Touchbar MacBook Pro NVMe SSD Upgrade

[@EliezYT]

I'm really happy that there is a future out there where instead of buying a whole new mac for a storage upgrade we can just upgrade our mac's storage again!

[@megatronskneecap]

It’s more the SSD’s dying more than anything else

[@davidkrocks]

same, I take it there isn't anything like this for M1 MBP yet.

[@Kraaketaer]

​@@davidkrocksSadly there won't be, as the M-series Macs have the SSD controller integrated into the SoC, so there's no PCIe lanes routed to where the flash chips are mounted, making a mod like this impossible (unless you can source your PCIe lanes from somewhere else on the board, which AFAIK isn't possible either). The best we can hope for is someone figuring out how to trick the system into accepting higher capacity NAND chips swapped in for the stock ones.

[@dosdude1]

@@Kraaketaer Yep, this mod can't be done on Apple Silicon systems. But it is possible to upgrade the soldered storage on them; see my previous video about that.

[@Kraaketaer]

@JimAllen-Persona They don't. They have replaceable "flash modules" without a controller or DRAM (as the controller is integrated into the SoC), entirely proprietary to Apple and essentially just a PCB with a bunch of flash on it. They can be swapped for higher capacity modules from another Studio, but even then the system won't recognize the increased capacity, there are further mods required to make it actually work.

[@Retroman8077]

Love how u remind me of my electronic teacher when he taught us soldering. He always repeated what he was explaining and showing like a surgeon teaching the pre meds.... awesome to see u doing things they say u can't do thanks for the 25 years old memory. RIP Mr Green

[@thiagomesa]

I came for the "alright" but I stayed for the talent of this boy. He makes everything look simple, great engineer.

[@eileenlucynakurosawa7421]

Beautiful work, clean, functional and can add extra useful life to those dead SSD MacBooks also having the storage upgrade in a still working one is excellent.

[@sssloe]

iBoff guys made some really nice boards, exquisite work as always!

[@trollingtime1234]

pretty cool to know that even if the ssd is dead on these macbooks, you can still give them an nvme slot to further increase its longevity. i like maximizing the lifespan of my computers tbh.

[@carholic-sz3qv]

1:09 as soon as you said removable SSD you got all my attention! i absolutely love these kinds of mods!

[@mau5atron]

I really want to attempt this on my 2017 15" touchbar MBP that has been sitting on a shelf for two years since the battery bloated and had to be removed. I bought it with 256GB storage at the time because I couldn't afford the extra storage upgrade, but I'm glad we're now at an inflection point where these devices are becoming easier to work on and upgrade, even with soldered components. Thank you for the upgrade video, I hope to take this on soon as I continue to hone my soldering skills and remove chips off donor boards for practice.

[@goldwings1468]

Protect this man at all costs!

[@jacobgames3412]

Fr

[@SGCSmith]

Louis Rossmann's Discord brought me here! Great work :) It's nice to see how the community continues to improve upon designs where Apple couldn't.

[@treacletree]

Wouldn't. Not couldn't.

[@SGCSmith]

@@treacletree Apple doesn't have enough care in them for wouldn't. :( We don't wanna give them too much credit.

[@treacletree]

@@SGCSmith Exactly. The COULD improve, but they won't.

[@nicksower6064]

I have a stock 2017 MBP, 1TB SSD. Its performance (using AJA) is 2087 write & 1532 read. I'd say your upgrade is worth it!

[@WeMuckAround]

Dosdude, your videos have inspired me to really get into this level of Mac repairs. For Christmas I have asked for a soldering iron and solder! Hoping to replace the NVIDIA 8300 chip on my Early 2008 MacBook Pro. Just for the fun of it!

