If your new ssd is pre-initialized, an additional step is required in disk utility: show all devices and erase an entire device to implement GUID partition scheme. Otherwise there is only pre-created volume is visible and you can not change from mbr to guid
I went into this with some skepticism because tutorials are often misleading or out-of-date, or something. But, I went ahead and ordered the nvme SSD and adapter from Amazon. I thought for certain something along the way in this video was going to be off, or wrong, or mixed up, or out-of-date, or mismatched. BUT, I have to say this worked to an f'n T. This tutorial is so clear, easy to follow and with perfect pace. I wish all tutorials could be this accurate. I had absolutely no issues whatsoever from back up on Time Machine, installing the OS to a usb drive, install of the SSD, reinstalling the OS and all of my files. Thank you so much and keep up the great work.
Charlie, you’re awesome dude. I upgraded the SSD on a mid 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro and a Late 2013 27 inch iMac. Both now have 1Tb storage and work like a charm. To think I was going to toss them out and buy new ones. You literally saved me $2k-$3k.
Excellent. Everything worked exactly as you taught, BUT after as I went to install MacOS after renaming the new hard drive, it said that I couldn't continue unless I had the "journal extended." So, if anyone has the same problem, what I did was I went back to disk utility and selected the new hard drive and clicked "erase" and then was prompted to rename the hard drive (which I kept the same) and where it says "GILD" you must click that drop down menu and choose "Journal Extended" and NOT Gild. Then proceed to installing it on new hard drive. Should install after that.
Hello Charlie, This very instructive & clear tutorial worked perfectly for me (MBA 2015, 128 GB). I installed it with Monterey today & no pblm at all. Thank you very much !!
Thanks for the clear and concise instructions :) I just got my first Macbook Air after decades of being a Windows user and your guide helped out immensely !
Great video, thanks for explaining the entire workflow in one video. I just upgraded the ssd of my mbp to 512 gb, and it’s installing MacOS now. I can’t wait to be actually able to edit photos without it beging a painful experience. Thanks!
Hey Charlie! This video tutorial was PERFECT! I've been looking to do everything you've showed how to do here on my 2017 MacBook Air for years. Creating the OS install drive was what I never would have figured out on my own. I did happen to use MacOS Monterey and the entire process was flawless. Your step by step instructions were clear and easy to follow. While I was swapping out the drive, I ended up also removing the fan and heatsink, cleaning them and re applying thermal paste to the CPU and diode before putting it all back together. As I said, this process was easy and ended up being perfect. You've definitely earned a subscriber! Thank you!
I am really happy to see that this method still works on MacOS Monterey! And it was a good idea to re-do the thermal paste as well, lastly welcome to the channel, I am really glad to hear the video was helpful.
Thanks a lot for the detailed video. I just updated my MacBook Air(2015) following exact the same steps, and it works like a charm, no issue at all. I replaced the SSD with 1T WD Blue SN570, with an adaptor and screw drivers bought from Amazon. I used SD card(with USB reader) instead of flash drive. It works fine except it's kind of slow. I also restored previous backup AFTER installed new MacOS(using Migration Assistant) without problem. The current OS is Monterey, and it also has no problem to follow exactly the same steps. One thing I learned is you must use the right tool to remove the tiny screws on the back....
Thanks for the video. I've done this in the past with other macbooks, but it was nice to have a step by step walkthrough for the added confidence. All steps were clear and matched up making this extremely handy. With the price of ssds now, it's very convenient to upgrade to 1TB. Thanks!
Good instruction video. However, Apple used pricing make it not worthy. 2018 MBA 16G/500G is sold for $550 ish, compared to $500 ish for this upgrade (2015 8G/128G can be sold for $250 + 1TB SSD cost $200+ + adapter + tools). With the similar price, you also future proof 16G, SSD speed at 2.1GB/s on real test vs the upgraded WD 1.4GB/s on paper, no battery drain issue after upgrade all over the internet (Apple interface has extra pins for sensing battery), lighter weight, smaller size, retina resolution, longer life. To me, the industry makes upgrading a satisfying “just because i can” than any economic reasons, unless you have ancient software that only runs on older machine
I know this video is a couple years old, but thank you. Ive watched so many videos on installing a new ssd in my old macbook air and yours was the one that I could follow the best and actually worked. Thanks man, huge appreciation 👍
@@TechGuyCharlie yes sir. Only issue now is upgrading beyond Big Sur. I was on High Sierra and the upgrade to Big Sur went fine, but trying to upgrade to Monterey is failing. I'll probably just stay in Big Sur, but I know there are some workarounds. Don't feel like screwing with it anymore right now, been doing this for like a week lol
Thank You so much, I bought a Kingston A2000 1TB in Hong Kong today and the price is USD $94, and I will follow your video to upgrade my Mac Air later today.
