Affordable Third-Party Mac Studio Storage Upgrades Coming in 2025

French company Polysoft has successfully reverse-engineered Apple's proprietary storage modules for the Mac Studio and plans to offer more affordable upgrade options starting in January 2025, following a successful Kickstarter campaign.

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The company's "Studio Drive" modules will be available in 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB capacities, with pricing starting at €399 ($420) for 2TB, €799 ($843) for 4TB, and €1,099 ($1,158) for 8TB – roughly half of what Apple charges for comparable storage upgrades at the time of purchase. Unlike traditional SSDs used in PCs, Apple's storage modules require specialized engineering because the actual storage controller is built into the M1 and M2 chips rather than being part of the removable module.

To develop compatible modules, Polysoft conducted extensive reverse engineering, sacrificing an original Apple module for detailed analysis. The company removed all its small components one by one using a laser station, inventoried them and measured their characteristics, then scanned every layer with a flatbed scanner. From this work, the company then made its own schematics and designed different boards, using the same Kioxia and Hynix TLC NAND chips as Apple's original modules to ensure compatibility and performance.

Polysoft has also added what it calls "RIROP" (Rossmann Is Right Overvoltage Protection), a safety feature designed to prevent data loss from potential voltage regulator failures – an issue the company says it has encountered when repairing certain MacBook Pro models.

As noted by The Verge, this development may have exciting implications beyond the Mac Studio. Recent teardowns have revealed that Apple's new M4 Mac mini also uses removable storage modules – potentially opening the door for similar upgrade solutions in the future. While the Mac mini's modules use a different design than the Mac Studio's, Polysoft's breakthrough in reverse-engineering Apple's storage architecture suggests that affordable storage upgrades might eventually become possible for Mac mini users too.

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Just like with the Mac Studio, Apple's security system in the Mac mini encrypts storage using a unique identifier tied to each Mac's chip, meaning any storage upgrade requires a complete system reset using Apple's Configurator software to re-encrypt the drive for use with the new machine. Polysoft says it will provide detailed installation instructions for hardware enthusiasts and professionals wanting to upgrade their Mac Studio, including the necessary steps for properly initializing new storage modules with Apple's security system. For further details, see Polygon's Kickstarter campaign page.

Related Roundup: Mac Studio
Buyer's Guide: Mac Studio (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Mac Studio

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Top Rated Comments

Spidder Avatar
8 months ago

Isn’t the best solution on a Mac Studio to get what you need at time of purchase and then augment with super fast external Thunderbolt 3/4 storage? Cheaper as well. You can’t buy the Mac Studio without the storage, and the external storage, even the fastest, is still cheaper than this offering.
Isn't the free market about choices for consumers?
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
8 months ago
This is so ridiculous. We’ve been through this before and that’s why storage interfaces became standardized.

Good on these people for taking the obvious opportunity, but it’s sad that Apple didn’t just use the standard interface.

As I’ve said before, just give me one M.2 nvme slot. Why even bother with this half measure?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Harry Haller Avatar
8 months ago
Interested to see what Apple’s response is.
Half of what Apple charges is still twice as much as a standard NVMe drive.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JonathanX64 Avatar
8 months ago
Great news. Internal storage is surely nicer than using anything external.

Sure, it's possible to put your iCloud Photo Library and Apple Music downloads onto external drive, and some files, but it's finicky, it takes away one of your ports, it doesn't look as nice (additional item on your desk), performance is worse, and it's certainly not what users of $2000+ computers should spend their time on.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CalMin Avatar
8 months ago

But then he can pay someone $50 to do it for him - it's not that hard to unscrew a few bolts and restore the system. It's a half an hour job.
You haven’t met my dad. He not paying anyone. I’ll have to do it. ?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ELman Avatar
8 months ago
Just in time for the new studio that Apple will make certain this upgrade will not work.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)