I am absolutely SO glad we were able to get this upgrade working! Although quite a difficult upgrade, I’d say this is absolutely worth doing to any Apple Silicon Mac! And it will only get easier as I experiment more and work out all the quirks.
This is not something that the average Mac owner should EVER do on their own. This is for tech pros ONLY! For everyone else, just spend $80 to get a powered USB-C hub and throw a $75 2TB NAND NVMe M.2 SSD into it. FAR easier, faster, cheaper, and safer. But if you're a tech nerd, then what they do in this video is the move!!!
I liked DosDude for the work he's done over the years on MacOS compatibility, but now that I see how he works, and were he works on it, I appreciate him even more. Great Video guys!!!
This is not so much, in my mind, about the upgradability, it is about replacing your SSD when it fails. And if you look at the specs of Apple’s SSDs, the TBW, the larger ones have a larger TBW. I would also urge everyone reading this to contact their State representatives about “Right to Repair.” This would allow repair shops to be able to upgrade or replace your SSD on your Mac Mini or MacBook without voiding your warranty. Now, do this on a Mac Studio!
It's also absolutely about the upgradability. 800$ for 2TB along with all these anti-repair measures should be criminal and I hope at least the EU comes down on them for it especially considering they could *easily* use modular SSDs like they do in the Mac Studio
@@battery_wattageProblem is most of the time Data is Unrecoverable & Apple will just replace the whole motherboard rather than the should've been easily removable & high fail point SSD.
@@battery_wattage 2 Years Warranty. A normal SSD has a 3 year warrenty a high quality 5 years warranty. So the Mac Mini M1 are now literally falling out of warranty. And especially the ones with small Ram and SSD will start failing after 5 years. The 16GB with 512Gb have a good chance to last longer. 5-7 Years is the official Support for MacOS for those machines. So most likely the SSD will just fail on a small Engine when it's support reached EoL. Companies Swap their Workstations every 5 years. So it's planned that those machines won't hit the reused market.
Apple could just add a M.2 NVME Slot for the SSD and everyone could upgrade at least the storage. There is so much room on the motherboard to ad at least one M.2 connector. It's a shame how apple purposely block the upgradability.
It all starts to make sense when you see that apple asks 920 euro to get 2TB storage in the M2 mini... apple is a mastermind at finding ways to extort their customers
Dosdude is like a god for older Macbook owners! So satisfying to see him soldering and making a good Mac into a great Mac. Thank you Luke for bringing that content to us! Please do more of these crazy hardware mods.
Yup he is amazing. Also, I had no idea he was so young lol. Makes me feel even more of a dinosaur 😂 Thanks to him I kept an ancient MacPro working in a recording studio for an additional 5 years. Him and Louis Rossman are the ones who really speak truth to the monopolistic power of Apple. Kudos well deserved DosDude ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now compare this to replacing SSD in your Dell or Lenovo. They provide you with a detailed step-by-step instructions, part numbers, diagrams, even videos. And it won't void your warranty either.
For me, it was about 8 years ago, when I stepped away from Mac to PC. I can upgade anything I want, anytime I want. I still use iPad and iPhone, but I no longer use Macs, and everything Apple is doing today with respect to upgrade/repairability, is doing nothing to bring me back.
Same. But keeping the 1 tb hard drive of my Mac Mini 2014 for data storage. And connecting an SSD through a USB3.0 enclosure to one of the USB ports. First with macOS nowadays with the latest Linux Mint. My Mini still runs like a charm.
@phillipbanes5484 several times, I have upgraded both ram and storage in my laptops. Also, when it's time to replace them, I have choice. What if you want a dedicated GPU for games or ML? A 17" screen? A number pad? OLED? Need a lot of CPU power (high end mobile Intel and AMD CPU's are now a lot faster than the M series). A touch screen? The Mac is great, but it's pretty much a single spec in the grand scheme of things, designed for a wide audience. However, millions of people (including me) are not in that group, and need things that Apple does not provide. As for as the iPad, it's really just a content consumption device, and I do fall within its target audience, and thus am happy with what it provides me.
Dosdude is an absolute mastermind, I had a suspicision that this upgrade wasn't possible, ever since seeing Apple lock down the storage modules in the Mac Studio, so this is wild to see :o
What they did in the Mac Studio was the same as that in the 2019 Mac Pro. Device has 2 proprietary NAND Module ports. One is called the 00 port and the other 01 port. As a rule the NANDs must stuff the 00 port FIRST and then the 01 port. Base model Mac Studios have the 00 port stuffed with a 500GB NAND module and the 01 port empty as-is. This is why Luke's attempt at stuffing another module in the 01 port did not work. The module was hard coded 00 and it would not work in a 01 port. If he had disassembled a 8tb Mac Studio in which there are 2 4tb modules stuffed in the two ports and transferred the pair into another Mac Studio, this will work
The calmness and clarity this young man spoke with while doing the work is a clear example of someone that absolutely loves his work. I bet it's not even a job to him. Well done.
This is something I've hoped people would do for quite a while! I wonder if someday this could be a service people could offer to people who might not have solderers and computer chips handy
I saw Rossmann's video the other day, explained how a Mac mini was effectively bricked when the SSD got damaged because of the BIOS also being stored on those chips. So I thought this would never ever be possible to upgrade. Probably also serialized to the system and such. Amazingly, it is possible!
