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sunhux

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Do Macbook Pro Retina 13" end 2012 / early 2013 uses mSATA (for Crucial SSD)

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/124929/Will+Crucial's+new+m500+SSD+fit+inside+the+retina+MacBook+Pro

http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/SSD-for-recent-Macbook-retinas-Not-mSATA/m-p/140489#M40130

Q1:
Refer to the above 2 URLs :
My kid got a MBP Retina 13" in Jan 2013: how do I know if its flash drive
is mSATA or "Aura Pro 6G" ?

From the link below, looks like mid 2012 to early 2013 uses "Aura Pro 6G"
while the 2nd link above indicates "recent" retina models.  I've just ordered
a Crucial M500 480GB SSD & hope to be able to upgrade my kid's MBP 13"
retina 120GB flashdrive as it's running low on space:

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-JetDrive-Upgrade-Macbook-display/dp/B00JKCHMMS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407751061&sr=1-1&keywords=Transcend+JetDrive+720+480GB

Q2:
Is there any command to find out or from the serial#/model, I can tell
if it's mSATA or Aura Pro 6G ?  

Q3:
In the worst case the interface doesn't fit & my M500 arrives, is there
an adapter out there that I could use to connect the M500 to the MBP
retina 13", replacing the original apple 120GB flash drive SSD ?
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sunhux

ASKER

My local Apple Macbook distributor is not that helpful (perhaps
not that knowledgeable), so I'm asking here.  If there's such an
mSATA to Aura 6G adapter, let me know the part number.

The distributor may have it or can I order from Apple?  Pls provide
link to order if any
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ASKER

If there's no mSATA to Aura 6G adapter, my last request is:
can I add on the M500 SSD into the MBP retina ie I have an
Apple original flashdrive plus the M500 inside the MBP retina?
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strung
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http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/macbook-pro-retina-display-faq/differences-between-macbook-pro-retina-display-early-2013-late-2013.html

Havent got a chance to meet my kid awake to check it out yet but from
the above url, the early Retina MBP 13" (I suppose there's only 2 versions
of Retina 13" MBP) has an extra caddy to add a 2nd SSD:
question is : what type of interface this caddy could support
(without me opening up the MBP to inspect visually) ?
mSATA or Aura 6G ?  


I'm not too sure what the "extract from above link" mean, does it
mean the 13" MBP early 2013 uses mSATA or Aura 6G ?

The storage can be upgraded in all of these models, but the SSDs used are quite different. The 13-Inch "Early 2013" models have a "blade" style SSD installed by default, but have a "drive caddy" capable of supporting a removable 2.5" SSD, the 15-Inch "Early 2013" models use a proprietary SATA 6 Gb/s "blade" SSD, and the 13-Inch and 15-Inch "Late 2013" models share a different proprietary "blade" SSD running on a faster PCIe 2.0 x2 interface.
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ASKER

Attached the screen shots from the MBP's System Profiler as
suggested by Strung.  Any idea / solution ?

Does the profiles tell us anything that the MBP's flashdrive
is mSATA or the caddy/expansion slot support mSATA (for
Crucial M500 SSD) ?
MBP1.png
MBP2.png
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http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/macbook-air-faq/macbook-air-mid-2012-how-to-replace-upgrade-ssd-storage.html
The 1st link u gave suggested using "Mercury Aura Pro" SSD which is
not what I'm looking for & it's for Macbook air as u hv indicated.


https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Display+Late+2012+SSD+Replacement/12823
Last link above give replacement instructions but I'm still short of
answers below:
- is there any way Crucial M500 SSD be used?
- is there an extra caddy space which can take in usual mSATA SSD?
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http://www.amazon.com/Macbook-2012-retina-inch-enclosure/dp/B00A770ZQK

Would the above adapter enable Crucial M500 SSD to be fitted into
my kid's MBP retina 13" ?  Need a quick confirmation as my brother will
be in USA next week for 2 days only & I'll ship to his hotel
Not quite sure what you are asking. The information in your original link claims the drive you ordered will replace the existing drive in your model MacBook Pro. The last link you provided appears to be a case to allow you to put the old drive you remove from the MacBook into a case so it can be used in another computer that accepts 2.5" drives, or in as an external drive.
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ASKER

Guess the surest thing to do is to bring the MBP retina to my
local distributor with the M500, open it up & see if there's any
way to connect the M500 in.  

If there's no way, I'll just have to find another use for the M500
& get an SSD that has Aura Pro 6G connection.

I thought if I could find out within these 2 days & if the M500
can't fit into the MBP retina, then I could order via amazon
an SSD with Aura Pro 6G connection as my bro is going to
USA next week: it will probably be half a year later before
my bro will fly to USA again. I'm in Asia
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ASKER

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Parts/MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Retina-Mid-2012-Early-2013-Solid-State-Drive/IF123-019-1

From the picture in the above url, can anyone tell if the SSD in the
picture uses mSATA or Aura Pro 6C connection?

The above url from the links below:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Display+Early+2013+SSD+Replacement/15477
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Display+Late+2012+SSD+Replacement/12823

Url below seems to say late '12 to early '13 MBP retina
uses mSATA SSD :
https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/185208/Can+I+replace+SSD+on+it
The late 2013-Current rMBP uses a PCIe SSD, OWC is currently working on developing aftermarket upgrades for these models but they're presently unavailable. The previous gen rMPBs (2012-early 2013) use SATA SSDs.
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http://www.amazon.com/PCI-E-Apple-Macbook-Retina-Cards/dp/B00KR2VBOA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407951343&sr=1-1&keywords=PCIe+SSD+retina

Found the above which doesn't cost much & ships to most places.
Anyone know if it fits my requirements ie enables M500 SSD (that comes
with mSATA interface) to connect to MBP retina that I think may need
Aura 6G connection?
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