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Upgrading the SSD in a late 2014 rMBP

BlargKing

BlargKing

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 17, 2014
470
821
NewBrunswick, Canada
Well like the title says, basically I've got a late 2014 15" rMBP with a 512GB SSD, and I've been finding lately that it just isn't enough storage (I have half of it taken up by a Windows Partition). I don't want to rely on external storage or using a slow SD card.

I've been googling it myself but I can't seem to find any SSDs for my particular rMBP. Its a model 11,3. Does the 11,3 have a different SSD than the earlier model? Or is it the same? Is there no 3rd party SSD for this model yet?

I'm looking to put 1TB in my rMBP. Anyone here have a cost effective idea? Obviously this is going to cost at least 600$, but I'm hoping to mitigate some of the cost by selling off the 512GB SSD currently in my rMBP.

Also, if I manage to procure a 1TB SSD, is there a way I could simply clone my current SSD onto the new one so I don't have to re-install my Windows partition?

Thanks!
 
BlargKing said:
Well like the title says, basically I've got a late 2014 15" rMBP with a 512GB SSD, and I've been finding lately that it just isn't enough storage (I have half of it taken up by a Windows Partition). I don't want to rely on external storage or using a slow SD card.

I've been googling it myself but I can't seem to find any SSDs for my particular rMBP. Its a model 11,3. Does the 11,3 have a different SSD than the earlier model? Or is it the same? Is there no 3rd party SSD for this model yet?

I'm looking to put 1TB in my rMBP. Anyone here have a cost effective idea? Obviously this is going to cost at least 600$, but I'm hoping to mitigate some of the cost by selling off the 512GB SSD currently in my rMBP.

Also, if I manage to procure a 1TB SSD, is there a way I could simply clone my current SSD onto the new one so I don't have to re-install my Windows partition?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
There is no 3rd party drives available for your 2014 MBP. The internal drive is not an SSD, it is a flash drive with an Apple proprietary PCIe interface. The only way to get another one is a used one pulled out of a Mac off of eBay.
 
Wow. Thats quite plainly the most retarded thing I've ever heard.

Like holy crap put a disclaimer when you buy these idiotic laptops that your stuck with whatever you choose. Bad enough they did it with the RAM but the bloody SSD? Like I get laptops aren't super upgradable but FFS let me at least expand my storage.

Or let me guess they don't want me to upgrade my physical storage so I'll buy a stupid iCloud membership.

Keep on designing **** Jonny Ive. I'm switching back to PC for good.
 
BlargKing said:
Wow. Thats quite plainly the most retarded thing I've ever heard.

Like holy crap put a disclaimer when you buy these idiotic laptops that your stuck with whatever you choose. Bad enough they did it with the RAM but the bloody SSD? Like I get laptops aren't super upgradable but FFS let me at least expand my storage.
Click to expand...

Nowhere in the description does Apple claim that the RAM or SSD are user upgradeable. In fact, the tech specs only say that the RAM and SSD are "Configurable" to different sizes. As in at the time of purchase.
 
Well its a poor design choice. They could easily stop with their proprietary BS and just used a standard mSATA or PCI-E SSD. But no they make it unique so you'll either shell out when you buy it or shell out to have them upgrade it.

Its dumb, and I'm quite plainly sick and tired of the direction apple is going. Im selling this MacBook and buying a Dell XPS.
 
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BlargKing said:
Well its a poor design choice. They could easily stop with their proprietary BS and just used a standard mSATA or PCI-E SSD. But no they make it unique so you'll either shell out when you buy it or shell out to have them upgrade it.

Its dumb, and I'm quite plainly sick and tired of the direction apple is going. Im selling this MacBook and buying a Dell XPS.
Click to expand...

Finally someone who comes on here moans about apple and then leaves them because they don't make what they want, good for you mate, perfectly sensible decision.
 
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BlargKing said:
Well its a poor design choice. They could easily stop with their proprietary BS and just used a standard mSATA or PCI-E SSD. But no they make it unique so you'll either shell out when you buy it or shell out to have them upgrade it.

Its dumb, and I'm quite plainly sick and tired of the direction apple is going. Im selling this MacBook and buying a Dell XPS.
Click to expand...
Though it might not be of much help (as you said that you don't want to use SD cards), but TarDisk Pear offers an excellent SSD expanding solution. It merges the storage of your SD Card with your internal SSD and the reviews on Youtube show excellent read/write speeds. Worth a try, maybe?
 
