What happens if you try to UPGRADE a $5,000 Mac Studio?

[@user_anthony]

The amount of time needed to open and close these machines at least 5 times, dedication. Great job luke.

[@AppleTechPro870]

I know right. I was thinking the same thing. I mean to upgrade or switch one thing especially the storage you need to take the almost whole thing apart to get there.

[@johansugarev]

Didn't iFixit successfully swap the ssd between two machines? kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioqpZmVtedahrbs

[@user-es7jj7pt9w]

But it is also, totally pointless. We all know what apple does, besides putting a second ssd in there when the cooling probably wouldn't handle that very well ... etc... creating all sort of new problems ...

[@kFY514]

The SSDs are most likely encrypted with per-machine keys. I've seen M1 MBA being upgraded by resoldering the SSD chips - and it worked, but required Apple Configurator and DFU mode. The "SOS" blinking pattern is precisely Apple's way of asking for a DFU recovery.

[@WalrusRiderEntertainment]

I agree

[@JoeCastellon]

I came looking for this comment. I have the same hypothesis, they're SSD's that are locked to the machines because they are primary SSDs on each machine. I suspect you would be able to install brand new ones with no issues.

[@gutless_worm]

They aren't SSDs. They're raw NAND chips that interface with a controller built in to the SOC.

[@ghostofdre]

@@gutless_worm That's exactly what an SSD is, a type of flash based storage. Pity these are crippled, Apple trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

[@ssranon]

@@ghostofdre Not really. An SSD has a storage controller built into it. In Apple's case, the storage controller is built into the M1 SoC, and the storage chips are socketed using some proprietary Apple connector. In other words, it's as if Apple surgically removed the controller from an SSD, embedded that into the SoC, and then put the raw storage chips in a socket. TL;DR - These aren't "crippled" SSDs because they aren't SSDs.

[@lukemiani]

UPDATE: Part 2 is out now with Configurator 2 experiment and a ton of additional information! I spoke with several Genius Bar employees anonymously to shed some light on the situation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWjao5loeZKda8k Also, check out Morning Brew for free here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnbahJKMfKllr7s They helped make this extremely risky video possible lol

[@gian-lucalauwens703]

Thanks, it’s amazing how much time and effort you spend on making us the best video’s ❤️

[@lxr4781]

Can u link the wallpaper plz?

[@MichaelSidneyTimpson]

how come I always try to upgrade or fix a mac I do more damage instead? not the same problem I have with PCs.....

[@aelaan12]

I think it has to do with the security Apple is enforcing on us. It is a bit sad to have to pair the drive with the security chip. I am pretty sure a way around will be found, needs some time. I agree Apple does not care about the right to repair, with Apple you have no rights and everything is going to cost a large amount of money.

[@PedroM125]

The cost of the device is outrageous. For the same amount of money, you could easily build a 5950x, 3080ti, 64Gb RAM or even point to a Threadripper. For all and still you are not "allowed" to replace a SSD? Really? Luke, good luck with your endevours. I'm from a time when Mac's were able to be upgraded with normal components and repairs were expensive but possible.

[@nexttvc]

Hats off to you for great work.

[@fishbert42]

"Great work" might include googling the part number on those TI controller chips (CD3218B12) to find out they're for the adjacent USB ports before leaping to conclusions about penny-pinching SSD controllers ... which didn't make sense anyway because there'd still be pads on the board if they were no-populating parts to reduce cost.

[@devicefuldb5097]

Thank you Luke; this is exactly what I wanted to know. I have the Mac Pro (Late 2013) that I got in 2015 and have since upgraded it myself from 1T SSD to 2T SSD and from 32GB DRAM to 64GB DRAM. When I first purchased it, I thought, "I'll never, ever need more than 1T of storage and 32GB of DRAM." But of course, I did. My current Logic sessions, when mature, use over 40GB of DRAM. Knowing if the M1 Studio is upgradable was a key decider for me, and you solved it. BTW, on another note: the SSD upgrade I did was from a Mac parts 3rd party, completely approved, and when updating to Monterey, the upgrade would not complete, because Apple said the SSD was not compatible. I had to get the original SSD, upgrade it to Monterey, so it would update the Firmware, and then put my 3rd party SSD back in and upgrade it to Monterey.

[@critical]

I even swapped processor on my late 2013 :)

[@keithyakouboff8755]

Remember how easily-upgradable Macs used to be? The B&W tower, the cheese-grater towers, etc...

[@rossmanngroup]

Sigh

[@KaddeMario]

Make a rant video of it :)

[@BlindMango]

I agree Louis, this is yet another big sigh from Apple…

[@dson32]

This may be a situation like the 2019 Mac Pro SSD upgrade. It requires special steps but it does work. Luke, please look into how the Mac Pro is upgraded and see if you are missing software level steps to enable this.

[@ARamirez150]

Intriguing. You might wanna try booting the Mac Studio into DFU mode. Then, on another Mac, install Apple Configurator so you can reflash the firmware, so the SSD can be properly accessed, much like the same procedure on a 2019 Mac Pro. No guarantees, but it might be worth a shot!

[@sardanus]

it's not possible at the moment, in the future, who knows

[@ARamirez150]

@Gaming York yep! DFU mode’s been on every Mac since the T1!

[@ExperienceCN]

Did it work when he swoped the storage back to the original machine or is it also locked? Or did you mean to make it work with the storage from the second machine?

[@laserfloyd]

Was contemplating one of these machines but I like to upgrade my systems from time to time. Thanks for putting the time _and_ money into this.

[@joeyfotofr]

Yes, that's why I'm still working on a 2010 MacPro 5,1 12-core 3.46 machine (which began life as a much lower 8-core), while looking to upgrade and finding discouraging apple business practices that build in massive wastes of resources and abuse of customer's loyalty. There is a wonderful Japanese proverb: "Greed turns to stupidity as surely as food turns to shit."

