External Drive for Original SSD (Early 2013 rMBP)

[Hls811]

I upgraded the drive on my old Macbook Pro - a 15" Early 2013 model and have the original 256SSD sitting around doing nothing. I'd like to be able to use it as an external drive. I know the early 2013 and 2012's were the black sheep of the family, but I can't seem to find out what type of drive it is and what sort of external caddy that will work with it.

Well, I found one from OWC but its $80 and on backorder so thats a last resort. The ones I see on Amazon say they are for the m.2 NVMe PCIe drives which started being used on the late 2013 models.. I believe its AHCI but I'm not sure.

Can anyone point me in the direction for the right thing to get or look for?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Can anyone point me in the direction for the right thing to get or look for? "

The OWC case that you mentioned above.
Yes, it's expensive.
That's because there's little demand for an external enclosure for Apple's proprietary design -- making whatever you can find "out there" more money.

You might search on ebay or elsewhere online.
But I sense the "pickings" are going to be few and far between...

 

[ptfuzi]

I have a transcend and a few owc ones. Owc case is very sturdy but a bit heavy

 

[Hls811]

I was able to pick up an open-box enclosure directly from OWC - saved me half the price so I ordered that.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[minvoyager]

On eBay I found a case for the SSD that came out of my 2012 MacBook Air by searching eBay for - MacBook Air 2012 SSD case. These are about 3x to 4x more expensive than the generic cases that fit standard SSD sizes used in PC's. In other words, I matched it by searching for the model of Mac I had, rather than the type of SSD it was.

 

[Hls811]

I ended up picking up something else, but curious what your best price is.. I could always try to flip the one I just bought if yours is worthwhile.