What is flash storage?

What is the difference in flash storage and a traditional hard drive? Why would I want to pay so much for a laptop that only has a fraction of the storage capacity of a old hard drive? If I have a lot of movies, music, games, etc. on my laptop, wouldn't I run out of room much faster or is the computers memory configured in a manner that keeps programs and such from using as much memory. I am a avid Apple product advocate because of the unquestionable quality and reliability of the products but As I am shopping for a new laptop, I find myself questioning why I would pay much more to downgrade hard-drive space on top of the fact that the "flash storage" is a new and relatively un-tested technology. I realize that apple has likely done intensive research on the new flash storage but I don't want to have to constantly monitor my available storage on a MacBook that I just paid $1200 bucks for. I also have read that in the event of a un-repairable system crash, recovery of data from a flash storage is extremely difficult if not impossible. My current Apple products which have the "old school" hard drive are very fast to open programs and apps, so why would I would want essentially pay twice as much to downgrade? I am a extreme tech. Idiot so someone please help me because I absolutely don't understand how I would be doing myself any favors buying a new version MacBook. Thanks so much!

Christy, when SSD drives were first released I thought, "Huh?" I had some of the same questions you did. Today every computer I use has either an SSD or a hybrid drive. (A hybrid drive is basically a standard drive with a small SSD. As Seagate's technology has improved it provides many of the advantages of an SSD at a lower cost.) Here's why:
SSDs are wicked fast and for some professional users this speed is significant, not just a convenience. The speed of an SSD also gives makes virtual memory more useful. Most of us launch multiple programs using more memory than our computers actually have and that works because programs running in the background can be shifted to the hard drive and brought back into RAM when they are moved back to the front. There's a noticeable slowdown when VM is being used because moving the program to/from the hard drive takes time. With an SSD it takes no time, in fact, I've noticed that a computer with an SSD feels like it has more memory. My 2007 iMac was maxed out to 6GB of RAM and starting with Lion it began to feel slow because it needed more RAM. With its drive upgrade it suddenly began performing much like my 8GB 2009 notebook - that was quite a big difference.
For mobile computers the SSD provides two additional advantages: An SSD requires less power so the battery lasts longer and because it has no moving parts it won't be crashed by inadvertent movement. And yes, if the SSD dies data can't be retrieved as with a standard hard drive. Then again most of us aren't going to pay the $500-$2500 that this treatment costs. Frequent backups are no substitute for Drive Savers.
The disadvantage is the cost per gigabyte which is dropping fast. The 256GB drive I bought 18 months ago is now selling for half the price I paid for it - and I paid half of what it cost just 6 months earlier! Still the price difference is there and that's why Apple is selling its desktop computers with a Fusion drive option - a combination of standard drive with a small SSD.
For notebook users, the SSD option can require a bit of discipline and how you handle it will depend on whether the notebook is your only computer or if you have a desktop too. I keep my media on the desktop, not my MBA. Apple's iTunes Match came at exactly the right time for me; I keep a small part of my collection on the Air and stream music from the cloud when I'm in WiFi range. I copy a few movies from my desktop to an sdRAM card for when I travel.
As I said, I am sold on SSDs and won't consider a standard drive on any of my computers again.

Similar Messages

What's flash storage means?

what's flash storage means, is it storing my data online if i don't have internet i couldn't to access to my data!!???

AhmedAlNabil wrote:
is it storing my data online if i don't have internet i couldn't to access to my data!!???
No, it's storing your data on the computer.
However the only method to 100% remove sensitive data off a Solid State Drive is to grind it into a fine powder (NSA guidelines) and if the SSD is soldiered to the logicboard, then that will also have to go into the grinder.
The logicboard is basically your entire computer inner workings and in the case of devices like iPads/iPhones/USB drives etc which it's all sealed up, the entire device has to go into the grinder.
Computers with 100% traditional hard drives (not "Fusion" or "Hybrid") can still be scrubbed of unwanted data.

