Upgrade Your Mac Storage Without Paying the Apple Premium

[@Myoshin.]

I predict that Apple will at some point be forced to abandon their anti consumer upgrade stance due to the environmental problems it causes when people can't repair or upgrade their computers and are forced to buy new ones and trash the old ones. It can't go on much longer. Apple may be pleasantly surprised when they find that their customers actually buying more reasonable upgrades from them rather than looking elsewhere and paying for external drives etc. It will mean that they will of course raise the price of the base models but I think most people will prefer that over the feeling that Apple are taking advantage of them. The level of control that Apple loves to hold over it's customers is a bit horrible really.

[@benjaminpeternorris]

Although I'd like to see this happen, I suspect Apple will find some way of blocking or disabling these 3rd party SSDs in hardware. If anyone has a chance of forcing Apple's hand over this, it would be the EU.

[@KevinMuldoon]

I'd love for Apple to be forced to abandon their anti consumer practices (and yes, other companies are guilty of this behaviour too, but perhaps not to Apple's level). The EU has its critics, but they have taken no crap with tech companies and handed out some massive fines to companies that ripped off consumers.

[@stevejohnson1321]

Hopefully these can be bought on OWC some day. Some of us want bigger "drives" because the lifetime is distributed over the whole module, not just the segment we're using.

[@alediver24]

All true, but a second mac is needed to load OS on these expanded drives.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Wouldn't you be able to restore your mac using time machine?

[@dawnrazor]

The tower form of the Mac Pro already has a similar ssd form factor but the dram modules are tied to the T2 chip meaning they are unreplaceable. I am assuming that this restriction has not been placed upon the new m4 mini, but how can we be sure that Apple will not release a malicious update that ties the dram module to the internal T2/Secure Enclave meaning they can’t be replaced? Of course I love the idea of upgradeability (we should have it by law) but I can’t trust Apple to not be evil.

[@KevinMuldoon]

That's the part of it I'm more sure about Dawn. I'm curious as to what Apple thinks of this studio drive project internally. I do hope they don't do anything malicious to hurt third party solutions.

[@stevejakab]

Apple could just kill this upgrade with a proprietary chip on the board and a software update. Then you’d need to jailbreak your Mac to get it to work. I hope this will push down Apple upgrade prices which are ludicrous, and everyone will win. Apple shouldn’t be charging this much for memory and storage upgrades.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Agreed. I can understand the enthusiasm of those that backed this project, but I don't think investment is risk free. Hopefully Apple don't introduce any hurdles.

[@valdir7426]

well you're talking about a hardware upgrade; all the studio already sold are fine. Since the encryption and pairing process can be done with apple configurator people use blank nands and only maybe the serial number of the nands can flag the difference between the apple version and the aftermarket version (if apple can even access this?). Not sure even apple would go after a super niche market and risk bricking the mac of all the customers who did the upgrade and who already paid big bucks even for the base studio model. There's also a point where it makes the manufacturing and official repair shops work a lot harder.

[@KevinMuldoon]

As far as official repairs go. If I purchased a third party drive, I could make a point of keeping the original drive. So if I had to send the Mac for repair, I could just put the original drive back in. Of course, there may be other ways Apple could tell the system has been opened up. So there is a chance they wouldn't honour the warranty. The right to repair movement is growing in Europe so I'm keen to know where users stand legally with these types of upgrades.

[@chidorirasenganz]

@@valdir7426 the nands are sourced from the same manufacturer so they should be fine

[@djangosoftwaredeveloper]

Alternatives are good but these are still too expensive. I don't understand why. I stopped buying macs when then stopped being upgradable.

[@KevinMuldoon]

I can see the appeal for a professional use case. If you're tied into Apple for a particular app, this gives you the freedom to upgrade to better drives and save money too.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Just to expand, I do agree with what you're saying. I'm really liking the base model M4 Mac Mini so far, but I'd have to review all my options when it came to changing my main PC set up. The Mac studios would be good for me, but I'll have to crunch the numbers to see how much I can save by just modding my existing pc or building a new one.

[@ohmygosh6176]

Apple pricing don't make sense. 1K her for 4tb storage is ridiculous. I just bought 4TB nvme gen4x4 for $220 for my PC.

[@utube9487]

but now you are stuck with Windows.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Yeah the memory and storage prices are crazy. You definitely save a ton of money by building your own pc.

[@charminbaer2323]

So glad the Mac Mini and Mac Studio and Mac Pro SSDs are modular and people are already upgrading them and providing the service for WAY less than what Apple is asking. I have an Apple gift card with several hundred dollars on it, been wanting to save up for a Studio Display, but might take the plunge and get an entry level M4 Mac Mini. Would def get the SSD upgraded by those that offer the service.