He did mention it would be technically possible but not economically viable. It blew my mind that apple decided to store UEFI on those chips too. Such a big middle finger to Apple users. In the era where other vendors put redundant fw chips even on desktop boards for years now.
@@matoatlantis Yeah it's really funny that my self assembled PC has 2 bios chips (m bios and b bios) on its MSI board. The thing cost me about 650€ to build in 2019, and apple instead of providing better redundancy and more failsafe goes for maximal fail, spite and destruction to simply sell more of their products which come with expiration date and a eye watering price tag 😂 Not to mention that I can actually reflash the bios with a small SPI programmer and a raspberry pi. Try that on your SOC 😂
I honestly adore the Mac Mini. I recently got a Mac Mini off EBay for like $25, and when I discovered it was a 2011 model I was pretty excited since I expected it to be a 2010! Only downside is that I can’t use the Catalina patcher on it… but even so, I managed to get the HDD upgrade kits to boost its storage to 2.5 TB and gave it 16GB of Ram! Now it’s my media center!
Any professional computer store / mobile service that repairs laptops / phones using a reballing & hot air station would be able to do these upgrades if they have these chips available. This could be an extra income source for them, providing an upgrade service for those MAC minis. The process is the same as reballing a GPU
Well freaking done fellas. Loved every minute (felt as if we were there), and fully appreciate the determination and dedication to see this sort of project through. These truly are tremendous strides on behalf of the community and you both make a great team/collaboration. Thank you!
For many years people were saying that Apple will lock down their platforms... Seems they're doing it - but to the hardware first. Upgrade an M1 Mac Mini from 256GB to 2TB: 1. get yourself an expert at modding hardware. 2. pray that the machine continue to work. Upgrade a 2014 Mac Mini from 500GB HD to 2TB SSD: 1. buy a 2TB NVMe stick and a $10 adapter from amazon 2. install adapter and NVMe.
Wow, since it’s confirmed possible to upgrade, now we all need to either find someone who can do it for reasonable cost or train ourselves to do it! Necessity is always a great motivator force. Good job guys!
Awesome to see Dosdude. I think I was pimping out a 4,1 MacPro around the same time Luke was and Dosdudes patchers were key. Wicked to see you guys together. My MacPro is now just a windows only machine. But still kicking. Thanks guys.
Most likely it would work just the same but it isn't possible on that M1 chip because the SOC only supports 2tb since that's also the highest config you can buy from apple directly. It would probably work on an M1 pro chip though
@@meislit9217 Well no the SOC should support a lot more. There's a memory controller on chip (like on every SSD but in the SOC i believe). The limit is put in place by the availability of NAND which tops out at 2TB modules right now. And the mac mini has room on the mobo for two packages right? So that would make it a theoretical 4TB assuming there are no firmware locks. Does apple use different IMC's on each chip type? Seems overkill. Edit: it wont really matter since there are simply no lanes wired to more than two slots on the low end laptops/macs.
@@fVNzO Kinda same thing as 2012 Macbook Pros only support 8gb ram if you look the spec sheet.That was the biggest ram you could get back then. In reality 16gb ram works just fine on them.
@@fVNzO tbh I don't know, I admit you seem to know more than me on the technical side. I just took the assumption with how tight apple locks down on "upgradeability" and with how hard it is to even replace (or swap) parts for the same specs. I assumed with upgrading to something they don't offer, there certainly would be firmware locks preventing that. Probably should've phrased it less definitively therefore though...
When looking at Collins video, what actually worked was mixing the two types of NAND you purchased, what was done "in a whim". Not what you say in this video, to use two blank NAND memory.. and also, since you mixed one expensive and one cheap memory, the cost is higher than just using two of the cheaper memories.. that should be clarified in this video. Anyways, fun upgrade!
Very nice... you did a great job. I request you turn it into a step by step guide with instructions, tools required and precautions. A lot of such business can spring up that can repair and upgrade these machines.
Would be interesting to see a base model M2 (8/256) upgraded to say 16 or 24 and 1 or 2 TB etc. Mainly because I would be interested to see how the single to double NAND process goes:
Agree quite a bit. Apple should revise its pricing or at least start at 512gb. However, I am glad they started to make computers that work better than the 2016-2018, which was rubbish (perhaps the pricing policy is part of earning back the butterfly keyboard return policy?).
Same! Glad it's possible! But so sad that the fact is that Apple's RAM and SSDs are so crazy overpriced. The reason for the overpriced upgrades is the monopoly that they created. Just compare with MacBook Pro Unibody Mid-2012: you can easily swap the 2,5" HDD with a 2,5" SSD, and you can upgrade RAM to 8+8 GB. So easy! Also it's so easy to replace the battery. A dream machine. The best portable Mac ever! Better than MBP14/16!
They need to start with 512GB and 16GB RAM. The upgrade prices should be $100-$125 per tier. They make great products but the ram and storage options are pretty steep and no one likes getting gouged. That being said it’s not all about shopping price.
@@rolf7135apple is a multi billion dollar company, they do everything in their power to make a product as expensive, unrepairable, not upgradeable as possible to keep all those billions
You and your colleagues have massive skills, in scripting and production, but also in great technical thinking… I was very impressed with this video…. Well done…!
I just came back from Colin's video and it would be great if a RAM swap was attempted. I'll go back to Collin's channel to suggest the same. Both videos BTW were absolutely tense as well as informative and entertaining. Great work!