How much of Flash Storage Should I get?

I am planning to buy a 13" macbook pro but i am a little confused on what size flash storage to get. I've heard some people say that 128GB is enough, some say it's not. I plan to use this computer for little bit of gaming, email, pics, video, do PC stuff. Also i wanted to know, how much GB of HDD is equivalent to 128GB flash drive? Thanks in advance!

dr.aventi wrote:
I am planning to buy a 13" macbook pro but i am a little confused on what size flash storage to get. I've heard some people say that 128GB is enough, some say it's not. I plan to use this computer for little bit of gaming, email, pics, video, do PC stuff.
it depends, I have a 120 gb ssd and have plenty of room.
dr.aventi wrote:
Also i wanted to know, how much GB of HDD is equivalent to 128GB flash drive?
the same, 128gb.

What's the difference between flash storage and solid state drive in MacBook Pro?

What's the difference between MacBook Pro with flash storage and MacBook Pro with solid state drive?

A SSD is packaged like any other notebook drive. Flash storage uses a different design and layout that connects directly to the motherboard using PCIe. It is faster than a normal SSD.
SSD vs HDD: What's the Difference? | PCMag.com
what are the differences between solid state drive and flash storage ...

Is the "512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage" on the new mac worth the extra cost? I am comparing with a refurb with better specs (faster CPU, larger hard drive) and from what I undersand the PCIe flash storage is the big differentiator in cost.

hello - i am considering two macbook pros
NEW - http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=ME294LL/A&step=config#
REFURB - http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0ML1LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-27ghz-quad-c ore-intel-i7-with-retina-display
The refurb actually has a faster processor and a larger hard drive. From what I understand, the big difference in cost is the new macbook pro contains "512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage" versus the refurb "768GB Flash Storage".
Is the PCIe flash storage really worth the extra cost (and smaller size)?
PS - Also I believe the brand new one has 2 GB graphics memory as opposed to 1 GB graphics memory. I don't really care about that as much as I won't be doing a lot of video editing or gaming.

RestonManJavaLuver wrote:
Is she wrong - are these actually going to people's homes, being used, then returned and resold?
Some are some are not. Otherwise Apple has a ton of Mac's sitting around that have been returned by customers under their 14 day No Questions Asked return policy.
But they not just Returned and Resold. They go back to Apple, checked out (Tested) any parts that are not up to spec replaced and then repackaged in a plain white box to be sold as refurbs.

What is most important - processor speed, RAM or flash storage?

My son is in the 9th grade and I'm about to buy a Macbook Air for him. I have a limited amount of money to spend, and I'd like to get the best value for my dollar. He will primarily use it in school, for homework, surfing the web, social media, watching videos (not making) and downloading music. He ocasionally downloads movies, but not often at all. The most important factor for him is speed. He is an impatient downloader and web surfer, so the quicker the better for him. Given this profile, does he need the i7 processor, or will the i5 suffice? 4 GB or RAM, or do I need to bump up to 8GB? Can I get by with 128 GB of Flash storage, or will that slow the system down too much and I need to go with 256GB? I'm just not in a position to spend $1800 on a computer. Also, when he graduates from high school, then buying an upgraded machine is definitely an option, I'm just trying to get him through high school with the needs he has now.
Thanks!