[@Syntappi]

Just remember, 60/40 leaded solder and some good flux is your best friend when doing micro soldering ;)

[@WeMuckAround]

@@Syntappi thanks for the tips man 🙂

[@nadca2]

& contact cleaner removes the white haze left by isopropyl

[@thedavymac]

@@SyntappiDon’t forget to do this in a well ventilated area. Led is baaaaaaaad

[@rolls_8798]

@@thedavymac lead isn't so much the problem as the flux vapours which are a known carcinogen. so yes, use a well-ventilated space, but the lead isn't really evaporating to be breathed in, for that just use gloves if you have them AND wash hands afterwards

[@Ben79k]

Im always so impressed to see your upgrades. "Non user servicable" parts removed and replaced with expertise. You're one heck of a solder artist.

[@sirNemanjapro]

First 2 minutes of this video has better MBP review and information quality over any other reviewer out there.

[@vrdevelopersco]

This could be the revival of dead macbooks which SSD controller gets fried? Woa man, you are awesome

[@MrKillswitch88]

The only thing I've done like this was hacking in an 2280 nvme drive into an 2013 era Precision M6800 and didn't have to sacrifice the mxm slot. Kinda neat when something that old can have up to three nvme drives granted at pci-e 2.0 speeds, an msata, and three 2.5 sata drives while everything modern is stuck with either a single SSD or sometimes two. All and all I got 13.5TB (six drives) installed in this antique.

[@bladimadrigal9221]

Beautifully orchestrated. Very proud

[@ReTex504]

No joke, PC DVD drives are one of the best tools for soldering :D

[@JacksonPhixesPhones]

This is a great idea, and will help me and hopefully many, MANY others keep these MacBook out of landfills! Seriously, thanks for these videos brother! Some of these small run parts are really well thought out, and this little board seems to be no exception. Thanks for telling us about it. I'm all over this one. BTW, did you ever hear any news about the NVMe upgrade kit for the 2011 (I think it was the 2011, maybe 2010) 17" MacBook Pro that you demo'd a little while back? It's the kit that replaces the dGPU with an interposer/BGA reroute PCB, freeing up several PCIe 2.0 lanes, then there's a caddy that hooks to the slimSATA port for power (I think) and that's where you install the M.2 (2280). It worked, but there was a ribbon or connector that ran from the interposer to the M.2 slot that was kinda short. I hope I'm not misremembering too badly. I think you said they hadn't decided if they were gonna make more kits or not. THAT upgrade was very cool, and on the last 17" MBP too, not to mention removing the probably dead dGPU and installing an NVMe in its place. Great video as always! Thank you for all that you do for the community. Seriously bro, I used your Mojave and Catalina patcher for years on my machines and to give clients of mine with older Macs the ability to have dark mode (yes, dark mode is THAT important to me). I'm an OpenCore user these days, but I did see that you were in the acknowledgement, with you and your patchers being cited as providing a map of where and how to start. You're very much beloved in this community, and we are so incredibly grateful for your work! Thanks again! 🙂👍🐧🙂

[@dosdude1]

Yep, iBoff has updated the kit with the appropriately-sized cable for the 17”. The kit for both the 15” and 17” models can be purchased from the iBoff Tindie store.

[@leap123_]

You're doing a good job for being Apple's sleep paralysis demon! Keep up the good work on making newer MacBooks actually usable and upgradable!

[@SamA-cy8eu]

I really wish people would boycott products that are anti-consumer like this. The industry needs to be more in support for Right to Repair! Great Job by the Technician in this video!

[@Bless176]

You are doing a really good job, I don't understand people who buy Apple equipment, where this company is a master at milking customers' pockets, and when the owner wants to add an NVMe drive, he has to perform such operations.

[@Epicgamer_Mac]

Dude you are legendary. These are exactly the types of shenanigans that Apple hates because it completely satisfies the Right to Repair advocates and, for many people, negates the need to upgrade your computer! Obviously for people doing any heavy work, you’d want to bump up to a new Apple silicon machine, but for someone who does basic things with their computer - probably MOST people - this breathes new life into their perfectly working machine.

