I've watched other videos on this device and I think yours was the most thorough (all have been really positive about the new SSD). I've got the base M4 mini and this upgrade is really tempting, but I'm going to wait for a while. I've got external NVME storage and I've moved all of my non-native applications to a partition on one of them, which leaves 190+GB on the internal drive. I can live with that for now, at least until the warranty expires.
Great video, thank you so much for the precise explanation. I just found a second hand m4 macmini for only $150, with this upgrade I got myself a perfect plex server.
I have some tips. 13 minutes to copy 180GB. That’s 230MBytes per second. A hard disk can copy faster than that. Something is very wrong with your test conditions. OEM means a manufacturer other than Apple so don’t use it to describe Apples SSD. You have a great voice and presentation style. Your shooting and editing is good too. If you fix some of the tech details I think your channel will go places.
@@GeekShhh yea I was incredibly lucky. I bought it off a rich lady who thought it came with a monitor and had no idea what it even was lol. It was never turned on.
Watching your video a simple question comes to mind and it is crucial when observing these types of abrupt changes in an Apple computer and I do it for the simple fact that I am just calculating the possibility of doing it regardless of losing the WARRANTY. So the question is the following: If I purchased a Mac Mini M4 of 24GB / Ram with the basic STORAGE 256GB and at the same time I purchased Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro, when I change the SSD unit and install the new operating system will it recognize the programs as already purchased or do they come with a Watermark so to speak only on the Original SSD that came with the PC, or on the other hand Apple together with the confirmation of your purchase gives you the option to obtain a kind of LICENSE for both programs ..? ☺♦♣♠
Anything purchased from App store is tied to your icloud so when you sign in its available to you no matter what computer your on. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@GeekShhh Thank you very much for this clarification, I am not well versed in this subject since I come from Windows and I am just starting in the MACOS world. Greetings and Blessings then..! ☺♦♣♠♥
@@GeekShhh Thank you now from me to you for coming to my Platforms and interacting. Obviously, we have to do that collaboration, count on me for it on the basis of brotherhood and progress in the sense of moving forward. Bear hugs..! ☺♦♣♠♥
@@GeekShhh One last question and forgive the insistence, is that as I said before I join the MACOS Club: If the purchase was made with an email that is not mine, obviously in the future that person who made the purchase can delete their email, in other words, make a change in the purchase settings or account already mentioned and put my Apple ID because it turns out that I tried to attach the purchase made to my Apple ID and IT DIDN'T LET ME, or would I have to CANCEL the purchase and make it from my Apple ID directly because according to what you explain to me when I try to put my ID it may not even let me enter the MAC and if it lets me, it will not recognize the Pro programs (This controversy is because the purchase was made with the account of a university student and in my case I am not.)..? ☺♦♣♠
Received mine yesterday. I did not receive a suction cup. Only tool that worked was the Torx wrench that worked was for removing the SSD. Paid 300 flat, no taxes. I used my iPhone MagSafe charger to hold all of the screws.
Great video, you remind me of the youthful me… (I’m an old guy, real old) The only thing I would have said was… ‘this update may void your warranty’. - I can’t wait to preform this update… $500 savings is $500…
Great job, man! I'm really glad you made this video. Your top lens must be a macro lens because I could see that fan connector in great detail, and that was not true of every other video I've seen that does this install. I ordered mine a few days ago and it has not shipped yet but I am really. Do you think it would be wise to get come heat sink tape for the new SSD? I'd like to avoid any headaches down the road. Have you thought about doing that? Thanks.
Its a 24-105mm Canon prime lens, I didnt think about the tape but I did think about trying Gelid Extreme thermal pads. I might do a shorts video on it in future. Let me know how the heat tape works out. Thanks for watching and commenting!
wich OS i need for the DFU mode. i have mac mini m4 im using Mac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) with Catalina for the restore and dont work it only flashing
Rocking the 24gig, 1TB M4 pro... the only thing i got was the NVMe Dock from Raycue (waiting for it to be delivered) and i will pop in a 4TB Western Digital Blue nvme for storage and backups.