The larger SSD are up to 400MBs faster due to SSD densities.
however any macbook needs an external HD for large media storage and necessary data redundancy / backups.
128GB is plenty for most everyone, you need an external HD regardless, NO SSD is big enough to be used as a mass storage device.
see here:
Solid State Drive usage premise, or the “more space / upgrade SSD” question
There have been questions posed and positions taken by many people who are trying to use their Macbook Air or Pro’s solid state drive (SSD) as a mass media storage device, for either pictures, videos, massive music collections or all three combined; but this should not be the working premise of a ‘limited’ SSD and its use.
In which, it’s the case of those users with either 128GB, 256GB, or even 512GB of internal SSD space, that have or are running “out of space”, that questions are raised. The immediate premise of some users can sometimes be “(how to / if) upgrading my SSD” when in fact in nearly all instances another approach is the logical and sensible one that needs to be looked into and exercised.
Any Macbook containing a SSD should be idealized as a ‘working platform’ notebook containing all your applications, documents, and weekly or bi-weekly necessary files. All collections of media files such as pictures, music, and videos, unless directly needed should be kept off the notebook and on an external hard drive or likewise. While the ‘working platform’ premise is also the case with larger internal conventional hard drives of 1TB+, its implementation isn't as critical except in terms of data protection.
Realistically, you should at most coordinate roughly 20 to 25% of your total SSD space to all audio-video personal use media (picture / music / video collections), leaving the remaining amount on an external HD.
Nobody should consider any notebook a data storage device at any time under any circumstance, rather a data creation, sending, and manipulation device; and in the case of a SSD, this is more important for purposes of having sufficient working space on the SSD and reducing SSD ‘bloat’ in which cases someone is wrongly attempting to use the SSD space as a large media storage nexus.
The rare exception to the collective usage and premise of SSD use in which a much larger SSD is truly needed are for those in video and photography professions that require both the extremely fast speeds of the SSD and the onboard storage for large and or many video and photography files. However this also falls under the premise of a ‘working platform’ for such peoples rather than the intent of many who are using the SSD as passive and static data storage for media files very infrequently needed or accessed.
All on-notebook data collections should be logically approached as to necessity, and evaluated as to whether it is active or passive data that likely doesn’t need to be on the notebook, allocations of space-percentages to as-needed work and use, apportioning space for your entertainment media, and questioning whether it should it be on the notebook for more than short-term consumption.
Considerations should be made in the mind of any user in differentiating the necessary system data (System hub) comprising the Mac OSX, applications, necessary documents that both must and should be on your internal SSD, and that of the users personal data (Data hub) comprising created files, pictures, music, videos, PDF files, data created or being created and otherwise, that likely unless being used soon or often should be parked on an external hard drive for consumption, or temporarily loading onto the internal SSD.
You both can and should purchase whichever SSD size you need or see fit, but even in the case of the largest of SSD, unless use-considerations are made, and SSD spaces are allocated as should be the case indicated above, one can easily and immediately run into this quandary of “needing more internal SSD space”, in which instance a different approach in usage must then be implemented.
However it is almost always the case, that such large media files are wanted to be stored internally rather than actually needed, in which case the external HD is both prudent as well as necessary. Additionally costs per MB are infinitely less on an external HD than an internal SSD in any consideration of data expansion needs.
A Professional Example
In the case of a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro Retina with ‘limited’ storage on the SSD, this distinction becomes more important in that in an ever rapidly increasing file-size world, you keep vital large media files, pics, video, PDF collections, music off your SSD and archived on external storage, for sake of the necessary room for your system to have free space to operate, store future applications and general workspace.
You should also never be put in the position of considering “deleting things” on your Macbook SSD in order to ‘make space’. This is especially what your external HD is for.
Professionals who create and import very large amounts of data have almost no change in the available space on their notebooks internal SSD because they are constantly archiving data to arrays of external or networked HD.
Or in the case of the consumer this means you keep folders for large imported or created data and you ritually offload and archive this data for safekeeping, not only to safeguard the data in case your Macbook has a SSD crash, or gets stolen, but importantly in keeping the ‘breathing room’ open for your notebook to operate, expand, create files, add applications, for your APPS to create temp files, and for general operation.
Slim USB3 1TB external hard drive
External Hard Drives
External hard drives are both extremely cheap and regardless of the size of your internal SSD (or even internal hard drive if the case), you need an external hard drive with your SSD equipped Macbook for several reasons:
1. Data backup and protection.
2. Redundancy for important data.
3. Necessitated ideal space for large media files for collections of pictures, videos, and music etc.
While ever changing in price, typical portable 2.5” external hard drives in USB3 run roughly $65 for 1TB or $120 for 2TB small portable USB3 hard drives. Such drives range in thickness between 5mm and 15mm, with recent improvements in storage of 500GB drives in 5mm profiles.
There is almost no premise in which a small 12mm thick 1 Terabyte USB hard drive cannot be taken along with any Macbook as an external large storage extension inside any Macbook carry case or pouch. Typically such external HD profiles are not much bigger than a deck of cards.
External hard drives are a foregone necessity for purchase with any Macbook for at the very least Time Machine backups, data redundancies, and ideally for large media storage.