[@davidallen3158]

These computers are way too expensive to not be upgradable.

[@Fernyte]

You did a great job of articulating exactly what I’ve been feeling for the past few years with apple! Thank you!

[@dogussahin]

Plus if apple is really honest with their environmental concerns, they must respect the right to repair!

[@blugaledoh2669]

Yes Apple's right to repair.

[@StaceyAyodele]

They're greenwashing. They don't care about your rights, only your money.

[@rinner2801]

Apple don't care. They never have and they never will .

[@blugaledoh2669]

@@rinner2801 Yeah I know that why I said APPLE's rights to repair. They want customer to pay apple for repairs.

[@StaceyAyodele]

@@rinner2801 Yep...and the trip, people will STILL BUY IT! So Apple can do whatever. I'll stick with my upgradeable PCs thanks

[@alanl3292]

you need to do a DFU restore using Apple Configurator 2.

[@vojtechvokoun]

Well I think that the Secure Enclave on the chip is restricting it (same as the 2019 Mac Pro, where you had the T2 chip, you also can’t just swap out the drives) for security reasons. People were able to get it working through Apple Configurator 2, try using that after swapping, you basically authorize the new drive and it might work.

[@alanmay7929]

At least on the Mac pro you still have tons of storage upgradability from pcie ssd to hdd….

[@LiLBitsDK]

and how would he use that when it doesn't even boot?

[@Visualization1]

Yes, and I think many people are overlooking that security feature. Because if you can swap from one Mac studio to another, then you have a better change to steal or get that data off that SSD.

[@JeanSamyr]

@@LiLBitsDK you have to use other Mac

[@RashidTak]

@@Visualization1 What security feature?

[@RandomKSandom]

11:59 Not to undermine anything else that you said. But I didn't see anything in what you showed to suggest that that slot is non-functional. * I wouldn't be at all surprised of it's only possible to boot from the first slot. * It worked well enough that the device recognised the foreign SSD and locked you out. That aside, I'm with you on evening else. This is the machine that has brought me the closest to actually buying a Mac. And then things like this are an excellent example of why I never will on their current trajectory. We have to get better at repairability.

[@near_by_gamer7401]

it's to do with the way that the modules interface with the processor and the way that arm architecture works means that the controller is on the m1processor for the SSD making it a little bit more difficult to swap the memory modules because these actually don't have a controller on the actual board itself, meaning that you may actually need a piece of software to reset the controller inside the m1 chip since arm architecture is very tightly integrated with itself this becomes a very difficult subject around right to repair but it's all depending on if Apple allows people to get access to the necessary tools to reset the controller in order for people to be able to change the memory modules, if you actually look at the memory modules themselves you'll notice that they don't actually have a controller unlike an nvme or mSATA SSD usually arm architecture is a very tightly integrated with itself generally controllers and memory modules have to work in tandem and the controller has to have a reference of the addresses available on the NAND chips. I'm in no way defending this product and I support right to repair but having the understanding of how this machine actually works compared to x86 based machines is necessary.

[@jermainemills3690]

I think you miss a step, because with all Macs With A T2 Chip you have to restore the firmware for it to notice new/different storage modules. I know this to be true with the Mac Pro 2019 Models. I think if you did that then we could truly know if they did something more to blocked just being able to replace the drive.

[@wshtb]

In all my previous lives, you just have to commit suicide in order to reincarnate into another family with better fortune. It's really no big deal. If you plan right, the suffering is minimal.

[@andrewgrant788]

I believe that the only T2 Mac with upgradable storage is the 2019 Mac Pro. You do need to connect a separate Mac to pair the storage to the Mac Pro.

[@ThinkNoodle]

@@wshtb I now realise that this is where I’ve been going wrong!

[@obiwan5999]

@@wshtb Yeah, keep relying on others for their fortune rather than know you can make your own, great way to stay broke your entire life.

[@EnaBBQ]

You need to try using AppleConfigurator 2 to "resync" the drives. You have to do that with mac Pro 7,1 too

[@lukemiani]

Definitely going to give this a try at some point. However, even so the fact that Apple makes what could be a simple process so difficult is discouraging and meant to drive consumers to paying extremely high prices to upgrade from the factory

[@EnaBBQ]

@@lukemiani yeah its annoying, but if its at least possible it would be less of an issue. Look it up how its done, its kinda like doing a DFU restore on an iPhone. That is probably done to re-setup the drive encryption trust between the m1 and the SSD.

[@Nupagadiesiebensachen]

@@lukemiani its pretty simple… download Apple Configurator 2 to your Host Mac. Connect a usb c cable to the usb c port next to the Ethernet port on the Mac studio. The other end connects to your host. Plug the power cord into the Mac studio while holding down the power button. After 5-10 seconds it should show up in dfu mode on your host. Right klick and restore… hope it helps 👍

[@brayannexon4613]

Sure but on my pc I just clone my old drive into a new one and it boots off the new one what's their justification for not allowing that?

[@Viggemigge]

It is inexcusable. A 15 year old harddrive would launch in a brand new PC, if you wanted it to. Its ridiculous.

[@boogyman10o1]

I have access to internal documents and Mac Studio repairs have a similar process to replacing a screen on iPhone 12/13. The Mac puts itself in DFU mode to be restored by System Configuration which (by my assumption) flashes the security chip to allow it to boot.

[@supralapsarian]

Luke, you’re killing me! 😱 Did you brick both machines in the end, or were you able to get them back up and running with their original SSDs in place? 🤔 Inquiring minds want to know!

[@ademiravdic]

Machines are finr

[@TimurTripp2]

I'm sure they worked fine after he put in the original SSDs.

[@johnroz]

Thank you for performing these trials.

[@DJLsbVapes]

Interesting. You may need to boot into recovery menu, disable all safeties and encryption, and only then exchange or add storage.