I did this upgrade on my 2017 13" MacBook Air, but there are some differences with what I did compared to what you did. Of course, I went through the process of creating a bootable USB thumb drive with the installer for macOS Monterey ... and I used a USB 3 thumb drive for the installer to help get the process going faster compared to a USB 2 drive. I got a Samsung EVO 970 Plus 1 TB from Amazon as an open box special, so I was able to score a good gen. 3 NVMe drive for under $90 with full manufacturer's warranty after registering it with Samsung. It also already had the most up-to-date firmware installed, so it would work without causing kernel panics under macOS. I also bought an Acasis brand USB 3 Apple SSD external drive enclosure from Amazon, which also came with an M.2 adapter that I was able to use to install the new SSD in my computer. The bundled adapter also permitted the new SSD to work at full speed, running with a link width of x4 and 5.0 GT/s link speed according to the system report. After making a Time Machine backup onto an external hard drive just in case my plan wouldn't work, I took the Apple SSD out of my MacBook Air and installed it in my Acasis SSD enclosure. Then I installed the new SSD into my MacBook Air and booted it up with the Monterey installer USB. Once the installer was running, I formatted the new SSD as an APFS volume with a GUID partition table and proceeded to install Monterey. When it got to the step involving Migration Assistant during the setup process, I migrated my user account with around 100 GB of my stuff straight from my Apple SSD. Thanks to the USB 3 enclosure I used with my original Apple SSD, the migration process went relatively quickly, faster than using my Time Machine hard drive or a USB thumb drive, even though the Apple SSD is a SATA device instead of NVMe. Of course if it didn't work, I had my Time Machine Backup to fall back on. And, once my installation and migration was completed, I secured my new SSD using FileVault encryption under Security & Privacy in System Preferences. And, also thanks to the enclosure, I repurposed my 256 GB Apple SSD as an external 256 GB SSD. I still have my Time Machine Backup, of course.
Is your Samsung EVO 970 plus 1 TB SSD working fine in you 2017 Macbook Air? Because I am about to do the process with the sane mac machine and same Sansung EVO 970 plus SSD. Can you share me the link of the enclosure please I need that!
Very nicely done video. Perfect speed and perfect instructions. Thanks charlie. Subscribed. I'll look up other videos too. I'm looking for that weird wifi airport interface vanishing on Monterey upgrade (been searching for long. Network preferences simply doesn't show the wifi adaptor, even a changed new wifi adaptor, so no the issue is not in the adaptor). I wonder if you could look into this. Thanks
Just grabbing a coffee and watching this, as its something i need to do on my macbook air 2015, do you have to update the uefi to support the 1tb drive first though? great video mate, thank you.
Commenting again to thank you! The biggest headache is removed now. I have successfully upgraded Monterey with the above instructions. I was facing issues while opening my macbook as the screwdriver suggested by Charlie was not available in the Amazon so ordered the other screwdriver. Request you to use the same items provided by Charlie to do it successfully. you are a Gem Bro. 🙌
You can skip creating the bootable media and just do an Internet boot and recovery. At boot, hold down CMD-R to boot into recovery mode in the OS that came on your Mac, or CMD-OPT-R to boot into the latest release of MacOS that's compatible with your Mac. In my case I have a 2012 Macbook Air, so Mountain Lion was the default, and the CMD-OPT-R boot is Catalina. Once you're in Internet boot mode just enter your WiFi information and let it do it's thing to boot up into MacOS Utilities. Then you can format the disk, reinstall OSX, etc. Hope that helps.
Dec 2022; just upgraded my MacBook Air 2015 (Monteray) from 128gb to 2TB with these steps (with a minor issue)! I did have a little hiccup where I couldn't install monteray (the system recognized that it was broken / damaged) Possibly because i used a 16gb mini SD in an adapter rather than an actual USB stick?? ... I forgot what I did exactly to fix it but in disk utility.. I ejected something ... tried to re-install.. and it worked! Anyways.. just posting to tell others like me to say it's do able and many thanks again Charlie!
Thank you so much. I followed official steps from the disk manufacturer, but i can't see the disc in recovery mode, thinking the SSD is broken. Your tutorial help me a lot, works like a charm!
just did this to mine for more storage thank you! and also did some fan cleaning and thermal paste replacement to keep it going! I've had mine for 5 years now (2017) version and use it for school so the memory upgrade was much needed !
Thank you!! and yes, I've included the link to the adaptor in the video's description, but if you search 'MacBook nvme adaptor' on Amazon, you will get the relevant results, just match the model of your MacBook and you are good to go! It's been almost 3-4 months, haven't faced any crashes or issues with the upgrade. 😊
Excellent instructional video - step by step guide was spot on & I managed to complete the installation which worked perfectly - Thanks so much for this information Charlie 👍👍🙏
First I want to tell you how crystal clear these instructions were to follow. I will be following you for now on. Great Job!! And I will be contributing to your channel shone I have looked over your other videos pertaining to Apple devices. How would you do this SSD upgrade with a 2018 MacBook Pro, which comes with four thunderbolt ports, instead of the USB ports? Also, where do I look to find out what the SSD size maximums are... for example, if my MacBook Pro or iMac 21" came with a 500GB/ 1TB SSD respectively, can they be upgraded to 1TB/ 2TB respectively?
Thank you George! I wish I could help you out with 2018 MacBook Pro, but I cant because I don't have one, I can only recommend an upgrade only if I've done it myself and tested it.
One of the best tutorials I’ve ever seen. Do you think there would be any problems after restoring the backup to an identical MacBook that is not the same as the one the backup was made from? Any licensing issues? I had Final Cut Pro on mine. The situation is my MacBook became defective but I was able to buy an identical one, which I want to upgrade the SSD in and ultimately restore the original backup.
Thank you!! and If I am not mistaken, the license is tied to your Apple ID, not the MacBook, so assuming you swap Macbook, FCP should install without any issue after signing in with your Apple ID. It would be insane to buy a new license after moving to a different Mac.