[@Don-h4d]

Knowledge, skills and courage to DIY are not 'Shenanigans'. Also have you wanted thinner, lighter laptops? Apple gave you what you asked for. Do you think they give a fuck about your mods? In 5, 7, 10 years you will be forced to buy a newer Mac anyway.

[@HNedel]

@@Don-h4dif someone gets a few more years out of an old upgraded laptop instead of buying a new apple silicon model, then yes, apple would give a fuck. And if by waiting some years the user then sees that ARM on windows is finally a thing, as is supposed to happen soon, and doesn’t buy a new mac at all, then they would give two fucks, yes

[@heroninja1125]

@@Don-h4d I'm buying a framework 16 because I care about repairability and upgradeability. it's hardly any thicker than the thin-at-all-cost macbook pro 16 but has hot swappable keyboard/trackpad and IO modules. The screen and the screen bezel come out super easily. The rest of the computer can be disassembled with a single included screwdriver. And importantly, you will actually be able to buy the parts necessary for repairing the device. Unlike apple that does not sell any of the parts to the users. Also, nobody ever asked for thinner computers, maybe lighter but not thinner. I have yet to meet someone that has walked into any computer store and asked, "What is the thinnest computer that you have". Often the most restricting part about a laptop's profile is the length and width, not the minuscule height. It was the corporations that changed laptops without giving us a choice, they marketed it as if it was a good thing and gaslit the consumers into believing thin-and-light was good and that upgradeability and repairability was necessary to be sacrificed in order to achieve this thinness.

[@boomers_pb]

Glad I'm not the only one who struggled to get this thing to make a good connection to the PCIe pads.

[@WinrichNaujoks]

Nice! The SSD is now the best part of this laptop.

[@sjgrall]

Truly impressive, and proves that Apple mislead about their reasons for removing the slot.

[@ted356]

Strangely enough, I have a 15” Mac book pro, 2017, Touch Bar and have never had a problem with it. Must have just been lucky. Nice to know there is an upgrade, if I want to bother with it. Good work!

[@xuchuan2781]

The best of this mod is that we can replace the SSD any time，whit ease

[@TradieTrev]

Another mad video! Love your workmanship brother!!

[@Indrid__Cold]

All the finesse of a retinal eye surgeon. My compliments!

[@gourmetbiker7633]

Very cool. I saw the video of the guy who developed it. Great stuff, I have the same MacBook and I might do this just for fun ;.) keep up the great work

[@markmcinnis2526]

Alex uses solder mask and UV to tie down those wires. Might be a good idea here as well!

[@EasyMac308]

I may hate Apple, but I love seeing DD1 work on them. Imagine how many would've been saved from the landfill if Apple had just put a connector on in the first place? I'm not seeing how, but is this a cost effective mod, or is it really only for the enthusiast who can't bear to part with their favorite machine?

[@pot3to444]

It could be cost effective if you already had the tools to do the mod. The pcb+connector+stencil are only 20 dollars. You could probably shell out some money to get the gear to do it but I'd only go for that if you plan to do other things with them, otherwise your buying a hot air gun, soldering iron, solder, flux and solder wick all for only a single project.

[@DynamicRockers]

I was wondering if your 0.1mm copper wires were enameled for isolation or you would need to UV resin them to avoid any shorts? Beautiful work. MBP2017 is no longer the worst apple product with this upgrade.

[@RetrixUniverse]

even if enameled, usually the coating burns easily off.

[@shadowtheimpure]

That's the exact same SSD as the one I put into my Steam Deck. The SN740 is a great little 2TB 2230 SSD.

[@HNedel]

Those 2230 models from wd, kioxia, transcend etc were kind of expensive and hard to find when the steam deck got in the hands of enough hobbyists, but now the prices have come down a bit. Still not as cheap as the ubiquitous 2280 models but a lot cheaper than the ridiculous prices apple is charging per GB when ordering

[@boostermcblast2197]

All my Macs are from 2013 or earlier and still work good enough. It's just crazy how we have to upgrade disk space nowadays. I want the good old "it just works" times back.

