JetDrive Lite JDL330 1TB Expansion Card for MacBook Pro 14" & 16" (2024-2021, M4/M3/M2/M1 Pro/Max), Up to 95 MB/s, Seamless Flush-Fit Design with Plug-and-Play Functionality - TS1TJDL330

The transcend Jetdrive Lite is a good option for expanding your ever growing storage needs especially for MacBooks. However, the lack of a 256GB model in the 330 variant for Early 2015 MacBook Pro, is really a bummer, but understandable because of real estate concerns of the laptop chassis itself. It wasn't "really" a plug and play in the first attemp since it took me a couple of tries and fiddling around for my Mac (OSX El Capitan) to detect it, and a couple of restarts. Luckily, I run Win 8 Pro on bootcamp in the same machine and Windows detected the card within seconds. I finally had to re-format this to NTFS in Windows and gave it a try in OSX, and this time OSX detected it without any issues although I am not fully certain why exFAT format (which is the default format of the card out of the box) had issues in detecting itself on Mac. The card sits flush BUT taking it out could be slightly challenging with the risk of breaking the plastic lip on the edge of the card. So, precaution there. I have not faced any issue in having this card auto mount itself after waking up my Mac from sleep although the behavior is vastly different in Windows Vs. OSX. I found that Windows is much faster in detecting it and there is about a 30 seconds to a minute delay every time in OSX wakes up from sleep. Still, not a huge issue. Now about read/write speeds, I stress tested this for about a couple of days with reading files from it and writing large and small files to it. I noticed that the write speed is considerably faster while copying large files (1GB +) and the write speed was on an average 50 seconds or less for a 1.5GB file. I also copied an almost equally sized folder of about 1.3GB but the folder contained numerous documents (PDFs, .DOCs, txt etc.) on it speeds were slightly slower to about avg. 2 mins, and that was expected but the write time was almost double which was a bit surprising in that I expected the slowness but not this slow. Again, not a huge deal, but something that I noticed. Overall I have no qualms about it so far but I will keep an eye on how it performs over time and update my review if required. For now, it's a good buy but please keep in mind that making your Mac detect it for the first time could be a slight challenge and it would definitely help if you have a spare Windows machine or bootcamp to test it with

I got this today and so have not used it for a huge amount of time, but initial impressions are great. I booted up my Mac Pro, plugged it in, and it mounted instantly. I shut down and restarted my computer several times, or woke it from sleep mode, and the device was mounted and worked properly each time (I know some reviewers had said it would't mount coming out of sleep, etc). This device is VERY small, smaller than I was expecting, and as others have said, is nearly flush to the laptop's side when plugged in - so not a drive you would want to unplug and remove often. It's very unobtrusive, and has a huge storage capacity for its physical size. I plan on leaving mine in as a permanent extra storage device. I copied several large folders with files in them to mine, and data transferred quickly and seamlessly. Seems like a great product so far. Update - I liked the 128 GB version so much I bought the 256 GB one to replace it, since the first one was almost full. I had to pry the original one out with my fingernail, which took some effort (which is a good thing - it fits snugly and there is no chance it will fall out on its own). I copied all my files to an external drive and then to the new JetDrive330, and everything works perfectly. I use it mostly for my growing movie library (videos and movies which take up a huge amount of space) and pictures There's an ingenious Mac app called Tunespan that allows you to store media files in iTunes in different locations and play them from iTunes transparently, so this has worked out perfectly for me, since my MacBook Pro only contains a 256 GB internal drive, and I was effectively able to double that.

