Is it possible to upgrade my MacBook Air 2017 storage ?

My laptop is a MacBook Air 13" 2017 with 256 GB SSD. Can I upgrade to 1 TB or something else?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Feb 22, 2024 10:42 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 22, 2024 10:51 PM

Other World Computing sells internal SSD upgrade kits for Mid 2017 MacBook Airs.


https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-air/2013-2014-2015


OWC says you need to upgrade to High Sierra or higher before installing them. That's true, but I don't believe that it's the complete story.


2017 MacBook Airs can run Monterey. If you ever plan on running it, you should install it before installing any third-party internal SSD. I don't believe you have to install it on the internal drive, but you must install it somewhere.


Why? If I remember other threads correctly, the Monterey installer checks to see if it needs to upgrade your Mac's firmware. If it thinks the firmware needs updating, and the update code detects that your Mac's internal SSD is not an Apple SSD, the firmware update will fail, and the Monterey upgrade will fail along with it.


Once you've done a successful installation of Monterey and the firmware is upgraded, I believe that you can install a non-Apple SSD and then successfully install Monterey on it.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 22, 2024 10:51 PM in response to LingXianS

Other World Computing sells internal SSD upgrade kits for Mid 2017 MacBook Airs.


https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-air/2013-2014-2015


OWC says you need to upgrade to High Sierra or higher before installing them. That's true, but I don't believe that it's the complete story.


2017 MacBook Airs can run Monterey. If you ever plan on running it, you should install it before installing any third-party internal SSD. I don't believe you have to install it on the internal drive, but you must install it somewhere.


Why? If I remember other threads correctly, the Monterey installer checks to see if it needs to upgrade your Mac's firmware. If it thinks the firmware needs updating, and the update code detects that your Mac's internal SSD is not an Apple SSD, the firmware update will fail, and the Monterey upgrade will fail along with it.


Once you've done a successful installation of Monterey and the firmware is upgraded, I believe that you can install a non-Apple SSD and then successfully install Monterey on it.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Is it possible to upgrade my MacBook Air 2017 storage ?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.