Obviously it would be cool to see if this works on an M2 as well. Though your upgrade path was successful on the M1 you already know that the money savings comes along with a high risk of things that can go wrong. Apple surely will say you are on your own, but I cannot imagine a day where you would be going to the Genius Bar. Best of luck on the M2 upgrade as well.
can you check the speed of the new 2tb NAND compared to the original mac mini m1 speed. very cool and worthwhile upgrade. luckily it works. ive seen iBoff RCC videos saying that the SSD contorller for m1 macs are embedded in the m1 SOC thats why theres a compatibility issue.
What a great project! In first place I believe this shouldn't be that difficult but that's why many skilled technicians like Collin are very proud of what they do. It's completely insane what with just $100 USD you can do it considering skills and specials tools to do so instead of freaking paying $800 USD to Apple. Would be great to do it in a MacBook Air M2 for example. In my case I still use a MacBook Air 2017 base model with 2TB storage thanks to an adapter that converts the Apple conector to an M.2 name which I'm gonna replace soon for a new one but before giving it to my father for web browsing and content consumption. I got inspired by this video to try ro upgrade the RAM in this Macbook Air 2017 from 8GB to 16GB, that would be awesome.
iBoff did a comprehensive explanation on how the M1 SoC treats the SSDs, which can be used in the "upgrade" process. And yes they also referenced Luke's previous attempt in their video. ua-cam.com/video/yR7m4aUxHcM/v-deo.html
Awesome work! Should I ever grow a pair of cajones to attempt such an upgrade, it would be super helpful for us noobs if you could post links to the tools you used (e.g. hot air station, the lifter/scraper tool, the solder paste stencil, USB-C to USB 3/A cable, software configurator, etc.) Oh, and the blank NANDs themselves! Thanks!
I bought a Crucial 4TB NVMe P3 SSD ($190), put it in an Orico enclosure, and hooked it up to my M1 Mac Studio and it's very nice. It doesn't have SOC speeds but it's plenty fast enough for me, is only $50/TB and it's really nice.
@@trym2121 I've had Crucial, Samsung and Intel SSDs since 2009 with zero failures. I'm curious as to what people are doing with their SSDs that cause them to fail. OTOH, I've had a decent number of failures on HDDs going back to the 1980s. But that's expected as they are mechanical with moving parts.
Luke I want to see you guys do this again, please! Two things I want to see: 1) definitely try this with RAM instead of SSD someday, and 2) try this on a MacBook Pro, preferably an M2 Pro or M2 Max model (that’s the one I have 😉) and see how high can you go… The ultimate would a a “MAXED M2 Max MacBook Pro!” video where you upgrade a base spec M2 Max to 4 or 8 TB storage and 96 GB RAM! Then I could do that and save thousands instead of getting an M3 Max model 😂
Definitely interested in RAM myself as well, I'd actually prefer a video on doing something similar on Mac Studio rather than MBP, however. It seems a bit more complex there since NAND chips come with some sort of a daughtercard (so this may not even be possible).
@@hellonearth311 it's on the chip but not part of it. Google the logic board for M1 Max Mac Studio and you'll see it has 4 black squares on it, those squares are the ram chips and should theoretically be removable, someone already did this with similar chips on MBP
@@hellonearth311not anymore, some Chinese dude cut the M1 metal lid in half exposing the two ram chips, changing the 8gb base to 24gb check it out in google it’s beautifully !
@ 17:03 Don’t get me wrong, this was a cool update and I’m glad you got it to work. But the key word is “”IF”, if you have the skill for this type of soldering and chip swapping, If you have the equipment that can be hundreds of dollars. Maybe about $500 just for the hot air soldering station, soldering past, heat plate, and other tools and I’m not including the other MAC to do the DFU restore. Not something most people have and for those of us that do have this it isn’t something worth doing and not charging for that skill, tools, time and labor.
Definitely would love to see an M2 upgraded. I'm glad that it's possible, but also frustrated by how locked down and difficult it is. I remember when I upgraded my old 2011 MacBook Pro from 8 GB RAM to 16 GB, back in like 2013 / 2014, and it was super easy to do. I understand *why* they want to have control over it, but I don't agree with it. It feels like Apple underestimates how many Mac users are actually technically proficient and capable of doing something the right way - or maybe they know and are just hiding behind ignorance as an excuse, because all the rhetoric I've heard is basically "We can only have professionals do this"...
I like the way this channel is going… you’re getting more involved than ever before! Next I’d like to see M2… but I’d also really like to see you upgrade the unified memory - in an M1 iMac specifically - from 8 to 16 GB. An idea for a future video!
Awesome work Colin, you’re truly a genius in this matter for custom & diy upgrading Mac mini - well done 👍🙌 Luke, thank you for sharing us this video - you showed us how things are done, even with the initial failure - keep pursuing what you love, even with Colin’s indigenous help - yay 🎉❤
That was excruciating to watch! 🤯 Big up to DosDude. Big fan! Let's hope Apple doesn't block these NANDs in future OS updates, ergo "non-genuine Apple parts" 🤞
Knowing its apple there is a 101 percent chance of that happening. apple does everything in their power to let their engineering team design a device that does not last as long, is not upgradeable, is not repairable and sucks out every bit of money from their customers which makes me hate CRAPple
Colin and nerves of steel. MVP right there. So glad you managed to get it working on the 2nd try. Desoldering is definitely out of my skill and comfort zone, lol.
