OWC Announces Aura Flash Storage Upgrades for Mid-2013 and Later Mac Laptops

[Pat Dissent]

Apple has to be able to demonstrate that the malfunction is caused by incorrect installation of the third party parts or the third party parts malfunctions.

Incorrect.

I quote from Apple's warranty once again, to wit "This Warranty does not apply:" :

(f) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (“AASP”);
(g) to an Apple Product that has been modified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple;

... which Apple is perfectly allowed to do under Magnuson-Moss. It is specifically mentioned in Magnuson-Moss. You can argue contrary to this all day long (and I suspect you will), but you will be utterly, completely, totally and in all other ways WRONG.

Unless and until you have the document from Apple in your hot little hands granting you permission to modify your Mac, you have just voided your warranty the second you turn the first screw.
[doublepost=1457623337][/doublepost]

yeah, sorry, been using macs since 1988, unless you're talking back in the pre-OSX days, the longest gap in OS updates was between Tiger and Leopard and that was just a touch over two years.

Incorrect.

Between 6.0 and 7.0 was four years, one month. Between 6.0 and 6.1 was 11 months. I have been using Apple since nearly the beginning. You may want to review your recent history to refresh your memory.

 

[Weaselboy]

Unless and until you have the document from Apple in your hot little hands granting you permission to modify your Mac, you have just voided your warranty the second you turn the first screw.

I would argue replacing a flash drive is not "modifying" your Mac any more than putting new tires on your car is modifying your car. We can argue this all day, because it is a bit of a grey area. There are forum posts here for example from people who took in Macs even with Opti-Bay units installed and Apple had no issues making repairs that were unrelated and not impacted by the Opti-Bay. I don't think this is quite as black and white as you make it out to be.

 

[Pat Dissent]

They replaced his 16 gigabytes of Crucial RAM and replaced it with 8 gigabytes of Apple RAM, but they did the repair anyway.

How is this, in any way, contrary to what I have said? I said IF you get them to work on your Mac, you won the lottery. I have quite clearly stated Apple is under precisely ZERO obligation to work on non-warranty repairs, as are the AASPs. Apple and AASPs can, and do, work on non-warranty equipment all the time. There is precisely zero obligation, legally, morally, or otherwise to do so. All I have said all along is that if you swap out a part, in warranty, and are not an AASP or Apple, don't be surprised if they hand you back your now-voided, warranty-less, computer and refuse to work on it.

What your words do is reinforce and buttress my remarks. Micron makes memory under their Crucial brand-name. Micron is also an OEM manufacturer for Apple. Quite literally, Crucial memory IS Apple memory for all practical purposes to you and me, but not to Apple. The odds of Crucial memory being incompatible with your Mac are infinitesimally small. Even so, Apple WILL be able to point to chapter and verse exactly WHY Crucial is out of spec. Now if Apple will rebuff one of their own OEMs when it comes to third-party parts, exactly what reaction do you think they will have to a non-OEM part being on your Mac?

That Apple replaced the RAM is testament to the truthfulness of what I say.

What I have said is 100% true. You may not like hearing it, but unlike others here I do know of whence I speak, and I will not knowingly lead you astray. If you want to risk your warranty, go for it. If you do not, then don't. Anyone telling you there are no consequences to modifying your Mac while it is under warranty doesn't know what the hell they are talking about. That is especially true of any third-party manufacturer / salesman who DOES NOT have your best interest in mind.

If I am incorrect about any of this, I invite anyone to read and re-post the sections of Apple's warranty that prove me wrong.
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I would argue replacing a flash drive is not "modifying" your Mac any more than putting new tires on your car is modifying your car. We can argue this all day, because it is a bit of a grey area. There are forum posts here for example from people who took in Macs even with Opti-Bay units installed and Apple had no issues making repairs that were unrelated and not impacted by the Opti-Bay. I don't think this is quite as black and white as you make it out to be.