[@ArielGonzalez1]

It makes sense. Also, that Texas instruments controller might have something to do (in case your point didn't work). one thing do-able may be some kind of re-write or something

[@macbitz]

Yep, there is an engineer's work-around 👍🏼

[@fabiospringer6328]

A decent normal non apple computer will enter bios mode as soon as it can't read an OS.

[@batsonelectronics]

@@fabiospringer6328 Apple shows the Line thru it splash screen, but this is doing something that essentially doesn't allow it to even pass the BIOS stage. Like bad memory on a Win Machine will just show flashes and never show a LCD image. Adding the different SSD is keeping it from passing POST.

[@fabiospringer6328]

@@batsonelectronics wich means apples is locking you out of your own computer because you dared to change it storage. It is not bad memory, it is bad storage wich should not lock you out of bios settings.

[@BrandonHuettner]

With the Mac Pro, you have to restore firmware to the T2 chip using Apple Configurator when upgrading the storage modules. Maybe this is or will be a similar process?

[@abc123fhdi]

I'm sure there will be a way from the aftermarket to flash the boot loader to allow for 3rd party SSD upgrades.

[@qiyuxuan9437]

Kinda pointless, since those are special apple connector, there are no 3rd party ssd that will work.

[@abc123fhdi]

@@qiyuxuan9437 they will start making ssd's that work with that connector like they did for MacBooks that had proprietary connector and you can buy aftermarket SSDs for now.

[@qiyuxuan9437]

@@abc123fhdi Macbook was still using nvme ssd with a modified connectors that is pretty much just like m.2. This new connector seems very different tho, the ssd has no controller on it, only nand, it might use a different protocol unlike the standerd nvme protocol. There might be patent issue for 3rd party to make compatible ssd. Since mac studio is a desktop, adding a thunderbolt ssd dock can easily expand storage without voiding your warranty.

[@nemesis8664]

What an amazing paperweight! It just amazes me!

[@AmirZaimMohdZaini]

When ordering the Mac Studio, any of configuration details will be written onto the firmware which any of consumers can't doing such modifications after receiving the unit. Secondly, the storage inside SSD are encrypted uniquely on each machine, so swapping with one another is not possible. However, there is one thing that you might want to try - cloning the entire SSD storage bit by bit and transfer into 3rd party SSD, see if Apple is trying to locking SSDs only to one particular model instead of using any kind of 3rd party, even the storage had been cloned.

[@arunsp767]

But why? Why are they writing configuration details into firmware or why are they encrypting uniquely to each machine?

[@michaellatta]

I expect the 2 slots are for 4 or 8TB in raid array. You may need to reformat and boot from an external SSD

[@mikehalloran1341]

Nope. You have to initialize from Configurator on another Mac, then boot and install the OS from Internet Recovery.

[@ThinkscapeVideo]

I doubt it’s lack of controller. Second slot probably disabled by firmware, so only Apple can use it to offer higher storage options in the future, or compensate for module shortages (ie ship 2x 2TB modules if 4TB are too expensive or not available)

[@core36]

ye, i think so too, it is disabled in software, but i doubt that it is meant for you to get a storage upgrade in the future to your (by then) old device, but more like for apple to offer increased storage in new machines. there are only so much terrabytes that fit on a physically small ssd like this. this port is future proofing for them to not have to redesign the board in some years from now. i'll just sit here and wait for someone to make a mod chip for the studio, like they did on game consoles to play _unofficial_ discs.

[@alesksander]

@@core36 Still wrong way to do things.

[@monsterpatch9074]

it wont work because those nands are for the 0 bus and you are trying to place them in the 1 bus.

[@lwicke1972]

Yes it will be...! 😜 And not that Apple also wants to make money with proprietary hardware..

[@waynerm002]

Thanks for going the extra mile to check if the SSD works in the other slot. Let's hope OWC will have an upgrade in the future for this unit. There maybe information on how to do this that isn't published yet. If the SSD went bad, Apple tech must have a way to allow the system to accept a replacement device. I think It's too early for this info to be out but I suspect it eventually will make its way to the public.

[@InvisibleThinker]

0:25 Apple:This should be illegal...

[@AshrafStudioEg]

Well said, great video! This helped me by about 80% in my decission about my switching back to Win after about 10 years of using a Mac. Actually, I'm still using the last user-upgradable piece of Mac, the mid-2012 MBP.

[@aceyriot]

theory: the second ssd slot recognizes a very specific type of ssd, one that only adds additional storage modules and has no independent controllers. as for the inability to recognize the known good ssd, I assume that the configuration of the ssd is tied to the serial, if you can boot into recovery or maybe even just refresh the nvram? I know they still have nvram even if it doesnt work the same as it used to.

[@aceyriot]

you can view the nvram settings in terminal with NVRAM -p

[@ST-ry7lr]

I know they started down this road with the current Mac Pro. It's upgradable, but Apple let everyone know that you should only use premium priced Apple provided hardware. I think in the end at least some third party parts worked, but there was always the threat that next update from Apple could brick your computer. It is indeed a disgusting practice, and clear dishonesty that Tim Cook had the audacity to promise support for RTR, when he knew they ready to launch new versions of all their products that could not be serviced, let along repaired by a third party.

[@anianii]

Is there a possibility that the SSD you got from the other Mac Studio was still encrypted? In that case it would make sense that the other one can’t do anything with it

[@allenshegog]

that's exactly what apple has done, that's how its done on all iPhones and MacBooks.

[@zaremol2779]

Yes, the SSD is probably FDE'd and decryption keys are stored in the original system's equivalent of a TPM chip so any other machine can't decrypt it, same will happen if you apply Bitlocker on a Windows machine, it will store the decryption key in the TPM of whichever machine you performed the Bitlocker encryption on so the disk won't boot on another one, but at least Bitlocker gives you an opportunity to use a recovery key in case you do swap the disk to another machine.