For normal humans: the mac mini has a thunderbolt port. An external 2 or 4 TB SSD with a thunderbolt controller isn't cheap - and it's only half the speed of the internal SSD - but you just plug it in, and it's still insanely fast, more than fast enough to run software and do things like video editing. Highly recommended.
For not normal people who still think the actual upgrade is too crazy, you can probably fit an external drive in the Mac minis enclosure, ‘just’ drill a hole in the case and feed through a thunderbolt cable!
I just want to say that this video was legit exciting, the tension was real! Great job to both of you, but imma keep using my 2014 MBP for now 😅, at leaat until the M3 chips have been out for a bit! Keep up the great content!
So I've been a mac tech for 25 years, but back in the day it was only basic soldering...may have to invest into this, as it is only going to be more micro soldering from here out. This is actually fairly manageable - just small. Probably easier than trying to get an old SCSI array rebuilt from a partial tape backups - HAHA!
This is very impressive. So blanks ones worked. Yes this how we learn. Trial and error. This makes me get out my comfort zone on some projects I’ve been wanting to try. Thanks guys!
Luke I know this is a long shot but don't you think it might be possible to update your Mac Studio storage using the same method. I saw your previous video where you tried to swap over the memory modules with different levels of storage and they didn't work. Don't you think with fresh un programmed memory chips that you might be able to do a restore as you have done with the Mac mini.
I am absolutely SO glad we were able to get this upgrade working! Although quite a difficult upgrade, I’d say this is absolutely worth doing to any Apple Silicon Mac! And it will only get easier as I experiment more and work out all the quirks.
Upgrades like this, and giving people the tools to do them, can keep these machines on the road for WAY longer!
@@lukemianiYou think Apple wishes for that? 🙈
Oh yeah I can’t do this.
Great project fellas! It might be a idea for Luke to have a go, it may give others the confidence to do it. Maybe not on a M! first :).
APPLE REALLY SUCKS IN MAKING BARELY IMPOSSIBILE TO FIX OR UPGRADE YOUR OWN MACHINE...
If only there was a standard for PCIe SSDs that was widely used in the industry....
Colin is a legend. Protect him at all costs. Thank goodness he picked being a geek over anything else in life.
What's with the name calling? Dude has a hobby, doesn't have to mean anything, especially being called a geek.
@@dscsd9198 name calling? being a geek is a GOOD thing... sheesh.... it means you actually know shit and he's great at it
@@LiLBitsDK It's called being an expert, kid. Google it
@@LiLBitsDK not necessarily, it depends on the context
@@tgvinfinite2607 A geek is not a negative thing. You're thinking of a nerd.
This is not something that the average Mac owner should EVER do on their own. This is for tech pros ONLY!
For everyone else, just spend $80 to get a powered USB-C hub and throw a $75 2TB NAND NVMe M.2 SSD into it. FAR easier, faster, cheaper, and safer.
But if you're a tech nerd, then what they do in this video is the move!!!
Regular apple buyers dont need this usually.
I liked DosDude for the work he's done over the years on MacOS compatibility, but now that I see how he works, and were he works on it, I appreciate him even more. Great Video guys!!!
This is not so much, in my mind, about the upgradability, it is about replacing your SSD when it fails. And if you look at the specs of Apple’s SSDs, the TBW, the larger ones have a larger TBW. I would also urge everyone reading this to contact their State representatives about “Right to Repair.” This would allow repair shops to be able to upgrade or replace your SSD on your Mac Mini or MacBook without voiding your warranty.
Now, do this on a Mac Studio!
large ssd have always had larger tbw. it has always been like this
It's also absolutely about the upgradability. 800$ for 2TB along with all these anti-repair measures should be criminal and I hope at least the EU comes down on them for it especially considering they could *easily* use modular SSDs like they do in the Mac Studio
I’m not an expert but wouldn’t this be useful for upgrades and not repairs during warranty? I’m certain that dead SSDs are covered under warranty.
@@battery_wattageProblem is most of the time Data is Unrecoverable & Apple will just replace the whole motherboard rather than the should've been easily removable & high fail point SSD.
@@battery_wattage 2 Years Warranty. A normal SSD has a 3 year warrenty a high quality 5 years warranty. So the Mac Mini M1 are now literally falling out of warranty. And especially the ones with small Ram and SSD will start failing after 5 years. The 16GB with 512Gb have a good chance to last longer. 5-7 Years is the official Support for MacOS for those machines. So most likely the SSD will just fail on a small Engine when it's support reached EoL. Companies Swap their Workstations every 5 years. So it's planned that those machines won't hit the reused market.
Apple could just add a M.2 NVME Slot for the SSD and everyone could upgrade at least the storage. There is so much room on the motherboard to ad at least one M.2 connector. It's a shame how apple purposely block the upgradability.
I’m mean to be fair, you can also just plug in an nvme in an enclosure with 40 Gpbs usb C.
@@some_guy_2323 yeah that is absolutely the same as internal nvme storage
But then they couldn't sell a sub $100 item for $800 to their cult following...
It all starts to make sense when you see that apple asks 920 euro to get 2TB storage in the M2 mini... apple is a mastermind at finding ways to extort their customers
All of the Macs could have an M.2 slot. There is no reason why they don't have user upgradable storage
Dosdude is like a god for older Macbook owners! So satisfying to see him soldering and making a good Mac into a great Mac. Thank you Luke for bringing that content to us! Please do more of these crazy hardware mods.