[@tobyglyn]

Outstanding stuff as usual!

[@markdjdeenix6846]

this is very cool.😀 iBoff should supply membrain cables for the wires .like the ipad solder flex cables

[@mystic316]

I first saw this done on a different channel and I’m glade you have figured this out too! Will help save many of these with dead NVME drives due to high swapping. I wonder if Apple Silicon is able to be modded like this.

[@boomers_pb]

Not in the same way, SSD controller is integrated into the SoC so can't tap into the actual PCIe lines of the controller. iBoff claims they have *something* coming for Apple Silicon but haven't said what it is. Maybe an M.2 slot that hijacks the Thunderbolt? You'd lose a port though so I doubt that'd be how they go about it. Whatever it is will be cool and probably involve PCIe fuckery of some kind based on all of their previous products.

[@jk-474]

Makes me wonder if anyone can add removable ram sockets somehow on the models that don’t have it 😮🤯👏🏻👏🏻 fantastic work here!

[@MrPnew1]

Collin, together you and iBoff mat could take over the world 😂 Thanks for the video

[@JayTheLane]

Legendary Legend 😎

[@Matlockization]

Never owned an Apple anything, but thank you for sharing this extraordinary mod.

[@adredy]

why not?

[@Matlockization]

@@adredy Because you can do a lot more on Windows. I love what Apple has done to AI coding on their products and are producing their own APU's. However, you better not break your Apple product by accident, otherwise they will not allow 3rd party repair, let alone the costs associated with the repair centre. And your phone gets one or two version updates then you're on your own, unlike Windows OS on laptops & desktops which is a lot more generous with their extensions. Have you noticed the cost difference of Apple products lately ?

[@robbirobson7330]

@@Matlockization Apple products are bad quality they are the same level as cheap acer or no name chinese brands. I fixed laptops for about 15 years and i was shocked how bad apple products are.

[@Matlockization]

@@robbirobson7330 And to make things worse, they are locking more of their hardware & software down, as I'm sure you're aware.

[@robbirobson7330]

@@Matlockization yes fortunately i was able to leave the repair field and don't have to deal with this crap anymore

[@KTBLGaming]

To be honest this is a very eco-friendly Upgrade many Touchbar Macbooks end up in trash because of dead SSD-S and some because of short to ground because apple refusing to make the SSD User Replaceable..

[@andljoy]

What a fantastic job. Just proves apple could have put a m.2 in they just want more of your money.

[@1centimetre]

More money for slower ssd. There's no guarantee Apple uses the fastest

[@aironwhite6533]

You don't know how excited I am to see this. I refuse to have a computer that the hard drive is not removable. At the moment I am stuck in intel land although i do love my 2015 mbp and am eyeing a 2019 imac as a possible upgrade later. Currently also using the 6,1 mac pro now that it has come down in price to a reasonable amount for the hard ware.

[@goldmastersimulations]

Please retrofit the longer eDP cable to fix Flexgate on this model too.

[@0xbenedikt]

I wonder how mechanically stable this will be considering it contains a connector and is mounted without major solder connections to for instance the ground plane.

[@dosdude1]

Yeah, that’s probably the weakest point of this mod, but most of the pads on this board are ground, so that should provide a good amount of mechanical robustness to keep it in place unless you really pull on it.

[@HNedel]

Some glue would be nice as part of the kit

[@Capt.Marco-Hawk-L.L.A.P]

really amazing work and you must have the patience of a saint

[@Realaudiosith]

You are amazing. Really enjoy your videos.

[@CajunReaper95]

Good old classic apple, “why should we allow our customers to fix or upgrade their item when we can trick them into buying a new product knowing we can fix or upgrade their item product!

[@DM00SE]

Very interesting mate. I'm a novice at soldering so I'd be mighty nervous doing it.

