Upgrade your Mac Studio Storage for a fraction of the cost - with a huge caveat.
Apple’s rates for upgradable storage has always been absurd, and people are always trying to find a solution for quality and cheaper storage.
Polysoft Services has managed to reverse-engineer Apple’s SSDs and is offering up to 8TB of storage for around $1160 vs $2400 from Apple.
That’s a huge savings.
Their 4TB option is $845 vs $1,200 from Apple.
The price difference becomes more negligible for the 2TB option at $420 vs $600 from Apple.
Polysoft was able to reverse engineer Apple’s SSD modules, and even upped Apple by including overvoltage protection, which was notorious for frying MacBooks:
So, we sacrificed a SSD module, removed all its small components one by one using a laser station, inventoried them and measured their characteristics, then we oil sanded every layer with fine-grained sandpaper and scanned every layer with a flatbed scanner.
We could then start making our own schematics from this work. But not only did we want to make MacStudio upgrades possible, we also wanted to customize the SSD modules... Having repaired lot of 2019 MacBook Pros 15“ and 16” with total data loss due to a failed voltage regulator sending a surge to the soldered NANDs, we thought it necessary to design our boards differently from Apple. That's why we've added a very simple but effective overvoltage protection, which will prevent NAND from overvoltage and protect you from total data loss in the event of a voltage regulator failure.
As a tribute to Louis Rossmann work, we've called this overvoltage protection “RIROP" as in "Rossmann Is Right Overvoltage Protection”.
I like the shoutout to Louis Rossman, whose video helped me purchase my first MacBook Pro.
Although you can save a serious amount of money with these storage upgrades, do note that it could void your warranty.
In their FAQ, the first question is, “Will it void my warranty?”
Here is their answer:
Technically no, legally yes.
Apple allows you to repair your MacStudio on a self-service basis, and these boards are designed with the same components as the original, plus customized surge protection.
That said, yes, Apple's contractual terms clearly state that any use of parts not sourced by them may void your warranty.
I would interpret that as a yes.
Great feat of engineering that I’m glad exists, but only for the hardcore power users who really need that kind of storage at those kinds of speeds who are willing to go through the arduous process.
If you want to see the actual process, check out this video by Luke Miani who goes through it in detail.