[@rachelhutchison5961]

@@zaremol2779 The difference, of course, being that a modern PC will boot into the onboard firmware and then let you boot any other attached bootable device, assuming it's signed (if secure boot is enabled) whereas apple needs a paired SSD just to show you the boot menu.

[@zaremol2779]

@@rachelhutchison5961 yes, because Apple chose not to use the ARM implementation of UEFI and instead went with creating their own proprietary firmware much like what every android phone has, even with with their Intel Macs, where they do use UEFI, they took out the configuration menu that you'd usually get and left everything else.

[@GlobalMeditationOnline]

I sympathise with you, as I've never seen you so pissed off before, and full of good reasons to be so. I have owned a variety of mac products so far... right now I use a M1 Macbook Air 13"base model to work on Zoom, and I still have a MBP late 2011 which I have upgraded to 16gb memory, 2 SSDs, 1TB each and even replaced the cheap subwoofer by the speakers found on the former Macbook 12" (that audio replacement took many hours of work and adaptations as well) , but the final result is a much powerful and cleaner sound. Believe me, the old MBP works like a charm for all tasks I do, including video editing. I love your videos and I totally agree that once I've paid for any equipment, I cloud have the right to upgrade it with minimum effort. Cheers man! Keep up with the amazing work you've done on your channel!

[@grafxdesigner93]

That's crazy. Great video!

[@TyroSean]

I really hope Apple changes course on this, and they push a firmware update. It's completely a dick move, even if it is for 'security' - not many people are going to risk messing with an exposed power supply to steal data or to scam someone

[@tonyburzio4107]

Except for Chinese intelligence agents who get arrested with alarming regularity inside American companies and government research labs.

[@utubekullanicisi]

Copy-pasting another comment so you cna see it: "@Luke Miani its pretty simple… download Apple Configurator 2 to your Host Mac. Connect a usb c cable to the usb c port next to the Ethernet port on the Mac studio. The other end connects to your host. Plug the power cord into the Mac studio while holding down the power button. After 5-10 seconds it should show up in dfu mode on your host. Right klick and restore… hope it helps 👍" And also "That is probably done to re-setup the drive encryption trust between the m1 and the SSD."

[@eulehund99]

@@utubekullanicisi even if it's a copy paste, you normally should not need another Device to update a fricking SSD.

[@DetroitMuscle]

People will steal your WHOLE computer. That's the point. What makes you think a thief is going to open up your mac studio and steal only the hard drive? I swear you people are so stereotypical Apple users that you don't even understand basic IT concepts. Drive are encrypted for physical theft. It doesnt matter if its windows, apple, android, or linux. These "tests" done on this video are flawed and would fail on any machine.

[@My_Old_YT_Account]

@@DetroitMuscle if it was only the encryption, it would still boot then give a ? screen as a hard drive is detected but unusable like any older macs

[@zaremol2779]

That's what I was afraid of when Apple introduced ARM64 based full fledged computers, it would give them an even greater excuse to just further lock down their hardware to the same level they've already been doing to their mobile devices.

[@davidchapamusicofficial]

So timely, and informative. Great job! I'm in the market for a new video editing/music production desktop and the Mac Studio has caught my attention, however, it seems Apple has become the very thing the Mac was designed to free us from in 1984. I've been a mac person since 1984, but these closed architecture solutions are beyond my level of tolerance. Too much money for zero upgrade path doesn't sound like a good investment to me.

[@abbasmusawis]

Hey Luke, I completely agree with you. Waiting for the 2nd part ...

[@alexnoyle]

The LED SOS Morse code is hilarious

[@dlep2004]

11:33 the benefit is that (1) Apple doesn't need to manufacture different motherboard for different storage models, and (2) separate ports for hard-drive means faster read time. Not trying to defend apple's decision here, just laying out their rationale for this choice (my guess). Edit: one more thing, their hard drive is encrypted, so a third party one is probably not allowed. Again, not trying to defend them.

[@davestateham2237]

Sad to see another useless Device if there is any damage on the SSD there is no way to replace it. The only option do you have is to boot from external Drives but that is not a solution for Device that cost 2K. But as always a Great Video !

[@kamakairade2402]

The HDDs are signed in a manner that enables (non-)repudiation. EG: The police suspect you of a crime, seize your computer, do not find any offending files but want to save face, so they plant some. The manner in which Apple handles its storage prevents this.

[@kamakairade2402]

@@FlappyPoosay After a $35k legal bill... I really can't afford to smoke anything anymore.

[@vikramnair6702]

If all you said it absolute.. you saved a lot of us out there a lot of time and effort and obviously money.. hats off to your efforts man

[@ruitaochen7235]

Great video! Thanks for your test and evaluation!

[@iosebmatiashvili8890]

This is so sad. Hopefully we can make apple to change their minds and enable customer to upgrade their own mac!

[@YD_.]

It’s not possible due to drive encryption. The drives have different encryption keys, making them unreadable to each other

[@krisjonson9193]

or, just buying macs all together and they will listen. when they lose money

[@YD_.]

@@krisjonson9193 that’s not how that works. Most of their revenue isn’t from personal user sales. It’s from business sales

[@chloefletcher9612]

Another solid video, Luke. Really informative but I commend you for allowing your anger with Apple to show. A lot of youtubers wouldn't dare.

[@supercrazymario404]

Actually having an exposed power supply is good for right to repair because it means components on the PSU can be replaced easily unlike with the power bricks of like the M1 iMac that are glued shut and even though it’s easier to buy a new one, the PSUs for the Mac Studio are much beefier than for M1 machines so having the ability to easily fix things like bad capacitors is really nice as long as you wear insulating gloves or only hold from the edges of the unit.

