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SSD in Mac Studio: is it upgradable?
- Thread starter Cham2000
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- ssd studio upgradable macs
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No it's not
And there is no good reason for that other than Apple chose to lock it down.
They absolutely could have made user accessible high spec NVMe (at least for additional storage for certain) and chose not to.
This is the nickel and dime, upsell, dongle, "services" company now.
Every single micro decision they make now is to squeeze another nickel.
Nothing is done for the benefit of users anymore
And there is no good reason for that other than Apple chose to lock it down.
They absolutely could have made user accessible high spec NVMe (at least for additional storage for certain) and chose not to.
This is the nickel and dime, upsell, dongle, "services" company now.
Every single micro decision they make now is to squeeze another nickel.
Nothing is done for the benefit of users anymore
Eeew! This is cheap, Apple! Come on!! Tabarnakpourrie†‡•±$#@ı≈˜† !!!
And what about a dead SSD in the future? I guess we couldn't even change it to save the whole machine, and that we'll have to buy a whole new one, just because the SSD failed!? Damn you Apple!
What is the failure rate of current SSD that Apple uses in their computers? Are they prone to fail more frequently than HDs?
The main reason to have proper backups and keep the machine on AppleCare+...?
Five bucks a month for "SSD insurance" is not too bad...
But the whole plan hinges on keeping proper backups...!
Backups aren't a problem. I do backups all the time. But if the SSD inside the Mac Studio fails, the whole machine is trashed! This is insane waste! The SSD should be replaceable, even long after the end of AppleCare.
What is the normal failure rate of Apple's SSD, compared to HD? What should I expect for the long run of Apple's SSD?
Much longer than you would keep the Mac anyway.
To bad there is no such thing as external storage.
The whole machine isn't toast. You can still have Apple repair it. So AppleCare likely worth it if you're buying one.
It's not ideal but with Thunderbolt, certainly not bad. Costs less than paying Apple for 8TB at least.
I just find it irritating to have that be the solution on a desktop machine.
I don’t really like cables and dongle and power adapter spaghetti all over.
I don't understand why Apple does this with SSDs. Memory is one thing, but SSDs should be user replaceable/upgradeable.
While you may view it as a bad trade off, this thread kind of explains why they did it this way:
Note: I should clarify that this shouldn’t completely negate Apple allowing for user upgradeable SSDs but the process for doing so would be more painful than a naive user might expect as it is also the equivalent to wiping your UEFI firmware on a PC. You can still reinstall macOS on a blank SSD but the process is more difficult and requires a second Mac.
Note: I should clarify that this shouldn’t completely negate Apple allowing for user upgradeable SSDs but the process for doing so would be more painful than a naive user might expect as it is also the equivalent to wiping your UEFI firmware on a PC. You can still reinstall macOS on a blank SSD but the process is more difficult and requires a second Mac.
Hi dave070,
I'm just curious ... as you say, external SSD is Thunderbolt, so I was wondering if there is an external SSD solution that achieves the roughly 7.5GB/s that Apple's internal SSD achieves (perhaps by utilizing two TB ports?), and how much does this fast 8TB external SSD cost?
Whether one requires 1GB/s, 2.5GB/s, 4.5GB/s, or 7.5GB/s speeds on her/his SSD storage depends upon the user's actual applications, of course. For many users the inexpensive 1GB/s external SSDs would be fine, others I'm sure can get by with the more expensive 2.5GB/s external SSDs (roughly the price of Apple's internal SSD but only a third as fast), but I am curious about what one would need, and the costs, for even faster external SSDs?
