Can the storage on an M1 Mac Mini be upgraded?

Question

Can I boost the storage capacity on my M1 Mac Mini and how could I perform this upgrade?

Answer 1

Yes, it can be done, though only with a considerable amount of skill. M1 Mac Mini storage can be upgraded by taking out the existing NAND chips with the aid of a hot air station and then installing new chips, e.g. A NAND chip or more. There are stages of the operation that include a lot of touch with delicate parts and dedicated instruments. Besides, Apple Configurator 2 will be needed to restore the machine after the modification.

Comments

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.

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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

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Now compare this to replacing SSD in your Dell or Lenovo.
They provide you with detailed step-by-step instructions, part numbers, diagrams, even content. And it won't void your warranty either.

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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

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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!

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I'm glad to know it's possible! Apple charges quite a bit just to add more storage from the start.

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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?

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Rather than forcing Apple to use USB-C, the EU should have forced them to make storage upgradable.

1 or 2TB should be the base anyway...

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You know what would be even cooler... Back in the 80's during the Atari 2600's reign as the top dog gaming machine, my step father built a Cartridge that you could plug e-proms containing any 2600 game that was copied to it. What if, instead of storage nan's something could be attached there that would allow you to plugin any size storage to that machine. Now, technically, I did attach a 2TB external thunderbolt drive to my 2018 Mac Mini and forced it to boot from the external, which was easier than what you guys did. But,... as soon as I upgraded to the next OS, there were problems. So now I just use that drive as storage for that Mac Mini. But if I could attach an 8tb NVMe, and then later attach what ever size is up from that (16tb) <ShruG>. I don't know, but maybe you do.