[@madkills10]

that kind of stuff is too risky for the average joe

[@MaxOakland]

I’m glad you made this video. Even though you came to some incorrect conclusions, this is a very important topic and I agree with your take that right to repair is really important

[@soulcage6228]

What conclusions do you think were incorrect?

[@oscodains]

@@soulcage6228 disappointment with the thought that apple would change? At least for me. Apple has the most amount of “fuck you” money of any company in the world. Combined with their selling strategy of telling people what they want, and creating perfect pieces of art as masters of their craft that any change is an affront to The company. Apple is successful because of the unique mix of being built around an ego-centric leader with a vision for “perfection” & ability to sell products. The formula will never change, as long as Tim Cook, hand-picked by Jobs still runs the company. I’m an apple-fan boy, I only own apple products and will only buy apple computers in the future. The youtube tech world just doesn’t have a grasp on the Apple psyche.

[@MaxOakland]

@@soulcage6228 *I don’t think conclusions were incorrect, I know they were. More research was done on the SSDs. Look it up*

[@IndioA]

I could have told you before - we already know this from the 2019 macpro - the bootROM is stored on the SSDs and the T2 chip (part) checks if the boardID matches. with a working second computer and the apple configurator should work.

[@IndioA]

so, we knew, only a NAND modul with the same size let you install with configurator2 - and so, no upgrade possible! the size should stored in the M1 silicon : -(

[@archlinuxrussian]

Also, check into Asahi Linux. The development of Asahi has uncovered some background information regarding how macOS boots on these machines (basically, having a "stub" macOS installation which boots a "containerised" macOS you interact with) and how the SSD behaves (including some issues with flushing it making the SSD super slow).

[@LongHornTexas]

My head spins looking at all the tear downs and reassembling you did. That must have been a CRAZY day for you. THANK YOU for doing this for us!!

[@lightbearer972]

I'd been somewhat interested in trying the Mac again after switching back to PC in 2009 following 3 years of a MacBook Pro. The M series intrigued me, all the more after seeing that the Mac Studio appeared to have room for upgrades. Together with the renewed focus on Right to Repair, I held out hope that Apple had finally started to make some reasonable concessions. It's now clearer than ever that Apple views even a $6000 pro workstation as a consumable device only because it has the ability to do so. Thank you, Luke, for getting this out in the open and for exposing Apple's pointless greed. If their products were moderately upgradable, more people would use them, for longer, offsetting much of whatever monetary losses Apple would incur from not pushing planned obsolescence on its users. But Apple chooses not to acknowledge that simple fact. It's probably going to take either hordes of angry customers, the rule of law, or both to convince Apple to change their ways. Until and unless they do, I'm definitely not using Apple hardware again.

[@ArgentoRAWRz]

I must say after9 years of imac 2013, i was excited and wanter to buy macbook pro or mac studio, and after this video im really thinking its better to go with asus laptop and a pc workstation made/configed by me, f Apple

[@amogusamogus8490]

@@ArgentoRAWRz try a framework laptop. only slightly thicker than a macbook, has upgradable ram, wifi card, ssds, and easy to get parts. YOu scan a qr code on a part inside and it takes you to a web page where you can buy a replacement. The motherboard will stay the same as new cpus come out so you can upgrade that too

[@mynameis_2389]

And ppl would still buy them

[@casparhughey5651]

they been doing this since 1977. why are you surprised? why did you switch? is it because they are not cool or you cant afford it? you just going to hurt yourself jumping off and on the bandwagon

[@casparhughey5651]

@@ArgentoRAWRz stay. we dont need ifanboy lies over here

[@RonnSono-MassaAcoustics]

This is common practice in the automobile industry. For instance, BMW doesn't let you swap out a media system without the mechanic having to register the new hardware with the system. The same applies here. You can't change the storage without registering the new hardware. (Probably with the T2 chip)

[@novidiu]

I had thought of taking a look around before buying this car and luckily I found your video that made me change my mind,. thank you!

[@muddyexport5639]

While I am a user and love the Mac/iOS experience --Good luck with Apple changing their business model. Only massive customer outcry or Congressional Signed Law will ever make this happen. And you are right, the "right to repair" is only receiving lip service from Apple.

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

rightfully so, especially in Apple products. the efficiency of this products is off the charts, you cannot even send your device to repair/upgrade in comparison to this method appple is doing. you will waste more money and CO2, far more. Apple is dooing everything correctly. fuck the right to repair movement which has no clue whatsoever about the consequences of their woke BS movement causing the opposite of what they claim.

[@Four1LF]

Remember Apple's response to the Final Cut Pro 7 OUTRAGE -they just put Final Cut Pro 7 back for sale but keep changing their FCP X (or, as it's currently called iMovie Pro) -until the O.S. changed and FCP 7 wouldn't work anymore though tens of thousands still used it. That's when EVERYBODY found out that Apple could care less about their Pro users -not really. Apple didn't blink when they discontinued Aperture, screwing over tens of thousands of professional photographers.

[@dc99yt]

Luke, can you re-authorise the SSD in the Mac Studio from another Mac with Apple Configurator and re-do the same test again? Thanks!

[@TheAfroman]

Haven’t read through all the comments and I 1000% agree with you. One thing.. T2 Security and the way the drives/content/serial are paired. Did you try turning off T2 security on the machine then swap? Just to see if that helps?

[@minassotirakopoulos3792]

When i have a question about mac's Luke is the place to go get my answers. Great video again

[@ericniyukuri-zw5th]

How ça upgrade ram for mac studio

[@hannescampidell]

PERFECT i watched many mac studio videos and in them it always looked like it was a super fast machien but with this video i know its i bad machine PERFECT VIDEO!!!

