OWC SSD upgrades for 2013 and later MacBook Air and MacBook Pro

[David Empson]

Public service announcement for anyone with a 2013 or later MacBook Pro
with Retina Display or MacBook Air, who might be lamenting the lack of
upgrade options for storage:

http://blog.macsales.com/35431-owc-unveils-aura-ssd-flash-storage-upgrades-for-mid-2013-and-later-macs

Capacities offered are 480 GB and 1 TB.

As far as I know, this is the first third party SSD option for these
models.

(I already have a 1 TB Apple SSD in my Late 2013 rMBP, so no upgrade
path for me yet, but it means I have a potential replacement if it dies
on me in a few years.)

--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz

[JF Mezei]

On 2016-03-08 16:09, David Empson wrote:

> http://blog.macsales.com/35431-owc-unveils-aura-ssd-flash-storage-upgrades-for-mid-2013-and-later-macs

Are replaceable PCIe SSD drives common for MacBooks ? or is it unique
to the 2013 MacBook Pro ?

Considering the trend to have everything soldered in, I am curious how
common it is for the Apple laptops to have ANY repleacable part inside.

[Lewis]

In message <1mju6a7.1728jiu1pl2o64N%dem...@actrix.gen.nz>

David Empson <dem...@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
> Public service announcement for anyone with a 2013 or later MacBook Pro
> with Retina Display or MacBook Air, who might be lamenting the lack of
> upgrade options for storage:

> http://blog.macsales.com/35433-owc-unveils-aura-ssd-flash-storage-upgrades-for-mid-2013-and-later-macs

Finally!

> Capacities offered are 480 GB and 1 TB.

I specifically bought my machine with 256 knowing I would want to
upgrade to 1TB at some point. That point hasn't arrived yet, but it's
probably coming this year.

> As far as I know, this is the first third party SSD option for these
> models.

Yep.

--
What we have here is a failure to communicate.

[David Empson]

JF Mezei <jfmezei...@vaxination.ca> wrote:

> On 2016-03-08 16:09, David Empson wrote:
>
> > http://blog.macsales.com/35431-owc-unveils-aura-ssd-flash-storage-upgrad
> > es-for-mid-2013-and-later-macs
>
> Are replaceable PCIe SSD drives common for MacBooks ? or is it unique
> to the 2013 MacBook Pro ?

As far as I know, the 2015 Retina MacBook is the only Mac supplied by
Apple to date with an SSD that is soldered to the logic board. All
others are socketed.

In recent models, Apple has been using proprietary connectors based on
PCIe. Based on OWC's product listings, it appears that the variants are:

1. MacBook Air (Late 2010 to Mid 2011)

2. MacBook Air (Mid 2012)

3. MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 to Early 2013)

4. MacBook Air (Mid 2013 to Early 2015) and MacBook Pro (Late 2013 to
Mid 2015)

5. iMac (Late 2012 to Early 2013)

6. Mac Pro (Late 2013)

I don't know offhand if they vary in terms of connector compatibility,
or just in form factor.

OWC has no SSD options for 2013 and later iMacs, nor do they mention
PCIe SSD module upgrades for Mac Minis, only SATA.

Apple may in fact be using common modules around similar timeframes
(e.g. in Mid to Late 2012 models), which would simplify management of
components, but OWC just markets them as being for different families to
minimise potential confusion.

> Considering the trend to have everything soldered in, I am curious how
> common it is for the Apple laptops to have ANY repleacable part inside.

The SSD is a part which has a limited lifespan that might need to be
replaced within the five to seven year official support window (plus
however many months that model was available, for those bought early
rather than late).

Apple doesn't offer SSD upgrades, but they can replace faulty ones
(presumably for an exorbitant fee, if AppleCare has lapsed).

--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz

[dmanz...@gmail.com]

I am hoping it is OK to post to a year old thread but has anyone figured out compatibility between SSDs on the late 2013/early 2014 PCIe 2.0-based (faster speed?) Haswell models yet please?

Is that pricey OWC the only route or is there a compatibility chart somewhere and can I use the apparently available adapter in there to give me a range of options on the drive?

And in this instance, does incompatible (as well as non-backwards compatible) mean wont work or wwont run at the faster speeds PCIe 2.0 can manage? There seem to be a few adapters out there (eg the DeLOCK Konverter Blade-SSD (MacBook Air SSD) > SATA, Adapter 62644), though none say they will work at the proper speed with the ME293LL/A - MacBookPro 11,2.

See https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-2014-MacBook-Air-A1465-A1466-Pro-A1502-A1398-MD712-SSD-PCI-e-4X-adapter/112538432608?hash=item1a33d03460:g:tfEAAOSwKZ5Z3IYZ

https://www.ebay.com/itm/M-key-M-2-SSD-Adapter-for-2013-2014-2015-MACBOOK-Air-A1465-A1466-Pro-A1398-A1502/192254579967?hash=item2cc34414ff:g:skMAAOSwuVdZchGt