[@KevinMuldoon]

I do like the fact Apple are making their drives removable. I wonder why they decided to do this. Perhaps it's to make life easier for their own repair services.

[@charminbaer2323]

@@KevinMuldoon Most likely, but in the end its a win-win. As a photographer that's slowly getting into video, I'm good with 1TB and that's what I have on my M1 Pro MBP. My photo library sits on an 4 x 2TB 2.5" SSD RAID enclosure attached to a 2013 15" MBPr that is doing duty as a server. All of it is then backed up to another RAID enclosure and also BackBlaze.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Best of luck with your video career. You'll find your feet quickly if you're a photographer. From a computing point of view, the requirements for video are significantly higher as you will need additional storage and you'll need your main drives to be fast. Of course, it all depends on the types of videos you're creating. My videos aren't too complex and I publish at 4K30 without too many effects. If I jumped to a higher resolution and/or frame rate and introduced more special effects, I'd have to drastically improve my computer.

[@charminbaer2323]

@@KevinMuldoon oh its def not a career, its for sure a hobby thing, well the video part. I actually went to film school, HATED working on set, especially when it's not your creative vision, and even worse, working with actors that thought were the shit.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Hahaha I can only imagine how bad that would be. What I never understood about actors is that many actors and extras will just hang around all day waiting on set. I'd be trying to learn from all the technical people there so I had a better understanding of how it was all put together.

[@DLR1976]

Great they are based in France and they already provided modified Macs to Beta test users. I will keep an eye on that if I get a Mac Studio or Mac Mini

[@KevinMuldoon]

I'm always reluctant to tell others to dive right into Kickstarter projects as many people have lost money there over the years. Though these guys look like a legitimate company who have been around a long term. I hope the project is successful.

[@DLR1976]

@@KevinMuldoonthis company is legit and they were Apple center repair. I think they do something great here. My main concern is more about Apple doing some kind of software upgrade to prevent thirds party components to be installed… Apple can be a real jerk to its customers...

[@mauriziomauricone]

9:42 Because Apple will not allow third party SSD upgrades, that’s why 😂

[@stjiro]

just the video I was looking for

[@KevinMuldoon]

I aim to please 😁

[@tomsun3159]

i expect apple finding ways to prevent necessary reinstallation for thir party upgrades, rather than overthinking pricing politics.

[@KevinMuldoon]

I believe they already have the drives working on Mac Studios so seems ok so far, but there is no guarantee that things will stay the same.

[@FlyingFun.]

Apple will kill this with an update no doubt😢.

[@carlpeters8690]

Or with lawyers.

[@DavidHarry]

Alright, Kevin. Definitely the way to go, especially as the base Mini now comes with 16GB of RAM, so adding some extra external storage really does bump the spec. I’m not sure if that kickstarter drive will be for everyone, as the install isn’t as easy as sliding a side panel off a Windows machine. For someone like you or me it’s not really problem but I’m not sure your average Mac user is going to want to open up their Mini. It’ll be interesting to see the final price of those internal SSD once they come to market problem and if, as you rightly said, will Apple have an issue with it as I’m sure the connection could be proprietary, as it’s not a standard M.2. Great video 👍 Cheers, Dave.

[@KevinMuldoon]

I agree Dave. I don't think the average Mac mini user would go through the hassle, but it could be a game changer for Mac Studio owners. Even if you aren't too technical, if you need 8TB, it would be worth buying the upgradeable SSD and paying a local computer shop to do the upgrade for you. For me, I'm not sure if I'll need it. My hope is that using external storage will be fine for me. Still, I do like the idea of being able to breathe life into new computers in the future. There's actually a good argument for upgrading a MacBook being more useful. As I don't mind the octopus setup with dongles everywhere at home, but on the move it would be easier to just have a big drive in the laptop. Not an option yet, of course 😁👍

[@DavidHarry]