Hi, my name is Nikhil. I was looking to upgrade my MacBook Air (Early 2015) A1466 from 128 GB to 1 TB or higher. I found this video very informative, kudos to Tech Guy Charlie. While researching, I found two solutions with some frequently observed problems. 1. Use Adapter & a good SSD like Samsung - General two problems observed in this configuration is either the adapter or the SSD stops working after some time and starts restarting the system on its own. Or not able to use Hibernating function of the mac. 2. Use M.2 SSD offered by Transcend, Timetec, Kingspec etc. - Problem I observed in reviews is many people had reliability issues over time. Since my MacBook is my prime device and I am running out of storage to work on. I want to a best shot for it. I am looking forward for your experience and advice for the choice of SSD and the Adapter (If required) 1:25 I am looking to buy from Amazon India.
Hey, I would not recommend upgrading your 'primary' MacBook, due to the proprietary nature of Apple products. So, unlike PC's there is always a small risk of data loss and adapter issues with these upgrades, although so far the MacBook in this video has been working fine, once or twice a year the MacBook throws a kernel panic while resuming from sleep, other than that, there havent been major issues, although your mileage may vary as the exact SSD in the video has been discontinued by WD and they've come out with a newer revision which I havent tested, nor I plan to as these are very expensive. If you do plan on upgrading, take a backup of all your data and keep doing so regularly after the upgrade.
Hey Charlie, Excellent video. Great index, great instructions and well segmented. Congratulations! You are great! Just one question: The WD SN550 specs are: write-1950 and read-2400. why your readings are not as the specified. Is it because of the adapter? or the port on the Macbook air, doesn't support such speeds?
Excellent video tutorial. I did the same step by step from 500GB to 1TB SSD upgrade on a Macbook Pro Mid 2015 and using macOS Monterey. Everything OK!!!
Thanks. I’m not good on Macs but this how to made it very easy. I have successfully installed a larger Samsung EVO NVME drive into the Mac and restored all my files.
Worked for me like a charm. Thank you for the detailed video. Only issue I had to spend a lot of time is to format the ssd in the right format (GUID) as the scheme option was not shown by default. If you add this information, the tutorial may be complete :) Thank you
Wow, thanks for the tutorial! You make it very clear and easy to follow. Nothing was skip on anything. I wanna follow this tutorial. My Mbp is mid 2015 with 15" retina display and i thought its very similar process since i 've done matched your tutorial with another tutorial on youtube that specifically for mbp 15" (but so much step that skipped and i got confused). And your tutorial make everything full circle.
this is such a thorough and well thought-out tutorial~ you're very well-spoken, Charlie! just did the same thing for my 2015 MacBook Pro and despite it being a different model from yours, it still works no problem. thanks for the help!
Thank you soo much cuz I’ve been trying with the built in diskutillites but didn’t work or even recognize my nvme ssd until i came across ur video and try with usb install ❤
Hi Charlie, thank you for this great, detailed video. I am going to upgrade my early 2015 Macbook Pro. I have a question about nvme ssd adapter card. I am reading comments at other places that some people have issues related to waking up from herbernation with some adapter cards. I wondered if you had the same experience. Please let me know your recommendation on a card that would not have this issue. I am planning to use Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB nvme ssd. Thanks!
Hi Charlie, thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I have the same Macbook Air and is so tired of the storage issue. I will try to upgrade it so thank you for this helpful video. I just want to check if I can us an external hard drive to store everything instead of the 128gb usb drive? It would work this same right? with the same steps and all. Thank you!
I was able to upgrade my Macbook Pro (early 2015) from 128GB to 2TB. It accepted it!!! B4 I had 16GB free out of 128GB. Now it shows 1.97TB free out of 2TB. This is AWESOME!!!
Very instructive and clear tutorial. Question....Can this be done on a 2012 MacBook Air with a failed SSD? There would be no way to use the MacBook to create backups or download the installer file. I'd be happy with a clean instal without the Time Machine backup.
Charlie that was the best video I have seen doing this. You are very thorough. Little things like which boxes to X out. Great job! For someone like myself who knows nothing about the program side I did this with ease. Thank you!
Hi Charlie. Thanks for the detailed video. Can you suggest an SSD for the Macbook Air mid 2012? Will I be needing an adapter for this SSD? Thanks in advance
Thanks for the video! Have you noticed significant overall performance improvement after the upgrade? e.g. browsing web, opening apps, UI responsiveness, etc
Many very grateful thanks for this perfect video. You saved my bacon today as I had messed it up big time and was about to lose all my data. Thank you so much.
Great video, explanation, and content. I'm glad it has worked for lots of people but unfortunately for me, no luck. Followed everything to the "T" and no success. I've looked at different articles online, other videos, etc. but nothing works. I tried two different USBs, reset the PRAM of the Mac, and unchecked "ignore ownership of this volume" and nothing worked. I ALWAYS receive the block symbol. Once I hear the chime, I press "Alt/Option" key, select "Install Mac OS Monterey" and immediately receive the block symbol. That's it. No idea what else I can try. Booting from a USB for Windows is easier than Apple's approach. Thanks for your video and if you have any ideas or tricks I can use, please let me know/direct me. Thank you very much, Tech Guy Charlie.
First: thanks for this awesome tutorial. I am going to try this for coming weekend. One question: Amazon website where I purchased the adapter says that one cannot hibernate the laptop after this upgrade. Could you please share your experience on this?
Hey Charlie, The SSD old generation is out of stock. Will the new generation work fine or could you please provide a new link ? thanks for beautifully explaining like a teacher. appreciate your efforts.
Thank you! Thing is, I havent tested the new generation WD SSD, so I cant say, it should work fine according to me, but cant be 100% certain. However, the old one is working fine, its going to be a year since the swap and so far I've experienced only one crash.