Yup he is amazing. Also, I had no idea he was so young lol. Makes me feel even more of a dinosaur 😂 Thanks to him I kept an ancient MacPro working in a recording studio for an additional 5 years. Him and Louis Rossman are the ones who really speak truth to the monopolistic power of Apple. Kudos well deserved DosDude ⭐⭐⭐⭐
There are no new Macs to buy, really. Maybe someday.
Now compare this to replacing SSD in your Dell or Lenovo.
They provide you with a detailed step-by-step instructions, part numbers, diagrams, even videos. And it won't void your warranty either.
His knowledge and skills are no different than that of a heart surgeon. He just happens to be in a different field. Mad respect to him.
Most effective upgrade I did was about 10 years ago, installing an SSD instead of a traditional hard drive in my MacBook Pro - made a huge difference!
For me, it was about 8 years ago, when I stepped away from Mac to PC. I can upgade anything I want, anytime I want. I still use iPad and iPhone, but I no longer use Macs, and everything Apple is doing today with respect to upgrade/repairability, is doing nothing to bring me back.
Same. But keeping the 1 tb hard drive of my Mac Mini 2014 for data storage. And connecting an SSD through a USB3.0 enclosure to one of the USB ports. First with macOS nowadays with the latest Linux Mint. My Mini still runs like a charm.
@@phillipbanes5484 it's not being heavily used. My Mini acts as server nowadays. Only my local collection of music is stored on there.
@phillipbanes5484 several times, I have upgraded both ram and storage in my laptops. Also, when it's time to replace them, I have choice. What if you want a dedicated GPU for games or ML? A 17" screen? A number pad? OLED? Need a lot of CPU power (high end mobile Intel and AMD CPU's are now a lot faster than the M series). A touch screen? The Mac is great, but it's pretty much a single spec in the grand scheme of things, designed for a wide audience. However, millions of people (including me) are not in that group, and need things that Apple does not provide. As for as the iPad, it's really just a content consumption device, and I do fall within its target audience, and thus am happy with what it provides me.
Yes but… those are easy. These are not.
Dosdude is an absolute mastermind, I had a suspicision that this upgrade wasn't possible, ever since seeing Apple lock down the storage modules in the Mac Studio, so this is wild to see :o
His channel name and link ?
Is not possible with the Mac Studio
@@Q_QQ_QDosdude1. His video is litterally in the description.
@@Tyrister I literally said that lol
What they did in the Mac Studio was the same as that in the 2019 Mac Pro. Device has 2 proprietary NAND Module ports. One is called the 00 port and the other 01 port. As a rule the NANDs must stuff the 00 port FIRST and then the 01 port. Base model Mac Studios have the 00 port stuffed with a 500GB NAND module and the 01 port empty as-is. This is why Luke's attempt at stuffing another module in the 01 port did not work. The module was hard coded 00 and it would not work in a 01 port. If he had disassembled a 8tb Mac Studio in which there are 2 4tb modules stuffed in the two ports and transferred the pair into another Mac Studio, this will work
Apple: _"How dare you upgrade you own storage instead of buying our overpriced storage upgrade!!! REEEEEEEE!!!"_
The calmness and clarity this young man spoke with while doing the work is a clear example of someone that absolutely loves his work. I bet it's not even a job to him. Well done.
Love this channel, keep it up Luke!
This is something I've hoped people would do for quite a while! I wonder if someday this could be a service people could offer to people who might not have solderers and computer chips handy
The problem is it’s so much work and effort for something that should come in handy it’s sad what Apple is doing to the industry!
Would be very cool to see an M2 Pro Mac mini upgraded from 512GB all the way up to 8TB or something.
YES
@@Q_QQ_Q me too i got m2 pro 2tb mac mini, i need more internal storage!
I saw Rossmann's video the other day, explained how a Mac mini was effectively bricked when the SSD got damaged because of the BIOS also being stored on those chips. So I thought this would never ever be possible to upgrade. Probably also serialized to the system and such. Amazingly, it is possible!
He did mention it would be technically possible but not economically viable.
It blew my mind that apple decided to store UEFI on those chips too. Such a big middle finger to Apple users. In the era where other vendors put redundant fw chips even on desktop boards for years now.
@@matoatlantis Yeah it's really funny that my self assembled PC has 2 bios chips (m bios and b bios) on its MSI board. The thing cost me about 650€ to build in 2019, and apple instead of providing better redundancy and more failsafe goes for maximal fail, spite and destruction to simply sell more of their products which come with expiration date and a eye watering price tag 😂 Not to mention that I can actually reflash the bios with a small SPI programmer and a raspberry pi. Try that on your SOC 😂
Worth every minute of time to watch. You do a great job at this stuff. Thank you and thank the DOS, Dude too!
Where did you get those blank nands from?
Where did you buy the Nand chips?
What type of nand?
Would be great if you can provide the specifics so that other people can replicate it
Definitely would be useful.
Best repair/upgrade episode in a long time. Love it
Excellent video! It would be quite intriguing to see a disk speed test included as well.
I prefer adding a little flux before desoldering using hot air. Helps distribute heat uniformly and prevents hot spots
Flux is something I’ll never cheap out on for this reason.
0:42 That's what she said...
I honestly adore the Mac Mini. I recently got a Mac Mini off EBay for like $25, and when I discovered it was a 2011 model I was pretty excited since I expected it to be a 2010! Only downside is that I can’t use the Catalina patcher on it… but even so, I managed to get the HDD upgrade kits to boost its storage to 2.5 TB and gave it 16GB of Ram! Now it’s my media center!
with the open core legacy patcher i recently installed monterey on a 2011 mini and it runs fine
@@tomdivan it bypasses the graphics issues?