Yea I have that one as well, 512 GB version bc Im waiting for the 4 tb Third Party SSD for it which should be released within 3 months. Subscribe for that video. Im also waiting for the Orico Minilink which i will also review and im def popping in a 4 tb into the Orico as well. Thanks for watching and commenting!
why haven't you removed those stickers on each side of new ssd? isn't ssd run hot when in use and could those sticker potentially cause an issue? 85 degrees temperature during transfer is concerning
@@GeekShhhi have read it and i get that those are warranty stickers, but the issue still stands. the adhesive could be melted especially at 85 degrees. may need to contact the company about this particular issue
@@GeekShhh They would have to prove that the removal of the sticker caused damage to the device. In the USA, warranty stickers mean nothing, thanks to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
Just want to be clear about the other Mac....it doesn't have to be Silicon (M series), correct? Another RUclips channel mentioned that it has to be Silicon Mac to do restoration.
No way, doesnt even have to be MacOS. The firmware link gives you instructions for not only MacOS but also Linux and Windows and those are def not Apple Silicons lol. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@GeekShhh If your chip starts with part number SDSF, it is SanDisk, if it starts with K6B2 it is Toshiba (default chip on Mac Mini base model is K5A3). The SanDisk also includes "A1WD" on the top part of the chip. The WD must be the Western Digital branding since they bought SanDisk years ago.
You need to flash the new drive with firmware so it will work with macOS. I believe Apple has a proprietary design where the hard drives marry to the system or the CPUs or something. So you need to flash the firmware so it can complete that process and ultimately work with MacOS. I could be completely wrong but that’s my understanding.
"IPSW" is an acronym from when Apple started the iPhone, to install its operating software. So it's the IPhone SoftWare. Now all Apple products use the same technique. Apple owns the IP address from which you download it. The download includes a handful of very large compressed files, which contain the boot software, all of MacOS, the recovery environment, etc.
Replacing NAND chips in a recent Mac requires putting the device into Device Firmware Update (DFU) mode because of the tight integration between the hardware and software, particularly with Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) Macs. Here’s why DFU mode is necessary: 1. Storage Security • Modern Macs use onboard encryption tied to the Secure Enclave, which manages keys for encrypting and decrypting data on the NAND chips. • When you replace the NAND chips, the new storage lacks the original encryption keys, making the data inaccessible and requiring reconfiguration of the system. 2. Hardware Configuration Updates • NAND chips are paired with the system at a firmware level, and the logic board’s configuration includes details about the storage hardware. Replacing the NAND chips necessitates updating this configuration to ensure compatibility. • DFU mode allows access to the low-level firmware to reinitialize and pair the new chips with the device. 3. System Integrity • Apple’s T2 security chip (on Intel-based Macs) or Apple Silicon SoCs enforce strict system integrity checks. After hardware changes, these chips need to verify and rebuild system integrity, which often requires restoring or reinstalling macOS through DFU mode. 4. Recovery and Reinstallation • DFU mode enables a complete restore of macOS and the firmware, ensuring the system is fully compatible with the new hardware.
To add to my earlier reply : In standard NVMe SSDs, the controller manages the health data of the attached NAND chips, such as power-on cycles, operational hours, terabytes written, and bad block counts (SMART data). In Apple Silicon Macs like the M4 Mac Mini, the controller is integrated directly into the SoC (System on Chip). Instead of being on the SSD, the controller uses a small rewritable storage on the motherboard to keep track of NAND health information. If you replace the NAND board with one that has already been initialized, the stored health data won’t reset. Instead, it will reflect the metrics from the old NAND chips, which means the health status of the new chips won’t be accurately reflected. However, if you upgrade by soldering new NAND chips or use an uninitialized board, you must initialize the NAND through DFU mode using another Mac. This process allows the controller in your Mac to pair with the new chips and potentially reset the NAND health metrics.
iStatistica trial on the mini that was upgraded but on the 2nd computer which is a M4 Mini Pro it was iStat Menus which is what i prefer. Thanks for watching and commenting!
On the link of the firmware it has instructions for using a Linux and Windows computer to restore the mac. I havent tried those though. Thanks for watching and commenting! EDIT: Has to be a Mac device.
I hope not and its gonna be interesting to see if they change storage modularity on the next generation due to these. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I was just about to post that I’d be interested to see the performance of this 3rd party storage module in an M4 Pro, since storage throughput typically doubles (?) for each successive processor tier. So why is this card not compatible?
