Flash drive from MacBook Air

andyred

andyred

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Does anyone know if the SSD - flash drive (I think) from a broken MacBook Air can be used in a USB caddy as an external dive ???

Is it a standard drive or is it a bespoke Apple item ?

Thanks
 
i think the 11" and later 13" ones are PCI but the early 13" ones were small form factor had an odd ribbon cable arrangement.

so chances are what you are looking for wont work.

but if you can confirm what year and size yours is can advise further.
 
Last edited:
neil_g said:
i think the 11" and later 13" ones are PCI but the early 13" ones were small form factor had an odd ribbon cable arrangement.

so chances are what you are looking for wont work.

but if you can confirm what year and size yours is can advise further.
Click to expand...

Thanks Neil

It's a 2012 13" 128 gb Air.
 
sk66 said:
OWC has/had external enclosures for the SSD's of various formats.
Click to expand...

neil_g said:
Ifixit show that as a pci style (although not the same form factor, typical of apple) flash drive..

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012+Solid-State+Drive+Replacement/10961

As above though there does seem to be specific external enclosures available from owc
Click to expand...

Thanks

So just to confirm, I can get an enclosure and then I can format the SSD to use as an external drive ?

Cheers
 
Yes you can, I replaced the 128 sad from my mid 2011 MBA with a Transcend 256 drive from Amazon. It came with a caddy to re-use the old drive as an external drive, the same system as the OWC drives.
 
The MBA flash storage SSD's are all variants of the PCIe interface. The 2010/11 models use one type, the 2012 another, and the 2013/14/15 another type. 2010/11 adapters, a bare PCB that connects to a USB3 dock, and the same for the 2012, can be bought very cheaply via eBay from China. They are only useful for recovering data. Options for the 2013/14/15 models are much more expensive.

Most 2012 MBA SSD's are only 128GB, others were 256GB as mine. Considering the low cost of larger standard SSD's, it might not be worth paying out for a caddy unless the reason is to recover data.
 
steveb said:
The MBA flash storage SSD's are all variants of the PCIe interface. The 2010/11 models use one type, the 2012 another, and the 2013/14/15 another type. 2010/11 adapters, a bare PCB that connects to a USB3 dock, and the same for the 2012, can be bought very cheaply via eBay from China. They are only useful for recovering data. Options for the 2013/14/15 models are much more expensive.

Most 2012 MBA SSD's are only 128GB, others were 256GB as mine. Considering the low cost of larger standard SSD's, it might not be worth paying out for a caddy unless the reason is to recover data.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I was trying to work out if it was possible to use the SSD from the Air as an external drive (in a caddy) - due to the Air being broken.

Then like you say, is it worth it cost wise, especially if there are limitations...
 
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