This video was extremely helpful !! The only hiccup I ran into was when I finished downloading the MacOS , I got an error message and it wasn’t mentioned in the video. So I googled the error and it was a easy fix, I had to make sure I clicked “more info” under the upgrade software tab and install any system updates that were outstanding. After that I re downloaded the MacOS and no error message occurred.
I'm about to upgrade my ssd. I am running Monterey. when I make mac installer can I use the latest version Ventura? also will I be able to restore from network NAS? great video.
Your tutorial helped me a lot. Up to now everything works fine. I had just problems with the back up, because I did not select the option GUID Partition Table in the external hard drive. But then I managed to fix it. Thank you very much. I hope in some years you develop a tutorial to expand de RAM.
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Guys, if you are wondering the procedure is exactly the same on macOS Monterey.
Perfect that was my question!!! You are the man Charlie! 💪🏼
If your new ssd is pre-initialized, an additional step is required in disk utility: show all devices and erase an entire device to implement GUID partition scheme. Otherwise there is only pre-created volume is visible and you can not change from mbr to guid
Hi, will the MacBook Pro Early 2015 can be done the same way?
@@mxx.L I did all of Charlie’s steps with an early 2015 and it worked (all I changed was using MacOS Monterey)
I have ordered components according to this movie. Wish me luck ;) The most interesting will be sdd speed after upgrade...
I went into this with some skepticism because tutorials are often misleading or out-of-date, or something. But, I went ahead and ordered the nvme SSD and adapter from Amazon. I thought for certain something along the way in this video was going to be off, or wrong, or mixed up, or out-of-date, or mismatched. BUT, I have to say this worked to an f'n T. This tutorial is so clear, easy to follow and with perfect pace. I wish all tutorials could be this accurate. I had absolutely no issues whatsoever from back up on Time Machine, installing the OS to a usb drive, install of the SSD, reinstalling the OS and all of my files. Thank you so much and keep up the great work.
This means a lot!! I am so glad the tutorial worked out!! 😊
Charlie, you’re awesome dude. I upgraded the SSD on a mid 2015 15 inch MacBook Pro and a Late 2013 27 inch iMac. Both now have 1Tb storage and work like a charm. To think I was going to toss them out and buy new ones. You literally saved me $2k-$3k.
That sounds awesome!! So nice to hear! Glad the video was helpful, and how are the Macs running?
@@TechGuyCharlie How about the diskspeed?
Excellent. Everything worked exactly as you taught, BUT after as I went to install MacOS after renaming the new hard drive, it said that I couldn't continue unless I had the "journal extended." So, if anyone has the same problem, what I did was I went back to disk utility and selected the new hard drive and clicked "erase" and then was prompted to rename the hard drive (which I kept the same) and where it says "GILD" you must click that drop down menu and choose "Journal Extended" and NOT Gild. Then proceed to installing it on new hard drive. Should install after that.
should be adfs, preferred for ssd's.
Love how the hardware used in this is coincidentally the exact same one I’m gonna get for the exact same laptop
Hello Charlie, This very instructive & clear tutorial worked perfectly for me (MBA 2015, 128 GB). I installed it with Monterey today & no pblm at all. Thank you very much !!
That sounds great!! Glad the video was helpful. 😊
Where can I download macos monterey? All I can see in appstore is ventura😢
Thanks for the clear and concise instructions :) I just got my first Macbook Air after decades of being a Windows user and your guide helped out immensely !
Best guide I ever found on TH-cam so far. Kudos to you mate!
you're awesome dude, I can now upgrade my storage to 2TB ssd instead of being locked into 128GB. Thanks a bunch
Great video, thanks for explaining the entire workflow in one video. I just upgraded the ssd of my mbp to 512 gb, and it’s installing MacOS now. I can’t wait to be actually able to edit photos without it beging a painful experience. Thanks!
I am so glad the video was helpful! 😊
Followed your instructions, and I went from 128 gb to 2 tb. HUGE improvement, thanks
Hi, what is the brand and model you use for 2 TB?
@@eumieadriannepalmones1732 Samsung V-NAND SSD 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2
Hope this helps
@@GamesWithArty thanks a lot for that info!
@telvintenson8203 I did not notice a change in performance -- just as good before and after
This is the most detailed step-by-step I've found! Thank you!!
You're welcome! 😊
Just installed macOS Monterey and is working perfectly.
Thank you very much for the detailed video.
You had macOS Monterey on the Macbook and on the bootable USB both?
OMG. New subscriber. Took me two days of no sleep trying to figure it out. Found your video. Life saver
I hope you were able to upgrade your MacBook?
@@TechGuyCharlie yes under 1 hr i was up and running. Thanks
i needed this! lots of ppl show the ssd switch , but not the formatting tricks :)
Really liked the fact that you waited a week to upload to see if it works fine, nice one
Thank you for the clear and easy instructions! My 128 gb MacBook now has 2TB and I’m over the moon!
Awesome!! Glad I could help.
How much?
@@carolabear27 a little over $100, plus the cost of the adapter
hi where did you buy it what website thanks@@kirbeast46
Hey Charlie!
This video tutorial was PERFECT!
I've been looking to do everything you've showed how to do here on my 2017 MacBook Air for years.
Creating the OS install drive was what I never would have figured out on my own.
I did happen to use MacOS Monterey and the entire process was flawless.
Your step by step instructions were clear and easy to follow.
While I was swapping out the drive, I ended up also removing the fan and heatsink, cleaning them and re applying thermal paste to the CPU and diode before putting it all back together.
As I said, this process was easy and ended up being perfect.
You've definitely earned a subscriber!
Thank you!
