2013 MB Air with Dead 256GB SSD - Options to replace?

[ninja365]

Hi Guys,
I have a 2013 13" MB Air in with a dead Samsung 256SSD and the customer would like to replace the drive with a new one BUT this is a little complicated because she was only running 10.12 Sierra and its my undertanding that all the new drives which are compatible require the machine to have run 10.13 High Sierra or later as it upgrades the firmware to recognize newer spec SSD drives.

Have seen several older "refurbished units" with El Capitan installed which i am assuming would be okay as they should be of the original specification and run out of the packet, but i would rather replace with a brand new unit from OWC or such like.

What are the options here, can i install a newer spec 4 channel unit and run the install from High Sierra from a USB for it to write the firmware upgrade?.

Thanks for some guidance please.

 

[saulinpa]

I don't think the firmware update works from USB. These old ones needed a genuine SSD installed.

Buy a Apple SSD and be done with it. https://beetstech.com/store/apple-parts/macbook-air-13-inch-a1466-mid-2013?filters=7967

 

[Audit13]

All parts from three mid-2013 to 2017 13" Air are totally interchangeable.

Install an original Apple SSD, install the latest release of Catalina or Mojave to get the latest bootrom into the air, and then you can install any os from Sierra to Catalina.

A High Sierra outer newer bootrom is only needed if you want to use a nvme drive in the air.

 

[steve1960]

The older Air's don't need a genuine Apple SSD they just don't support nvme right? I have 2012 and 2013 Air's both with OWC drives running Catalina. So why not just buy a new non name SSD?

 

[Juicy Box]

The older Air's don't need a genuine Apple SSD they just don't support nvme right? I have 2012 and 2013 Air's both with OWC drives running Catalina. So why not just buy a new non name SSD?

I think the issue is firmware.

I ran into a firmware issue a while back when fixing a dumpster pulled Mid-2011 iMac, which after getting it working, I discovered it was a top of the line BTO for that year.

One of the problems was the HDD was failing, I swapped it for a SSD which was pretty easy, but I could not get High Sierra installed on the internal SSD.

After some research, I determined that I needed to install HS on an Apple OEM drive to install firmware, as the iMac had never had High Sierra installed on it before. So, I swapped the drive, installed HS on the internal HDD which automatically installed the firmware, and swapped again with the SSD.

To the OP: There is a work around. You can make a bootable clone of High Sierra to a non-Apple SSD, and it will boot up and run fine. The probably is that if you ever need to recover the system or reinstall the OS, you will not be able to.

 

[Audit13]

The older Air's don't need a genuine Apple SSD they just don't support nvme right? I have 2012 and 2013 Air's both with OWC drives running Catalina. So why not just buy a new non name SSD?

The 2013 to 2017 Air and 2013 to 2015 Pro must be running a High Sierra bootrom before they will work with a nvme drive. Running an earlier bootrom well not allow macOS to recognize the drive.

The 2012 Air and Pro will not work with nvme drives.