How to upgrade M4 Mac's Hard Drive?

Igor A. Melelekhine wrote:

You can upgrade SSD by yourself on M4 Mac Mini

Please be careful not to raise false expectations.

There is a teardown article on Reddit that claims that the flash chips in the M4 Mac mini are not soldered onto the motherboard, but are on a separate board. (I didn't know about development, and only searched for articles mentioning it because of your post – so thanks for the head-up.). However, as in the Mac Studio and desktop Mac Pro, this is probably a raw flash module – not a self-contained SSD.

There might be nobody other than Apple who carries compatible replacement modules, and presumably after you replaced the module, you would need the help of another Mac running Apple Configurator to get the M4 Mac mini and the new flash module "on the same cryptograhic page" so that you could re-install the operating system.

So don't order a M4 or M4 Pro Mac mini with less internal storage than you need, thinking you'll be able to easily add a cheap internal third-party M.2 NVMe SSD. Your practical options are still to order the Mac from Apple with the amount of internal storage you need, and/or to add external storage (from any number of third parties).

cutekids100 wrote:

Yes, the warranty would be void if you made an unofficial repair by soldering, but since I can't afford an official upgrade (since I'm a university student), it's my only option, and it is also the only option for many people on a tight budget.

No, it is not your only option.

You ignore the much more practical option of getting a Mac mini that has a reasonable amount of internal SSD space to hold macOS, applications, etc. – and storing bulk data on an external third-party SSD.

That option involves no disassembly and reassembly of the Mac mini, no soldering of internal parts, no leaving your Mac's ability to keep working up to someone who may - or may NOT - have mastered the skills involved in unsoldering chips from a board, and no voiding of the warranty.

You can upgrade SSD by yourself on M4 Mac Mini

Apple M4 uses LPDDR5 memory and SSD storage both soldered into the mainboard. No HDDs.

Neither can be upgraded after purchase.

Recent Apple SSD storage runs at DDR3 speeds; roughly the speed of main memory in the Mac you’re using.

Yes, the M4 Mac mini now features removable SSD modules similarly to the Mac Studio (although they are specific to the Mac mini). If and when you can get your hands on another module, you can easily swap it out by yourself with basic tools and use a second Mac (or you can ask the Apple Store Genius Bar) to restore the firmware in DFU mode (you will lose all of your data with any sort of SSD replacement on Apple Silicon Macs, so back up everything beforehand). If you want the "super cheap poor man's option", there are repairmen in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei area that can take your existing SSD module, solder off the existing 256 GB chips, and replace them with 2 TB of storage. This costs less than 500 Chinese yuan (but it could potentially void the warranty), so if you're short on cash, you can consider this option.

[Edited by Moderator]

No M-series Mac can be hardware upgraded after purchase. Memory & SSD are embedded in the logic board. There is no hard drive or even an SSD that could be replaced.

You can always use an external SSD for additional storage.

...and you can continue to upgrade your old Macs cheaper than a newer high tech MacBook Pro, which is Not internally upgradeable.

But if you want the many new features available in the newer Macs, including HUGE leaps in memory bandwidth and effective memory access times, and hugely faster Boot Drives, you will have to abide by the new way of doing things.

Selected rotating magnetic drives can still provide around 100 M Bytes sec data transfers.

The internal boot drives in the Mac studio are on the order of 5,000 M Bytes/sec.

Yes, the warranty would be void if you made an unofficial repair by soldering, but since I can't afford an official upgrade (since I'm a university student), it's my only option, and it is also the only option for many people on a tight budget.

MartinR wrote:

No M-series Mac can be hardware upgraded after purchase. Memory & SSD are embedded in the logic board. There is no hard drive or even an SSD that could be replaced.

There are two special cases which "prove the rule" of soldered-in SSDs.

The Mac Studios and the Mac Pro minitowers have socketed flash modules, instead of soldered-in flash chips. In Mac Studios, the flash modules require such extensive disassembly to reach that they are more "repairable" than "upgradable." You could replace them if the alternative was tossing the whole machine; but otherwise, they might as well be soldered in.

Apple sells flash modules for the M2 Ultra Mac Pros. $1000 for 2 TB, $1600 for 4 TB, or $2800 for 8 TB.

Apple 4TB SSD Upgrade Kit for [M2 Ultra] Mac Pro

These require special installation – including resetting the Mac (with the aid of another Mac), reinstalling macOS,

and restoring your data from backups. You can't "just" drop them into the M2 Ultra Mac Pro because every Apple Silicon Mac encrypts and decrypts most of the contents of the internal SSD in real-time, using keys held within the M-series processor. A new module must be initialized using the correct keys.

SSD is on separate board on M4 Mac Mini, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtdGxBeSkz8. It can be swapped for identical 500GB module board.

cutekids100 wrote:

If you want the "super cheap poor man's option", there are repairmen in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei area that can take your existing SSD module, solder off the existing 256 GB chips, and replace them with 2 TB of storage. This costs less than 500 Chinese yuan (but it could potentially void the warranty),

Potentially void the warranty?

If you take a soldering iron to internal parts, how do you figure that this would do anything other than to void the warranty?!? (I doubt that any of these "repairmen" are doing this as Apple Authorized Service Providers.)

It would certainly void any warranty on the SSD module, and very likely on the whole Mac mini as well.

<< memory is a removable chip. >>

No RAM memory in any Apple-silicon Mac is replaceable, because it is so tightly integrated as part of the system-on-a-Chip. it is soldered in place on the chip carrier right next to the processor chip. NOT replaceable.

aa3025 wrote:

SSD is on separate board on M4 Mac Mini, see https://wwwyoutube.com/watch?v=rtdGxBeSkz8. It can be swapped for identical 500GB module board.

If this is an Apple-specific board, an "identical" board might only be available from Apple, an Apple Authorized Service facility, or the Apple Self Service Repair Program – at Apple SSD prices.

Getting the Mini to work again after swapping the board is almost certainly going to require the use of a second Mac, running Apple Configurator. The contents of the new flash modules will not initially be cryptographically in sync with the keys held in the Secure Enclave of the M4 or M4 Pro chip.

Igor A. Melelekhine wrote:

You can upgrade SSD by yourself on M4 Mac Mini

There are far less risky ways to expose yourself to self-abuse than that extensive tear-down, with very high complexity and no certainty of success.

Given that you can just add an external drive, I would never suggest anyone attempt an upgrade/repair like that.

I would sooner swap engines in a car -- at least that has more likelihood of success.