To dramatically oversimplify, all SSDs need at least two things: NAND flash chips that store data and an SSD controller that handles the particulars of reading from and writing to those chips. He's part of a team that has been working on Asahi Linux, the first Linux distro that runs on Apple Silicon Macs, and this work informs his understanding of how storage is handled in modern Mac hardware. To address these three issues, I've pulled together Apple's documentation about how its chips work, as well as information from a Twitter thread by developer Hector Martin. One of the Mac Studio's two SSD slots is inoperative in some configurations because of a missing SSD controller.Apple implemented some kind of 'software block' to prevent the Mac Studio from booting after its storage has been replaced, as evidenced by the power LED's blinking amber 'SOS' pattern.Because the Mac Studio has physically removable SSDs, removing and replacing them should work as it does in a PC.Three incorrect assumptions will be explained here, and we'll take them one at a time: There are just caveats you need to be aware of first. It's also likely that these modular SSD slots actually do facilitate easier upgrades and repairs than, say, desoldering NAND chips from a logic board and soldering on higher-capacity NAND chips. This persisted both when he tried to install the second SSD module in the Studio's second storage slot and when he tried to install an SSD from one Studio into the other Studio's main SSD slot.ĭeeply sympathetic as I am to the goals of the right-to-repair movement, and deeply frustrated as I am by Apple's storage prices relative to other high-end SSDs, Miani's conclusions are based on incorrect assumptions about how modern Mac SSDs work. He found that, while the drives are physically swappable, his Mac Studio wouldn't boot after the fact-the desktop's power LED would only flash an amber-colored 'SOS' pattern. In theory, this could make the Mac Studio the first new Mac (outside of the Mac Pro) to support upgradeable storage in quite a while.īecause the Studio's SSD slots aren't compatible with regular M.2 SSD sticks that you might use in a PC, YouTuber Luke Miani decided to test the Studio's removable storage by swapping storage from one Studio into another.

Among the more interesting discoveries was the sheer size of the M1 Ultra and its voltage regulator modules (VRMs) in addition, it seems that the Studio includes removable storage rather than the soldered-down NAND chips that most Macs use.

Apple's new Mac Studio desktop began arriving in customers' hands last week, and some of those customers wasted no time in taking the machine apart.

Mac ssds