OP:

As you've discovered, the new retina MB Pros aren't upgradeable (in a practical sense).

If you need more SSD storage, you'd do FAR better to buy a USB3 external SSD.

Just noticed this the other day:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZTRY532?tag=delt-20
240gb size is a very reasonable $80.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
BlargKing said:
Wow. Thats quite plainly the most retarded thing I've ever heard.

Like holy crap put a disclaimer when you buy these idiotic laptops that your stuck with whatever you choose. Bad enough they did it with the RAM but the bloody SSD? Like I get laptops aren't super upgradable but FFS let me at least expand my storage.

Or let me guess they don't want me to upgrade my physical storage so I'll buy a stupid iCloud membership.

Keep on designing **** Jonny Ive. I'm switching back to PC for good.
Click to expand...

Surely Johnny Ive is a designer, concerned with the look and feel of products, not their internals. I'm not troubled by the glued-in flash drive or RAM of my Pro, but rechargeable batteries just never do last and should be easily swappable. But I knew that when I bought it, so I'm not carping.
 
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Spudlicious said:
Surely Johnny Ive is a designer, concerned with the look and feel of products, not their internals. I'm not troubled by the glued-in flash drive or RAM of my Pro, but rechargeable batteries just never do last and should be easily swappable. But I knew that when I bought it, so I'm not carping.
Click to expand...

I agree, knew when I bought my Pro about the components, no carping is right.
 
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BlargKing said:
Well its a poor design choice. They could easily stop with their proprietary BS and just used a standard mSATA or PCI-E SSD. But no they make it unique so you'll either shell out when you buy it or shell out to have them upgrade it.

Its dumb, and I'm quite plainly sick and tired of the direction apple is going. Im selling this MacBook and buying a Dell XPS.
Click to expand...
Good luck, the Dell XPS, they do look like nice machines. By the way, while not "user serviceable", you can find larger SSD units for MBPs on eBay if you want to go that route. The SSDs are not soldered onto the logic board so you can upgrade it, that issue is that there's no third party ones being sold, all the eBay ones are from other MBPs
 
This is why I went 1TB on my recent MBP purchase. Expensive up front, but the hassle later on down the road simply wasn't worth it.
 
WeetaBiXie said:
Found this today :

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=MTOS&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1TBPCIESSD-2015
Click to expand...

$1300 for a 1TB flash storage?! Wow, no thanks!

I'm not thrilled with Apple's decision to make basic things like RAM, battery and storage non user-upgradable and repairable (especially for a company that wants to be viewed as environmentally conscious), but I knew what I was getting before I made my purchase, so I can't complain.

I think I'll eventually get a jet drive for photo storage and an external SSD for video editing projects and backups. I have 512GB with 361GB free. I like my internal drives to have plenty of free space for performance reasons, so I'll only allow maybe 100 more gigabytes of internal storage to get used up.
 
There are actually quite a few options for upgrading your 2014 MBP SSD. You could get an Apple hardware pull from eBay. Go with the Samsung SSUBX model - it's about twice as fast as the SSUAX model.

MCE, Transcend, and OWC all make aftermarket drop in replacements. They're on the expensive side but work without adaptors.

Or, with a $10 adaptor you can use one of many M.2 SSDs on the market (intel P600, Samsung SM951, Samsung 950 pro, Samsung 960 evo, etc.):

http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

Note that not all drives work correctly so double check this thread before you buy one:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/upgrading-2013-2014-macbook-pro-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/

You'll also need to upgrade your machine to High Sierra before you replace the drive so the firmware is updated to support NVMe drives.
 
BlargKing said:
Wow. Thats quite plainly the most retarded thing I've ever heard.

Like holy crap put a disclaimer when you buy these idiotic laptops that your stuck with whatever you choose. Bad enough they did it with the RAM but the bloody SSD? Like I get laptops aren't super upgradable but FFS let me at least expand my storage.

Or let me guess they don't want me to upgrade my physical storage so I'll buy a stupid iCloud membership.

Keep on designing **** Jonny Ive. I'm switching back to PC for good.
Click to expand...
...

You weren't aware of this when you bought it?
 
There are pros and cons of having user serviceable parts like the disk storage, RAM, etc. It is obvious to most people, when they buy a modern rMBP, what the limitations are. Apple never suggest these parts are upgradable. I've used laptops from both camps, and I have to say, I am much happier with my rMBP from 2014. It will last longer than the laptops from the other camp.
 
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