This video popped up in my feed and I thought it was so great, I had to share it.
the new Macs from Apple come with 256 GB as the base hard drive configuration in the Mac Mini and the iMac. If you don't want to pay for the cost of another Mac to upgrade your storage to something that is a bit more futureproof than 256 GB, one suggestion is to move your Home folder to an externally connected Thunderbolt drive.
Here is the video that will walk you through the steps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtIbGq6Od6o
Essentially, you are setting up your new Mac without turning on iCloud or using Migration Assistant.
Connect your external drive and format it in Disk Utility.
Then, create a folder on your external drive called something like External Home.
copy over your Home folder from the local volume to the external volume, being sure to copy your hidden files.
you can then change where mac OS looks for the Home folder in Users and Groups under your account and choosing Advanced Options.
This is a nifty hack for those of us looking to get a new desktop Mac without having to pay the Apple tax for upgraded storage.
One note in the comments says this external drive can not be encrypted with File Vault, so pick your poison. If you have super personal files like financial documents, sensitive photos or videos, perhaps store those on the local drive with File Vault turned on. Everything else that is not as sensitive can go on the external drive or into a secure cloud.
Hope this is useful.