#UPGRADING MAC HDD TO SSD HOW TO#
#UPGRADING MAC HDD TO SSD UPGRADE#
#UPGRADING MAC HDD TO SSD PRO#

Remove the SSD retaining screw using a Torx T5 screw driver. Next, you'll need to unscrew the one Pentalobe screw holding the PCIe SSD in place.

#UPGRADING MAC HDD TO SSD PRO#

The first step to changing over your SSD is to remove the 10 screws on the back cover of your MacBook Pro using a Pentalobe P5 screw driver. The factory-installed Samsung PCIe SSD is in the upper right hand corner.

#UPGRADING MAC HDD TO SSD UPGRADE#

While I've swapped out dozens of SSDs without one, you should consider purchasing an anti-static mat on which you'll perform the upgrade they're about $12 to $15 online, and when you consider you just spent up to $649 on an SSD, it's a small price to pay to avoid damaging the NAND flash chips. It'll take about 10 minutes, not including the data migration. 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.

#UPGRADING MAC HDD TO SSD 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. 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. 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).

Upgrading mac hdd to ssd