(SIGH)

One more time, under "This Warranty does not apply:" :

(f) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (“AASP”);
(g) to an Apple Product that has been modified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple;

What do you not understand about this? If you take out an Apple part and put a non-Apple part in, YOU HAVE MODIFIED IT. There is no gray area to be found here. If Apple chooses to work on it, you have won the lottery. Apple does work on modified equipment every day at their choice. Apple rejects working on modified equipment every day at their choice. Apple also voids warranties every day at their choice.

All I have said, consistently, is don't be surprised if you are among those Apple rejects. If you feel lucky, go for it. If you do not feel lucky, then don't.

Under NO circumstances should you feel immune or proof against having your warranty voided because you did a 'good' job with the modification or think you didn't cause any damage.

 

[Kamikaze2112]

I've been patiently awaiting this for some time now, however with the lack of boot camp support and now questions about the controller being used, plus the price (current exchange rate making the 1tb option $900+ CAD) I feel that this just isn't the solution I was hoping for.

The biggest issue is the price. Even with the 480gb option at 399 USD (around 530 CAD), I can find an OEM 512gb apple ssd online for around 650 CAD....and for the extra money I don't have to worry about any of the issues that have been expressed in this thread.

OWC has got the right idea here, just for 2+ years in the making it seems as though it falls short of expectations.

 

[Weaselboy]

(SIGH)

All you are doing is yelling here and repeating what you already said. I explained why I believe it is a grey area, and if you you disagree with my opinion, that's just fine. Carry on.

From looking at your post history, is seems you are on a bit of a crusade with this.

 

[Hellhammer]

All you are doing is yelling here and repeating what you already said. I explained why I believe it is a grey area, and if you you disagree with my opinion, that's just fine. Carry on.

From looking at your post history, is seems you are on a bit of a crusade with this.

The warranty question has been debated for god knows how many times. It used to be a daily topic when I was active in 2009-2011. The short version is that there's no definite answer. Many even asked Apple support personnel and received conflicting answering, suggesting that it's really a grey area.

Technically Apple has the right to invalidate warranty if a third-party component has been installed by an unauthorized person. Hence the best option is to keep the old drive around and put it back in if the computer needs to be serviced by Apple. There are no "warranty void if removed" stickers, so Apple has no way of knowing that someone has been inside the machine (unless you screw something up during the installation), meaning that from their perspective it's still in factory state.

 

[tubeexperience]

Incorrect.

I quote from Apple's warranty once again, to wit "This Warranty does not apply:" :



... which Apple is perfectly allowed to do under Magnuson-Moss. It is specifically mentioned in Magnuson-Moss. You can argue contrary to this all day long (and I suspect you will), but you will be utterly, completely, totally and in all other ways WRONG.

Unless and until you have the document from Apple in your hot little hands granting you permission to modify your Mac, you have just voided your warranty the second you turn the first screw.

Apple doesn't get to transcend the law. It has to be able to established that third party parts or the installation of them caused the MacBook to malfunction and hence deny warranty.

If while installing the SSD, I broke the connector on the logic board, then Apple have the right to deny warranty.

If the SSD was installed and worked properly, but the logic board failed, then I am entitled for repair under warranty.

 

[BobertKennedy]

It's about time. Too bad the MBP is hamstrung by non-upgradable memory.

 

[kwikdeth]

Incorrect.

Between 6.0 and 7.0 was four years, one month. Between 6.0 and 6.1 was 11 months. I have been using Apple since nearly the beginning. You may want to review your recent history to refresh your memory.

do you even read? i said "PRE-OSX DAYS"... again - i fail to see how something that, now, is nearly 25 YEARS AGO has ANY relevance to the topic being discussed here. people barely even had CD players in the time frame you're talking about.

 

[cerberusss]

I'm not only an early adapter of flash, we run flash cache on all our last years Linux VM servers:
https://www.t2-project.org/zine/6/

That's a great article, thanks a lot! Nowadays, I don't manage bare metal Linux servers anymore (I just use a cheap VPS for my modest needs) but your article gave me that nice and updated bit of knowledge.

