Another question about the Transcend JetDrive Lite: will the card need to be formatted when inserted into the MacBook for the first time?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Transcend Introduces JetDrive Lite Expansion Cards Up to 128GB for MacBook Air, Retina Macbook Pro
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Can't you just unmount and still leave it in? Then when you want it back, fire up Disk Utility and re-mount ?
----------
Since it is made for specific mac's, I'd be shocked if it didn't come pre-formatted
----------
yes, pretty much. The idea being that you can leave it in instead of swapping it in & out constantly.
That was why I asked -- I know that some other products, also supposedly made for Macs, were not formatted for the Mac platform and have to be by the user. This is why I am inquiring about the Transcend JetDrive Lite......
Hello Clix Pix,
JetDrive Lite expansion cards are by default formatted as exFAT. This is so it can be accessed by both OSX and Windows Bootcamp. You can also format it as HFS+ with Disk Utility if desired.
Thanks for the info. Maybe it'd be a good idea to mention it on your site? Or even link it there (like, "Where to buy"). I was in a loss looking for a "Buy now!" button.
Also, I live in Brazil, I'm not sure Amazon will ship these here. But I'd really love to get one. Any insight?
But.....if these are being marketed specifically for the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air,why not format them right off the bat for the Mac platform in the first place?
In the past I have purchased various external hard drives and have found that some are marked specifically for the Mac and therefore do not require any sort of reformatting prior to use. They're already good to go right out of the box when it comes to the Mac platform.
I find this curious. These Transcend cards are being marketed specifically to the MacBook Pro/MacBook Air user. Will these cards fit into Windows laptop machines? No? Then why bother with formatting them with some format which is used by Windows? Why not format them with the Mac platform right from the get-go?
I'm glad to know that if/when I do order one of these (I'm waiting to see reviews first) that I will need to immediately reformat; thanks for this info! I am solely a Mac person. I don't taint my Macs with any sort of Microsoft/Windows nonsense, If I wanted to use Windows I'd buy a Windows machine in the first place. Fortunately it's not a major deal to reformat in Disk Utility; I just wanted to know if this would be something I'd need to do. Thanks for responding!
hi!
this is a good feature that the card is FLAT with the macbook edge, and It will not be damaged when this edge touch table.
by the way, i want to know if it is a Hard Disk or a USB Storage device after plug in?
Last edited:
I ordered mine when it gave that shipping estimate and I got an email this morning from Amazon saying they will have it to me by June 2nd (Prime 2 day shipping) so I wouldn't worry.
It arrived
I ordered mine May 23rd on Amazon with no given shipping date, but it arrived today!
Well, there's not much to say. It come pre-formatted (exFat) and doesn't disappear after sleep mode or a restart (Macbook Air 2013).
I took some pics and ran some benchmarks:
http://mangokompott.tumblr.com/post/87395342034/enlarge-your-schmacbook
(The Blackmagic bench showed some higher results but I was too phlegmatic to stop it)
I ordered mine May 23rd on Amazon with no given shipping date, but it arrived today!
Well, there's not much to say. It come pre-formatted (exFat) and doesn't disappear after sleep mode or a restart (Macbook Air 2013).
I took some pics and ran some benchmarks:
http://mangokompott.tumblr.com/post/87395342034/enlarge-your-schmacbook
(The Blackmagic bench showed some higher results but I was too phlegmatic to stop it)
JetDrive Lite 330 128GB
Just wanted to let everyone know that we are actively developing a 128GB version of the JetDrive Lite 330 for 13" Retina MacBook Pros. ETA is within the next two months.
Just wanted to let everyone know that we are actively developing a 128GB version of the JetDrive Lite 330 for 13" Retina MacBook Pros. ETA is within the next two months.
That is good to hear! Thanks for the info! While 64 GB would certainly help expand the memory in my 13" rMBP, 128 would be even better! 
I'm sure the Transcend is a great product, but the photos you show of the PNY128 on a 2013 Macbook Air are not correct.
The PNY is more flush than you show.
Not much difference between the two products. I'm 150% happy with my PNY.
Can't wait till the 256gb one comes out!
Transcend Jet Drive Lite 130 doesn't write
I just received my transcend Jetdrive Lite 130 for my mac air 13" 2011.
I placed the card in the sd slot and it reads the card perfectly, however it is block as read only. I can not find a way to unlock the card so I can write to it.
Disk utility doesn't allow me to reformat it either.
Any help would be appreciated. Wishing I didn't buy this product.
I just received my transcend Jetdrive Lite 130 for my mac air 13" 2011.
I placed the card in the sd slot and it reads the card perfectly, however it is block as read only. I can not find a way to unlock the card so I can write to it.
Disk utility doesn't allow me to reformat it either.
Any help would be appreciated. Wishing I didn't buy this product.
Attachments
This is the very issue to which I was referring earlier. The ExFAT is the problem, it's readable-only in a Mac. The card needs to be reformatted to HFS Journaling.....
Which MacBook do you have -- MBA or MBP? Year?
Also this doesn't help the guy who needs to be able to reformat his new card.
I think one has to use either the machine's original disks or the system's recovery partition and go into Disk Utility from there.
Also this doesn't help the guy who needs to be able to reformat his new card.
I think one has to use either the machine's original disks or the system's recovery partition and go into Disk Utility from there.
Last edited:
It's worth checking to see if it's the problem with the Macbook Pro card reader not detecting the correct lock position. This can sometimes be remedied by putting the switch in the 'middle' position, so that it's neither locked nor unlocked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nehn7mh81vs
I just got my JetDrive Lite and it doesn't look good on my 2011 MacBook Air 13". Is there something wrong with my drive?
Attachments
Just received mine today from Amazon. I got the JetDrive Lite 130 128GB for my MacBookAir 13".
First, it is formatted in ExFAT and I had to research to understand why. It seems it does have a speed edge over HFS+ so I'll be keeping it as is (plus the I don't have a PC if I want to reformat back to ExFAT). I have no problems with Read/Write, works right out of the box.
I'm running BlackMagic Speed Test and I'm getting avg 52MB/s Write and 85MB/s Read as you can see.
First, it is formatted in ExFAT and I had to research to understand why. It seems it does have a speed edge over HFS+ so I'll be keeping it as is (plus the I don't have a PC if I want to reformat back to ExFAT). I have no problems with Read/Write, works right out of the box.
I'm running BlackMagic Speed Test and I'm getting avg 52MB/s Write and 85MB/s Read as you can see.
Attachments
I'm getting just about the same numbers on my 2011 MBA and was wondering the same thing.
@ats329's comment explains the reason why - boy, is it time to upgrade my MBA...