Can I replace the apple SSD with something else?

@flannelist - These adapters are not reliable and they don’t carry all of Apples interface and that includes the M.2 SSD.

And second, there is no real benefit putting in a high performance SSD as the system won’t get any real improvement.

I’ve pulled out quite a few of these as they don’t hold up.

@danj There are other reasons a person might want to use one of these that isn't performance related (price per GB is often much better for example). I know and trust members of the repair community who refuse to use OWC drives because they've had their own poor experiences.

A 980 is probably overkill, but I can certainly see the appeal of this. I don't have an opinion either way. I have seen failures in both scenarios. The real enemy here is Apple making their own form factor for these, but that's par for the course where Apple is concerned.

@flannelist - Yes the root issue is Apple not embracing the M.2 standard. And yes, OWC is milking it! But they did make the expense to design the drive and they also need to pay Apple a license fee!

As of late quality and availability of the chips used in SSD’s generally has been a issue. Many venders have reduced the ability of their drives doing a switch-a-roo marketing the original design then quietly downgraded so the buyers are hoodwinked! Thinking one thing and getting less.

As far as reliability… I’ve replaced at least a couple of hundred M.2 SSD’s and these fangled adapters both fail at a high rate. I’ve only encountered three failures with the OWC Aura Pro X2 SSD and I’ve put in quite a few.

To be clear… I don’t hate M.2 SSD’s I have a few RAID boxes which use them.

If possible I stick with either Apple or OWC in MacBooks at least you can get to the drive, iMac’s the amount of work requires Apple or OWC drives. I just hate the tears when people come in after loosing their stuff because the drive failed and they didn’t make any backups.

@danj It only makes sense. M.2 is a standard for a reason. Just Apple never seems to get the memo on that. Or more accurately, they blatantly defy it.

In my understanding this could be a multi faceted issue. Firmware on the drive/Mac is one. The adapter in use is another (shoddy adapters are definitely rampant). And these m.2 drives come in all levels of quality especially now.

You've got no argument from me that for less hassle, and less variables, just go OWC. But I also know techs who will flat out refuse to use them for a multitude of valid reasons. I wanted to provide an oppositional viewpoint on a topic I'm not convinced has a good or "industry accepted" answer.

@flannelist - It still comes down to the tears! I hate telling people their saving of a few dollars cost them the pictures of their child’s first steps or the research paper which has taken them years to research and write or the video production of the multi million ad campaign which is do in a few hours.

These hidden costs is the real issue people forget or don’t see when they take this path.