I am really happy to see that this method still works on MacOS Monterey! And it was a good idea to re-do the thermal paste as well, lastly welcome to the channel, I am really glad to hear the video was helpful.
Followed this guide to upgrade the ssd in my 2015 Macbook Air. Worked flawlessly. Great instruction. Thank you.
You're welcome! and that is so nice to hear! 😊
Thanks a lot for the detailed video. I just updated my MacBook Air(2015) following exact the same steps, and it works like a charm, no issue at all. I replaced the SSD with 1T WD Blue SN570, with an adaptor and screw drivers bought from Amazon. I used SD card(with USB reader) instead of flash drive. It works fine except it's kind of slow. I also restored previous backup AFTER installed new MacOS(using Migration Assistant) without problem. The current OS is Monterey, and it also has no problem to follow exactly the same steps. One thing I learned is you must use the right tool to remove the tiny screws on the back....
When I search MacOS I don't see Monterey, I see Ventura, any ideas?
You had macOS Monterey on the Macbook - before upgrading - and on the bootable USB both?
Excellent for me : you taught me exactly what I was looking for. And your spicy accent is "the cherry on the cake" as we say in french ! thanks a lot.
That is awesome, glad the video was helpful and thank you! 😊
Very Helpful Step-by-Step guidance with professional advices and critical notes for the success of the transition. Thank you Charli.
I am glad the video was helpful! 😊
Man, you're ABSOLUTELY impeccable!
Keep up the AMAZING work and if you aren't already, CERTAINLY you'll SHINE a LOT in life.
Thanks for the video. I've done this in the past with other macbooks, but it was nice to have a step by step walkthrough for the added confidence. All steps were clear and matched up making this extremely handy. With the price of ssds now, it's very convenient to upgrade to 1TB. Thanks!
Hey, massive thanks from my side! 😊 Glad I could help.
Dear Charlie, I followed your explanation step by step with macOS Monterey just expanded to 500GB without any problem. Thank you so much.
Sounds great, glad the video was helpful. 😊
@@TechGuyCharlieupgradeable only til 500gb max?if we exceed. To. 1tb at least what are the possible problem?
Ahh, the good old days when the SSD wasn't soldered on to the logic board! 😁
True that!
Apple the proprietary master, always wanting to lock down their hardware / software to limit upgrades. Argggh.
Good instruction video. However, Apple used pricing make it not worthy. 2018 MBA 16G/500G is sold for $550 ish, compared to $500 ish for this upgrade (2015 8G/128G can be sold for $250 + 1TB SSD cost $200+ + adapter + tools). With the similar price, you also future proof 16G, SSD speed at 2.1GB/s on real test vs the upgraded WD 1.4GB/s on paper, no battery drain issue after upgrade all over the internet (Apple interface has extra pins for sensing battery), lighter weight, smaller size, retina resolution, longer life.
To me, the industry makes upgrading a satisfying “just because i can” than any economic reasons, unless you have ancient software that only runs on older machine
@@your9mare macbook air 2013 costs $100, it does have sense!
I have mac book air 2017 can we use 8 tb ssd
I know this video is a couple years old, but thank you. Ive watched so many videos on installing a new ssd in my old macbook air and yours was the one that I could follow the best and actually worked. Thanks man, huge appreciation 👍
Thats awesome! Glad to see the same method still works.
@@TechGuyCharlie yes sir. Only issue now is upgrading beyond Big Sur. I was on High Sierra and the upgrade to Big Sur went fine, but trying to upgrade to Monterey is failing. I'll probably just stay in Big Sur, but I know there are some workarounds. Don't feel like screwing with it anymore right now, been doing this for like a week lol
Thank You so much, I bought a Kingston A2000 1TB in Hong Kong today and the price is USD $94, and I will follow your video to upgrade my Mac Air later today.
Sounds great, please let me know if the A2000 works or not, because Macs are quite finicky when it comes to these SSDs.
@@TechGuyCharlie Everything is fine, Thank You very much !!
I did this upgrade on my 2017 13" MacBook Air, but there are some differences with what I did compared to what you did.
Of course, I went through the process of creating a bootable USB thumb drive with the installer for macOS Monterey ... and I used a USB 3 thumb drive for the installer to help get the process going faster compared to a USB 2 drive.
I got a Samsung EVO 970 Plus 1 TB from Amazon as an open box special, so I was able to score a good gen. 3 NVMe drive for under $90 with full manufacturer's warranty after registering it with Samsung. It also already had the most up-to-date firmware installed, so it would work without causing kernel panics under macOS.
I also bought an Acasis brand USB 3 Apple SSD external drive enclosure from Amazon, which also came with an M.2 adapter that I was able to use to install the new SSD in my computer. The bundled adapter also permitted the new SSD to work at full speed, running with a link width of x4 and 5.0 GT/s link speed according to the system report.
After making a Time Machine backup onto an external hard drive just in case my plan wouldn't work, I took the Apple SSD out of my MacBook Air and installed it in my Acasis SSD enclosure. Then I installed the new SSD into my MacBook Air and booted it up with the Monterey installer USB. Once the installer was running, I formatted the new SSD as an APFS volume with a GUID partition table and proceeded to install Monterey.
When it got to the step involving Migration Assistant during the setup process, I migrated my user account with around 100 GB of my stuff straight from my Apple SSD. Thanks to the USB 3 enclosure I used with my original Apple SSD, the migration process went relatively quickly, faster than using my Time Machine hard drive or a USB thumb drive, even though the Apple SSD is a SATA device instead of NVMe. Of course if it didn't work, I had my Time Machine Backup to fall back on.
