Apple Announces M1 Ultra CPU, Mac Studio and Studio Display
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pastrychef
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What he said was already disproven by the iFixIt video. If you go to 1:50 mark on the iFixIt video. They were able to swap modules and get it to boot. All they had to do was use something called "the configurator" to do a DFU restore.
trs96
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It sounds like AI is saying you can't just buy a drive from Apple or anyone else and upgrade it yourself. Who would buy another Mac Studio just to replace their SSD ? Makes no sense from a cost perspective. Could be a very long time before we could find used M1 Max Mac Studios at even less than $1500.
Ifixit is saying only storage swaps, not upgrades. They also said you can't fill both slots at the same time.
If you take another SSD drive (of the same size only) from an existing Mac Studio and replace it in yours, yes you can keep a failed drive from making you toss out your studio. That's what Apple techs will be doing if the SSD fails. That's not the same thing as buying a larger drive (not from another Mac Studio) and installing it yourself to increase the amount of storage you have. So it looks like Apple is serious about end users not doing their own storage upgrades on these.
I know, this is not good for you or other Mac Studio owners. Apple is gonna be Apple. They want you to pay their storage prices and also to pay their techs to replace a drive. Pay up at the time of purchase for the most internal storage you can afford.
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pastrychef
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If you can get your hands on a module from Apple, I don't see why following the same method as iFixIt won't work. I'm sure that's how Apple would do repairs as well.
When iFixIt just swapped modules, it didn't work. This was most probably due to T2 security (or whatever it's called on Apple Silicon). But once they wiped it via a DFU restore, it worked. The process seems very similar to how iPhone storage is upgraded.
What the guy from Apple Insider said about the NAND flash may be true. The controller may only recognize the type of NAND flash Apple uses and I don't know how readily available they are to 3rd parties.
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pastrychef
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I have a four bay enclosure that was sitting in my closet that I intend to use with my Mac Studio. I purchased a StarTech Thunderbolt 3 to eSATA adaptor to use with it.
I don't know if Apple Silicon Macs can boot without working internal storage.
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I believe "the configurator" in question is "Apple Configurator 2" so easily available from the app store.
Also, it seems daft to suggest, as others have done, that Studio SSD storage is not replaceable for this or that reason, or because they couldn't do it. If that was the case why would Apple mount the SSD in a socket?
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It is replaceable/swappable with an Apple drive of the same size. You can't upgrade it to a larger size or put in a second drive if one slot is empty. So it only makes sense to replace it when it fails. No upgrade to the capacity if you already have a working SSD. There would be no value in replacing a working drive with one of the same capacity. That's the difference.
pastrychef
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I don't see any realistic way upgrades can be blocked. Since the SSD controllers are part of the SoC, they would have to hard code blocks in there to block upgrades. That would mean dozens of SKUs for all possible variants. That would mean a logistical nightmare for Apple.
Also, keep in mind that the storage on an M1 MacBook Air has been upgraded. The guy went from 256GB to 1TB.
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AI mentioned a serialization tool that only Apple techs have. Not sure how that works but it may be the reason end users can't do it. This is what a former Apple authorized tech said on iFixit about logic board serial numbers in 2020. GSX is short for "Global Service Exchange."
"About 4 years ago i was Apple authorized, and every logic board we replaced needed to be serialized. The software to do this is proprietary. It is contained in the Dealer software called GSX. After the repair has been completed, the repaired computer is connected to the dealer network via an Ethernet cable, GSX is loaded, and the serial number is entered. Then the GSX serializer writes the serial number to the board. You only get one chance to do this right. If you make a mistake, the board must be returned to Apple because there is no function to erase an incorrect serial number. Therefore if you purchase a used logic board, it will most likely already have a serial number on it, and there is no way to change it, unless you are an Apple authorized tech."
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