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

Nice and you could also use a 2030 sata ssd if it’s compatible

[@Mbro-dq2do]

YOure a G-d damn genius Colin.

[@foxfoobar]

I did this upgrade and bought a 2TB WD Black SN 770M for about 190 bucks which works perfectly.

[@malcomk]

I would just buy external ssd.... this is insane.

[@evgeniperminov9106]

Nice work.

[@bruceanda1007]

Congratulations! Awesome job 👍🏼

[@chaosdesigner123]

dosdude is true king!

[@Mbro-dq2do]

I wish I could do this. My hands are enormous and its hard enough working on my old Unibody Macs which I learned from Luke Miani who is also dope like you Colin. Learned so much from you two

[@RonZaworaCGS]

For the highest technical level videos, the host of the video will frequently and repeatedly speak from both corners of their mouths or speak in a way where they doubt themselves. It's fascinating. To be clear, I think this might be a way of speaking for filler or internal dialogue leaking out. What is most curious though is how one acquires the knowledge of keeping vs removing capacitors. Excellent work as usual. What are you working on next, Colin?

[@ninline2000]

I upgraded the SSD in my 2014 macbook air from the original 128GB to 2TB. The increase in size was great, but read and write speeds were over twice as fast as the original. That was using a cheap Silicon Power drive.

[@jakubknotek4891]

This community is bonkers ❤

[@alexlefevre3555]

I learned the gummy underfill consequence the hard way... I wish I had watched your vids before that day!

[@fergusyoung6782]

It’s a shame the 2018 MBP got the T2 chip cause they did slightly improve the design to try mitigate some of the total flops of the 2016/17’s longer display cables, a keyboard revision to attempt to mitigate the failures, and a few other updates,

[@krypton1260]

If you don't have solder mask, you can also use non-metallic nail polish. Helps against shorts.

[@megatronskneecap]

Not only are these machines bad but they're so fragile. I was trying to fix one of these with a suspected camera issue and ended up ripping the good ol' flexgate backlight connector. So stupid but they're really beautiful.

[@mori7423]

Thank you for your work, great video once again. Do you think we could expect anything similar with apple silicon devices in future? Are all of the T2 devices doomed to resoldering?

[@felicytatomaszewska]

Instead of individually toiling through the process to upgrade, we should all sue Apple in the court for the right to repair and force the politicians to make laws for consumer rights.

[@margingalaxy9826]

Great work dude dos❤

[@kuchesezik]

well we got the eu to demand replaceable batteries. seems like it's only a matter of time from this point... in phones they first did away with removable batteries, then went expandable storage, then the headphone jack. let's hope they are all restored in the same order.

[@bynahelemaal]

Incredible job!! Now all you gotta do is figure out how to retrofit the 2015 keyboard into this thing😂

[@luismanuelfragosoconceicao]

Woowww, how incredible! You should be able to do this modification for MAC Mini M1 or M2! It will be possible?

[@palyons81]

Hey there, I've seen your videos, you do incredible work. I was wondering how much a process like this would cost? I have a 15" 2016 TouchBar MacBook Pro 1TB. I think the onboard SSD is on its way out, and would be nice if I could get the upgrade at some point in the future. Also I know the battery is in poor shape too, despite macOS reporting it's condition as Normal. Thank you!

[@hatuxka]

saw a vid by J Repair. Some kind of board is soldered on that permits install of an SSD

[@giancarloc.8512]

i need this to eixst for the 2019 16 inch, i would buy in a heartbeat

[@lemagreengreen]

'Pro' Great mod though, actually makes the machine worthy of its name :)

[@rabrabbito3650]

Amazing as always !

[@the.real.ipatch]

12:25 the hardest working optical drive 💿 in the biz

[@tevindublin7620]

I smell a new Luke Miani collab coming soon

[@gg4ksa]

i love iboff rcc

[@unixoid]

Great work as usual.

[@oliviaiacovou]

incredible speed for such a tiny ssd

[@Technocrat.]