And, once my installation and migration was completed, I secured my new SSD using FileVault encryption under Security & Privacy in System Preferences.
And, also thanks to the enclosure, I repurposed my 256 GB Apple SSD as an external 256 GB SSD. I still have my Time Machine Backup, of course.
Is your Samsung EVO 970 plus 1 TB SSD working fine in you 2017 Macbook Air?
Because I am about to do the process with the sane mac machine and same Sansung EVO 970 plus SSD.
Can you share me the link of the enclosure please I need that!
Very nicely done video. Perfect speed and perfect instructions. Thanks charlie. Subscribed.
I'll look up other videos too. I'm looking for that weird wifi airport interface vanishing on Monterey upgrade (been searching for long. Network preferences simply doesn't show the wifi adaptor, even a changed new wifi adaptor, so no the issue is not in the adaptor).
I wonder if you could look into this. Thanks
Just grabbing a coffee and watching this, as its something i need to do on my macbook air 2015, do you have to update the uefi to support the 1tb drive first though? great video mate, thank you.
Commenting again to thank you! The biggest headache is removed now. I have successfully upgraded Monterey with the above instructions.
I was facing issues while opening my macbook as the screwdriver suggested by Charlie was not available in the Amazon so ordered the other screwdriver.
Request you to use the same items provided by Charlie to do it successfully. you are a Gem Bro. 🙌
You had macOS Monterey - before upgrading - on the Macbook and on the bootable USB both? Or macOS Monterey was just on the bootable USB?
Thanks you so much for this tutorial, I made everything step by step and my MacBook Air it’s working like never before 👍👍👍…
That is awesome! Glad the video was helpful!
You can skip creating the bootable media and just do an Internet boot and recovery.
At boot, hold down CMD-R to boot into recovery mode in the OS that came on your Mac, or CMD-OPT-R to boot into the latest release of MacOS that's compatible with your Mac.
In my case I have a 2012 Macbook Air, so Mountain Lion was the default, and the CMD-OPT-R boot is Catalina.
Once you're in Internet boot mode just enter your WiFi information and let it do it's thing to boot up into MacOS Utilities.
Then you can format the disk, reinstall OSX, etc.
Hope that helps.
Wow, thank you Charlie! Everything you need to know and nothing you don't. I'm very appreciative of the efficient, and informative video.
thanks for the video, there are no problems with stopping the mac either? I mean suspension.
Dec 2022; just upgraded my MacBook Air 2015 (Monteray) from 128gb to 2TB with these steps (with a minor issue)!
I did have a little hiccup where I couldn't install monteray (the system recognized that it was broken / damaged) Possibly because i used a 16gb mini SD in an adapter rather than an actual USB stick?? ...
I forgot what I did exactly to fix it but in disk utility.. I ejected something ... tried to re-install.. and it worked!
Anyways.. just posting to tell others like me to say it's do able and many thanks again Charlie!
You had macOS Monterey on the Macbook - before upgrading - and on the bootable USB both?
Thank you so much. I followed official steps from the disk manufacturer, but i can't see the disc in recovery mode, thinking the SSD is broken. Your tutorial help me a lot, works like a charm!
just did this to mine for more storage thank you! and also did some fan cleaning and thermal paste replacement to keep it going! I've had mine for 5 years now (2017) version and use it for school so the memory upgrade was much needed !
Nice video . I am also planning to upgrade. One question does the ssd adapter is also available when we buy online ?
Thank you!! and yes, I've included the link to the adaptor in the video's description, but if you search 'MacBook nvme adaptor' on Amazon, you will get the relevant results, just match the model of your MacBook and you are good to go! It's been almost 3-4 months, haven't faced any crashes or issues with the upgrade. 😊
Or you can buy Transcend SSD already made to fit your macbook. But it is cheaper to use an adapter and regular nvme ssd.
Excellent instructional video - step by step guide was spot on & I managed to complete the installation which worked perfectly - Thanks so much for this information Charlie 👍👍🙏
Glad I could help 😊
Best and complete tutorial on TH-cam! Thank you Bro!!!
First I want to tell you how crystal clear these instructions were to follow. I will be following you for now on. Great Job!! And I will be contributing to your channel shone I have looked over your other videos pertaining to Apple devices.
How would you do this SSD upgrade with a 2018 MacBook Pro, which comes with four thunderbolt ports, instead of the USB ports?
Also, where do I look to find out what the SSD size maximums are... for example, if my MacBook Pro or iMac 21" came with a 500GB/ 1TB SSD respectively, can they be upgraded to 1TB/ 2TB respectively?
Thank you George! I wish I could help you out with 2018 MacBook Pro, but I cant because I don't have one, I can only recommend an upgrade only if I've done it myself and tested it.
Awesome! My mac upgraded so easily without any glitches. Thanks
That is so nice to hear! Glad the upgrade was successful!
One of the best tutorials I’ve ever seen. Do you think there would be any problems after restoring the backup to an identical MacBook that is not the same as the one the backup was made from? Any licensing issues? I had Final Cut Pro on mine. The situation is my MacBook became defective but I was able to buy an identical one, which I want to upgrade the SSD in and ultimately restore the original backup.
Thank you!! and If I am not mistaken, the license is tied to your Apple ID, not the MacBook, so assuming you swap Macbook, FCP should install without any issue after signing in with your Apple ID. It would be insane to buy a new license after moving to a different Mac.
Hi, my name is Nikhil. I was looking to upgrade my MacBook Air (Early 2015) A1466 from 128 GB to 1 TB or higher. I found this video very informative, kudos to Tech Guy Charlie. While researching, I found two solutions with some frequently observed problems.
