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256 GB SSD on 11" Macbook AIR?

I'm not too technical of a person, but I would love to have this in my 11inch air. A couple questions:

How do you get it in? Do you need to know how to solder this on to the logic board yourself?

I assume this completely voids the warranty?

How do you get OSX installed on it? I assume you target connect to a different computer and install onto this drive then?

Has anyone else actually done this and had success? I love my air, and I'd love more space, but not if I'm going to screw anything up.

Cheers!



DaveOZ said:
Oh yes I'm serious.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express

To me this stuff is still cheap. I used to pay $30,000 for a Sun workstation that was 1/10000th the speed of the Mac Book Air.

BTW, did you read this thread at all??
Click to expand...
 
ninethirty said:
I'm not too technical of a person, but I would love to have this in my 11inch air. A couple questions:

How do you get it in? Do you need to know how to solder this on to the logic board yourself?

I assume this completely voids the warranty?

How do you get OSX installed on it? I assume you target connect to a different computer and install onto this drive then?

Has anyone else actually done this and had success? I love my air, and I'd love more space, but not if I'm going to screw anything up.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

The SSD in the MBA isn't soldered in; it's a chip just like a memory ship. You'll have to find a tool to get the funky screws out of the case (it might be included in the kit, I would hope), then just swap the two pieces.

The MBA comes with OSX on a USB stick (8 gig) so you reinstall that way, then pull in your backup off of Time Machine, assuming you use that.

Rob
 
Have you done this? I'd love to do it but just a few more questions.

The disk space on the air right now is Flash memory. Is SSD the same, faster or slower?

The chips that I end up taking out... can those be repurposed somehow (USB HD, etc?)

How safe is this procedure. If I mess up my air, I'm screwed as its my only home machine now.

Cheers!

Rob.G said:
The SSD in the MBA isn't soldered in; it's a chip just like a memory ship. You'll have to find a tool to get the funky screws out of the case (it might be included in the kit, I would hope), then just swap the two pieces.

The MBA comes with OSX on a USB stick (8 gig) so you reinstall that way, then pull in your backup off of Time Machine, assuming you use that.

Rob
Click to expand...
 
I received my 360GB SSD stick from OWC this morning via FedEx.

WOW, I now have a MacBook Air 11" with 360GB and I could not be happier. I carry this thing with me everywhere and I now have my iTunes and Aperture libraries on there.

Installation took 2min with the top quality tools supplied.

The stick fits nicely in the 11" with no issues.

Boot off the USB stick that came with your Air and create a partion in DiskUtility.

I then restored from a time machine backup.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
Congrats on that drive, seems deathly pricey. What about the hibernation issue that they talk about?
 
BeyondtheTech said:
Congrats on that drive, seems deathly pricey. What about the hibernation issue that they talk about?
Click to expand...

Only just done it this hour and not experienced any problems yet. Will give it some testing over the weekend and report any issues here.
 
How about running XBench and posting your disk access numbers... Just to see the diference between Apple's SSD and OWC.

DaveOZ said:
Installation took 2min with the top quality tools supplied.
Click to expand...

Wait - so you didn't ruin the screws removing them? Did you use the original screws when you assembled the MBA back together?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
No, the screw came our cleanly and I was able to re-use them.

will post Xbench results soon.
 
DaveOZ said:
No, the screw came our cleanly and I was able to re-use them.

will post Xbench results soon.
Click to expand...

so you could restore your machine to stock in under 5 mins. pretty nice I have to say the 240gb size for 580 is looking like the sweet spot. there is a refurb on apple refurbs for 850 so 850 and 580 is 1430 say 1500 with tax for a 240gb 11 inch machine


http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC505LL/A?mco=MjA2NTk3NzA

a 13 inch with the better ssd and cpu is around 1800. but there is a size factor. an off topic question has anyone dropped in more then 4gb ram?
 
Seems my excitement was short lived. The drive is now dead and my Air will not boot at all. Not even using the system USB.