I have recently purchased a new macbook air I was wondering what the "other" represents in the flash storage

I have recently purchased a new macbook air I was wondering what the "other" represents in the flash storage?

Everything that cannot be classified in one of the other categories.

Got a MacBook Air 128 flash storage like a month ago and in the last few days I have gon into the "get info" it says there that I have 160 GB avalibile , dos anyone know what could be going on with my Mac?

Got a MacBook Air 128 flash storage like a month ago and in the last few days I have gon into the "get info" it says there that I have 160 GB avalibile , dos anyone know what could be going on with my Mac?

This issue can be caused by a corrupt local snapshot index. The procedure below will temporarily disable local snapshots and force the index to be rebuilt.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command.
To re-enable:
sudo tmutil enablelocal

I'am from Argentina. I'm trying to place an order to buy a MacBook Air Core i7 8 Mg ram and 512 flash storage. I'll be in US in november and I don't know how to do. What suggest me

Im sorry. I'm from Argentina and I'll be in New York and Boston during the first week of November. I'd like to buy a Mac Book Air 13,3 with core i7 processor 8MG Ram and 512 flash storage. I'll pick it up at the Boylston Store in Boston. I'd like to place an order for the time I'll be there

Call the Boylston Apple Store in Boston...they may have stock.

Suggestion for a new macbookair flash storage capacity for dual OS

I'm planning to buy my first MBA. I'll work using logic pro and office for mac. But I also have one app that need run on win7. This app size is max 200mb.
To keep my final working file, I plan to buy external storage.
My question, looking at my work needs, pls advise what is the ideal flash storage size I should pick ? Is it 128, 256 or 512Gb ? Ideal for me means, not overcapacity flash storage.
Tx all

Hi Dikanug,
Out of interest, so I can further select the best capacity of Flash Storage, how many document do you plan to save on the computer using Office and how often are you going to use Logic Pro?
This will help determine the best capacity.
Obviously the Logic Pro files will need to stay on the Mac however it is probably cheeper to have a Small Flash Storage and store any file that does not need to be on the actually Macintosh Drive, stored on a large external Hard Drive with files such as Office files.
Obviously the Logic Pro files will be anywhere from 10mb -up and therefore this will be needed to be taken into consideration when purchasing the Flash.
Just for your sake: 14 tracks of audio, 10 of which are drums and a song that is about 5 minutes long, could be at least 25mb in file capacity.
Remember once you have bought the device you cannot make the capacity bigger and thereofre it is better to have more than not enough however do not waste your money if you do not need it.

Transferring data from 750GB backup drive to new MacBook Pro with 256 Gb PCI-e flash storage?

Yesterday my late-2008 aluminium unibody MacBook died - absolutely and definitively. I've tried SMC reset multiple times to no avail. However, it served me well for almost six years and it's now time to move on. I've decided to buy a 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina with 256Gb PCI-e flash storage. Obviously, it will come with Mavericks installed as the operating system.
When it died, my MacBook was running OS X 10.8.5, the original hard drive had been replaced with a Western Digital 750GB, 7200 rpm drive of which I believe about 350GB was used. I keep two x 1Tb Lacie Rugged backup drives, each of which has both Time Machine and SuperDuper Bootable Clone backups.
My questions are these -
1.     How should I proceed to transfer my data from my external backup drives to my new MacBook Pro Retina, given the difference in storage capacity of my existing backup drives and my new MacBook Pro?
2.     I have over 32,000 photos in my iPhoto Library which, obviously, consume a big slab of disk space. I'm not sure how I go about 'quarantining' the iPhoto Library so that it doesn't use all the flash drive storage.
3.      One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC).    The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
4.     What else should I be thinking about? I know I'm bound to have overlooked the most obvious problems but can't think what they may be ...
Cheers
Tricia