[@ProMoe_]

I appreciate the risk you've taken by disassembling both Mac Studios and I do appreciate your video. But man I wish if you'd just reached this a bit prior? The M1 chip just like the T2 before needs to establish a one time security handshake to set it up for the internal usage.. Have you considered putting the Mac Studio into DFU and restore it? This way 100% it'll merge both SSD in RAID 0 and appear as one.. I'm not defending Apple, Apple do not care a single bit for Right to Repair but I wish if you'd made a quick research before going into this. Thanks again

[@DanTheMan827]

What happens if you remove the SSD entirely? Can you still boot from a thunderbolt drive or will the system be completely dead once the storage module fails?

[@aninterestingcharact]

Yes!I’d like to know too

[@batsonelectronics]

I asked the same question as I want to boot from my 2TB Thunderbolt SSD.

[@philiprobar]

You can’t with an M1 Mini. If the internal drive, which is part of SOC, fails your mini becomes a brick.

[@psoon04286]

@@philiprobar not a smart thing then to opt for the bigger storage as it’s like putting all our eggs in the one basket😟

[@brsi58]

The Intel Mac Pro also doesn’t allow SSD exchanges. It’s permissions related for security as apple suggests. The may be a way to experiment with permissions to fix this

[@alanmay7929]

Lol….. at least the Mac pro offers both pcie and hdd storage upgrade, plus the multiple custom pcie cards possible.

[@markpstapley]

It's got nothing to do with security. That is an excuse plain and simple.

[@flamingkillermc2806]

Apple sells mac pro SSD’s lol

[@jasonweinberg932]

Thanks Luke, looking forward to see the inside of the new M2 mini.

[@AnthonyOchoaphotography]

I love this guy!!! thanks for standing up for us!!!!!!💪🏻💪🏻

[@syscruncher]

I like the ability to replace the ssd….those thing don’t last forever, so having the ability to replace a wear part is good. Having the controller integrated into the SOC, isn’t necessarily bad, but not allowing the user to correct the problem without something as simple as a preboot environment or bootable media is shitty.

[@johansugarev]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioqpZmVtedahrbs iFixit managed to boot off another machine's ssd if I understand correctly. They have to be the same capacity. This guy doesnt know about Apple Configurator and DFU mode.

[@MrNorthNJ]

Maybe I missed it. Do they both work with the original SSDs but back into the correct units?

[@JeanSamyr]

If he didn’t said that doing this bricked the Studio, I think if you put back on the original hardware they will work fine.

[@craigslorach]

Thanks for doing this - when I saw the first teardown I thought the exact question you have answered. In my opinion, the baseline SSD at 512GB on the Max machine is way too small and so likely anyone buying that will want to upgrade at some point. My view is that given the physical slot is soldered in, that the necessary driver chips will be on the PCB (if only to give some flexibility for manufacturing options). Perhaps it is too early to just plug and play here and that at some point there will be some software steps as others have suggested. Certainly when I first encountered an M1 Mac Mini and tried to erase and setup the drive it was a major pain. I do live in hope ! Again, thanks for doing this at this stage..

[@beyond-the-limit]

Great work, a lot of time open and close, trying to upgrade. Keep it up😄

[@janedagger]

Thanks for totally screwing yourself for your art... and as I expected, you kicked it outta the park. You rock Mr Miani, you rock. Pls be safe.

[@Darthwriter]

Question: Don't current Macs use the T2 chip for encryption? Is it possible that changing drives around breaks the encryption. You might have needed to decrypt the drive first (if that's even possible.) I know that's the case if I pull out a BitLocker'ed drive on a Windows machine. It's been especially annoying on new Windows 11 laptops (assuming they have removable drives.) Good luck.

[@TimurTripp2]

Only the more recent Intel Macs have the T2 chip, however the M1 Macs likely have similar logic in them.

[@JakeM218]

@@TimurTripp2 The T2 chip was essentially an apple iPhone chip that works in conjunction with the Intel chip to produce a hybrid system. As well as locking down the drives for security reasons, the T2 chip also helped with encoding and other workflows. I assume as it was already an apple chip, it would be easy to copy those features across and incorporate them into M1.

[@marekkedzierski8237]

Given it's Apple, "Is the Mac Studio upgradeable?" question can be answered without risking hardware - no, it is not.

[@Maradnus]

Yet because they made un upgradable units they have been able to developed one of the most amazing chips on the market. one that in its first gen thretens every other unit on the market. It wont change how shitty this situation is. not being able to swap drives is a real no no! and then you have windows that is basically one big problem that some how works, and when connecting new internal drives you need to have a degree on the inner workings of the board you use so that you can actually use all the slots provided. and oh my you better not have a cheap board because that's only good for 2 drives and 1 pcie lane... To just say "because apple" is ignorant. What they have shown with their unified chips is that the "upgrade path" is not always the best way. For many many people the ram is the thing that you are more likely to upgrade over time if anything, you can always add external storage.

[@marekkedzierski8237]

@@Maradnus Sorry, but there in no technical reason why Apple couldn't put a couple standard gen 4 Nvme slots in this design. Apple drives aren't better then standard, high end, Nvme drives. The only reason they do it this way is so they can charge an arm, leg and kidney for storage.

[@Chrisp707-]

@@Maradnus storage is something that needs to have the ability to be upgraded especially on a $5,000 machine. You average person isn’t paying 5 grand for a computer. Once you go about say 2.5k you start reaching the realm of content creators and I can tell you most I know and have watched would much prefer to have the ability to upgrade their SSD rather than to carry around an external drive.

[@Maradnus]

@@marekkedzierski8237 and? so what if they do! are we going to winge that super cars can use normal fule because that what you want to drive?? it's not a computer for normal people its for pro's who's business will soak the extra charge for the storage.. I will happily pay more so I stay under a tax bracket.. why give the tax man that cash for nothing when apple are charging your first born but you get something for it. yes they could very easily have allowed us to install one. but that rubber ring is clearly not meant to be removed by us. I agree is a very crappy move and I really think that it would be better for them. A raid unit can be brought for $200 that can hold 50tb. to winging about internal storage in this day and age is a real joke. My editing rig has 200tb external storage. You raise a valid point.

