Upgrading a MacBook Air A1466 SSD

[rodrigoelp]

Hello,

 

My wife's Macbook Air mid 2013 storage has been playing out a bit and its internal capacity is a complete joke. Browsing online for m.2 I've cornered myself with a set of new terms I'm unfamiliar with and I might need a bit of help.

 

Browsing newegg, I found a few drives appealing such as the corsair force MP300 (Corsair Force MP300 M.2 2280 480GB PCI-Express 3.0 x2, NVME 1.3 3D) or the Samsung 970 evo (SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 500GB PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3 V-NAND 3-bit MLC) which can be fitted to the macbook air via an adapter... Incidentally, this adapter indicates it does not support pci-express x2 or x4 transfer mode and it only supports NGFF (or SATA) (https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6V86JM5118&Description=m.2 adapter apple&cm_re=m.2_adapter_apple-_-9SIA6V86JM5118-_-Product)... At this point, I was a bit confused and dug out a bit more trying to understand what the actual difference between nvme and ngff... ended up more confused.

 

Could anybody elaborate a bit more? I was trying to find a linus tech video explaining all the different nvme/ngff variations and which one could be mixed with what... but no luck. I understand nvme is a different spec capable of extremely high speeds in comparison to sata iii, and I imagine the bus on the macbook air is set to be sata iii as opposed to nvme in full... Do they use the same m.2 port to indicate these two are compatible (rendering the nvme drive slower maxing out at the same speed as the sata iii drive)? or will it be completely incompatible?

 

Just in case, the reason why I liked the corsair drive is: 1. the spec indicates it is meant to run cooler. 2. its average power consumption is lower than the samsung 970 500gb I was looking and to be honest, this will just extend the operating usage of her computer as she does not want a new computer (and doesn't want any of the new macbook air)

[LukeSavenije]

may i ask something? why would you even want nvme?

[schwellmo92]

According to an Anandtech article that I just read on Macbook Air 2013 SSD's they're not actually M.2 drives, I would just shell out the extra cost and buy a SSD that is certified to work for the Macbook.

 

If you want/need to be tight you can get the adapter and an M.2 drive but you'll need to get an AHCI M.2 drive unless you're running High Sierra than that should include support for NVMe.

[rodrigoelp]

22 hours ago, LukeSavenije said:

why would you even want nvme?

To be honest, I am not sure I need/want nvme. Browsing online I've found a few videos of people upgrading their own computers and they mention the usage of nvme... up to yesterday I thought nvme is the name given to any drive with the m.2 form factor. Reading a lot more today, I've been getting to understand a bit more about the differences between the different drives.

[rodrigoelp]

22 hours ago, schwellmo92 said:

you're running High Sierra than that should include support for NVMe

She is running Mojave, in which case she already has this support as part of the included drivers. I think the question is: would I be able to use a nvme stick by just getting the adapter and connecting it? 

[LukeSavenije]

6 minutes ago, rodrigoelp said:

To be honest, I am not sure I need/want nvme. Browsing online I've found a few videos of people upgrading their own computers and they mention the usage of nvme... up to yesterday I thought nvme is the name given to any drive with the m.2 form factor. Reading a lot more today, I've been getting to understand a bit more about the differences between the different drives.

then i would just get a sata one, it's literally half the price and there's only a second or two difference

[rodrigoelp]

7 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

it's literally half the price

The specific unit I am looking at is pretty much the same price:

• Kingston UV500 480GB SATA priced at a$120 (https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0ZX7BB2210&Description=Kingston 480gb&cm_re=Kingston_480gb-_-20-242-469-_-Product)
• Corsair Force MP300 480GB PCI-e x2 at a$126 (https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820236395)

Any of these two fall nicely within our budget, the corsair offers higher speeds... so, that is the reason I am asking (and to learn about this)

[LukeSavenije]

9 minutes ago, rodrigoelp said:

The specific unit I am looking at is pretty much the same price:

• Kingston UV500 480GB SATA priced at a$120 (https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0ZX7BB2210&Description=Kingston 480gb&cm_re=Kingston_480gb-_-20-242-469-_-Product)
• Corsair Force MP300 480GB PCI-e x2 at a$126 (https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820236395)

Any of these two fall nicely within our budget, the corsair offers higher speeds... so, that is the reason I am asking (and to learn about this)

well.... the corsair is nvme, and the Kinston isn't. but if I understand correctly you don't even have a m.2 nvme slot (do you?), so I recommend looking into the mx500 and 860 evo. as I have both in the 2,5 inch formfactor, and it's about the best you can get on sata

[rodrigoelp]

2 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

if I understand correctly you don't even have a m.2 nvme slot (do you?)

No, I don't have an m.2 slot as Apple has created a custom port for its drives, although there are adapters for it.

 

4 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

I have both in the 2,5 inch formfactor, and it's about the best you can get on sata

I do not understand... but the macbook air won't house a 2.5" unit in it... there is physically no space (if I am understanding correctly)

Just as a reference: this is the unit I am replacing
 

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, rodrigoelp said:

No, I don't have an m.2 slot as Apple has created a custom port for its drives, although there are adapters for it.

 

I do not understand... but the macbook air won't house a 2.5" unit in it... there is physically no space (if I am understanding correctly)

Just as a reference: this is the unit I am replacing

yeah... not familiair enough with apple. I would get the Corsair if you can find a nvme keepable adapter for it, and if you can't, just get whatever you want to

[schwellmo92]

1 hour ago, rodrigoelp said:

She is running Mojave, in which case she already has this support as part of the included drivers. I think the question is: would I be able to use a nvme stick by just getting the adapter and connecting it? 

It should work yeah.

[rodrigoelp]

5 minutes ago, schwellmo92 said:

It should work yeah.

Great, I will do a bit more research and post my findings here.