What is the best way to expand a MacBook Air's 128 GB capacity? A 64GB SDXC card or a 3.0 64 GB thumb drive? Which is sturdier and less likely to fail? I realize it isn't possible to internally increase memory, so I am looking for people's experience. Is it easier to walk around with a MacBook and work with a SDXC card or is a small thumb drive the way to go? Any recommendations on card or thumb drive manufacturers that have a reputation for reliability?
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Expanding a 2012's MacBook Air Memory
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Gav2k: Sounds like a great idea -- who makes them? I can search the brand, size and shipper.
Gav2k: Sounds like a great idea -- who makes them? I can search the brand, size and shipper.
First off, we're talking about storage here, not memory. The best way IMHO, is with the Transcend internal SSD replacement for the standard SSD. Your internal SSD can then be used as an external device. See this thread, and my review on page 9.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1729071/
Page 9:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1729071/
Lou
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1729071/
Page 9:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1729071/
Lou
HD Upgrade a Bridge Too Far
Lou,
Thank you, I appreciate the suggestion. I need more of a "plug and play" solution as I am sure I would destroy my MacBook Air if I went this route. For others, more capable, this is really a great idea, particularly if they can use Time Machine to recover the original drive. I don't know if that is possible as Apple may require that the same "machine" is being recovered. In sum, a good flush, card in the slot that can run video smoothly directly from the card is all I need. Cheers.
Lou,
Thank you, I appreciate the suggestion. I need more of a "plug and play" solution as I am sure I would destroy my MacBook Air if I went this route. For others, more capable, this is really a great idea, particularly if they can use Time Machine to recover the original drive. I don't know if that is possible as Apple may require that the same "machine" is being recovered. In sum, a good flush, card in the slot that can run video smoothly directly from the card is all I need. Cheers.
I think all that's required is the correct size screwdriver to remove the bottom panel, and then replacing the SSD is simply a matter of taking out a circuit board similar to a memory stick and putting in a different one. Should be very doable even by someone with no experience working on computers.
^^^^That's correct, as long as you have the correct tools, it's really not a tough job. As far as backup, the Transcend unit comes with a small enclosure that you install your old drive into, thereby becoming a USB 3.0 external SSD Drive. A very tidy package that makes use of your old drive.
Lou
Lou
Remember that any card-reader solution is going to prevent the laptop from going into deep sleep, which will affect your standby time.
Before the inevitable frothing at the mouth from the peanut gallery, no, it's not NiftyDrive vs fill-in-the-blank solution... all the different ones are just carriers for inserting an SDXC card flush-mounted into the laptop body. Just mechanical bits. The deep-sleep issue is the *card* insertion.
See http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202124.
Before the inevitable frothing at the mouth from the peanut gallery, no, it's not NiftyDrive vs fill-in-the-blank solution... all the different ones are just carriers for inserting an SDXC card flush-mounted into the laptop body. Just mechanical bits. The deep-sleep issue is the *card* insertion.
See http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202124.
Also if you have an external USB hard drive, you can use SuperDuper! for free to copy the contents on your internal drive to the external drive, swap the internal drive out, boot off the external drive, and copy the external drive to the new internal drive. Works great. Did it for a friend's computer a few weeks ago.