[@Maradnus]

@@Chrisp707- yes true. I am a creator (not this account) and the convenience or being able to replace it my self is amazing. Yet being able to plug in a raid unit and have hundreds of terabytes right there, that is more useful that a single 1-2tb internal drive. I do have a 5k rig and it would be so bad to have to send it in to just replace a drive. its loads of hassle. but caddies that hold of hundreds of terabytes beat that hands down. no one is carrying a Mac studio around. I brought a top spec Macbook to keep me below the tax bracket, that is really common. as its meant for pro's who are buying them for the company.

[@i_am_jafo]

Out of curiosity, has anyone checked to see if a MS purchased with maxed out storage has the second slot populated? Or is it still empty. Not sure if this matters but it might offer explanation that this is done on a firmware level from the factory based on what o is purchased.

[@waisinglee1509]

According to Max Tech's latest video on the mini Max, the second slot should be populated.

[@MrEd-qg8td]

@@waisinglee1509 The 2nd slot is populated on the 4TB and 8TB SSD models

[@WayneLiu945]

This rant is amazing, go Luke!

[@andreasl597]

Thanks for this investigation. I completely agree with you about repairability and upgradability. Especially on a product as expensive as the studio.

[@andyyylin]

Have you tried using Apple Configurator 2 to try to redo the bridgeOS thing?

[@laszlokorodi7355]

I could argue, that even if it would be upgradeable, considering the price the Apple SSDs would probably cost, it’s better to build a NAS, which can have “normal”, off the shelf, high speed SSDs. It is cheaper, and all devices can access all the data, if necessary, even remotely.

[@DetroitMuscle]

Agreed. Or even just use an external thundrebolt ssd drive. Thunderbolt is so fast that it probably would be negligible speed difference than an internal ssd. Using a NAS you will be restricted by network speeds for data transfer instead of wired or internal.

[@danhyde7501]

@@DetroitMuscle network speed is theoretically far far faster than thunderbolt tho right? Mac studio has 10GB networking

[@frogbatula]

yep hence why the video is a bit silly - between the cloud and the external storage the issue is becoming a bit moot.

[@pluto762]

I'm just curious, if you opt for the 8TB of storage, at the time of purchase, do they actually populate those slots?

[@13StJimmy]

Exactly what I was thinking But I think no one wants to buy the 8TB model to find out 😂

[@user-fx3ou2jh9k]

Bummer, I was going to buy the 2k version if it were upgradable. Thanks for answering that question!

[@abusalem411]

Let me save 15 mins 17seconds time of your life: can't upgrade, wont work. your welcome.

[@jarboer]

12:45 hard disagree, I want my SDD to be locked to the Secure Enclave (SEP), if it was able to be easily swapped then it’s easier for a hacker to brute force into. On Windows 10 Home you didn’t get encryption or storage locking so anyone with physical access could access your data. While that’s good for data recovery it is not good for privacy or security. To me privacy and security trump recoverability because you should be backing up (which I know most people don’t do unfortunately). As others mentioned the SSD can likely be paired to the Mac using Apple Configurator to enable the secure pair with the SEP so it’s not even as bad as it seems, just a more annoying especially since not everyone has another Mac (I sure don’t).

[@johnaart]

So when your ssd dies... You rather replace the whole motherboard?

[@KarrasBastomi]

Apple can give option to just format the drive if new drive is present or cannot boot on recovery boot.

[@tonyburzio4107]

When your SSD dies you take it to the Apple store and they replace the module.

[@philippeastier7657]

Agreed. This is not a consumer machine for people extending their gaming library over time. This is a tool for productive people that also need security, and will have most of their storage on servers or NAS. It may look as a pain, but this is fully consistent with the target audience of this machine.

[@jarboer]

@@johnaart No I wouldn’t, I’d love it to modular like the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro prior. I just want it to be paired to the SEP meaning the SSD will only function and be recognized by my Mac. If you pair it to a new Mac then all the previous data would be lost but the SSD could still function. Unfortunately though I have a MacBook Pro 16 so mines solder already anyways.

[@artort]

I like that you so clearly demand the #RightToRepair here! In times of resource scarcity and climate change is a no go to behave like Apple did here! Keep it up! Thank you very much! With sunny greetings from Germany

[@chinamobilemag]

Uhm, you probably should have gotten yourself familiar with the booting process of M1 Macs and how the SSD stuff works in general. First, the SSD modules are hardware encrypted with a key unique to every Mac. So of course you can not boot an Apple Silicon Mac from an SSD module that has been sitting inside another Mac. Second, a large part of the firmware is sitting on the SSD (for example iBoot Stage 2) which is, why the machine does not turn on at all and why it only gives you a blinking light. M1 Macs also do not support booting from external USB drives without the initial macOS stage being booted from the internal SSD first. So what you essentially need to do after switching or upgrading the SSD is to run an IPSW restore through DFU. Try that and I am 100% sure it will work.

[@MCFoh]

That's a lot of hard work to get to the bottom of answering if the Mac Studio's SSD is upgradable. Thank you! I suspect it will be upgradable at some point in the future via Apple or via some clever 3rd party solutions.

[@Zarabozo]

In a PC, you would probably have the same problems if the SSDs are configured with secure boot and in RAID configuration when you have two units. My guess is both things are set in the BIOS/firmeware in the Mac: they probably have a type of secure boot enabled, which causes an error on boot if you swap SSDs between computers. And, it probably also expects some kind of RAID setup when more than one SSD is detected. The difference with a PC is that you can simply go into the BIOS and clear secure boot keys and configure hardware controlled RAID yourself - not the case with the Macs. But yes, they may be going even further than that to make it even more difficult for users to upgrade the hardware on their own. After all, they charge you 3 times the cost of components when you configure your Mac in their website (e.g. If you select 4TB for your SSD, it costs 3 times what a 4TB SSD costs for a PC - same with RAM).

