OWC Aura Pro X2 Upgraded SSDs, any news on how they are?

[Awoodworkerslife]

Hi all,
I have a 2017 13” MBA (7.2), and my 256G SSD is pretty well always 85 - 90% full. I’m considering putting in a 1TB Aura Pro X2 SSD from OWC after reading some favorable articles written by various Mac news websites. The thing is, I’m having a hard time finding reviews from people who are actually running these new SSDs in real life and not just test bench performance types of reviews. Does anyone know if these new Aura Pro X2 drives are a good solution in the ‘13-17 MacBook Airs?

 

[Audit13]

I recommend getting a Sintech adapter and a nvme drive.

You'll save a lot of money and the drive can be reused.

Upgrading 2013/2014 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe

This thread is about upgrading MacBook Airs & Macbook Pros (2013-2015) with new high speed and/or high capacity NVMe SSDs. This thread was one of the first to talk about MacBook Pro NVMe SSD upgrades on Macrumors, and was started by user "maxthackray", which we can thank and give tribute for...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Awoodworkerslife]

Thanks very much Audit 13, you're right, after looking at the other options there is a huge price difference. I will go the nvme drive route instead of the OWC.

 

[Audit13]

When using a non-Apple SSD internally, the battery drain is going to be higher during use. The amount of battery loss will vary with the SSD and battery health. It's been reported that Samsung SSDs drain battery much more quickly than other drives and this is probably due to their high read/write capability. In an Air, this high-speed capability will be restricted by the Air's PCIe bus speed.

Make sure the Air is running the latest OS off the original SSD before making the swap.

 

[Awoodworkerslife]

Ok, thanks Audit, that makes sense that the higher read / write speeds would come at a bit of a cost. I'm running Mojave 10.14.6 right now. I ordered the 1TB SX8200 Pro to replace my current 256GB apple SSD, and am hoping that if nothing else, the speed will improve some simply because I'm not running constantly with a 90% full hard drive.

Once I've made the hardware swap, can I just plug in my external drive that has Time Machine on it and start up while holding down the 'option' key? Or do I need to first make a copy of the OSX onto a USB drive and boot up the computer using that before being able to restore the Time Machine backup?

 

[Audit13]

Which adapter did you order to go with the Adata? I've always had good results with the Sintech.

You can boot with the TM drive and restore the image after partitioning.

 

[Awoodworkerslife]

Excellent, thanks for confirming that with TM. I went with the Sintech long adapter, I couldn’t find any Canadian sources for the short one and didn’t want to wait a couple weeks for one to come in from the States. I’m hoping that the long adapter will work fine.

 

[avatar1349]

Hi all,
I have a 2017 13” MBA (7.2), and my 256G SSD is pretty well always 85 - 90% full. I’m considering putting in a 1TB Aura Pro X2 SSD from OWC after reading some favorable articles written by various Mac news websites. The thing is, I’m having a hard time finding reviews from people who are actually running these new SSDs in real life and not just test bench performance types of reviews. Does anyone know if these new Aura Pro X2 drives are a good solution in the ‘13-17 MacBook Airs?

I got a MBA early 2015 and changed the SSD (128GB) to a 1 TB of OWC. Speed is much better then the stock one. Make sure you got a backup of your present SSD.
Better to be safe then to be sorry

 

[Audit13]

I got a MBA early 2015 and changed the SSD (128GB) to a 1 TB of OWC. Speed is much better then the stock one. Make sure you got a backup of your present SSD.
Better to be safe then to be sorry

How much was the 1 TB drive if you don't mind my asking? The price would be useful for comparison to "pc" nvme drives with an adapter.

 

[avatar1349]

How much was the 1 TB drive if you don't mind my asking? The price would be useful for comparison to "pc" nvme drives with an adapter.

I bought the 1 TB OWC in Belgium and was €228 euro ($251)

 

[Audit13]

I bought the 1 TB OWC in Belgium and was €228 euro ($251)

Thank you.

 

[Earl Urley]

Not to disparage anyone who owns a current X2 and is happy with it, but I had recommended an Aura Pro 1TB a long time ago that had gone into a Mac Pro 6,1, and the SSD got corrupted and reduced to an unreadable state when the user tried to upgrade to High Sierra.

OWC issued a firmware update, but it was too late for the user who lost valuable work and billable projects forever.

Note that OWC recommends you update to High Sierra with your original SSD BEFORE you install an Aura Pro X2 on your Mac.

I recently installed an Aura for a user with a Late 2010 MacBook Air, it lasted eight months before it blew up on them; the laptop was fine and booted off an external USB (albeit at glacial speeds) but the Aura did not even show up in Disk Utility or Disk Drill or Rescue Pro.

Currently, I would not touch an Aura Pro with a ten foot pole.