Patricia Henwood wrote:
3.      One of the Lacie Rugged's has a 'triple interface' - i.e. USB 2, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. The other has a USB 2 and 2 x Firewire 800 (IIRC).    The MacBook Pro Retina has two USB 3 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. I want to continue to use the Lacies as my backup drives. Am I better off to use the USB ports or should I invest in a Thunderbolt to USB cable? Does it make any real difference in terms of backing up (which, in my case, doesn't have to be all that speedy).
USB3 is backwards compatible with USB2, so you can use the old USB cables. For faster data transfer rates, Firewire 800 would be available using this adapter:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapte r
Firewire 800 is about twice as fast as USB2, theoretically.
Ciao.

4GB memory on new MacBook Pro Retina 13 with 2.4GHz dual core i5 processor &128GB flash storage

Hello,
I'm completely new to the mac world but I'm fed up with pc's and all the insanity with processor problems, viruses, etc. I'm seriously looking at replacing my HP laptop with the new MacBook Pro Retina 13 with 2.4GHz dual core i5 processor, 4GB memory (RAM) & 128GB flash storage, OS X Mavericks (not sure which version). My concern is whether this will be reliably & consistantly fast & smooth both in desktop apps & internet use. I don't need it to do somersaults or anything too advanced. I would mostly be using Pages & spreadsheet apps & internet. It would double as my daughter's computer for cyber school so it's crucial that it runs quickly & efficiently. If she can't complete everything on time or log in to her online sessions because of a computer issue we'll be up a creek without a paddle since this particular cyber school's tech department is still working off of pc's running Windows XP. My father, thus far a pc user, thought I should consider moving up to 8GB memory but I was hoping that with flash storage being faster, I would be able to avoid the extra $100 for the upgrade to 8GB. My biggest fear is finding myself as frustrated & angry as I am now with all of my pc's, ready to take a sledge hammer to them because they take forever to boot, launch apps, internet or do just about anything (that is if they're even fuctioning at all- not joking). Does anyone have any advice or input? Thanks!!
P.s. On Apple's site I found a refurbished late 2013 model of the MacBook Pro Retina 13 with all of the same specs as listed above (4GB, not 8GB), running OS X (doesn't say which one) but for a bit less than a brand new one. Is this the same model as what they're currently selling new in their store or did they just upgrade everything to match what is being offered in the current "new" model? I realize this may be a dumb question but I can't seem to find anything online indicated that Apple has released a model newer than what was released late last year (October 2013, I believe), except that the model released then came with SSD storage instead of flash.

No computer is fault free but Apple MBPs have a good track record. In those cases where problems do arise, Apple has the best support in the industry.
A MBP with 4 GB RAM with the SSD storage should be adequate for your needs.
lsmoondancer01 wrote:
P.s. On Apple's site I found a refurbished late 2013 model of the MacBook Pro Retina 13 with all of the same specs as listed above (4GB, not 8GB), running OS X (doesn't say which one) but for a bit less than a brand new one. Is this the same model as what they're currently selling new in their store or did they just upgrade everything to match what is being offered in the current "new" model?
The latest MBP models came out in October 2013, so it will be the same, with the same warranty and telephone support. The difference will be that the price will be less and it will be delivered in a plain white box.
I have purchased three MBPs from the refurbished section. I have never been able to detect any cosmetic differences and will go that route again.
Ciao.

Is the 256GB flash storage enough for me? Can I install a bigger SD?