Danke sehr!

 

[Pat Dissent]

Apple doesn't get to transcend the law.

YES. THEY. DO.

That is what the M-M law says. You may not like this fact. You may hate it. Merely because you say so doesn't modify law. Apple merely has to apply for the exemption, and spell it out in writing, and they get to do it. Guess what? Apple spelled it out in writing. They get to do it.

Which is easier to believe? You, or the entire world of evidence laid at your feet, mostly due to the army of lawyers Apple employs?

It has to be able to established that third party parts or the installation of them caused the MacBook to malfunction and hence deny warranty.

YES. IT. HAS.

I quote, once again from the "This Warranty does not apply:" section :

"(f) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (“AASP”);
(g) to an Apple Product that has been modified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple;"

Does subparagraph g mention anything, anything at all, about damage? No, it does not. Does it mention altering functionality or capability? Yes, it does. From the first turn of the screw you are demonstrating your intent to modify. What follows is a mere formality.

Again, you may not like it. You may hate it. What you can't do is unilaterally replace a contract YOU AGREED TO at whim. You may even be lucky enough to never get called on the carpet for it. Then again, you may get called onto the carpet immediately. The point was, is, and always will be that it is Apple's call (and the AASPs), not yours. Weep, wail and gnash your teeth all you wish, but it will not change this simple fact.

If while installing the SSD, I broke the connector on the logic board, then Apple have the right to deny warranty.

If the SSD was installed and worked properly, but the logic board failed, then I am entitled for repair under warranty.

Naturally you will be able to prove to Apple's satisfaction you set up an anti-static workstation that was properly grounded, right? You will be able to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, none of your actions could have damaged the logic board, right?

Unless you can prove you are in possession of a properly grounded anti-static work station, no you cannot. THAT is why Apple gets to void your warranty. You DID damage the logic board, even if it wasn't apparent at the time.

 

[GoodWheaties]

You write yourself: "should", "could", ...

And what will most likely go bad is not the controller but the flash cell, ...

I'm not only an early adapter of flash, we run flash cache on all our last years Linux VM servers:
https://www.t2-project.org/zine/6/

I even have a PATA-SATA bridged SSD in my G4 Cube, ...

Guess what? I already have a stack of bad SSDs next to the stack of bad HDs, ...

I should have said "current SSDs". Yes absolutely they were not reliable at the beginning just like jet engines were abysmal at their beginning, but I believe SSDs have matured to the point where they are far more reliable than hard drives, so long as they are connected to power :/ I think most SSDs have a P/E rating between 2000 and 5000 and can often go farther. Sure cells die before that but the controller manages that and does not use those again, but as always there are anomalies.

 

[tubeexperience]

YES. THEY. DO.

That is what the M-M law says. You may not like this fact. You may hate it. Merely because you say so doesn't modify law. Apple merely has to apply for the exemption, and spell it out in writing, and they get to do it. Guess what? Apple spelled it out in writing. They get to do it.

Which is easier to believe? You, or the entire world of evidence laid at your feet, mostly due to the army of lawyers Apple employs?



YES. IT. HAS.

I quote, once again from the "This Warranty does not apply:" section :

"(f) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (“AASP”);
(g) to an Apple Product that has been modified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Apple;"

Does subparagraph g mention anything, anything at all, about damage? No, it does not. Does it mention altering functionality or capability? Yes, it does. From the first turn of the screw you are demonstrating your intent to modify. What follows is a mere formality.

Again, you may not like it. You may hate it. What you can't do is unilaterally replace a contract YOU AGREED TO at whim. You may even be lucky enough to never get called on the carpet for it. Then again, you may get called onto the carpet immediately. The point was, is, and always will be that it is Apple's call (and the AASPs), not yours. Weep, wail and gnash your teeth all you wish, but it will not change this simple fact.