Luke can you provide a link to the $100 blank NAND chips that worked?
He won't do that. He's just trying to say it's possible.
why not just use thunderbolt NVME enclosure instead of risking the damage
@@willy7968 cuz you get limited by the speed of the usb port
@@godsmackssa same bro
ua-cam.com/video/KcPKabfeNQs/v-deo.htmlsi=ekX4vbwzC6IsDyBJ&t=347
@@willy7968 there are chips that go over 10k mb...idk if that is the case....but if you try it through usb...it reduces the speed sgnificantly.
Congrats Collin and Luke on getting this upgrade to work. Inspiring to see this work.
What a roller coaster of emotions. Loved the video and happy it worked out great.
Any professional computer store / mobile service that repairs laptops / phones using a reballing & hot air station would be able to do these upgrades if they have these chips available. This could be an extra income source for them, providing an upgrade service for those MAC minis. The process is the same as reballing a GPU
Well freaking done fellas. Loved every minute (felt as if we were there), and fully appreciate the determination and dedication to see this sort of project through. These truly are tremendous strides on behalf of the community and you both make a great team/collaboration. Thank you!
For many years people were saying that Apple will lock down their platforms... Seems they're doing it - but to the hardware first.
Upgrade an M1 Mac Mini from 256GB to 2TB:
1. get yourself an expert at modding hardware.
2. pray that the machine continue to work.
Upgrade a 2014 Mac Mini from 500GB HD to 2TB SSD:
1. buy a 2TB NVMe stick and a $10 adapter from amazon
2. install adapter and NVMe.
Wow, since it’s confirmed possible to upgrade, now we all need to either find someone who can do it for reasonable cost or train ourselves to do it! Necessity is always a great motivator force. Good job guys!
that's a great business opportunity
Or switch to PC...
don't worry, apple will block it
@@PatrickDKingyeah thinking about it’s like only the main reason why I wanna switch it’s so weird and messt up that decided to go this way
Where do you buy Nands?
where can we buy those 1tb nand chip
Dosdude1: Truly a living legend. Amazing. Many thanks for everything you've done for us Mac users dude! :D
Awesome to see Dosdude. I think I was pimping out a 4,1 MacPro around the same time Luke was and Dosdudes patchers were key. Wicked to see you guys together. My MacPro is now just a windows only machine. But still kicking. Thanks guys.
I'd like to see you do this with an 8TB SSD… now that would be superb!
Most likely it would work just the same but it isn't possible on that M1 chip because the SOC only supports 2tb since that's also the highest config you can buy from apple directly. It would probably work on an M1 pro chip though
@@meislit9217 Well no the SOC should support a lot more. There's a memory controller on chip (like on every SSD but in the SOC i believe). The limit is put in place by the availability of NAND which tops out at 2TB modules right now. And the mac mini has room on the mobo for two packages right? So that would make it a theoretical 4TB assuming there are no firmware locks.
Does apple use different IMC's on each chip type? Seems overkill.
Edit: it wont really matter since there are simply no lanes wired to more than two slots on the low end laptops/macs.
@@fVNzO Kinda same thing as 2012 Macbook Pros only support 8gb ram if you look the spec sheet.That was the biggest ram you could get back then. In reality 16gb ram works just fine on them.
@@fVNzO tbh I don't know, I admit you seem to know more than me on the technical side.
I just took the assumption with how tight apple locks down on "upgradeability" and with how hard it is to even replace (or swap) parts for the same specs. I assumed with upgrading to something they don't offer, there certainly would be firmware locks preventing that.
Probably should've phrased it less definitively therefore though...
That is way to much
When looking at Collins video, what actually worked was mixing the two types of NAND you purchased, what was done "in a whim". Not what you say in this video, to use two blank NAND memory.. and also, since you mixed one expensive and one cheap memory, the cost is higher than just using two of the cheaper memories.. that should be clarified in this video. Anyways, fun upgrade!
Very nice... you did a great job. I request you turn it into a step by step guide with instructions, tools required and precautions. A lot of such business can spring up that can repair and upgrade these machines.
definitely would be interested to see you attempt the upgrade with the RAM on the system, and also on M2. really cool stuff!
Would be interesting to see a base model M2 (8/256) upgraded to say 16 or 24 and 1 or 2 TB etc.
Mainly because I would be interested to see how the single to double NAND process goes:
you can’t upgrade RAM on M-series chips because it is integrated into the chip itself
@@knechtnoobrecht-c137 The RAMs are the 2 black chips next to the M-series SoC, it can be done once you remove the heat spreader
I'm glad to know it's possible! Apple charges quite a bit just to add more storage from the start.
Agree quite a bit. Apple should revise its pricing or at least start at 512gb. However, I am glad they started to make computers that work better than the 2016-2018, which was rubbish (perhaps the pricing policy is part of earning back the butterfly keyboard return policy?).
Same! Glad it's possible! But so sad that the fact is that Apple's RAM and SSDs are so crazy overpriced. The reason for the overpriced upgrades is the monopoly that they created.
Just compare with MacBook Pro Unibody Mid-2012: you can easily swap the 2,5" HDD with a 2,5" SSD, and you can upgrade RAM to 8+8 GB. So easy! Also it's so easy to replace the battery. A dream machine. The best portable Mac ever! Better than MBP14/16!