Hi there, I am transferring from a Dell (which I love) to the Macbook Air 256. However, I'm very concerned about the storage. I've had my Dell for 10 years and never gotten near the storage capacity. It has 285Gb and I've used 215GB of it. I figured the 256 would be enough, but I've only transferred 1 year of pictures over to my MAC, and the storage space is already HALF FULL!!!! I barely deleted 50 photos, and you can see the storage space free up by a couple GBs. Does flash storage not hold as much as regular hard drives? I'm a novice at mac computers and am getting really frustrated that this computer might not hold anything. Everything is also on an external drive, but I like it all on my computer for easy access. I also heard that I can put SD cards into my Macbook air to give me more storage. Is this true and if so, where do I get that? Thank you so so much for your help!

firebox is only $30 at walmart, if you dont have a safe deposit box.
theft is more about HIDING IT than vaulting it, buy a fireproof SLEEVE on Ebay for $30 and hide it under etc etc something, very easy to do.
you can buy your own private website, which is what I do, I have several   Cost is roughly $120 per year unlimited storage..
(see godaddy.com or otherwise)
However safety has to be put in place to prevent others from accessing your data, also very easy.
Its all about redundancy #1 and #2 longevity (DVD professional archival) for very important information that cant degrade over short term and rated for at least 60+ years.
All these points are explained in detail in the link I posted you as User Tip.
Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
As for hard drives, dont make the HUGE mistake others make, only having ONE off computer copy on a HD, thats a tragedy in waiting, 2 copies is 1, and 1 is none, ....and the data on the computer doesnt count in the 2-copy scheme.
Hard Drive Warning (all makes and models)
Ironically but logical, new hard drives are far more fragile than one that has been working for several months or a couple years. So beware in your thinking that a new hard drive translates into “extremely reliable”!
Hard drives suffer from high rates of what has been termed "infant mortality". Essentially this means new drives have their highest likelihood of failing in the first few months of usage. This is because of very minor manufacturing defects or HD platter balancing, or head and armature geometry being less than perfect; and this is not immediately obvious and can quickly manifest itself once the drive is put to work.
Hard drives that survive the first few months of use without failing are likely to remain healthy for a number of years.
Generally HD are highly prone to death or corruption for a few months, then work fine for a few years, then spike in mortality starting at 3-4 years and certainly should be considered end-of-life at 5-7+ years even if still working well. Drives written to once and stored away have the highest risk of data corruption due to not being read/written to on a regular basis. Rotate older working HD into low-risk use.
The implication of this is that you should not trust a new hard drive completely (really never completely!) until it has been working perfectly for several months.
Given the second law of thermodynamics, any and all current mfg. HD will, under perfect storage conditions tend themselves to depolarization and a point will be reached, even if the HD mechanism is perfect, that the ferromagnetic read/write surface of the platter inside the HD will entropy to the point of no viable return for data extraction. HD life varies, but barring mechanical failure, 3-8 years typically.
Hard drive failure and handling
The air cushion of air between the platter surface and the head is microscopic, as small as 3 nanometers, meaning bumps, jarring while in operation can cause head crash, scraping off magnetic particles causing internal havoc to the write surface and throwing particles thru the hard drive.
Hard drives are fragile in general, regardless, ... in specific while running hard drives are extremely fragile.
PDF: Bare hard drive handling generic instructions
hard drive moving parts
Some of the common reasons for hard drives to fail:
Infant mortality (due to mfg. defect / build tolerances)
Bad parking   (head impact)
Sudden impact   (hard drive jarred during operation, heads can bounce)
Electrical surge   (fries the controller board, possibly also causing heads to write the wrong data)
Bearing / Motor failure   (spindle bearings or motors wear during any and all use, eventually leading to HD failure)
Board failure   (controller board failure on bottom of HD)
Bad Sectors   (magnetic areas of the platter may become faulty)
General hard drive failure

Can the flash storage hard drives in the brand new 15inch Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops (10.22.13) be upgraded/replaced in the future?

