Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that RAM in MacBook Pro laptops with retina displays could be upgraded. The story has been updated with the correct information.
Aug 12, 2014 If you’ve already upgraded your RAM and simply want more speed, you may want to consider upgrading your old hard drive with a SSD (Solid State Drive). Many people come to the MacBook Pro forum asking about SSD upgrades, so this user tip is applicable to those, primarily, who have already made the decision to upgrade. OWC Solid State Drives. Experience the true speed of your Mac with an OWC SSD flash storage upgrade. Select your Mac. Upgrades up to 2.0TB.
When Apple began shipping the MacBook Pro Retina in late 2012, it announced that the built-in solid state-drive (SSD) and RAM would not be user upgradable after purchase. Well, the SSD part of that is no longer true. Other World Computing (OWC) has moved to single-handedly fight Apple's planned obsolescence for MacBook Pro laptops with retina diplays (mid-2013 and beyond) and this month MacBook Pro Retina- and MacBook Air-compatible Aura PCIe SSDs. Related: OWC has also for MacBook Pro Retina laptops from 2012 through early 2013. If you purchased a, you already shelled out at least $1,300 for the 13-in.
So, it's reasonable to assume you might have skimped a bit on the internal storage, which ranges from 128GB to 512GB. Heck, even if you splurged and purchased the highest-end 15-in. MacBook Pro for $2,500, the largest SSD you could get until recently was 512GB. Note: A 1TB SSD is now a $500 option for the current top-end MacBook Pro. Lucas Mearian What's incluced in the OWC Aura PCIe SSD upgrade kit. The new OWC Aura PCIe SSDs for MacBook Pro Retina laptops come in. You can also purchase a complete upgrade kit, which includes the OWC SSD, screw drivers, a USB standard A to micro B cable and an external PCIe SSD enclosure with USB 3.0 port for $399 (480GB model) or $649 (1TB model).
The kit is actually a pretty good deal because just to purchase the would cost you $79. Once you've installed the OWC SSD, you can use your Mac's original flash drive in the enclosure as a fast external USB drive with transfer speeds up to 355MBps. I did a read/write speed test on my factory installed SSD once I'd turned it into an external drive using the OWC Envoy Pro enclosure and it had a read/write speed of 304MBps and 253MBps, respectively. It was not quite as fast as OWC said it would be but it was certainly respectable. Now, on to the internal SSD changeover.
![Ssd Ssd](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125560779/977136561.jpg)
I've said it many times before: Adding an SSD to your computer is the single best upgrade you can perform for the money. It improves both performance and reliability. But, when you already have an SSD, the next best upgrade is a bigger SSD. The OWC PCIe SSDs allows you to increase the capacity on your MacBook Pro up to eight times that of the factory drive and it offers up to 5.8 times faster performance than Apple's factory installed drive. The OWC Aura PCIe SSDs offer up to 763MBps sustained read and 446MBps write rates. They also come with native AES 256-bit encryption and a three-year limited warranty. Prior to installing a new OWC 1TB Aura SSD, I performed a performance benchmark test on my factory installed 256GB PCIe SSD using, a free app.
As expected, it was blazing fast, offering up to 723MBps sustained reads and 661MBps writes. I was excited to see just how much faster OWC's SSD would push the MacBook Pro's performance.
Using BlackMagic disk benchmarking software, I tested the Aura PCIe SSD once it had been installed. It revealed a maximum read/write speed of 700MBps and 423MBps, respectively. In other words, the OWC SSD had slightly slower performance than my factory installed SSD, but the difference was not noticeable. How to perform the SSD upgrade First things first.
Upgrade the to the latest version of OS X - in this case it would be El Capitan v10.11.4. Next, because you're not likely to simply swap out the OWC SSD for the factory drive without migrating data over, you'll want to perform a Time Machine backup to an external drive. This will safeguard your data in case something goes wrong. Lucas Mearian You'll first need to remove the 10 pentelope screws securing the rear cover of your MacBook Pro. Swapping out your flash drive, whether it's a 2.5-in.
SSD or a PCIe card, is about the simplest upgrade you can attempt. It'll take about 10 minutes, not including the data migration. While I've swapped out dozens of SSDs without one, you should consider purchasing an anti-static mat on which you'll perform the upgrade;, and when you consider you just spent up to $649 on an SSD, it's a small price to pay to avoid damaging the NAND flash chips. Lucas Mearian The factory-installed Samsung PCIe SSD is in the upper right hand corner.
The first step to changing over your SSD is to remove the 10 screws on the back cover of your MacBook Pro using a Pentalobe P5 screw driver. Next, you'll need to unscrew the one Pentalobe screw holding the PCIe SSD in place. Lucas Mearian Remove the SSD retaining screw using a Torx T5 screw driver.
Then you simply pull the SSD from its socket, insert the OWC SSD and secure it with the screw. The only thing you need to do is to replace the MacBook Pro's rear cover and either download a fresh version of OS X onto your new SSD, or migrate the OS and your data from the old drive. Lucas Mearian After gently pulling the factory-installed SSD from its PCIe socket, insert the OWC Aura PCIe SSD and re-attach the Torx retaining screw. Creating a bootable El Capitan (OS X 10.11) installer There are couple of ways to install OS X El Capitan onto your new OWC PCIe SSD.or at least there should be. You should be able to install it using the external adapter. But once I uploaded El Capitan, my MacBook's native drive refused to recognize the external drive. So I was forced to install the OWC SSD first.