They need to start with 512GB and 16GB RAM. The upgrade prices should be $100-$125 per tier. They make great products but the ram and storage options are pretty steep and no one likes getting gouged. That being said it’s not all about shopping price.
@@mendodsoregonbackroads6632knowing apple purposely makes products hard to repair or upgrade because money they wont do thag
@@rolf7135apple is a multi billion dollar company, they do everything in their power to make a product as expensive, unrepairable, not upgradeable as possible to keep all those billions
Colin seems like a cool dude.
You and your colleagues have massive skills, in scripting and production, but also in great technical thinking… I was very impressed with this video…. Well done…!
I just came back from Colin's video and it would be great if a RAM swap was attempted. I'll go back to Collin's channel to suggest the same. Both videos BTW were absolutely tense as well as informative and entertaining. Great work!
I don't think you can do a RAM swap because the RAM itself is on the actual physical silicon die.
@@Longlius 18:07
Obviously it would be cool to see if this works on an M2 as well. Though your upgrade path was successful on the M1 you already know that the money savings comes along with a high risk of things that can go wrong. Apple surely will say you are on your own, but I cannot imagine a day where you would be going to the Genius Bar. Best of luck on the M2 upgrade as well.
I admire these people who can do magic to the HW side of electronics! Keep it going and thanks Luke for such high quality content!
Collin is a genius!
Colin is a genius and such a nice guy
can you check the speed of the new 2tb NAND compared to the original mac mini m1 speed. very cool and worthwhile upgrade. luckily it works. ive seen iBoff RCC videos saying that the SSD contorller for m1 macs are embedded in the m1 SOC thats why theres a compatibility issue.
I would love to see an M2 mini upgraded to 2TB!
What a great project! In first place I believe this shouldn't be that difficult but that's why many skilled technicians like Collin are very proud of what they do. It's completely insane what with just $100 USD you can do it considering skills and specials tools to do so instead of freaking paying $800 USD to Apple. Would be great to do it in a MacBook Air M2 for example. In my case I still use a MacBook Air 2017 base model with 2TB storage thanks to an adapter that converts the Apple conector to an M.2 name which I'm gonna replace soon for a new one but before giving it to my father for web browsing and content consumption. I got inspired by this video to try ro upgrade the RAM in this Macbook Air 2017 from 8GB to 16GB, that would be awesome.
Colin is the Bob Ross of tech
Amazing work guys!!
iBoff did a comprehensive explanation on how the M1 SoC treats the SSDs, which can be used in the "upgrade" process. And yes they also referenced Luke's previous attempt in their video.
ua-cam.com/video/yR7m4aUxHcM/v-deo.html
I was wondering if DOSDude was using their process, but it doesn't seem like it.
Now I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade the ram beyond what these machines are offered with. I wanna see a M1 or M2 with 32 GB of ram.
Not possible since the ram is integrated inside the chip itself.
Now 2 Questions:
What type of nand-chips do you recommend,
On a 256gb m2 model can you just add a 256gb slot to the other place?
You have to get the exact Nand chips Apple used in iPhones and iPads directly from China I believe.
Awesome work! Should I ever grow a pair of cajones to attempt such an upgrade, it would be super helpful for us noobs if you could post links to the tools you used (e.g. hot air station, the lifter/scraper tool, the solder paste stencil, USB-C to USB 3/A cable, software configurator, etc.) Oh, and the blank NANDs themselves! Thanks!
So, Batman is not some rich billionair, he's just a regular computer technician. By day.
I bought a Crucial 4TB NVMe P3 SSD ($190), put it in an Orico enclosure, and hooked it up to my M1 Mac Studio and it's very nice. It doesn't have SOC speeds but it's plenty fast enough for me, is only $50/TB and it's really nice.
Crucial and Samsung... The two SSD brands that show up the most in Northridge fix store according to the man himself.
@@trym2121 I've had Crucial, Samsung and Intel SSDs since 2009 with zero failures. I'm curious as to what people are doing with their SSDs that cause them to fail. OTOH, I've had a decent number of failures on HDDs going back to the 1980s. But that's expected as they are mechanical with moving parts.
@@trym2121 I just wathched the video also. That has to be since those are the most sold SSD brands. They're not a bad SSDs at all.
Man, Apple’s pricing policy should be illegal.
Luke I want to see you guys do this again, please! Two things I want to see: 1) definitely try this with RAM instead of SSD someday, and 2) try this on a MacBook Pro, preferably an M2 Pro or M2 Max model (that’s the one I have 😉) and see how high can you go…
The ultimate would a a “MAXED M2 Max MacBook Pro!” video where you upgrade a base spec M2 Max to 4 or 8 TB storage and 96 GB RAM! Then I could do that and save thousands instead of getting an M3 Max model 😂
Definitely interested in RAM myself as well, I'd actually prefer a video on doing something similar on Mac Studio rather than MBP, however. It seems a bit more complex there since NAND chips come with some sort of a daughtercard (so this may not even be possible).
The ram is inside the soc, you would have to upgrade the soc to upgrade the ram.
@@hellonearth311 it's on the chip but not part of it. Google the logic board for M1 Max Mac Studio and you'll see it has 4 black squares on it, those squares are the ram chips and should theoretically be removable, someone already did this with similar chips on MBP
@@hellonearth311not anymore, some Chinese dude cut the M1 metal lid in half exposing the two ram chips, changing the 8gb base to 24gb check it out in google it’s beautifully !