Can the flash storage hard drives in the brand new Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops that were just released a few days ago (10.22.13) be upgraded/replaced in the future? I will need more than the basic 256GB for sample libraries using music software, among other things, but currently larger flash drives from Apple are too expensive. I ask because I'm in the process of buying one of the new 15inch Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops right now (or at least right after I get an answer to this question).
I saw in the Mac store when I started looking at the build options for ordering the Macbook Pro that under Memory it said the memory was built into the computer and therefore could not ever be replaced or upgraded in the future. So I was wondering if something similiar might be the case with the flash storage drives even though the same wasn't written under the hard drive options? If these flash drives can be replaced in the future then I would just purchase the starting 256GB drive and suffer through using connected external hard drives, as unwieldy as that would be, until there were potential replacement flash drives with larger storage capacties available on the market or through Apple for more reasonable prices. But if the hard drives in these laptops can't be replaced/upgraded I would go for the 500GB drive option (even though paying an additional $300, before taxes, for just 244GBs more storage space is absolutely outrageous no matter how great flash drives are with their read/write speeds, no moving parts to break, and lighter weight/thinner builds allowing for an overall thinner laptop). I would even go for the larger 1TB option, which is really what I need, except that costs an additional $700 which is more than enough to buy me a new 50inch, HD, flatscreen TV from a reputable brand if I were so inclined! (And yes, I understand the youth of the technology, current limits to flash drive capacities, and the reason for the high prices. I know I'm not getting bilked...)
So yeah, does anybody have an answer to this question? Can the flash hard drives in the new Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops, just released, be upgraded/replaced in the future? Any answers are greatly appreciated and will save me some much needed cash on my purchase of one of these laptops! And I should also ask, if so, can they be replaced by the laptop owner with the normal toolset through the normal, easily done methods of hard drive replacement in laptops that has been common, or would I have to bring the laptop to a Apple technician?
Thanks everybody!

The modules are proprietary. They are installed in a slot secured with a tiny screw.
macsales.com has been working on providing aftermarket modules for the older models that were on the SATA Bus.
These newer ones are likley directly on the PCIe Bus. That will take some time to develop.

How to buy the 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage ?

Hi,
I own a MacBook Pro retina 2012/2013 with 256GB ssd,
I want to upgrade to the new 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage.
I tried talking to apple support and was told they wont upgrade my macbook.
And that i should buy the SSD as a stand alone part and install it myself.
I have no problem installing it myself but I cant find it as a stand alone product.
The guy in support told me I can get it in the apple store. I went there and they dont sell it.
Anyone have the same problem?
Thanks

