Is there a way to upgrade storage on my macbook air?

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Level 1

8 points

Is there a way to upgrade storage on my macbook air?

I have a Macbook Air that was made in mid-2013. I like everything about it, except the storage. It has only 126 GBs. Since I got this for Christmas, I didn't decide how much storage I wanted. Apparently 126 GBs is not enough for me to have everything I have on here now with a windows partition. I installed a cleaning program to clean up some space, which it worked very well, but at this point it just keeps my computer running smoothly. I want to upgrade my storage from 126 to 256 GBs. Is that possible? Will Apple do this for me? If so, how much will it cost?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 18, 2015 4:34 AM

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Answer 1

carl wolf

Level 6

14,631 points

Oct 18, 2015 4:50 AM in response to lightpower26

Although Apple won't do it for you, it is possible to do. There are several vendors for the SSD module, and this forum is chock full of recommendations.

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Answer 2

lightpower26 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 18, 2015 4:52 AM in response to carl wolf

Could you please give me some examples?

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Answer 3

Oct 19, 2015 6:09 AM in response to lightpower26

I have a mid March 13"air delivered with 256 memory. Like you I wanted more storage.I bought a 480 flash drive from Other World Computing. OWP. for short.

The cost about $300, 15 minutes to install with step by step video instruction. The new flash storage was much faster the the Apple original. I noticed a substantial speed increase on my computer and solved all my storage problems. Hope this helps.

John

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Answer 4

KiltedTim

Level 10

225,990 points

Oct 18, 2015 5:51 AM in response to lightpower26

If you have a 13" MBA, it has an SD Card Slot built in. You can get an SDXD card and plug it in much more easily than you can upgrade the built in flash drive.

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Answer 5

lightpower26 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2015 6:10 AM in response to johnweyer

Thanks, John.

Although, I'm not sure I want to be able to remove the flash drive... the main reason I want a larger hard drive is so I can actually put windows on here. The Mid-2013 Airs don't have any sort of SD slot. Unless you can somehow put Windows on a flash drive and run it using Boot Camp, I don't think that's what I'm looking for...

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Answer 6

Oct 19, 2015 6:33 AM in response to lightpower26

I think you've misunderstood the answers you've been given. The Airs do not have a hard drive - they have built-in flash storage. The only way to upgrade this is to disassemble the Mac's case, remove this internal flash drive and insert a larger one - such as the examples from OWC that have been posted. You do have to be comfortable with doing the disassembly (check the instruction videos) or ask a local Mac tech to do it for you.

Matt

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Answer 7

lightpower26 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2015 6:35 AM in response to Matt Clifton

Oh...

Sorry for the misunderstanding...I have thousands of flash drives and I thought that's what John was saying. Guess I still got lots to learn about macs...

Well then, I guess I'll just buy a flash storage hard drive and carefully insert it... Warranty won't matter anymore, my computer is almost 2 years old... I'm quite sure that's past 1 year

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Answer 8

lightpower26 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2015 7:06 AM in response to lightpower26

Ok, so I found what I wanted from OWC, The Mercury Electra 6G SSD. I looked at a video and I noticed that the hard drive looked like an RAM card. Am I looking at the right thing? Here's the link to what I'm looking at: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Electra_6G/

Ok, I found I might not be looking at the right thing when I somehow got here: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina

I have a mid-2013, and it's not listed anywhere on the site!

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Answer 9

Oct 19, 2015 7:21 AM in response to lightpower26

Right, that first item is a SATA-connected SSD - that's storage technology faster than a mechanical hard drive, but not quite the same as the PCI-connected flash storage you're looking for. And the 2010-2012 models use SATA-connected flash storage, similar but not exactly the same connection as your model. This is what you're after. Supply is limited, so they're still pretty expensive.

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/Macbook-Air-11-Inch-and-13-Inch-Mid-2013-Early- 2014-SSD/IF188-105-5

Matt

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Answer 10

Phil0124

Level 10

217,484 points

Oct 19, 2015 7:33 AM in response to lightpower26

Macsales.com is not currently offering PCI SSD Blades for your specific model of MacBook Air. Which are sightly shorter than the ones for previous models.

Like Matt pointed out, iFixit has some in stock in different sizes. And also has the guide on how to do the swap.

Note, that you will have to re-install OSx, as the drive will be completely clean. Once OSx is installed, you'll need to run Bootcamp to install windows if you want.

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Answer 11

lightpower26 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2015 8:01 AM in response to Matt Clifton

Oh, that explains it. Thanks a lot, Matt! That helped me. I'll get a 256 GB flash storage and put everything I need back on it.

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Answer 12

Oct 19, 2015 8:06 AM in response to lightpower26

I would contact OWP customer service, they will tell you exactly what replacement flash is available to buy for your computer. They were excellent in helping me with the correct part and watched there install video a couple of times.

Once I got the new drive, I did a full back up on my 13" Air to my Time Capsule first. Followed the step by step video instruction to remover the old 256 flash and install the new 480 flash drive. The new hard drive came with the correct screwdrivers need to remove the back. The swap took about 15 minutes and was very easy, an exact fit. When throughout the the steps to install the back up with out any issues. Worked great.

The there present surprise was with a much faster flash drive, I realized a noticeable increase in the compiler speed .

My son has updated both of his older mac pro's from the 500 Apple factory spinning hard drives to OWC 500 flash-drives with the same results

Hope this helps.

John

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