As I said, Apple cannot transcend the law.

The Magnuson-Moss Act does allow for exceptions. That said, the FTC has to approve the exemptions.

For example, Apple can refuse to service a computer if there are radioactive particles inside the computer because it would be a health risk to the technicians.

That said, somehow, I highly doubt that FTC would approve the exception for, let's say, changing the SSD.

YES. THEY. DO.
Naturally you will be able to prove to Apple's satisfaction you set up an anti-static workstation that was properly grounded, right? You will be able to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, none of your actions could have damaged the logic board, right?

Unless you can prove you are in possession of a properly grounded anti-static work station, no you cannot. THAT is why Apple gets to void your warranty. You DID damage the logic board, even if it wasn't apparent at the time.

The burden of proof is on the manufacturer - the service provider must show that a specific after-market part caused a problem in order to deny a warranty claim.

 

[Rigby]

Turns out that this is actually a RAID 0 drive with two Silicon Motion SM2256 SATA 6Gbps controllers. I was mistaken for assuming it to be native PCIe with SM2260, apologies for that.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10128...ade-for-macbook-pro-and-macbook-air-pcie-ssds

Interesting. The RAID controller probably explains why the SSD doesn't support TRIM.

The RAID 0 factor makes this much less appealing. The chance of failure is practically double and SSDs

Well, only if you are referring to a failure of one of the controllers. Much more likely is a failure of one of the flash chips though, but the probability is the same for an equal number of chips whether you organize them in a RAID array or not.

with internal RAID 0 have traditionally had pretty poor random performance. The SM2256 also means that the drive is likely using TLC NAND, and drives with such configuration haven't performed very well. I would say it's better to wait for actual native PCIe drives than buy this.

Not sure how you arrive at the conclusion that it uses TLC?

Anyway, performance-wise these drives are not on the same level as Apple's OEM drives (not surprising given that Apple uses PCIe x4 and a cutting-edge controller with NVME, which is still quite rare). But they will still be a welcome option for people who are running out of space.

 

[DoNoHarm]

I just want you all to know that as I read the text on these posts, I'm reading them in the voice of the Simpsons Comic Book Guy:

 

[ReneR]

I should have said "current SSDs". Yes absolutely they were not reliable at the beginning just like jet engines were abysmal at their beginning, but I believe SSDs have matured to the point where they are far more reliable than hard drives, so long as they are connected to power :/ I think most SSDs have a P/E rating between 2000 and 5000 and can often go farther. Sure cells die before that but the controller manages that and does not use those again, but as always there are anomalies.

I have nothing against anomalies, and early defects. But throwing the whole logic board into the trash due to that? And after the warranty the user can pay for the whole new board? :-/

 

[mpe]

The fact they call it Aura suggests there is a room for Aura Pro with decent performance.

 

[temna]

The fact they call it Aura suggests there is a room for Aura Pro with decent performance.

Considering how long it took for the Aura to be released, I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[ButtCarcass]

Arguing about Apple Warranties? Who relies on THOSE any more and who cares who wins that argument?

What a bunch of whiners.

The kind of people who say OWC components are overpriced are probably the same people who buy Apple gear solely to surf the internet and answer emails.

I have OWC SSDs that I've been using heavily, maybe even inappropriately (aka letting them knock around my backpack in hot and humid climates with zero protection on them for the last 4 years) and still fast and functional as ever.

Looks like this article is largely based on assumption and not as informative as it seems. Strange for anandtech, eh?

 

[jblagden]

Those are incorrect assumptions. We absolutely are not using TLC flash in these or any of our current SSD/Flash models. As noted - all of our SSD solutions all use Tier 1 MLC NAND Flash. It is not a true statement to suggest that the chance of failure is doubled with this configuration at all - this is a a single, integrated flash array device - not a couple independent spinning hard drives raided up.

- OWC Larry

That RAID configuration might minimize the consequences of half the Solid State Drive failing.