As you power up the computer, press the CMD + R keys to access the disk recovery menu. That allows you to choose the internal drive for the OS X download. But, a funny thing happened. Apple would only allow me to download Yosemite onto the new drive. So, Yosemite came first, then came the upgrade to El Capitan, which took an additional 20 minutes.
Lucas Mearian When you're finished installing the OWC Auro PCIe SSD, you can insert your factory SSD into the PCIe adapter and use it as an external drive so it doesn't go to waste. Now that you've got OS X El Capitan on your OCW SSD, you'll need to migrate the data from your original SSD. You can use an updated Time Machine backup, but I prefer to simply insert the factory SSD into the OWC adapter, plug it into the USB port and then go into the Utilities folder and select the Migration Assistant. After that, it's just a matter of selecting the source drive (your factory SSD connected via the USB 3.0 cable) and the target drive, your new OWC SSD. I had 240GB worth of data to migrate, the process took about 45 minutes.
I can't emphasize enough what a relief it was to avoid having to dump data off my old drive in order to free up space. With the new 1TB Aura SSD, I've got plenty of breathing room for years to come.
And, if I ever decide to get a new laptop, my mid-2013 MacBook Pro will have at least as good an SSD as Apple is likely to offer any time soon.
How do you upgrade or replace the storage in the 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro models? Is it the same storage and process as the 15-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro?
Is it possible? By default, 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro models are configured with 128 GB, 256 GB, or 512 GB of SSD storage. Via, some models also can, or could, be equipped with as much as 768 GB or 1 TB of SSD storage at the time of purchase. Officially, it is not possible for an end user to upgrade the storage after purchase. However, as site sponsor, the SSD is installed as a removable module in all of these systems and is fairly straightforward to upgrade.
However, different lines use different proprietary SSD modules and it is important to identify both the MacBook Pro and the SSD module correctly. Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro) Identification Help If you're not sure whether or not you have a 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro or another model, notebooks with different SSDs share the. As a result, the easiest way to identify them uniquely enough for the purpose of determining the correct SSD type is either by external or by the in software.
As always, EveryMac.com has carefully hand documented these details for your convenience: MacBook Pro Subfamily EMC Model Identifier 13-Inch (Late 2012) Late 2012 13-Inch (Early 2013) Early 2013 13-Inch (Late 2013) Late 2013 13-Inch (Mid-2014) Mid-2014 13-Inch (Early 2015) Early 2015 Finally, EveryMac.com's feature - as well as the - additionally can uniquely identify all of the Retina Display MacBook Pro models by their serial numbers and other identifiers. Upgrade Obstacles & Compatible SSD Details Apple does not intend for end users to upgrade the SSD in these models themselves, the company even has used uncommon 'pentalobe' screws - also called five-point Torx screws - to discourage access. However, access is straightforward with the correct screwdriver, the SSD is simple to access, and upgrades are not blocked in firmware, either. There are two significantly different SSD designs for these models, though.
There is one 6 Gb/s SATA-based SSD for the 'Late 2012' and 'Early 2013' 13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro models. Unlike the, the SSD in the 'Late 2012' and 'Early 2013' models is mounted in a small 'drive caddy' that can hold a 5 mm or 7 mm tall SSD (or hard drive), in lieu of the small proprietary SSD module that Apple uses.
![Upgrade ssd macbook pro 2015 Upgrade ssd macbook pro 2015](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125560779/767560009.jpg)
The proprietary PCIe 2.0-based SSD in the 'Late 2013' and subsequent models is limited to a smaller 'blade' option, though. By default, the 'Late 2013' and 'Mid-2014' models negotiate a x2 PCIe connection, but in, OWC discovered that when a 'blade' SSD from a was installed in a 'Late 2013' or 'Mid-2014' model, it 'negotiates a x4 PCIe connection versus the stock cards, which negotiate a x2 PCIe connection,' which means that this newly transplanted SSD was substantially faster than the stock one.
The 'Early 2015' models support a x4 PCIe connection by default. Upgrade Instructions The bottom panel of the 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro is attached with ten screws of differing lengths. After removing the bottom of the notebook, the battery removal process is fairly involved - with four more screws to unscrew before disconnecting the battery - but the drive caddy itself is easy to remove. OWC provides this excellent video to walk one through the entire procedure for the 'Late 2012' and 'Early 2013' models, specifically, and subsequent models have a similar procedure.
By watching these videos, you should be able to determine if you feel comfortable performing this upgrade yourself or if you would instead prefer to hire a professional. SSD Purchase Options In the US (and many other countries), site sponsor sells SSDs compatible with the 13' Retina MacBook Pro models as well as models. In the UK and Ireland, site sponsor sells 13' Retina Display MacBook Pro compatible SSDs with free shipping. The company provides flat rate shipping to France, Germany, and Switzerland and inexpensive shipping for all of Europe, too. In Australia, site sponsor sells compatible SSDs for the 13' Retina Display MacBook Pro models with fast, flat-rate shipping Australia-wide. Specifically, RamCity recommends the line. In Southeast Asia, site sponsor sells the compatible OWC SSD upgrade for the 13' Retina Display MacBook Pro with free delivery - and optional upgrade service - in Singapore and flat rate shipping to Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and South Korea.