Thanks for any information,
Solouki
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I work at an electronics recycling/reselling company, and my boss has said a few times that it's a law that computers need some kind removable/replaceable internal storage module, whether it be an SSD or a traditional spinning hard drive, because we are required by law to completely remove or replace any such internal storage in computers we are to recycle or resell and securely wipe/destroy the data on them. Apple is taking a really big risk with using SSDs soldered to the computer's logic board, and my boss has said they did get in trouble at least a few times for that reason. When we wipe hard drives on PCs or older Macs, we have to do a secure three-pass wipe that can take all day (which is why we'd usually have more than one computer HDD wipe going at once.) But of course we can't do such a secure wipe on those Apple proprietary SSDs that were installed in the 2nd-generation MacBook Airs and the 3rd-generation MacBook Pros; the DOS-based KillDisk program we use for Windows PCs and Intel-based Macs won't work on those Apple SSDs, and the wipe security options are unavailable when using a Mac OS installer to format such an SSD. (In the case of the latter, we usually just wipe it with the single option available, and then if need be I re-install a version of Mac OS onto the MacBook Air or Pro we're going to resell.
So yeah, not only is this annoying for prosumers/professionals, but Apple could get in big trouble with the law for having non-replaceable SSDs in these Macs...
So yeah, not only is this annoying for prosumers/professionals, but Apple could get in big trouble with the law for having non-replaceable SSDs in these Macs...
All Apple silicon Mac SSDs are encrypted. Without the key, the data on the SSD is equivalent to noise. Apple has added a new feature to wipe your drive back to factory settings with no user data. The risk of someone getting data from the SSD is very low.
Apple uses their own SSD controller built into the Apple silicon SoCs. They don’t have to do this but I’m sure it adds another layer of security, power savings, and it is probably very cost effective. Any NVMe M.2 SSD has an onboard controller. I don’t know if that controller can be bypassed and if you can turn off the controller to save power. It seems unlikely. Apple could invent their own SSD connector but that wouldn’t go very far at solving the user replaceable problem if you have to buy SSDs only from Apple. I think that is the Intel Mac Pro solution though.
The situation with replaceable SSDs is, as you say, more nuanced than people seem to think. It is not simply a money grab by Apple.
Also Apple have had 1 pass, multipass and 7 pass wipes as an option for a long time now.
I literally did a 7 pass wipe on this iMac I bought from ebay before I internet restored the OS to it. I did not want to take any risk that there might be a few undesirables left on the HDD.
[Note well] This iMac is a 2012.
So you saying there is no multipass options via MacOS, be it via external or via internet recovery is just not true.
Maybe your Killdisk program can not do it (I've never used it) but via Apple, the option is there.
Given the speed of the internal SSD, and the fact alternative storage that's as fast is comparably priced, I don't see much of a problem here. If you want a budget machine with lower specs, buy that. Why stick slower storage into a Studio? Yes, I suppose it's a problem if at some point in the future you decide you need more of that fast storage. But not many people do.
Time for you to jump ship I think. You don't seem to want to be here anymore.
Already deeply invested.
It's a fluid thing for sure, but any further investment down the road will need to be evaluated -- no question about it.
It's always a semi frustrating ride with Apple -- usually true in all these tech "relationships"
I always plan to advocate and discuss openly what my preferences and desires (and frustrations) are, though, for sure.
That's what discussion forums are all about.
There 6.7" x 6.7" ITX motherboards that have two NVMe SSD slots and four SATA ports for up to 16TB NVMe + 400TB SATA storage so no excuse for chunkier box so it's purely a money grab. Also, you can buy two Corsair 8TB NVMe SSDs for a little bit more than the price of Apple single 8TB upgrade. With storage trending bigger and cheaper over time you also miss out on future upgrades.
https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-z690-i-gaming-wifi-model/
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Storage/M-2-SSDs/MP400/p/CSSD-F8000GBMP400
https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-z690-i-gaming-wifi-model/
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Storage/M-2-SSDs/MP400/p/CSSD-F8000GBMP400
@mi7chy
There's no question about it. It's pure money grab from Apple.
No performance loss would come with having user accessible NVMe
Just "overpriced upgrade profit gouge loss" (for Apple).
There's no question about it. It's pure money grab from Apple.
No performance loss would come with having user accessible NVMe
Just "overpriced upgrade profit gouge loss" (for Apple).
There is only one Mac with a user upgradable SSD, the Mac Pro. None of the other T2 Macs had user upgradable SSDs.