The only hiccup was that I couldn't just clone my 256GB Toshiba SSD using Disk Utility since the Aura Pro was technically smaller. OWC sent me a 240GB Aura Pro, which I installed into an 11-inch MacBook Air. Both drives come with pentalobe and torx drivers to aid in opening your MBA and replacing your old drive.įor another $35 OWC will sell you an external USB 2.0/3.0 enclosure that can house your old MBA SSD either to help you transfer your data or give you a sweet, high performance external drive once you're done. The drive is available in 120GB and 240GB capacities, for $280 and $550 respectively. For 2011 MBA owners there's a 6Gbps SF-2281 option: the OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G.
OWC put out an aftermarket drive for owners of 2010 MacBook Airs based on the 3Gbps SF-1200 controller. If you haven't heard of OWC from their Mac efforts, there's always the fact that second to only OCZ, no one has been quicker at releasing SSDs based on brand new SandForce controllers. If you've followed the aftermarket Mac support business then OWC should be no stranger to you. The 2010/2011 MacBook Air has been no different. In all of those cases, the market for third party MacBook Air SSDs popped up at some point post-launch. Apple eventually transitioned to a SATA LIF connector, and then with the release of the 2010 MacBook Air we encountered a new thin form factor SSD with a custom interface connector. The very first MBAs used a PATA LIF connector, a rarity on most drives. Unlike the rest of Apple's notebook lineup however, it's not so easy to just swap in a higher performing (or larger capacity) SSD in your MacBook Air. With the recent release of the Samsung SSD 830, I expect the trend of Samsung drives increasing in performance will continue next year as well.
While Samsung has updated its controllers, Toshiba's solution still offers the fairly abysmal random write performance it did a year ago.
In the storage space at least, Apple doesn't seem to be overly concerned with performance but rather making sure the solution works.Ī year ago, the Toshiba and Samsung controllers offered fairly similar performance. Apple tends to pick suppliers that can deliver a reliable product in the quantities it's interested in. For now, that appears to be Toshiba and Samsung. As with many commodity components, Apple sources its SSDs from two sources. I've written previously about the SSD lottery you play when you buy a new MacBook Air.
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