The Mac Studio is Upgradeable, but Apple Blocked it in Software
- Griffin Ward
- Mar 22, 2022
- 2 min read

According to YouTuber Luke Miani, the SSD in the Mac Studio is removable and swappable, but the device will not function afterwards due to a software block.
In a video uploaded by Miani, he wiped the SSD of a Mac Studio and decided to put it into another Mac Studio. Then, the device's light blinked SOS and wouldn't boot. The Mac Studio recognized the SSD, but the software installed on the computer prevented it from booting. MacRumors says this suggests "this is a conscious decision by Apple to prevent users from upgrading their storage themselves."
Apple's website states that the Mac Studio's SSD is not user accessible, which you can see in the message below where they urge you to buy more storage.

While (to my knowledge) Apple has not provided a response on why the SSD is easily removable, speculation is that it's this way so authorized technicians can easily repair it, considering they probably have the software to prevent Apple from thinking the owner of the device was messing with it.
Since this is a software block, Apple could always allow it in the future, like they did for the Mac Pro with the SSD kits. Also, we could probably see something like an SSD upgrade kit, or something to self repair coming soon because of Apple's Self Service Repair Program that was announced last year. Apple's Self Service Repair Program says this:
Available first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and soon to be followed by Mac computers featuring M1 chips, Self Service Repair will be available early next year in the US and expand to additional countries throughout 2022.
We should expect something from Apple on repair/upgrading for the Mac Studio in the future. It's just a matter of when.
UPDATE: According to Joe Rossingol and Hector Martin, The SSDs that are inside the Mac Studio are not actually SSDs, they’re raw storage modules. And you can only replace it via Apple Stores or Apple Authorized Service Providers to prevent a software block.
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