How to share a Mac’s drive with another Mac, whether Intel or Apple silicon

Apple has lengthy supplied a approach for you to entry the startup quantity on one Mac as a drive that seems on another that’s instantly linked. Until just lately, that strategies was referred to as Target Disk Mode, and it stays in place for all Intel Macs. New Apple silicon Macs with an M1 processor rely as a substitute on Share Disk (generally referred to as “Mac Disk Sharing”) that requires a completely totally different path.

Regardless of the Mac’s classic, you begin with a cable linked between like ports on the 2 Macs:

• With an Intel Mac, join a FireWire port to a FireWire port (bear in mind FireWire?) or a Thunderbolt port to a Thunderbolt port.
• With an M1 Mac, you should utilize USB 3.0 (Type-A to Type-A), or a USB-C knowledge cable that handles both USB 3.1 Gen 2 or later or Thunderbolt 3.

Share on an Intel Mac through Target Disk Mode

For an Intel Mac, you allow Target Disk Mode and restart:

1. From the Startup Disk desire pane, click on Target Disk Mode.
2. Restart your Mac.
3. The startup quantity seems within the Finder of the opposite Mac as if it had been a mounted quantity from an connected drive.

Instead of steps 1 and a couple of, you can too restart and maintain down the T key throughout startup.

You can now switch, open, and delete recordsdata. When full, eject the quantity. Hold down the facility button on the sharing Mac till it powers down to exit Target Disk Mode. You can then restart into macOS usually.

Share on an Apple silicon Mac with Share Disk

With an M1 Mac, extra steps are concerned due to a new safety strategy that requires authentication at extra steps. This additionally shares the disk as a networked quantity as a substitute of a instantly linked drive. Here’s how:

1. Choose  > Shut Down.
2. Once your laptop is totally powered down, maintain down the facility button till you see Loading Startup Options.
3. Click Options and click on Continue.
4. Select an account on the Mac you’re sharing and enter its password, then click on Continue.
5. Choose Utilities > Share Disk.
6. Select the disk to share; an M1 Mac allows you to share any inside or connected drive. Click Start Sharing.
7. On the Mac you need to entry the quantity from, select Go > Network, choose the Mac within the record that seems, click on Connect As within the upper-right nook, choose Guest, and click on Connect.

After you’ve interacted in no matter approach you see match with the mounted Mac quantity, eject it. Then click on Stop Sharing on the sharing Mac. Choose  > Restart to resume utilizing macOS on that Mac.

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