Craig Seeman

Level 4 (2,104 points)

Desktops

Q: Options to update the SSD in Late 2013 Mac Pro?

Options to update the SSD in Late 2013 Mac Pro?

Mac Pro has 256GB which is nearly full despite moving all large files (Photos, Downloads, etc) off the drive. I'm at a point where updating the drive seems to be a must.

OWC's option seems a bit of a kludge using a slower drive and a controller.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-pro/2013

MCETECH claims to use a new Apple authorized drive with proper Trim support and the ability to bootcamp to use Windows (important to me).

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=mtos&Screen=PROD&Product_Cod e=1TBPCIESSD-MP13

There are eBay sellers which claim to use the current part in recent builds of the Late 2013 Mac Pro.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Apple-Samsung-1TB-PCIe-SSD-MacBook-Pro-iMac-MacPro-L ate-2013-2015-SSUBX-/151605593746

and

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Apple-Mac-Pro-Late-2013-1TB-PCIe-SSD-Flash-Storage-M Z-KPV1T0R-0A1-605-00108/351601210482?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=ai d%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38804%26meid%3Dff768b1c384b46d68010 bf8050452542%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D151605593746&rt=nc

both sellers have very high ratings but I'm suspicious of eBay.

The MCETECH seems to guarantee continued compatibility as it's an Apple part.

Any thoughts or experiences with any of the above or other known good options?

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 1, 2016 10:27 AM

I have this question too

Q: Options to update the SSD in Late 2013 Mac Pro?

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by Grant Bennet-Alder,

Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 1, 2016 10:33 AM in response to Craig Seeman
Level 9 (60,627 points)

Desktops

Sep 1, 2016 10:33 AM in response to Craig Seeman

OWC's option seems a bit of a kludge using a slower drive and a controller.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-pro/2013

I think you are mis-reading the OWC page. They propose to replace the internal SSD stick with their larger-capacity SSD stick. The external case is only for you to continue to use the (perfectly good) original USB stick as an external drive, if desired.
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by lllaass,Helpful

lllaass Sep 1, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Craig Seeman
Level 10 (187,626 points)

Desktops

Sep 1, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Craig Seeman

Yes, OWC's does look kludgy . Here are speed comparisons withthe Apple SSD
http://barefeats.com/hard197.html
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by Craig Seeman,

Craig Seeman Sep 1, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
Level 4 (2,104 points)

Desktops

Sep 1, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant, it's not the external case. They're using a "daughter" card of some sort on the card. As lllaass notes below, their SSD is half the speed of Apple's. MCETECH and others are actually using Apple's Samsung supplied PCIe SSDs that run as fast as Apple's. My guess is that somehow they're buying from Samsung or someplace in the supply chain. Apple hasn't shut them down so I suspect it's all legit.

I actually contacted OWC a while back about their SSD and they said that the OS sees it as an external drive which is why it wasn't bootcamp compatible (although they've patched that).
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by Craig Seeman,

Craig Seeman Sep 1, 2016 12:58 PM in response to lllaass
Level 4 (2,104 points)

Desktops

Sep 1, 2016 12:58 PM in response to lllaass
That's why MCETECH notes these result with their drive
http://store.mcetech.com/mm/graphics/00000001/DiskSpeedTest_mp2013_mcepcie1tb.jp g

and state
Highest performance drive ever created for a Mac Pro Unlike third-party drives, this drive is as fast, or faster, than the stock original drive that shipped with your Mac Pro.
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