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Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Rick Churchill
I'm not trying to fill the forum up completely with my queries, honest!

In the near future I will be upgrading my 13 inch (early 2015) MacBook Pro to 1TByte SSD (from 256GByte). Has any one done this? I swapped out my Games PC 512GByte hard drive for a 1 TByte SSD several years ago and it was painless.

Solutions Inc's comment was that Apple's cost for the drive is £1395 before their own charges and so it is economically non-viable. I replied that it was something I intended doing myself using a Transcend module found on eBay for £531. They offered to fit this for me for £99. Ideally I would like to go to 2 TByte and so keep everything on the Mac but there is not one on the market yet and it probably would be very expensive.

Re: Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Euan Williams
This is not particularly difficult to do. Visit iFixit for instructions and for your new SSD try Crucial.com. The excellent Crucial offer free next day delivery and technical advice if you need it. External type M.2 strip drive enclosures are now coming available, so you can continue to use your old SSD if you wish.

Notes which might be useful:
1. Make a clone of your existing drive for safety (Bombich.com's Carbon Copy Cloner or Shirt Pocket's SuperDuper) I prefer CCC
2. your SSD is a 'strip' M.2, not the old 2.5" drive (you knew that!)
3. make a pdf of the instructions before you start - and print it if there is no alternative Mac to view them.
4. you will need a "Pentalobe" screwdriver (best bought as part of a set of driver heads). driver tool set from Amazon is worth a look.
5. heed the 'take care' warnings in the iFixit instructions. Stop and think. Don't neglect to disconnect the battery (and re-connect it afterwards) :)
5. work on a towel to catch any stray tiny screws
6. for more complex operations try using an egg box with numbered 'egg slots' and place each removed item into a new slot. It's simpler to replace everything afterwards.
7. as your new SSD won't have any System on it, and may need reformatting from Windows to macOS (extended, journaled) have an external drive with at least a macOS installer, or perhaps better, a full clone.
8. Choosing to make some partitions on your new drive (may) make for more flexible use and convenience.

Too much egg-sucking info? Sorry...

Re: Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Rick Churchill
Absolutely rock solid advice, most of which I knew but it nevertheless helps to have it reinforced. I hadn't thought about the reformatting step as I had been following the Transcend module instructions where the module is made for the Mac (I think).

There seems to be some mileage in downloading a completely fresh OS from Apple so it is less of a "patched" system, although this takes quite a while, rather than a clone of my present system. (Patched is probably the wrong word but I can't think of the right word at present)

My present thinking is to delay this move until Solutions have sorted out my screen issues (delamination)

Re: Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Tony Still
Good list from Euan. Just one thing to add which is to observe static precautions.

Ground both the Mac's case and yourself before opening it (touching a water pipe or radiator is easiest). Ideally wear a static wrist strap clipped to the Mac's case or earth whilst you work (disposable ones are cheap (and reusable)); if not, avoid shuffling your feet or wearing your shell suit. Don't touch any of the pins/connectors on the SSD or anything else.

I agree about reinstalling macOS too, keeping your configuration as a mainstream installation is always safer.

Re: Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Rick Churchill
Intend to carry out the work in the bathroom with my feet in the bath filled with warm water! (actually a wrist strap is on order as part of a comprehensive toolkit)

Following Euan's advice I went to the Crucial website but the site says it does not have available a module to fit a MacBook Pro (13 inch early 2015). It is unfortunate because I have used their modules in the past and found them to be really good value.

Re: Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Mick Burrell
I clicked on 13" Early 2015 and found this:

Crucial SSD

Only thing was that Crucial think your machine has a retina screen which you don't say. How about downloading their "tool" which will check your machine and tell you exactly what's available for it?

Re: Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Rick Churchill
Unfortunately Mick the tool gives the same result as putting in the spec of my machine - no compatible cards. I have a retina display MacBook Pro (13 inch early 2015). The card has 1 notch wheras the one you show has 2. (not sure whether that is important).

Putting in the model you tried - MacBook (12 inch early 2015) strangely gives these 2.5 inch SATA interface SSDs as well as M2 cards. Surely these SSDs cannot both be compatible?

Re: Upgrading internal drives on MacBooks

Avatar Mick Burrell
I've just gone to the link I gave you and used the "check compatibility" boxes underneath and it does indeed say it's not compatible. However, bits of the site don't work - they did last night! I'm as sure as I can be that I chose MacBook Pro Systems and 13" Retina Early 2015. Apologies for getting your hopes up.
 
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