Owc ssd for macbook pro retina upgrade#

SSD or a PCIe card, is about the simplest upgrade you can attempt. Swapping out your flash drive, whether it's a 2.5-in. You'll first need to remove the 10 pentelope screws securing the rear cover of your MacBook Pro. This will safeguard your data in case something goes wrong. Next, because you're not likely to simply swap out the OWC SSD for the factory drive without migrating data over, you'll want to perform a Time Machine backup to an external drive. Upgrade the to the latest version of OS X - in this case it would be El Capitan v10.11.4.

Owc ssd for macbook pro retina how to#

How to perform the SSD upgradeДЇirst things first. In other words, the OWC SSD had slightly slower performance than my factory installed SSD, but the difference was not noticeable.

It revealed a maximum read/write speed of 700MBps and 423MBps, respectively. Using BlackMagic disk benchmarking software, I tested the Aura PCIe SSD once it had been installed. I was excited to see just how much faster OWC's SSD would push the MacBook Pro's performance. As expected, it was blazing fast, offering up to 723MBps sustained reads and 661MBps writes.

Owc ssd for macbook pro retina free#

Prior to installing a new OWC 1TB Aura SSD, I performed a performance benchmark test on my factory installed 256GB PCIe SSD using BlackMagic software, a free app. They also come with native AES 256-bit encryption and a three-year limited warranty. The OWC Aura PCIe SSDs offer up to 763MBps sustained read and 446MBps write rates. The OWC PCIe SSDs allows you to increase the capacity on your MacBook Pro up to eight times that of the factory drive and it offers up to 5.8 times faster performance than Apple's factory installed drive. But, when you already have an SSD, the next best upgrade is a bigger SSD. It improves both performance and reliability. I've said it many times before: Adding an SSD to your computer is the single best upgrade you can perform for the money. It was not quite as fast as OWC said it would be but it was certainly respectable.

I did a read/write speed test on my factory installed SSD once I'd turned it into an external drive using the OWC Envoy Pro enclosure and it had a read/write speed of 304MBps and 253MBps, respectively. Once you've installed the OWC SSD, you can use your Mac's original flash drive in the enclosure as a fast external USB drive with transfer speeds up to 355MBps. The kit is actually a pretty good deal because just to purchase the Envoy Pro SSD enclosure would cost you $79. Upon first boot with the new SSD, you need to perform a PRAM reset by holding down the Command, Option, P, and R keys after pressing the power button (but before you hear the startup chime.) AfterВ the computer restarts (and you hear the startup chime a second time) let go of the keys and let the MacBook Pro boot normally.You can also purchase a complete upgrade kit, which includes the OWC SSD, screw drivers, a USB standard A to micro B cable and an external PCIe SSD enclosure with USB 3.0 port for $399 (480GB model) or $649 (1TB model). Until the Envoy Pro enclosure begins shipping later this year, I recommend making a Time Machine backup of your data and then transferring that onto the new SSD. OWC includes the two screwdrivers that you need to complete the process. Because Apple uses a proprietary SSD module, so you'll have wait for OWC to begin shipping its sleek Envoy Pro external enclosure to use the stock SSD as an external drive. The icing on the cake is that when you upgrade your rMBP with a SSD from OWC you get to keep the original as a backup. MacObserver's results back up OWC's benchmarks, whichВ show that the Apple SSD's write speeds are significantly slower: MacObserver benchmarked the OWC against the stock Apple SSD and determined that 'sustained reads and writes on the OWC Aura Pro beat the stock Apple SSD by over 100 MB/s' and that 'the Aura Pro was also much faster and random operations than the Apple SSD.' The Aura Pro actually has 512GB of flash on board, but OWC sets asideВ 32GB for real-time data redundancy and error correction, leaving 480GB available.ДЄpple uses a Samsung processor in its rMBP SSD, OWCВ uses SandForce. Although 480 looks like 32GB less than 512, looks can be deceiving. Instead, stick with the stock 128GB Apple SSD and opt for the Aura Pro 480GB SSDВ ($580) from OWC instead. When you configure a new rMBP from Apple, upgrading to the 512GB option will cost an extra $800: Not only is the Aura Pro 480GB SSDВ blazing fast, but it costs $200 less than Apple's offering - and you get to keep the original Apple module as a backup. If you're considering buying a Retina MacBook Pro (13 or 15-inch) or upgrading the SSD in one, you should check out the OWC Aura ProВ the only compatible blade on the market. 41 impressive questions to ask in a job interview