@ 17:03 Don’t get me wrong, this was a cool update and I’m glad you got it to work. But the key word is “”IF”, if you have the skill for this type of soldering and chip swapping, If you have the equipment that can be hundreds of dollars. Maybe about $500 just for the hot air soldering station, soldering past, heat plate, and other tools and I’m not including the other MAC to do the DFU restore. Not something most people have and for those of us that do have this it isn’t something worth doing and not charging for that skill, tools, time and labor.
where can you buy the blank NAND ?
This is legitimately cool, but this is high-level work. If it was above the Luke's skill-level, it's going to be well beyond the normal user's realm.
I just destroyed an iPod nano gen 6 trying to desolder the battery 😂 Think I’ll leave this one to the pros…
Definitely would love to see an M2 upgraded. I'm glad that it's possible, but also frustrated by how locked down and difficult it is. I remember when I upgraded my old 2011 MacBook Pro from 8 GB RAM to 16 GB, back in like 2013 / 2014, and it was super easy to do. I understand *why* they want to have control over it, but I don't agree with it. It feels like Apple underestimates how many Mac users are actually technically proficient and capable of doing something the right way - or maybe they know and are just hiding behind ignorance as an excuse, because all the rhetoric I've heard is basically "We can only have professionals do this"...
I like the way this channel is going… you’re getting more involved than ever before! Next I’d like to see M2… but I’d also really like to see you upgrade the unified memory - in an M1 iMac specifically - from 8 to 16 GB. An idea for a future video!
This was so helpful!! And it was very entertaining and fun to watch!! Thank you so much!!
Awesome work Colin, you’re truly a genius in this matter for custom & diy upgrading Mac mini - well done 👍🙌 Luke, thank you for sharing us this video - you showed us how things are done, even with the initial failure - keep pursuing what you love, even with Colin’s indigenous help - yay 🎉❤
That was excruciating to watch! 🤯 Big up to DosDude. Big fan! Let's hope Apple doesn't block these NANDs in future OS updates, ergo "non-genuine Apple parts" 🤞
I have a feeling Apple will block the possibility to transfer bootloader and secure os to the new chips.
Knowing its apple there is a 101 percent chance of that happening. apple does everything in their power to let their engineering team design a device that does not last as long, is not upgradeable, is not repairable and sucks out every bit of money from their customers which makes me hate CRAPple
Colin and nerves of steel. MVP right there.
So glad you managed to get it working on the 2nd try.
Desoldering is definitely out of my skill and comfort zone, lol.
For normal humans: the mac mini has a thunderbolt port. An external 2 or 4 TB SSD with a thunderbolt controller isn't cheap - and it's only half the speed of the internal SSD - but you just plug it in, and it's still insanely fast, more than fast enough to run software and do things like video editing. Highly recommended.
For not normal people who still think the actual upgrade is too crazy, you can probably fit an external drive in the Mac minis enclosure, ‘just’ drill a hole in the case and feed through a thunderbolt cable!
Love the suspenseful music when dosdude first started going in with the scalpel
That anxiety and failure is how it feels to build a hackintosh and hope your config file is setup properly LOL
I just want to say that this video was legit exciting, the tension was real! Great job to both of you, but imma keep using my 2014 MBP for now 😅, at leaat until the M3 chips have been out for a bit! Keep up the great content!
Where do you get the nands and what is the limit?
Whats the benefit over using an external ssd? Or even as card?
Would definitely love to see you guys upgrade an M2 MacBook Pro
So I've been a mac tech for 25 years, but back in the day it was only basic soldering...may have to invest into this, as it is only going to be more micro soldering from here out. This is actually fairly manageable - just small. Probably easier than trying to get an old SCSI array rebuilt from a partial tape backups - HAHA!
This is very impressive. So blanks ones worked. Yes this how we learn. Trial and error. This makes me get out my comfort zone on some projects I’ve been wanting to try. Thanks guys!
This video is inspiring indeed! YES: M2 demonstration please! Thanks so much for presenting this hopeful content!
I love step 3: "..that's it". 🤣🤣🤣 Great job.
Key if desolder is high temp and short duration. Get some heat shielding tapes around.
Where di you purchase the chips you replaced? Are they easy to access?
Documentation is key, need more videos like this.
Can you share where you purchased the new NAND chips?
@lukemiani - This is a great video and extremely useful! Is it possible to tell us where you sourced the working NAND chips from ?
Awesome wher can I send my Mac Mini to get mine done. Thank You.
Love this. Feels like being back in the Apple One Garage fooks!
5:55 Can feel that shake man, can feel that!
Luke can you add NAND sockets to a board?
link to the nand chips please
I really dislike soldered components.
also lot of admiration for dosdude1, great soldering skills.
Where did you guys buy the nand???
what is that device in the center of the board when you are trying to pull the chip off
Where do you get them from???
Luke I know this is a long shot but don't you think it might be possible to update your Mac Studio storage using the same method. I saw your previous video where you tried to swap over the memory modules with different levels of storage and they didn't work. Don't you think with fresh un programmed memory chips that you might be able to do a restore as you have done with the Mac mini.
So the best option to upgrade your mac storage is still to get an external m.2 to usb c ssd case.
Dosdude is such a legend bro I remember installing Mojave on my 2008 Mac mini thanks to his stuff a while back. Love his stuff.