Should send you my 2020 iMac 27" to add back the nvme SSD mount.

[@mndlessdrwer]

I wonder what the level of impossibility it is to try to upgrade the on-package RAM in the newer Apple silicon chipsets. I suspect it would be extremely annoying even if you could find the supplier of the chips to order them.

[@WayneMueller-ie7wu]

Awesome job! I was wondering if the iboff PCB breakout could be used on a 2017 MacBook to increase storage? Mine is in near new condition full spec with 512 storage.

[@luke9511]

i have a 2017 15" macbook pro and this is an awesome upgrade! i was told a long time ago that the onboard ssds were keyed to the system some how and that they couldnt be replaced, is this still true and if so how did you get around that? if not why would people think that?

[@HNedel]

I think he mentioned the next model with T2 chip is keyed and cannot be upgraded

[@luke9511]

@@HNedel so strange, when i was having issues with my mbp which is the same in the video, people were telling me the issue could be the ssd and that it is keyed to the laptop itself, thankfully the ssd wasnt the issue

[@rysterstech]

Louis Rossmann needs to connect with this guy, could you imagine what would happen if they pooled their power. Its scary.

[@KingTrump2024]

Yeah, I just did a data extraction from a 2019 version of this. Corrupted and encrypted volume , and I got the data back !!! Big big huge F-U to Apple for their soldered on design !!!

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

When theirs no OS the Mac would flash a blinking questmark folder icon

[@rjkdev]

Probably over-simplifying things, but is there a way to hack the T2 Security chip (or circuit) so it says any hardware is valid?

[@pierrejanvier3009]

wow inspirering can you do the replacement for people who does know or have skills set to do it

[@foobarrel9046]

Great work! BTW, does this also work for a 2019 MBP 16"?

[@Thediscoball]

Great job👍🏽 I have a single DDR3L ram slot on my laptop which currently holds a 8 GB single stick. By any chance can I modify it to turn it into a dual channel 16 GB dual stick in similar fashion? Thank you

[@supercrazymario404]

It would be really cool if someone can figure out how to convert the SSD solder pads of either a T2 or Apple Silicon Mac to the slots used on the T2 and M2 Max/Ultra Mac Pros and all Mac Studios as well as the 2020 iMac with T2. I imagine it could work potentially considering the process for restoring the OS works the same regardless of the SSD being soldered or not. In fact, the 2020 iMac actually has both a soldered SSD and a slot for a module but the connector is only on models that come with the upgraded SSD and there’s only solder pads for the connector on the lower end one

[@safetycrocs5069]

This is amazing, how much would this upgrade roughly cost?

[@HeinrichSilvia]

As somebody who has to use a MacPro for work (due to my company being in the Apple Eco-System), I am always astounded to see those overpriced products needing workarrounds like that for giving Users basic functionality and upgradeabillity. If one of our Macs has difficulties, we actually just get another one, as the IT already knows that it takes ages to fix those things and it can not be done inhouse. Especially with storage I think this is a huge problem if a supposedly pro machine can lock up your whole data as it's the case with the 2018 / 19 models. I was my whole life on PCs and while I have now the opportunity to use MacBook Pros in my daily life... Guess what, I still don't own a Mac personally. There is just to many downsides for me, apart from that inflated price. I mean, it's great that it seems to be possible to fix at least some of the problems.... But after seeing that video, it's even more clear to me that probably offering a service like that is still too expansive to make it viable for most people AND doing it yourself, for yourself is something that is more likely a semi-unique case...Still - watched 34 minutes of some dude putting in a new SSD in a 2016 MacPro and I liked it from a educational point of view 🙂.

[@edgararaujo017]

Is there also maybe a possibility to upgrade the CPU from an i7 to an i9?🤔 that would be awesome😎

[@c-studios]

What a Great Job!

[@stephenperez3134]

Wowza! As usual fantastic work. Too bad I own a 2018.