1. Use Adapter & a good SSD like Samsung - General two problems observed in this configuration is either the adapter or the SSD stops working after some time and starts restarting the system on its own. Or not able to use Hibernating function of the mac.
2. Use M.2 SSD offered by Transcend, Timetec, Kingspec etc. - Problem I observed in reviews is many people had reliability issues over time.
Since my MacBook is my prime device and I am running out of storage to work on. I want to a best shot for it.
I am looking forward for your experience and advice for the choice of SSD and the Adapter (If required) 1:25
I am looking to buy from Amazon India.
Hey, I would not recommend upgrading your 'primary' MacBook, due to the proprietary nature of Apple products. So, unlike PC's there is always a small risk of data loss and adapter issues with these upgrades, although so far the MacBook in this video has been working fine, once or twice a year the MacBook throws a kernel panic while resuming from sleep, other than that, there havent been major issues, although your mileage may vary as the exact SSD in the video has been discontinued by WD and they've come out with a newer revision which I havent tested, nor I plan to as these are very expensive. If you do plan on upgrading, take a backup of all your data and keep doing so regularly after the upgrade.
Hey Charlie, Excellent video. Great index, great instructions and well segmented. Congratulations! You are great! Just one question: The WD SN550 specs are: write-1950 and read-2400. why your readings are not as the specified. Is it because of the adapter? or the port on the Macbook air, doesn't support such speeds?
ff on this. I also have the same question. after upgrading to 512GB ssd. I am only getting around 1500/1300 lower than the stock ssd 128Gb samsung.
Thanks a lot, Tech Guy Charlie , instructions worked perfectly with SN550 SSD upgrade, sintech adapter. Much appreciated!
Excellent video tutorial. I did the same step by step from 500GB to 1TB SSD upgrade on a Macbook Pro Mid 2015 and using macOS Monterey. Everything OK!!!
Hi, where can I download the macOS?
Thanks for the explanation. But will this method still work since the video was uploaded 3 years ago?
Thanks. I’m not good on Macs but this how to made it very easy. I have successfully installed a larger Samsung EVO NVME drive into the Mac and restored all my files.
Worked for me like a charm. Thank you for the detailed video. Only issue I had to spend a lot of time is to format the ssd in the right format (GUID) as the scheme option was not shown by default. If you add this information, the tutorial may be complete :) Thank you
why did that take a lot of time?
I had the same issue. Essentially you have to click "View" then "Show all devices" then you can hit erase properly with all options. Weird.
Thanks! You just extended the life of my A1502 for few more years!!!
Glad I could help! 😊
Very informative video!
Is it still working correctly with no issues?
Hey, its working fine, although i've had two system crashes up till now, other than that, its been working fine.
Your instructions/details are so Exceptional, that I had to subscribe. Great instructions are too often hard to find. Thank you!
Thank you and welcome to the channel! 🔥
Wow, thanks for the tutorial! You make it very clear and easy to follow. Nothing was skip on anything. I wanna follow this tutorial. My Mbp is mid 2015 with 15" retina display and i thought its very similar process since i 've done matched your tutorial with another tutorial on youtube that specifically for mbp 15" (but so much step that skipped and i got confused). And your tutorial make everything full circle.
Thank you man! I am really glad the tutorial was helpful and you were able to do the upgrade. 😊
Hello Charlie! Thanks for the great vid! What is the biggest SSD storage size you can put into this year MacBook Air? 2TB ? 4TB??
I was able to update storage of my macbook air 2017 easily thanks to your instructions, thanks a lot!!!!
Glad I could help! 😊
this is such a thorough and well thought-out tutorial~ you're very well-spoken, Charlie!
just did the same thing for my 2015 MacBook Pro and despite it being a different model from yours, it still works no problem. thanks for the help!
Thank you soo much cuz I’ve been trying with the built in diskutillites but didn’t work or even recognize my nvme ssd until i came across ur video and try with usb install ❤
Awesome job Charlie!! Very detailed and everything needed in the process. Thank you!!
I am glad the video was helpful!! 😊
Hi Charlie, thank you for this great, detailed video. I am going to upgrade my early 2015 Macbook Pro. I have a question about nvme ssd adapter card. I am reading comments at other places that some people have issues related to waking up from herbernation with some adapter cards. I wondered if you had the same experience. Please let me know your recommendation on a card that would not have this issue. I am planning to use Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB nvme ssd. Thanks!
WoW.............Thanks so much for your help !! I wish all tutorials were explained like this!!!
Hi Charlie, thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I have the same Macbook Air and is so tired of the storage issue.
I will try to upgrade it so thank you for this helpful video.
I just want to check if I can us an external hard drive to store everything instead of the 128gb usb drive? It would work this same right? with the same steps and all. Thank you!
I was able to upgrade my Macbook Pro (early 2015) from 128GB to 2TB. It accepted it!!! B4 I had 16GB free out of 128GB. Now it shows 1.97TB free out of 2TB. This is AWESOME!!!
How about battery drain over night in sleep mode?
what SSD Nvme model you use?
Very instructive and clear tutorial. Question....Can this be done on a 2012 MacBook Air with a failed SSD? There would be no way to use the MacBook to create backups or download the installer file. I'd be happy with a clean instal without the Time Machine backup.
Charlie that was the best video I have seen doing this. You are very thorough. Little things like which boxes to X out. Great job! For someone like myself who knows nothing about the program side I did this with ease.
Thank you!