Thank you for this in-depth video !
I usually dislike background music but the music in this video is super cool too !
I try to keep it at its lowest so it doesn't disturb anyone. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I've watched other videos on this device and I think yours was the most thorough (all have been really positive about the new SSD). I've got the base M4 mini and this upgrade is really tempting, but I'm going to wait for a while. I've got external NVME storage and I've moved all of my non-native applications to a partition on one of them, which leaves 190+GB on the internal drive. I can live with that for now, at least until the warranty expires.
Nothing wrong with that approach at all. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great video, thank you so much for the precise explanation. I just found a second hand m4 macmini for only $150, with this upgrade I got myself a perfect plex server.
M4 mac mini for 150$ wow! I use mine as a Jellyfin server but the media files are on a NAS
I have some tips. 13 minutes to copy 180GB. That’s 230MBytes per second. A hard disk can copy faster than that. Something is very wrong with your test conditions. OEM means a manufacturer other than Apple so don’t use it to describe Apples SSD.
You have a great voice and presentation style. Your shooting and editing is good too. If you fix some of the tech details I think your channel will go places.
$150!? WOW I picked one up for 350 and thought it was the best deal possible Lol Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@GeekShhh yea I was incredibly lucky. I bought it off a rich lady who thought it came with a monitor and had no idea what it even was lol. It was never turned on.
@@DaanPollooks like scam, did you get your mac mini already?
Great Vid specially the temperature Thanks 🙏🏽
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you so much for doing such a detailed video! I ..almost feel I could give it a try!
Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
Watching your video a simple question comes to mind and it is crucial when observing these types of abrupt changes in an Apple computer and I do it for the simple fact that I am just calculating the possibility of doing it regardless of losing the WARRANTY. So the question is the following: If I purchased a Mac Mini M4 of 24GB / Ram with the basic STORAGE 256GB and at the same time I purchased Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro, when I change the SSD unit and install the new operating system will it recognize the programs as already purchased or do they come with a Watermark so to speak only on the Original SSD that came with the PC, or on the other hand Apple together with the confirmation of your purchase gives you the option to obtain a kind of LICENSE for both programs ..? ☺♦♣♠
Anything purchased from App store is tied to your icloud so when you sign in its available to you no matter what computer your on. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@GeekShhh Thank you very much for this clarification, I am not well versed in this subject since I come from Windows and I am just starting in the MACOS world. Greetings and Blessings then..! ☺♦♣♠♥
@@djblackcapsulamusic Blessings to you as well and I liked your beats on your channel. Maybe you can make me one for mines one day.
@@GeekShhh Thank you now from me to you for coming to my Platforms and interacting. Obviously, we have to do that collaboration, count on me for it on the basis of brotherhood and progress in the sense of moving forward. Bear hugs..! ☺♦♣♠♥
@@GeekShhh One last question and forgive the insistence, is that as I said before I join the MACOS Club: If the purchase was made with an email that is not mine, obviously in the future that person who made the purchase can delete their email, in other words, make a change in the purchase settings or account already mentioned and put my Apple ID because it turns out that I tried to attach the purchase made to my Apple ID and IT DIDN'T LET ME, or would I have to CANCEL the purchase and make it from my Apple ID directly because according to what you explain to me when I try to put my ID it may not even let me enter the MAC and if it lets me, it will not recognize the Pro programs (This controversy is because the purchase was made with the account of a university student and in my case I am not.)..? ☺♦♣♠
Received mine yesterday.
I did not receive a suction cup.
Only tool that worked was the Torx wrench that worked was for removing the SSD.
Paid 300 flat, no taxes.
I used my iPhone MagSafe charger to hold all of the screws.
Wow sorry to hear that. The magsafe charger to hold screws is genius and ill def try that in future. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great video, you remind me of the youthful me… (I’m an old guy, real old) The only thing I would have said was… ‘this update may void your warranty’. - I can’t wait to preform this update… $500 savings is $500…
Your right about that. Ill add that to the description. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Will a restore using the firmware method work with any Mac, such as an old retina MacBook Pro running High Sierra, for example?