 

[GaiusBaltar]

I bought the 480 SSD for my macbook air 2015 with 128 GB, and after I installed it I wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible and returned it asap.

three reasons:

1: the SSD can't be recognised as internal ssd "for some reason", and can only be recognized as "external pci-device" (with all consequences already told). Reinstalling osx was a drag.

2: my air was always running very cool, almost never feeling hot, but with the OWC ssd, several times it was feeling really hot while not doing anything special (watching a film?)

3: most important: I have the air for a specific reason: its stunning battery life of more than 10 hours, but with the OWC that battery life was at least cut in half

so well, that was a quick decision.

Oh and also, very dissappointing R/W speed. Half of my original. mkay.

So... no. I don't think they did a very good job, and a lot of how they advertise is very clearly vague on purpose.
If it would be "perfecly compatible" then my mac should recognise it as the internal disk, not an "external pci-device".

Stay away from this. Really. They shouldn't have had this released.
I read the topic through after I already bought it, and I'm afraid all of your concerns are righteous.

If you want to upgrade your 2013-.. machine, look for an original SSD, or sell it and buy a new one with a bigger disk. Or well. Get some half-ass excuse for a vastly overpriced "upgrade" in size which negates half the advantages your macbook had in the first place.

 

[ButtCarcass]

I bought the 480 SSD for my macbook air 2015 with 128 GB, and after I installed it I wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible and returned it asap.

three reasons:

1: the SSD can't be recognised as internal ssd "for some reason", and can only be recognized as "external pci-device" (with all consequences already told). Reinstalling osx was a drag.

2: my air was always running very cool, almost never feeling hot, but with the OWC ssd, several times it was feeling really hot while not doing anything special (watching a film?)

3: most important: I have the air for a specific reason: its stunning battery life of more than 10 hours, but with the OWC that battery life was at least cut in half

so well, that was a quick decision.

Oh and also, very dissappointing R/W speed. Half of my original. mkay.

So... no. I don't think they did a very good job, and a lot of how they advertise is very clearly vague on purpose.
If it would be "perfecly compatible" then my mac should recognise it as the internal disk, not an "external pci-device".

Stay away from this. Really. They shouldn't have had this released.
I read the topic through after I already bought it, and I'm afraid all of your concerns are righteous.

If you want to upgrade your 2013-.. machine, look for an original SSD, or sell it and buy a new one with a bigger disk. Or well. Get some half-ass excuse for a vastly overpriced "upgrade" in size which negates half the advantages your macbook had in the first place.

Wow, okay. This is pretty compelling info. Guess I won't be buying this. Sounds like I've a better chance of building a powerful hackintosh than successfully upgrading my MBP's HDD. Thanks for saving me time and money, sir.

 

[cerberusss]

1: the SSD can't be recognised as internal ssd "for some reason", and can only be recognized as "external pci-device" (with all consequences already told). Reinstalling osx was a drag.

I don't think I understand this point. The consequence is that you can't use Bootcamp, right?

And why did you have to reinstall? You could've simply restored from your most recent Time Machine backup?
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Sounds like I've a better chance of building a powerful hackintosh than successfully upgrading my MBP's HDD.

Having worked with a Hackintosh, I can safely say that upgrading is way easier.

 

[Kamikaze2112]

I don't think I understand this point. The consequence is that you can't use Bootcamp, right?

And why did you have to reinstall? You could've simply restored from your most recent Time Machine backup?
[doublepost=1460759848][/doublepost]

Having worked with a Hackintosh, I can safely say that upgrading is way easier.

This is one of the deal breakers for me personally.

 

[ButtCarcass]

I don't think I understand this point. The consequence is that you can't use Bootcamp, right?

And why did you have to reinstall? You could've simply restored from your most recent Time Machine backup?
[doublepost=1460759848][/doublepost]

Having worked with a Hackintosh, I can safely say that upgrading is way easier.

Based on your response to the other post, I can see how you might have had a difficult time with hackintosh. LOL.