Any indications that the SSD in the Mac Studio could be user upgradable? I intend to buy the base M1 Max version with the 512GB SSD, but will I be able to change it in the future? Or could we add a second SSD in there?
No it's not
And there is no good reason for that other than Apple chose to lock it down.
...
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 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!?
The main reason to have proper backups and keep the machine on AppleCare+...?
...
But the whole plan hinges on keeping proper backups...!
Much longer than you would keep the Mac anyway.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?
To bad there is no such thing as external storage.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
The whole machine isn't toast. You can still have Apple repair it. So AppleCare likely worth it if you're buying one.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?
To bad there is no such thing as external storage.
It's not ideal but with Thunderbolt, certainly not bad. Costs less than paying Apple for 8TB at least.Not the same unfortunately
It's not ideal but with Thunderbolt, certainly not bad. Costs less than paying Apple for 8TB at least.
It's not ideal but with Thunderbolt, certainly not bad. Costs less than paying Apple for 8TB at least.
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.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...
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.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.
Also Apple have had 1 pass, multipass and 7 pass wipes as an option for a long time now.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...
Time for you to jump ship I think. You don't seem to want to be here anymore.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
Time for you to jump ship I think. You don't seem to want to be here anymore.
There is only one Mac with a user upgradable SSD, the Mac Pro. None of the other T2 Macs had user upgradable SSDs.Any indications that the SSD in the Mac Studio could be user upgradable? I intend to buy the base M1 Max version with the 512GB SSD, but will I be able to change it in the future? Or could we add a second SSD in there?