​@@KevinMuldoon Alright, Kevin. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. However, if you aren't so bothered about having all the storage internal, it's still going to be cheaper to put together a Thunderbolt drive. A Thunderbolt 4 SSD will get you around 3000MB/s read/write. Then there's going to be Thunderbolt 5 , although I will imagine that the enclosures will be more expensive. However, Thunderbolt 5 enclosures will "technically" support 80Gb/s for data, which is 10,000MB/s or 10GB/s, which is way faster than any internal Mac SSD, even the latest ones on M4. In fact, "technically" the Mac's own internal storage will be the bottleneck if using a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure with a Gen 5 NVMe, as some of the Gen 5s are faster than the Thunderbolt 5 bus. Anyway, It's all interesting. BTW. The M4 Max encoder in Resolve is only 17% faster than the M1 Max, although it's processing for GPU is f...ing insane and the CPU is also mad as f..k as well 😆 Which makes the M4 Max slightly twice as fast as the M4 Pro for encoding the same thing in Resolve. I've only started using the M4 Max today and I don't want to jump the gun but my plan to sell it and get one of the M4 Studios is quickly looking like the plan of a crazy person 😆 Seriously, this M4 Max is off its head. Yes, it's proper expensive but you kind of do get what you're paying for (in the Apple world, not in the sane world 😆). Cheers, Dave.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Yeah I think the USB 4 route is more practical. It's a more modular system and it lets me upgrade easily on the future. I'm utilising three or four spare 2TB drives I have, but the OWC enclosure supports 8TB and will support 16TB too when they is released. So as soon as my needs outgrow 2TB drives, I can easily switch higher storage drives. I'm kind of striving for the flexibility I already have with a PC. I'll definitely move towards thunderbolt 5, but I also think these USB 4 enclosures will serve me well for years too. Actually, what excites me more about thunderbolt 5 in the windows world is the possibilities it opens up with egpus. Sounds like that MacBook is the beast you wanted. It does sound like it could be worthwhile keeping it for years. I'm dipping my toe in with this Mac mini. If everything goes well with my testing, it will ease my transition to a more powerful mac. However, I do want to keep my options open and see what happens with intel, AMD and Qualcomm etc. I'd happily stick with a PC if I could build something smaller and quieter. 👍

[@carlpeters8690]

How long before Apple sues them out of existence?

[@KevinMuldoon]

In their FAQ, they have a note about whether their drives void your warranty: "Technically no, legally yes. Apple allows you to repair your MacStudio on a self-service basis, and these boards are designed with the same components as the original, plus customized surge protection. That said, yes, Apple's contractual terms clearly state that any use of parts not sourced by them may void your warranty." If Apple allows you to self-repair and these drives are using original components , I'm not sure what grounds Apple could sue them on. Granted, I'm not a lawyer and this does seem to be operating in a grey area.

[@tonyburzio4107]

No one ever compared speed. External NVRAM speeds suck compared to Apple internal.

[@contemplativecomposer5983]

@@tonyburzio4107 Can you provide evidence for this? I would like to know more

[@Macrike]

Other people have done this internal upgrade and posted benchmarks with no loss in performance.

[@3mstudiospalmdesert]

Good idea. Void your warranty.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Apples standard warranty is one year, which is pretty ridiculous for what they charge. You could always choose to upgrade after a year.

[@mindbender50]

400 i can wait 200 and its a buy.... in no rush...

[@KevinMuldoon]

I'm sticking with USB 4 enclosures for now too.

[@utube9487]

It is still TOO MUCH.

[@KevinMuldoon]

They're noticeably more expensive than standard M2 2280 form factor NVME drives, but they do appear to be professional drives. They have incredibly high TBW values and look like they have solid sustained writing and reading speeds too. These are all factors that are important to professionals. They're definitely not for your average Apple user. 👍

[@svensyoutube1]

Apple needs to get its Drug consumption under control - finally take normal prices!!! 😂

[@TimeTraveller969]

An external drive with a Thunderbolt 4 option and that will be faster than the inter SSD. You can setup your mac to use the external drive to be your User folder. I love my Apple Ecosystem but hate their tiered base gauging on memory and SSD. I don't mind the memory pricing because that is on the chip. But SSD should not be do tied down.. and anti-trust suit is needed to put them in line. EU will do it.. the US/Canada are pussies.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Gotta love the EU fighting the good fight for everyone. I may look into setting an external drive as the user folder. Theoretically, if you set it up that way, how does the Mac handle a situation where the drive was not connected?

[@Sebartus]

Kevin here you have solution how to transfer Home folder and all extra programs to external storage: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaWsk3qna7SXbNE so on main hadrive you only left with OS and everything else: photos, all programs from itunes, temp files and more you have on external device

[@KevinMuldoon]

Thanks for the tip. I don't plan on using photos or iTunes on my base model. I probably will move the temp files folder though as downloads and other temp files can quickly mount up. My main setup will be the 256GB for the OS, one Nvme enclosure for media files and recordings and another as a scratch disk for video editing. Everything else will be archived to my NAS. 👍

[@DavidHarry]

Be careful doing that, moving the home folder can cause massive issues and having it or even the libraries separate from the boot and OS drive introduces an extra point of potential failure.