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MacBook Air Q&A
Update Published August 11, 2019
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Which SD Card Slot storage solution is best for the MacBook Air? Which models are compatible? Is this kind of storage safe?
If you ever found yourself transferring photos from an SD card to your MacBook Air and wondered if you could just store files from your computer on an SD card for a bit of extra space, you're not alone.
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Most users should consider upgrading the internal SSD in their Late 2010, Mid-2011, Mid-2012, Mid-2013, Early 2014, Early 2015, or Mid-2017 MacBook Air for more storage.
However, as the capacity of microSD cards has increased, companies have released storage solutions specifically designed to slide into the SD Card Slot on all 13' MacBook Air models with SD Card slots. These solutions are not as protected as an internal SSD and should not be thought of as permanent storage, but they are quite convenient and still can be useful.
Identification Help (Skip)
As SD Card Slot storage solutions are compatible with each 13' MacBook Air model with an SD Card slot (and 11' MacBook Air and later 13' MacBook Air models do not have an SD Card slot at all), identification assistance practically is unnecessary for this particular upgrade. https://brownfranchise892.weebly.com/marvin-ebook-reader-for-mac.html.
However, just for confirmation, compatible MacBook Air models have Model NumbersA1369 or A1466.
These models also can be readily identified in software by Model Identifier:
MacBook Air | Subfamily | Model ID |
Late 2010 | ||
Late 2010 | ||
Mid-2011 | ||
Mid-2011 | ||
Mid-2011 | ||
Mid-2012 | ||
Mid-2012 | ||
Mid-2012 | ||
Mid-2013 | ||
Cac reader software download for mac. Mid-2013 | ||
Early 2014 | ||
Early 2014 | ||
Early 2015 | ||
Early 2015 | ||
Mid-2017 | ||
Mid-2017 |
Subsequent 13' MacBook Air models do not have an SD Card slot and cannot use this upgrade method accordingly.
EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Lookup feature -- as well as the EveryMac app -- also can uniquely identify these models by their Serial Number, which is listed on the underside near the model number and within the operating system alongside the model identifier. More details about specific identifiers are provided in EveryMac.com's extensive Mac Identification section.
Best MacBook Air SD Card Storage Solutions
Some SD Card storage options on the market are low quality knockoffs or from inexperienced startup companies with products burdened by questionable software, but two products worth considering are the Transcend JetDrive Lite 130 and the Nifty MiniDrive Air.
As SD Card storage products for different Apple notebooks are different physical sizes be sure that these particular ones are the one you buy for a MacBook Air.
Photo Credit: Transcend Information Inc. (Left), Nifty Drives (Right)
Although the two products look similar, they actually are quite different.
Established in 1988, Transcend is a well respected manufacturer of RAM and trusted for quality products. The JetDrive Lite 130 is created as single piece and designed to fit snuggly into the MacBook Air with the end sticking out just enough to be able to remove it conveniently. It is sold with either 64 GB, 128 GB, or 256 GB of integrated flash storage.
The Nifty MiniDrive Air, on the other hand, is a simple aluminum and plastic adapter designed to hold an existing microSD from another company of your choosing. It fits flush with the MacBook Air and ships with a small 'hook' tool to remove it. It is no longer available for sale new, but it remains available on the used market.
This brief commercial from Transcend shows their product in action: Comic reader for mac.
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Effectively, these products function like a compact high capacity USB stick or a tiny version of an 'old school' floppy disk. Stick it in the SD Card slot and it pops up on the desktop like any other removable storage. Easy.
Using SD Card Storage Solutions Safely
Although all media can fail, whether it is a hard drive, an SSD, or a SD Card -- and it is important to backup your data regularly -- using a quality SD Card solution from Transcend should be safe. The Transcend JetDrive Lite 130 is rated to last for 10,000 insertion/removal cycles. Likewise, the Nifty MiniDrive MK5 Air with an installed high quality microSD card from a trusted manufacturer should be safe, as well.
There is at least one product from an unproven startup that uses flash memory of unknown quality as well as proprietary software of unknown quality to 'pair' the storage from your internal SSD and the SD card together on a 'permanent' basis and any solution of this type should be avoided to reduce the risk of data loss. This 'pairing' method has been shown to cause data loss and compatibility problems with macOS updates, as well. At least one unproven product of this type costs twice as much as the proven Transcend solution, as well.
Ultimately, keep in mind that (1) an SD Card is a removable card and should be thought of as removable storage rather than permanent storage, (2) only use an SD Card from a quality, known manufacturer, and (3) backup your data regularly regardless of the type of media you use. If you follow these three steps, your data should be as safe as it can be.
MacBook Air SD Card Storage Purchase Options
In the US, Amazon sells the Transcend JetDrive Lite 130.
In the UK and Ireland, site sponsor Flexx sells the full range of Transcend JetDrive Lite models for the MacBook Air series with free shipping. The company provides flat rate shipping to France, Germany, and Switzerland and inexpensive shipping for all of Europe, too.
In Australia, site sponsor RamCity sells the Transcend JetDrive Lite 130 for the MacBook Air models with fast, flat-rate shipping Australia-wide.
Also see:
- How do you replace or upgrade the SSD storage in the 'Late 2010' and 'Mid-2011' MacBook Air models? Is it even possible?
- How do you replace or upgrade the SSD storage in the 'Mid-2012' MacBook Air models? Is it even possible?
- How do you replace or upgrade the SSD storage in the 'Mid-2013' and subsequent MacBook Air models? Is it even possible?
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Sd Card Slot For Mac
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.