[@LeoinFrance]

I think the lock is not on the machine but on the drive itself. The whole drive is encrypted with the unique key that engraved in the motherboard firmware. In doing so, it prevents a person from accessing any information when he or she pulls out the SSD and try to read information using another system. The down side is that the system won't boot at all when you change the storage, just like the iPhone or Macbooks.

[@apqwert745]

this is actually fair point, it would be worth to try to do usb restore after ssd replacement

[@ross549]

Probably the reason you can’t simply swap it out is because the drive is locked to the motherboard for encryption via the Secure Enclave. Frustrating I know, but a side effect of security feature.

[@Psychshifted]

Don't let them convince you it's a security feature you can switch other drives out on OSs with secured drives no reason apple couldn't do the same

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

true, it is way better this way, just sell your device and buy the one with your wanted stats. you wont loose any money and the machines will keep extreme value over the decade because nobody is messing with the hardware. also it is way more efficient, cheaper, and reliable than customers putting their hands into a device.

[@qubeinteract]

That's typical of Apple, but I doubt they'll reverse this decision. People who want Apple products will buy Apple products, regardless of the limitations, and Apple knows this only too well.

[@glennhamilton5320]

What a Great Video, you touched on a many great points. Thank You so much!

[@sunny3560-e6y]

I just successfully "swapped" a SSD drive between two Mac studios(4TB vs 8TB). I struggled on the same issue but funny thing it turns out that I just need to change the original disk location and then it works out well(both units restore successfully after the swap). In stead of slot A to A swap, try slot A to Slot B swap.

[@laminutebusiness]

This decision from Apple is so disappointing. As you said: greed let them decide this 😔 Could you try to open a 4 or 8TB Mac Studio (one that has the twin controllers) and test the swap ?

[@a4e69636b]

Knowing Apple this would probably break the computer.

[@YD_.]

It’s likely due to encryption keys being different. It’s not really that greedy of a decision, especially when they have 4 thunderbolt ports at the back for external drives.

[@montex66]

The idea that any corporation isn't going to be greedy is ludicrous. They're ALL greedy - it's what being incorporated means.

[@dexter_johnson]

@@montex66 I think that people that follow Apple tend to forget that and can name at least one content creator who refuses to admit this. They care about the environment but they are going to show items on a slide and do it their way. As long as we buy, they don't care.

[@cjkenney]

Hell yeah man. Great to hear some criticism towards apple. Right to repair should be a right of the consumer. Otherwise you get situations like how farmers are treated by john deere. Love the content!

[@DanceSoldier]

I really hope you can reach out to Apple (or enough people) so they at least give repair shops the necessary tools to do that Upgrade

[@doncline4238]

This is why I have never used or brought an Apple product.

[@PauloParreira]

Too good to be true. You tried, kudos to you. I was hoping. Still using a 2010 Mac Pro as my main machine.

[@utubekullanicisi]

I don't think it's right to come to conclusions this quickly, I'm pretty sure there's a way to do this. As far as I'm aware the Mac Pro, despite Apple selling storage upgrade kits right on their website, also requires a somewhat complex configuration process with an a certain app to be able to upgrade its storage.

[@lux-pro]

Yeah, this was hard to watch and is a rare miss for Luke with not being thorough and then jumping to conclusions. We can give him a pass this time but I do want to see another video where he uses AppleConfigurator to pair the SSDs to the Secure Enclave, as it would be necessary for any hope of the upgrade working.

[@nobodypanic71]

I view these machines as disposable at this point, which is utterly insane. If your main hard drive dies, you have no choice but to go to apple to have it repaired. When I talked to apple recently they had no idea how much that would even cost. Compared to the old Mac pros of years back they have gone in the opposite direction of upgradability and being able to do simple maintenance yourself. It's pure greed and insane.

[@tonyburzio4107]

Not disposable, trade in-able.

[@stanislasflipo7214]

you mean going to apple to have an apple product repaired... hmmmm how strange

[@charlesdavis8813]

Just attach an external SSD with an OS installed. On silicon (M1, M2) old down the power button to reopen until it asks you which drive you want to use. On Intel hold the power button in AND the OPTION key. Simple as this folks! No need to replace anything internal and will run just about as fast on external as internal, easily fast enough for your everyday work unless you are a video programmer, etc. Wonderful Luke knbows this but doesn't tell you because it would take away some of his content.

[@nexttvc]

Apple maybe update the firmware to allow third party storage upgrade.

[@noway8233]

Yeah , maybe or maybe not

[@SunnyZ]

"Update firmware" or "remove malicious code from firmware put in place because they hate their users"

[@phillipmckay8221]

This is not an x86 machine. We cannot use the same logic. The SSD Controller does not live on the SSD itself on these machines. The only thing on the removable part of the SSD are the raw NAND chips. Completely different architecture than the PCIe interface that we are used to seeing on an x86 machine. Can’t “fix it in firmware” because the hardware is completely different.

[@janagan_s]

SSD not normal one. If Apple sale there own SSD. They will update firmware to accept it.

[@mariuspuiu9555]

@@phillipmckay8221 That's BS. You can have multiple SSD controllers and just disable whichever you don't need. How do you think you've been adding multiple SSD's to your system until now? This is just an intentional malicious restriction added by Apple for pure profit. You can just buy the cheapest Mac Studio with the smallest included SSD and add a third part 2TB NVME SSD. This will be so much cheaper than picking the extra storage from Apple.

[@teriyakipuppy]

I love that you are taking this stance. I'll never buy an apple product. But you are speaking for consumers.

[@jmichaelstone]

Hey, wow! You got an Ars Technica rebuttal! Kudos!