# How to Get More Storage on a Mac Without a New Mac > Add storage to a Mac with an external SSD, iCloud or a network drive, which libraries can move off the internal disk safely, and why the internal SSD usually cannot be upgraded. Canonical: https://bytesweep.app/answers/get-more-storage-on-mac.html Last updated: 2026-11-04 ## How do I get more storage on a Mac? Add storage to a Mac with an external SSD, iCloud or a network drive, which libraries can move off the internal disk safely, and why the internal SSD usually cannot be upgraded. - By [Shajeen Ahamed](https://bytesweep.app/about.html#author) - Updated 4 November 2026 - Steps checked against Apple's documentation **Short answer** Add an external SSD and move the big libraries there (Photos, Music, video projects, virtual machines), use Store in iCloud for documents and photos, or keep archives on a network drive. The internal storage of most current Macs cannot be upgraded afterwards, so adding space means adding a drive. First check whether caches and old files can simply be cleared. ### Can I upgrade the internal storage? Apple treats internal storage as a choice you make when you order: its tech specs list it as "Configurable to" larger sizes at purchase, and Apple describes no way to add internal storage to a current MacBook afterwards. Third-party upgrades for some desktop models exist, but they are outside Apple's support. The safe plan is to treat the internal disk as the size it is for the life of the Mac, and add storage beside it. ### Option 1: an external SSD The most useful single upgrade. A USB-C or Thunderbolt SSD is fast enough to work from directly, not just for backups. 1. Connect the drive and open Disk Utility (Applications, Utilities). 2. Choose View, Show All Devices, select the drive itself (not the volume under it) and click Erase. 3. Choose **APFS** as the format if only Macs will use it, or exFAT if it also has to work with Windows. Erasing deletes everything on it. 4. Move the libraries that take the most space (below), then delete the originals once the moved copy opens. Use a separate drive for Time Machine. A backup on the same disk as the files it backs up is not a backup. ### What can safely live on an external drive? | What | How to move it | Catch | | --- | --- | --- | | Photos library | Quit Photos, drag `Photos Library` from your Pictures folder to the drive, double-click it in its new place to open it, then delete the original. If you use iCloud Photos, make it the System Photo Library in Photos settings | Apple: the drive must be APFS or Mac OS Extended, not a Time Machine drive, an SD card or USB stick, or a network or cloud drive. If the drive is missing, Photos starts a new empty library | | Music and TV media | Music, Settings, Files: change the media folder location, then File, Library, Organize Library | Same: connect the drive to play local files | | Video projects (Final Cut, iMovie, Premiere) | Move or create libraries on the external drive from inside the app | Use a fast SSD; spinning disks stutter | | Virtual machines (Parallels, UTM, VMware) | Move the VM file or folder with the app closed, then open it from the new place | Snapshots move with it | | Local AI models | Point the tool at the drive (Ollama's `OLLAMA_MODELS`, LM Studio's model folder); [where each keeps its models](https://bytesweep.app/ai-model-storage.html) | Models load slower from slow drives | | Old projects and archives | Drag and drop | Keep a second copy somewhere | Leave apps, your home folder and the system on the internal disk. Moving them is possible but fragile, and a disconnected drive then breaks the Mac rather than one library. ### Option 2: iCloud In System Settings, General, Storage, **Store in iCloud**keeps Desktop and Documents, photos and messages in iCloud and leaves only recent files on the Mac when space runs short. In Photos,**Optimize Mac Storage** keeps small versions on the Mac and full-size originals in iCloud. Both need an iCloud+ plan with room for your files, and an internet connection to open anything that is only in the cloud. Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive offer the same online-only mode for their folders. ### Option 3: a network drive or NAS Good for archives and media you open now and then, poor for anything you work in every day, and unsuitable for a Photos library, which Apple advises against storing on a device shared over a network. Connect from Finder, Go, Connect to Server, and add it to Login Items to mount it at startup. ### Before you buy anything: clear what you do not need A Mac that is "full" often has tens of gigabytes of caches, old backups and developer files that cost nothing to remove. [The five-minute routine](https://bytesweep.app/answers/free-up-disk-space-on-mac-fast.html) and [the twelve places storage usually goes](https://bytesweep.app/free-up-space-on-mac.html) are worth an hour before you spend money. Bytesweep helps with both halves: it shows what fills the internal disk and cleans the safe part with a 7-day undo, and its Drives page keeps a searchable catalogue of your external drives, so you can find a file on a drive that is not even connected. It runs on macOS 14 or later and is free to try for 3 days; cleaning needs a licence, $29.99 once per computer, no subscription. ### Sources Read on 4 November 2026. If something here has changed, write to [support@bytesweep.app](mailto:support@bytesweep.app) and it will be corrected. - [Apple, Free up storage space on your Mac](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/free-up-storage-space-sysp4ee93ca4/mac) - [Apple, Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac](https://support.apple.com/en-us/108345) - [Apple, Disk Utility User Guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/welcome/mac) - [Apple, MacBook Air tech specs](https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs/) ### Keep reading - [**How to clear disk space on a Mac quickly**](https://bytesweep.app/answers/free-up-disk-space-on-mac-fast.html) - [**Catalog external drives**](https://bytesweep.app/drive-catalog.html) - [**Disk space analyzer for Mac**](https://bytesweep.app/mac-disk-space-analyzer.html) - [**All answers**](https://bytesweep.app/answers/) ### See what is filling your disk, and why. Bytesweep is free to try for 3 days on [Mac](https://bytesweep.app/mac.html), [Windows](https://bytesweep.app/windows.html) and [Linux](https://bytesweep.app/linux.html). Cleaning needs a licence: $29.99 once per computer, no subscription. [Download](https://bytesweep.app/download.html) [Pricing](https://bytesweep.app/pricing.html)