''Any Mac or Windows with iTunes'' was what the company just told me. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great job, man! I'm really glad you made this video. Your top lens must be a macro lens because I could see that fan connector in great detail, and that was not true of every other video I've seen that does this install. I ordered mine a few days ago and it has not shipped yet but I am really. Do you think it would be wise to get come heat sink tape for the new SSD? I'd like to avoid any headaches down the road. Have you thought about doing that? Thanks.
Its a 24-105mm Canon prime lens, I didnt think about the tape but I did think about trying Gelid Extreme thermal pads. I might do a shorts video on it in future. Let me know how the heat tape works out. Thanks for watching and commenting!
wich OS i need for the DFU mode. i have mac mini m4 im using Mac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) with Catalina for the restore and dont work it only flashing
Well done step by step video. Just curious. Do any larger memory disks exist? If so, would they work as well or is 2 TB the limit?
No, 2 TB the highest you can go in internal storage on the M4. The Mini Pro can go up 4 TB. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Rocking the 24gig, 1TB M4 pro... the only thing i got was the NVMe Dock from Raycue (waiting for it to be delivered) and i will pop in a 4TB Western Digital Blue nvme for storage and backups.
Yea I have that one as well, 512 GB version bc Im waiting for the 4 tb Third Party SSD for it which should be released within 3 months. Subscribe for that video. Im also waiting for the Orico Minilink which i will also review and im def popping in a 4 tb into the Orico as well. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Have you seen any teardown of the 2T M4 Mac Mini? It'd be interesting to know if they have extra heat mitigation measures in it's SSD.
No i havent but its my understanding that they all look the same. Thanks for watching and commenting!
why haven't you removed those stickers on each side of new ssd? isn't ssd run hot when in use and could those sticker potentially cause an issue? 85 degrees temperature during transfer is concerning
Please read the description. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@GeekShhhi have read it and i get that those are warranty stickers, but the issue still stands. the adhesive could be melted especially at 85 degrees. may need to contact the company about this particular issue
@@ivomeadows They're heat resistant stickers
@@GeekShhh They would have to prove that the removal of the sticker caused damage to the device. In the USA, warranty stickers mean nothing, thanks to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
@ Chinese companies tend to not adhere to American laws. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thanks for video and test. Only one question, is it mandatory to download the image or i can bypas that download step?
Cant bypass that, it has the firmware thats needed. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Excelent everything well explained
Thansk for watching and commenting!
Just want to be clear about the other Mac....it doesn't have to be Silicon (M series), correct?
Another RUclips channel mentioned that it has to be Silicon Mac to do restoration.
No way, doesnt even have to be MacOS. The firmware link gives you instructions for not only MacOS but also Linux and Windows and those are def not Apple Silicons lol. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@GeekShhh thank you for your response
@@Sam-wg6ge Im told even though it has instructions for Linux and Windows, it has to be a Mac device used so they can communicate with each other.
very helpful - thank you ++ about to look up heat limits on nand chips haha did you end up adding a thermal pad?
Lol Nah not yet, ill see how it does overtime. Thanks for watching and commenting!
The new SSD use Sandisk or Toshiba Flash?
Sandisk I believe, Toshibas raises the price. They have blank modules for sale as well.
@@GeekShhh If your chip starts with part number SDSF, it is SanDisk, if it starts with K6B2 it is Toshiba (default chip on Mac Mini base model is K5A3). The SanDisk also includes "A1WD" on the top part of the chip. The WD must be the Western Digital branding since they bought SanDisk years ago.
@@riffdealer Ahhh ic, nice thumbnail btw....loved the movie back in the day Lol. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Hi,
Do you need a Thunderbolt port on both systems?
Cheers
Nah, all though i did use tb on both i believe the other port only has to be usb. Cant confirm though. Thanks for watching and commenting!
thanks! arent u supposed to remove the sticker from the new ssd?
Heard back from the company. The sticker is heat resistant and should not be removed for warranty purposes. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I think doing so almost always voids the warranty of the device from which you remove the sticker.
So what does the software you download from IPSW does? (great video BTW, thak you)
You need to flash the new drive with firmware so it will work with macOS. I believe Apple has a proprietary design where the hard drives marry to the system or the CPUs or something. So you need to flash the firmware so it can complete that process and ultimately work with MacOS. I could be completely wrong but that’s my understanding.