Hey George, tried to make it as simple as possible, and I'm glad the video was helpful. 😊
OH MY GOODNESS THIS WORKED I SAVED SOOOO MUCH MONEY BRO I appreciate you big time!!
Glad I could help
This is a BRILLIANT detailed video !! I’ve watched many but this is the easiest to follow !! 👏👏
Do you have a video on how to change the battery on a MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)
Hi Charlie. Thanks for the detailed video. Can you suggest an SSD for the Macbook Air mid 2012? Will I be needing an adapter for this SSD? Thanks in advance
Thanks for the video! Have you noticed significant overall performance improvement after the upgrade? e.g. browsing web, opening apps, UI responsiveness, etc
Oh, yes absolutely! My Mac feels a more responsive especially while opening up apps. The new nvme ssd is faster than the original apple ssd.
thank you so much! I was having troubles installing the SSD and your way worked flawless.
by the way for some reason I could not "see" the time machine backup so I did it from the Carbon Copy Cloner backup, it worked just fine.
Id recommend have a Time Machine backup for recovery
Many very grateful thanks for this perfect video. You saved my bacon today as I had messed it up big time and was about to lose all my data.
Thank you so much.
Glad it helped! 😊
your video really helped me set-up my macbook. thank you is appreciated
your video is well detailed and step by step installment. i got my 1TB working now because of your video. Thanks Bro
What a brilliant teacher. This is exactly what I wanted. Thank you so much.
Great video, explanation, and content. I'm glad it has worked for lots of people but unfortunately for me, no luck.
Followed everything to the "T" and no success. I've looked at different articles online, other videos, etc. but nothing works. I tried two different USBs, reset the PRAM of the Mac, and unchecked "ignore ownership of this volume" and nothing worked. I ALWAYS receive the block symbol. Once I hear the chime, I press "Alt/Option" key, select "Install Mac OS Monterey" and immediately receive the block symbol. That's it. No idea what else I can try. Booting from a USB for Windows is easier than Apple's approach. Thanks for your video and if you have any ideas or tricks I can use, please let me know/direct me. Thank you very much, Tech Guy Charlie.
Replaced....videos is perfect for installation at home. I have doubt on pendrive. How can I make it normal as it was earlier so that I can use it
First: thanks for this awesome tutorial. I am going to try this for coming weekend. One question: Amazon website where I purchased the adapter says that one cannot hibernate the laptop after this upgrade. Could you please share your experience on this?
Thank you very much. This is so helpful for me. I just follow your video step by step on my MacBook
Thanks Charlie, this works for me on 2017 version. You saved me lots of money!
Sounds awesome, glad I could help.
Hey Charlie,
The SSD old generation is out of stock. Will the new generation work fine or could you please provide a new link ? thanks for beautifully explaining like a teacher. appreciate your efforts.
Thank you! Thing is, I havent tested the new generation WD SSD, so I cant say, it should work fine according to me, but cant be 100% certain. However, the old one is working fine, its going to be a year since the swap and so far I've experienced only one crash.
This video was extremely helpful !! The only hiccup I ran into was when I finished downloading the MacOS , I got an error message and it wasn’t mentioned in the video. So I googled the error and it was a easy fix, I had to make sure I clicked “more info” under the upgrade software tab and install any system updates that were outstanding. After that I re downloaded the MacOS and no error message occurred.
De todos os tutoriais, esse foi o melhor !! Parabéns ; )
I'm about to upgrade my ssd. I am running Monterey. when I make mac installer can I use the latest version Ventura? also will I be able to restore from network NAS? great video.
Is this SSD supported in MacBook Air 13-inch , early 2015
Do you have to install the operating system?
Can you not just use Time Machine to put everything back to the new SSD?
Any adapter that may allow you to use the older ssd as a encloused USB or some sorts?
did you find any answer for this?
Bro u r just super hero.. just did as per ur instructions and just loved it Mac is running super fine.. And also saved lots of bucks
Sounds awesome! Glad I could be of help. 😊
nice vid bro, is it possible to upgrade bigger than 1 tb?
I personally havent tried it, but got some comments that 2tb SSD works fine.
Thank you !!! I was trying to install it and my MacBook just won't recognize the new SSD. I was panicking! You just save me. Cheers !
Glad the problem is solved!! 😊
I'm having the same issue! How did you solve it??
On installing macOS big sur it shows error that Your mac's firmware is not supported. Format as Macos Extended(journel) to proceed
Please help me
Perfect description! Worked perfectly on MB Air 13 i5, Early 2015 with Samsung 970 Plus.
How about battery drain over night in sleep mode?
@@Rabecco I don' t put my laptop in sleep mode over night, I shut it down. So I can' t answer that question.
Does it heat up more than the usual with new ssd?
@@PanchiDude No, I can tell no difference
@MakingMadBeats Hi, you also upgraded MacOS to Monterey, right?
Its still support on current macOS as the last upgrades was the macOS Monterey for this devices.
Thank Charlie. I installed the parts as instructed and followed your instructions. AWESOME JOB man!! Thanks.
That sounds great!! I am glad it worked. 😊
Thanks Charlie
Hands down the best tutorial.
Thanks, this was amazing my clear video. Just upgraded my MacBook Air
Awesome! Glad could help.
Bought both through your link from Amazon. Only disk 250gb
Your tutorial helped me a lot. Up to now everything works fine. I had just problems with the back up, because I did not select the option GUID Partition Table in the external hard drive. But then I managed to
fix it. Thank you very much. I hope in some years you develop a tutorial to expand de RAM.
That is so nice to hear! Thank you Jaime!! 😊
where is this problem may arise?