1 has already opened up the base model and upgraded its storage capacity from 256GB to 1TB. The steps included removing the original NAND storage chips from the board with a heat gun, preparing the new NAND chips by reballing them, soldering the new NAND chips to the board, and restoring the Mac mini in DFU Mode.

While those steps are impractical for the average customer, the video proves that storage in the new Mac mini can technically be upgraded without having to pay for Apple's overpriced storage upgrade options when ordering the computer.

Related Roundup: Mac mini
Buyer's Guide: Mac Mini (Neutral)
Related Forum: Mac mini

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
macos tahoe

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for macOS Tahoe 26.1

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:21 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week. The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included. macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Another Vehicle Brand Gaining iPhone Car Keys Support

Tuesday October 28, 2025 5:27 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to bring support for its digital car key feature to Jetour vehicles, according to evidence uncovered on Apple's backend by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. Introduced in 2022, Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet, and unlocking can be done by holding an Apple Watch or...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...

Top Rated Comments

adamw Avatar
13 months ago
Best (and cutest) Mac ever! And now expandable too, even with a Thunderbolt 3, 4, or 5 external drive as your Startup Drive. I took my base M4 Mac mini, added a 4TB SanDisk PRO-G40 External Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive, and set it up as my Startup Disk with macOS on it, and now I boot up having a 4TB SSD M4 Mac Mini for less than $1,000. The External Thunderbolt 3 SSD speed (at up to 3,200 MB/second with both read and write) is even faster than the Apple internal 256GB SSD drive. Thunderbolt 5 External SSD drives (coming out soon from OWC) should be up to twice that speed on M4 Pro Mac Minis.

Note: I recommend a Thunderbolt 3, 4 or 5 External SSD drive, and not a USB 3 or USB 4 external SSD drive for your Startup Drive, as they usually can't maintain speeds as well as a Thunderbolt SSD drive. USB drives work great for data storage, but for use as a Swap Drive for full flash RAM memory and for your macOS and Program Applications, I recommend a Thunderbolt 3/4/5 SSD drive as your primary Startup Drive on your Mac. Just make sure that you set it up per the below Apple instructions which SSD drive (Internal or External) is your Startup Drive for your Mac to boot up with, and use for reading and writing to. You will have to change your Startup Drive back in the General Settings to boot up with the 256GB Internal SSD drive, if you ever need to use it, otherwise it is good for read only use. I had to use the macOS Recovery method (by holding the power button down on boot) outlined in Apple's link below to install macOS on my external Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive, before I could set it up to be my System Startup (Boot) Drive.

Here are Apple's Instructions on how to install macOS on an external storage device (like a Thunderbolt SSD drive) and use it as a startup disk: https://support.apple.com/en-us/111336

WARNING I was not aware of previously: If you boot off an external Startup Drive with your Mac, due to Apple's New Security, you can NOT run Apple Intelligence, and likely Apple Pay, and other security related things from your external Thunderbolt or SSD drive. See this video from a guy who just discovered this limitation:

Thanks to gargetfreak98 for this potential workaround of moving your home folder to the external SSD drive:
https://appleinsider.com/inside/macos-ventura/tips/how-to-move-your-home-directory-in-macos-ventura

Here are some videos to help you Install Your Home folder on an External Drive to make Apple Intelligence, macOS, and other Apple apps work properly. This goes along with the above linked instructions about how to move your Home folder to your external drive:



Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac Fly (film) Avatar
13 months ago
Guy who did the storage upgrade made a good video. None of the typical YouTuber annoyances, just plainly spoken and does the job.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GraXXoR Avatar
13 months ago

Guy who did the storage upgrade made a good video. None of the typical YouTuber annoyances, just plainly spoken and does the job.
That’s not just a mere a guy. That’s a dude: dosdude… And he’s number one.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tomtad Avatar
13 months ago
All we need is a handle to easily open it now

Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rumoresque Avatar
13 months ago

That’s not just a mere a guy. That’s a dude: dosdude… And he’s number one.
So! you’d need hundreds of dollars of tools and equipment, 6-8 hours of your time, high risk of destroying your equipment, but you might save $200 over Apple’s storage upgrade? Where do sign? ??
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
13 months ago
The EU needs to look into this and their ESG sustainability rating should automatically receive a downgrade of X points each time they release another product with glued and other restrictive elements
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)