Upgrade Storage down the road?

[bunger]

I am currently running an iMac with a 1TB drive, 200GB of which is free.

I was going to order a 2TB Studio, but might be able to get a 1TB sooner. However, I am thinking I am going to hit a storage ceiling in a year or two with 1TB.

I have read a bit about the inability to upgrade these, but is there any new information that may indicate upgrading from 1TB to 2TB in a year may be an option?

 

[grandoflex]

I think you will be stuck with what you order, other than using external storage. So, if you think you may end up needing 2TB then I'd bite the bullet and go with that.

 

[Fishrrman]

For all practical purposes the Mac Studio's internal storage is NOT "upgradeable" by the user.
It's remotely possible that this could change at some point in the future if Apple decides to do so.

But again, DO NOT base your plans or buying decisions on this actually happening.

 

[basher]

I think you will be stuck with what you order, other than using external storage. So, if you think you may end up needing 2TB then I'd bite the bullet and go with that.

Grando nailed advising you with some sage advice. Good luck on your purchase!

 

[swamyg1]

I find this so frustrating! Apple should really make that storage module upgradeable either by the user or the Genius Bar. I’m stuck with a 1tb order I was lucky to find, but I definitely need more storage so I’ll have to cancel my order! Aaargh.

 

[Mr Screech]

Chances are it will be upgradeable at some point by bringing it in, otherwise the whole idea of a socketed ssd is unnecessary. They might only use it for warranty in case the ssd dies/malfunctions. I'd expect some bricking utility will be made to force an update by apple.

Use an external thunderbolt nvme, unless you're in the 1% of users who notice a big slowdown when not using 8gb/s.

 

[Bones13]

Just get an external storage device that meets your needs. It will need upgrading before the Mac Studio will. There is never enough storage a year to 5 later.

 

[StoneJack]

1.Order basic Studio version.
2.Buy an external USB-C M2 case (like Orico)
3. Buy 1 or 2 TB M2 drive and you will get as much expanded storage as you may want.

The only caveat is that internal storage is a tad faster, but at those speeds (M2 and USB_C are very fast anyway), you will not notice much difference. However, recent M2 drives have insane speed. For example, my WD Black's speed exceeds that of Mac's internal storage speed (probably USB-C will be a bottleneck). M2 drives have 2TB limit now.

If you need 4TB of fast storage or more,
repeat steps 2 and 3

 

[Ashbash75]

This seems to the norm if you do not want to pay for the apple tax.

The way I look at all new macs is with one less usb port 🤣

 

[jav6454]

[...]

I have read a bit about the inability to upgrade these, but is there any new information that may indicate upgrading from 1TB to 2TB in a year may be an option?

Bite the bullet and get the 2TB version. Mac Studios do not allow SSD upgradeability after purchase.

Article Confirming SSD not User-Upgradeable

 

[TypeMRT]

My practice for the past 15 years or so has been to double the size of my internal storage when buying a new computer. Having one internal drive simplifies my backup strategy. I enjoy photography which means my collection of RAW files is constantly growing at a rate of about 300-500GB/year. I’m also slowly adding 4K HDR video files from my iPhone. So this time, I closed my eyes did the 4TB upgrade.

 

[dogface1956]

Since the Studio is a desktop machine, I would assume for the most part you are not going to be moving it around a lot like a laptop so it is easy to add storage and you can also wait until you need prices for storage usually go down for next year you might be able to purchase 4TB for the cost of 2 TB today on the 3rd party market (Apple's prices are slower to change).

What I do is use my internal drive to boot and hold applications and files that I am actively working on which after I am done with them get off loaded to an external drive. All non-working files are offloaded to other drives such as a drive for photos, another drive for music files, another drive for video files and another drive for important documents and business files. All these drives are backed up using CCC every night. I also backup my boot drive to yet another external drive so I can quickly restore my boot drive if it gets Fubar'd.

The point is that as your needs grow you can add storage for you machine is easy to add, it just takes some desk space or cabinet space.