I want to upgrade to the new 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage.
Honestly, do you NEED 1tb SSD?
You need to change the premise of your SSD use.
see here:
Your Solid State Drive and having enough space inside your Macbook Air & Pro
Solid State Drive usage premise, or the “more space / upgrade SSD” question
There have been questions posed and positions taken by many people who are trying to use their Macbook Air or Pro’s solid state drive (SSD) as a mass media storage device, for either pictures, videos, massive music collections or all three combined; but this should not be the working premise of a ‘limited’ SSD and its use.
In which, it’s the case of those users with either 128GB, 256GB, or even 512GB of internal SSD space, that have or are running “out of space”, that questions are raised. The immediate premise of some users can sometimes be “(how to / if) upgrading my SSD” when in fact in nearly all instances another approach is the logical and sensible one that needs to be looked into and exercised.
Any Macbook containing a SSD should be idealized as a ‘working platform’ notebook containing all your applications, documents, and weekly or bi-weekly necessary files. All collections of media files such as pictures, music, and videos, unless directly needed should be kept off the notebook and on an external hard drive or likewise. While the ‘working platform’ premise is also the case with larger internal conventional hard drives of 1TB+, its implementation isn't as critical except in terms of data protection.
Realistically, you should at most coordinate roughly 20 to 25% of your total SSD space to all audio-video personal use media (picture / music / video collections), leaving the remaining amount on an external HD.
Nobody should consider any notebook a data storage device at any time under any circumstance, rather a data creation, sending, and manipulation device; and in the case of a SSD, this is more important for purposes of having sufficient working space on the SSD and reducing SSD ‘bloat’ in which cases someone is wrongly attempting to use the SSD space as a large media storage nexus.
The rare exception to the collective usage and premise of SSD use in which a much larger SSD is truly needed are for those in video and photography professions that require both the extremely fast speeds of the SSD and the onboard storage for large and or many video and photography files. However this also falls under the premise of a ‘working platform’ for such peoples rather than the intent of many who are using the SSD as passive and static data storage for media files very infrequently needed or accessed.
All on-notebook data collections should be logically approached as to necessity, and evaluated as to whether it is active or passive data that likely doesn’t need to be on the notebook, allocations of space-percentages to as-needed work and use, apportioning space for your entertainment media, and questioning whether it should it be on the notebook for more than short-term consumption.
Considerations should be made in the mind of any user in differentiating the necessary system data (System hub) comprising the Mac OSX, applications, necessary documents that both must and should be on your internal SSD, and that of the users personal data (Data hub) comprising created files, pictures, music, videos, PDF files, data created or being created and otherwise, that likely unless being used soon or often should be parked on an external hard drive for consumption, or temporarily loading onto the internal SSD.
You both can and should purchase whichever SSD size you need or see fit, but even in the case of the largest of SSD, unless use-considerations are made, and SSD spaces are allocated as should be the case indicated above, one can easily and immediately run into this quandary of “needing more internal SSD space”, in which instance a different approach in usage must then be implemented.
However it is almost always the case, that such large media files are wanted to be stored internally rather than actually needed, in which case the external HD is both prudent as well as necessary. Additionally costs per MB are infinitely less on an external HD than an internal SSD in any consideration of data expansion needs.
A Professional Example
In the case of a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro Retina with ‘limited’ storage on the SSD, this distinction becomes more important in that in an ever rapidly increasing file-size world, you keep vital large media files, pics, video, PDF collections, music off your SSD and archived on external storage, for sake of the necessary room for your system to have free space to operate, store future applications and general workspace.
You should also never be put in the position of considering “deleting things” on your Macbook SSD in order to ‘make space’. This is especially what your external HD is for.
Professionals who create and import very large amounts of data have almost no change in the available space on their notebooks internal SSD because they are constantly archiving data to arrays of external or networked HD.
Or in the case of the consumer this means you keep folders for large imported or created data and you ritually offload and archive this data for safekeeping, not only to safeguard the data in case your Macbook has a SSD crash, or gets stolen, but importantly in keeping the ‘breathing room’ open for your notebook to operate, expand, create files, add applications, for your APPS to create temp files, and for general operation.
Slim USB3 1TB external hard drive
External Hard Drives
External hard drives are both extremely cheap and regardless of the size of your internal SSD (or even internal hard drive if the case), you need an external hard drive with your SSD equipped Macbook for several reasons:
1. Data backup and protection.
2. Redundancy for important data.
3. Necessitated ideal space for large media files for collections of pictures, videos, and music etc.
While ever changing in price, typical portable 2.5” external hard drives in USB3 run roughly $65 for 1TB or $120 for 2TB small portable USB3 hard drives. Such drives range in thickness between 5mm and 15mm, with recent improvements in storage of 500GB drives in 5mm profiles.
There is almost no premise in which a small 12mm thick 1 Terabyte USB hard drive cannot be taken along with any Macbook as an external large storage extension inside any Macbook carry case or pouch. Typically such external HD profiles are not much bigger than a deck of cards.
External hard drives are a foregone necessity for purchase with any Macbook for at the very least Time Machine backups, data redundancies, and ideally for large media storage.

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