@ Mmmmm.. I see; but it seems not difficult at all.
@@Vipersrule Thats my understanding as well. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
"IPSW" is an acronym from when Apple started the iPhone, to install its operating software. So it's the IPhone SoftWare. Now all Apple products use the same technique. Apple owns the IP address from which you download it. The download includes a handful of very large compressed files, which contain the boot software, all of MacOS, the recovery environment, etc.
Great job! But it was only possible because of the background music 💪💪💪
Lol Thanks for watching and commenting!
How come you can’t restore from a flash drive instead of another Mac?
I would imagine it has something to do with the firmware. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Replacing NAND chips in a recent Mac requires putting the device into Device Firmware Update (DFU) mode because of the tight integration between the hardware and software, particularly with Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) Macs. Here’s why DFU mode is necessary:
1. Storage Security
• Modern Macs use onboard encryption tied to the Secure Enclave, which manages keys for encrypting and decrypting data on the NAND chips.
• When you replace the NAND chips, the new storage lacks the original encryption keys, making the data inaccessible and requiring reconfiguration of the system.
2. Hardware Configuration Updates
• NAND chips are paired with the system at a firmware level, and the logic board’s configuration includes details about the storage hardware. Replacing the NAND chips necessitates updating this configuration to ensure compatibility.
• DFU mode allows access to the low-level firmware to reinitialize and pair the new chips with the device.
3. System Integrity
• Apple’s T2 security chip (on Intel-based Macs) or Apple Silicon SoCs enforce strict system integrity checks. After hardware changes, these chips need to verify and rebuild system integrity, which often requires restoring or reinstalling macOS through DFU mode.
4. Recovery and Reinstallation
• DFU mode enables a complete restore of macOS and the firmware, ensuring the system is fully compatible with the new hardware.
To add to my earlier reply :
In standard NVMe SSDs, the controller manages the health data of the attached NAND chips, such as power-on cycles, operational hours, terabytes written, and bad block counts (SMART data).
In Apple Silicon Macs like the M4 Mac Mini, the controller is integrated directly into the SoC (System on Chip). Instead of being on the SSD, the controller uses a small rewritable storage on the motherboard to keep track of NAND health information.
If you replace the NAND board with one that has already been initialized, the stored health data won’t reset. Instead, it will reflect the metrics from the old NAND chips, which means the health status of the new chips won’t be accurately reflected.
However, if you upgrade by soldering new NAND chips or use an uninitialized board, you must initialize the NAND through DFU mode using another Mac. This process allows the controller in your Mac to pair with the new chips and potentially reset the NAND health metrics.
@@ahogeweg Thank You for adding this information!
Which app you are using to monitor the Sensors?
iStatistica trial on the mini that was upgraded but on the 2nd computer which is a M4 Mini Pro it was iStat Menus which is what i prefer. Thanks for watching and commenting!
What if I don't have another mac to restore?
On the link of the firmware it has instructions for using a Linux and Windows computer to restore the mac. I havent tried those though. Thanks for watching and commenting! EDIT: Has to be a Mac device.
I hope one day Apple will not release an update that will block these SSDs 🤦♂
I hope not and its gonna be interesting to see if they change storage modularity on the next generation due to these. Thanks for watching and commenting!
it on amazon now
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I don’t think is a good idea without disconnecting the power switch cable as you were risking damage or with unnecessary stresses
Im not sure exactly what part of the video your referring to....Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you
Thanks for watching and commenting!
NOT for the Mac Mini M4 PRO ! Be warned !
You are correct and ill add that to the description in case anyones confused about that. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I was just about to post that I’d be interested to see the performance of this 3rd party storage module in an M4 Pro, since storage throughput typically doubles (?) for each successive processor tier. So why is this card not compatible?
handling the ssd like that is inviting failure
Thanks for watching and commenting!
It's still too much money. Should be $200.
Time will tell. Thanks for watching and commenting!
You do realize you've instantly voiding any coverages or future, so cheap out at your own expense.
Lol Thanks for watching and commenting!
🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Thanks for watching and commenting!