MacBook Airs and Retina MacBook Pros offer practically zero upgradability, but one area that there is some flexibility with is storage. Many third party memory manufactures are taking advantage of the SD card slot present in MacBook Airs and Retina Pros to add semi-permant storage to these Macs. We first saw these products begin popping up last year, but the release of Transcend’s JetDrive Lite line this morning made us think it was worth taking a look at three of the options currently available.
These expansion drives are nearly as convenient as on-board storage but can be used for Time Machine backups and transferring large files between devices.
The problem with shoving any SD card into your MacBook is that is protrudes out from the laptop casing, which leaves the card and your Mac vulnerable to damage or getting knocked out. It’s also an eyesore to constantly have a card peaking out from your Mac’s otherwise seamless and uniform design. The memory expansion modules we’re going to take a look at are customized to fit nearly flush.
The most well-known version is the PNY StorEDGE. It comes in two different capacities (64GB/128GB), is colored black, and protrudes just enough to make it easy to remove. The 64GB/128GB models retail for $100/$200, but these are available for $38.95 and $75.04.
The SanDisk minidrive is only available in 64GB, and it includes a pull tab to make it even easier to remove. Some people may dislike the fact that the pull tab has ‘SanDisk’ branded on it, but that doesn’t seem like a deal-breaker to me. It retails for $59.99, but is currently on sale for $49.99.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMWNFXNWAYw]
Just this morning Transcend announced its JetDrive Lite expansion cards in 64GB and 128GB capacities. Transcend says that users can expect read and write speeds of up to 95MB/s and 60MB/s respectively, which is the fastest of the bunch. Obviously, there isn’t any real world data to backup these claims yet and overall performance will also vary by Mac, it is still nice to see Transcend attempting to push the product category forward. The JetDrive Lites are priced aggressively with current rates starting at just $39.99 for 64GB and going up to $79.99 for 128GB.
If you already own a micro SD card you could opt to increase your MacBook storage by popping it into a custom adapter which mimics the modules mentioned above. The Nifty Minidrive is capped with hand-polished 
aluminum so it will match your Apple hardware. It’s available in silver and red at a retail price of $39.99 (on sale at Amazon for $34.99). There is also the less-elegent, but more budget-conscious solution called “The MiniDrive“, which looks to be a Nifty clone but at only $20.
Also, if you are really determined to expand your Mac’s memory, you can upgrade its internal SSD with one of Transcend’s new JetDrive kits.
Before making your final purchase, be sure that the model you choose is compatible with your specific Mac model as some manufactures have slightly different SKUs for different Macs. SD slot depth also varies between models so some of the aforementioned solutions may protrude more or less depending on your Mac.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Why is there no 128GB for the 13″ MacBook Pro? :(
There is at theMiniDrive.com they make a flush 128GB integrated drive for every mac make and model also air and pro (non retina have same sd port depth so you can use the jet drive air with your MacBookPro.
Yes there is theminidrive.com also tardisk.com is a new runner in integrated storage worth checking out offering 256GB flush solid aluminum card
Please Mention that not all MacBook slots are the same depth. I have a new Late 2013 rMBP and the PNY card sticks out 1/4 of an inch further than it did on an older rMBP. It is painful to catch your hand on.
Good point. That’s what I was getting at near the end of the article, but I’ll be more clear.
I ran into this issue with the NiftyMini after I picked one up in a store. (Their site is specific to models, the packaging was not.) Had to return it because it wouldn’t stay in. They currently don’t have anything that is optimized for the Late 2013 rMBP, that I’ve found.
I just received my TarDisk in the mail and it sits completely flush in my 13″ macbook.
You forgot about the Nifty Minidrive http://theniftyminidrive.com
I was a customer of Nifty during their kickstarter campaign. The product is great, and the people have really great integrity. I highly recommend it.
One thing though about all these solutions… With the drives in, does the system go to sleep properly? If it does, do the drives automatically connect when the system awakens? I’m not sure.
Can i get the 128gb and have Windows 8 boot off of it?
I have tested that with linux… I don’t see why that wouldn’t work.
I bootcamped my late 2012 rMBP (Windows 7) and it works fine with the StoreEdge 128GB
TarDisk.com is offering a free linux/ ubuntu boot for kickstarter backers, its a hack to option boot different os on a mac, however I do remember reading on apple’s website somewhere that apple supported external drive option boots not via USB but Thunderport/Firewire as well as sdxc port. I have heard roomers tardisk offering more OS “option boots” . I was able to hack a thumb drive to option boot windows 8 on any macbook no bootcamp drivers installed.
The new macbook pros are built so they wont be opened up easily but you can change the ssd on it. I saw a video on how to do it on youtube it takes about 10 minutes . You need to purchase the new ssd but its a bit expensive although it’s twice the memory on it and a bit faster, then you disconnect the ssd which is very small and swap them out. I believe it was around $400 plus for more than 400 gigs of memory.
You need a new ssd: between 3-5 hundred dollars depending on the size
The pentalove screwdrivers
then remove the back casing carefully and disconnect the ssd then swap it for the new one .
close back up!
Anybody have experience running a VM from any of these products? I am thinking about trying it out, they are a drain on hard disk storage for me.
Forget about it… VM’s need faster storage to play nice…
Probably very late to the party but in what world paying good $1000-2600 for a notebook you should be reduced to sticking a memory card to have somewhat sufficient storage space? and how is it you have to pay extra $200 for the jump from 128 to 256gb, since a stand alone samsung ssd 250gb cost $140.