Works fine when I put the original drive back in.

Not happy anymore. :(
 
Sorry to hear it.

I had a similar experience with a Runcore replacement SSD for my RevB Air. However it did last longer... to prolong my frustration. I got about 6 months of random spinning beachballs before it died completely and I had to put the old drive back in.

Hopefully, you just got a defective drive. I assume OWC will replace it for you.

Good luck! Keep us posted. Who knows, maybe next year I'll want to upgrade mine. However, 128 GB is still fine for me right now with my 11.6.

Again, Good luck.
 
happyslayer said:
Sorry to hear it.

I had a similar experience with a Runcore replacement SSD for my RevB Air. However it did last longer... to prolong my frustration. I got about 6 months of random spinning beachballs before it died completely and I had to put the old drive back in.

Hopefully, you just got a defective drive. I assume OWC will replace it for you.

Good luck! Keep us posted. Who knows, maybe next year I'll want to upgrade mine. However, 128 GB is still fine for me right now with my 11.6.

Again, Good luck.
Click to expand...

Maybe that is why the company that, very early after release, announced a 256M option for the 11.6"MBA was asked by Apple to stop advertising it. Maybe the SSDs in the MBA required special OSX software??
 
DaveOZ said:
Seems my excitement was short lived. The drive is now dead and my Air will not boot at all. Not even using the system USB.

Works fine when I put the original drive back in.

Not happy anymore. :(
Click to expand...

its under warranty right? you didn't just eat $1200 did you??
 
DaveOZ said:
Seems my excitement was short lived. The drive is now dead and my Air will not boot at all. Not even using the system USB.

Works fine when I put the original drive back in.

Not happy anymore. :(
Click to expand...

So sorry to hear this! How frustrating!!!! Keep us posted on how OWC handles it, and how long it takes to get a replacement, etc! I'm looking into the 240gb model, but not before I know that they have got these possible bugs worked out!
 
iRun26.2 said:
Maybe that is why the company that, very early after release, announced a 256M option for the 11.6"MBA was asked by Apple to stop advertising it. Maybe the SSDs in the MBA required special OSX software??
Click to expand...

Doubtful. At face value, there's no reason why any compatible SSD will not work in the Air. Apple may have optimized the firmware to play very well with OS X, but that would an improvement and not a restriction.
 
Would be interested if anyone has successfully up graded the HD in their 11" Air?

As my HD is getting closer to full the 240gb is looking very tempting.

Also curious how OWC customer support was for the person whose 360gb upgraded failed.

TIA

I guess I missed this thread the first time

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1087314/

Would still like to hear from anyone else who tried this.

Thanks
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DaveOZ said:
Seems my excitement was short lived. The drive is now dead and my Air will not boot at all. Not even using the system USB.

Works fine when I put the original drive back in.

Not happy anymore. :(
Click to expand...


How does the story end?

Did you call OWC and get a replacement? Did you get a refund?

I was thinking of doing the same thing (albeit only the 240gb), but now I don't think I'll make this move.
 
MacModMachine said:
ummm a little research could save you from embarrassment, its not mini pci-e in any way, not even close to that width.

while its close to msata its still 42% thinner then that form factor.

http://www.toshiba.com/taec/news/press_releases/2010/memy_10_604.jsp
Click to expand...

Careful with your "little research" comment....

The physical connection is the same physical connection as mini PCI-e; but it is electrically SATA. So you're both kind of right.

I'm not sure which end would be harmed, if either, if you plugged a mini PCI-e card in, but it would physically plug in to the SSD port.
 
Anonymous Freak said:
Careful with your "little research" comment....

The physical connection is the same physical connection as mini PCI-e; but it is electrically SATA. So you're both kind of right.

I'm not sure which end would be harmed, if either, if you plugged a mini PCI-e card in, but it would physically plug in to the SSD port.
Click to expand...

odd, i have a msata drive and a mini pcie ssd card, there different sizes, one will not go into another.
 
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