The Mac Studio's storage is now simpler to improve, however not due to Apple

Key Takeaways

Polysoft has efficiently reverse-engineered the Mac Studio’s detachable SSD storage module.
A Kickstarter marketing campaign for the gadget obtained full backing.
The corporate plans to start out promoting its storage module dubbed the “Studio Drive” subsequent yr, and is engaged on growing one for the M4 Mac mini.

Upgrading storage space can get costly shortly while you’re trying to purchase a brand new Mac from Apple. An organization primarily based in France is trying to change that for the M1/M2 Mac Studio, and shortly the M4 Mac mini.

Polysoft Services, a restore middle in France, reverse-engineered the Mac Studio’s detachable storage module and is now planning to promote its personal storage modules suitable with the gadget subsequent yr after a profitable Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.

Apple launched the M1 Mac Studio in 2022 and the M2 Mac Studio in 2023. In contrast to the MacBook Professional or iMac, the Mac Studio would not have soldered storage and has an simply accessible detachable storage drive. Nevertheless, individuals had been unsuccessful after they tried swapping it out with SSDs from different corporations. That is the place Polysoft is available in.

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Polysoft took issues into its personal fingers

The Studio Drive is quicker and cheaper than Apple’s storage

To get a alternative SSD to work on the Mac Studio, Polysoft fully reverse-engineered the Mac Studio’s SSD and developed its personal from scratch that’s sooner, due to an improved SLC cache. “So, we sacrificed a SSD module, eliminated all its small parts one after the other utilizing a laser station, inventoried them and measured their traits, then we oil sanded each layer with fine-grained sandpaper and scanned each layer with a flatbed scanner,” Polysoft stated on its Kickstarter page describing the method.

Polysoft personalized and designed the boards in another way from Apple so it might add overvoltage safety to guard the storage module’s NAND flash reminiscence from information loss within the occasion of voltage regulator failure. In August 2024, the corporate obtained its first prototypes of its in-house designed Mac Studio SSD, dubbed the “Studio Drive,” and started sending them out to tech group members to check to nice success. Its Kickstarter marketing campaign for the Studio Drive obtained full backing too.

Polysoft plans to promote the Studio Drive for lower than what Apple costs for storage. The 2TB Studio Drive for the Mac Studio M2 prices €399 (about $421) on its Kickstarter page. Upgrading the Mac Studio M2 to 2TB of storage on Apple’s site prices $600. Polysoft says you’ll purchase the Studio Drive from its web site in a number of weeks. The corporate is not stopping with the Mac Studio both, and is already engaged on designing boards for the M4 Mac mini.