Also late to the party, but I just got a PNY Elite 256GB SDXC card, 90mb/s write/read, for $90 with free shipping on Amazon, soooo…. yeah. 256GB internal pci-e SSD + 256GB SDXC card, not that bad on a 15″ Retina MBP. Also, keep in mind these laptops are thin, so there isn’t room for massive heatsinks and fans and raid0 dual full 2.5″ sata drives. These have pci-e flash internal storage, that crap is not cheap either. They are for a different market than your average casual laptop user or gamer, so $2,600 is a bargain for what you’re getting, if Macbooks are your thing, which they don’t appear to be. Going from 256GB to 480GB pci-e SSD is a $285 upgrade, but it’s well worth it considering those drives are insanely fast, well over 550mb/s write/read speeds on those. Or you can do a 1TB upgrade for $540. A bargain for a pci-e SSD that reads/writes over 555mb/s. Includes a nifty little usb3 case for the old internal drive, so perfect for a backup or extra storage :) Personally I’m cool with 512GB though, I can’t see needing terabytes and terabytes of storage on a laptop, but on a desktop, sure. I have a 2TB 2.5″ usb3 drive handy most of the time for backups and movies though.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Retina-2012-Drive-Internal-Flash
Internal ssd upgrade is always the faster option but its expensive also people don’t like dropping there mac off for a couple days or risk messing up their mac DIY-ing it. For this plug and play onboard storage is super useful. I have a late 2013 retina 13 and there are not yet any ssd drives available for this model, (or really any of the late 2013-2015 macs) apple keeps the drive proprietary for a couple years, also I was told that my particular model could not support a drive bigger than 256GB!? (which is likely BS) This is a reason I backed tardisk but I was curious why there 256GB was so much, I guess they had to build a very small new flash chip that held 256gb on a really tiny chip like smaller than your MacBooks “tab” key because the SDXC ports on the retina 13 macs are only 16mm so new nano controllers or connectors had to implemented and building new fast custom flash is not cheap, especially for a little company. The unibody aluminum body is being machined in Massachusetts (in the USA!) I live in mass and I’m a big fan of supporting local business and underdogs/ hacks that let you do more with your apple products.
I hear ya, it’s a shame when they ask for so much for really, such little space comparatively. Also, the 13″ mbp retina easily supports 256GB sdxc cards :) I’m sure OWC will get the new interface soon for the late 13 through 14 MBPr models. I have a mid-2012 so I got “lucky”, haha.
Ya its crazy that the entry level MacBook Ret13/Air13 come with only 128GB apple does a good job selling an experience and screwing you with iCloud bills (or selling you a new 2k computer) and the new ret air 12″ has as many ports as an iPad/iphone .
Okay, so the StorEDGE “protrudes just enough to make it easy to remove” and the SanDisk “includes a pull tab to make it even easier to remove.” And though your article doesn’t mention it, I know the Nifty Minidrive includes a removal tool.
But how does one remove the JetDrive Lite? Your article doesn’t say, and neither does the manufacturer’s website.
Removing the jet drive, (you just Magic it out with the power of your mind like in the video), it’s actually quite difficult to remove, (I heard they are making these just to keep these machines running they are cheap as they are selling them near cost?) They are not flush and it still catches on things only if it does the card doesn’t break it yanks your macbook out of your hands and breaks that instead. But with magic you should be able to stop if from hitting the ground.
TheMiniDrive.com 128gb series was skipped, but should probably be included?
http://theminidrive.com/products/theminidrive-air-128
Specs match the PNY/JetDrive, but this one is actually flush unlike the others that stick out.
Any one try TarDisk (yes like doctor who’s Tardis) http://www.tardisk.com I just saw a side by side teardown of a Nifty and a TarDisk on ifixit, looks like it should be included in your list as yet another option.
new 256GB flush solid aluminum flash adapter on Kickstarter custom fit to each mac TarDisk256 looks incredible funded in 4.5 days 28 days left http://kck.st/1yGSAk2
I’ve been using a “normal” 256GB SD card for over a year ($99 at the time) and it’s worked out fine. Yeah it sticks out more than the “flush” solutions, but it’s never been a problem, I just make sure i put it in the big with that end up (which you’d probably need to do anyway with the ‘flush” cards). I just wish 512GB cards would drop in price – they’re still at the $500-$600 mark!
Why is there no 256 GB option for Macbook Pro Retina 13″ late-2013? Or, beyond hope, even a 500GB option,
The form factor is too small for Transcend or PNY it would require a very small chip, TarDisk.com a new company just picked up by “Amazons Launchpad” does offer a 256GB flush model for the all Pro Retina 13″ and Retina 15 all years (also for Air 13, & even the pro non non retina) check it out http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010BUP1TS/ref=s9_hps_bw_g147_i3
Curious as to why you chost to deliberately misuse a word for a sensationalist headline? Since you must be aware that the word hack means to modify something to function in a way it was not designed, you chose to use it for link bait, I can only assume? You listed products, and described how to use them exactly as they are sold. This is an advertorial piece, pretending.
I believe the ‘hack’ is using a semi-permanent SD card to expand the MacBook’s available storage. The MacBook was not intended to use an SD card full-time for added storage, IIRC…
how do I make the Jetdrive Lite and MAC HD be both the internal storage on my Macbook pro
Any available for late 2015 Macbook Pro 13″?
So I purchased this and love the extra storage and seamless fit, however…it KILLS my battery. It literally lasts like an hour now. HELP?
Kristle! I just received a TarDisk and they do not drain my battery. You can get them at TarDisk.com. p.s. before I purchased one I chatted with the customer support team their and they gave me a discount on one. :D
So, by ‘hacks’ you actually mean ‘products’
I did a search for JetDrive Lite problems and I did find some threads about that. However, in my experience, I have not seen any problem at all with the JetDrive Lite mounting. I can’t test every combination of JetDrive/Mac model/macOS version though.