I purchased this JetDrive for automatically backing up my MacBook Pro with Time Machine on a daily basis. I have not been as diligent as I should in hooking up to an external drive and backing up which has burned me in the past. The fit of this Transcent JetDrive in my Mac is incredible as it fits snuggly to the SD port and non-intrusive at all. In my opinion the drive is meant to be stored in the SD slot and not removed over and over again as it is difficult (with your fingernails) to get out of the slot. Perfect for my intended use as a back up solution. I formatted using disk utility with APFS encrypted so it requires a password in case my computer was lost or stolen. I used time machine for back up and the initial copy took almost 6 hours (about 350 gigs of storage) so you should perform the initial back up just prior to going to bed. Subsequent backups only take about 2-3 minutes each time. I set up my time machine backups to automatically perform once a day so when I turn on my computer in the morning it updates automatically in the background. For weekly backups (in case my MacBook gets lost/stolen) I purchased the Samsung T7 Portable SSD, 2TB External Solid State Drive and partitioned in 2 partitions… 1 for weekly time machine backups and the other for Carbon Copy Clone backups which provides a perfect clone of your internal hard drive in case time machine has a hickup. The Samsung T7 is incredibly fast, small, and when finished backing up I lock it away in the safe. In summary the Transcend JetDrive is the perfect solution for daily time machine backups and as you can see in the photo an SD card you can plug into your MacBook slot and forget about it as it sits flush and automatically performs the time machine backups in the background.

I've watched these for a while and got one after my 1TB drive was full on my MacBook Pro. NOTE! This is just a special SD drive and works at those speeds. Its great for storing extra static files you need to carry. It is not intended to run programs or other data intensive tasks from. I was able to format it in APFS and use encryption on which was very nice. The only knock i have on it is i wish the edge would be a little more flush with the size of my MBP. The edge protrudes about 1mm. Makes removal easier but I would prefer a little smoother install.

The fact that this SD card is flush with the side of Macbook Pros means that this SHOULD be in theory a great sd card to set it and forget it and use it with Time Machine and auto backups. I bought it for this reason back in August of 2022 when I purchased a 16 inch Macbook Pro M1 system and it was working just fine for this for about nine months until it just died for no reason. The disk would not mount no matter what I tried and even trying to erase/format it did not work. Thankfully it died when I did not need it for a backup, but wow is this thing absolute garbage. Amazon was nice enough to give me a free replacement and, while it is currently working and backing up into Time Machine as we speak, there is no way I will make this the only backup drive for my Mac. As someone else said in another review, the problem with these are they use ancient SD card chips from the early 2010s. When the Retina Macbook Pros came out in 2012, the SD slot used was much different than the technology in the current M1/M2 macs. It isn't so much the speed of the card, but the total lifetime write/rewrites on these seem to be comically low and this early 2010's tech just does not work for how M1 and M2 macs write to the drives. These cards WILL die on you. The technology is old and only relevant now because the Macbooks prior to M1 did not have SD card slots. All Transcend did was put a "Compatible with M1 macs" sticker on decade old technology due to the SD slot returning to the M1 macs. STRONG RECOMMENDATION TO AVOID, just buy a real SanDisk card to use for backups. I will update this if and when the replacement dies.

Back in November, I upgraded my laptop to a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina. It’s the first time in many years that I’ve had a brand new machine with the latest technology. It’s been a wonderful upgrade for me, but I did make one large sacrifice – hard drive space. The model of MBP that I could afford was the model with the 128GB hard drive. For some, that’s plenty of space. But, for someone who takes many pictures and tests lots of different software, the hard drive space gets eaten up quickly. Even though I felt that I could compensate for the lack of hard drive space with various cloud storage and thumb drives, my fiancé found a better solution for me – the JetDrive Lite by Transcend. Transcend, developer of various types of hard drive storage, obviously recognized this storage issue for Apple users, too, and released a special line of expansion storage to assist. The JetDrive Lite is apart of that line. It’s small, sleek and fits right in with the Apple design. JetDrive Lite is designed to be seamless with the MacBook Pro Retina. It fits into your memory card slot, but sits flush with the edge of the computer. It adds the storage space you need without adding any bulk. Installation of this little device is a breeze. You can plug it into your laptop and start using it out of the box. Since it’s 128GB of space, you can store thousands of photos or songs. Plus, the JetDrive is blazing fast. It’s built with the highest quality MLC flash and can read speeds up to 95MB/s and write speeds up to 60MB/s. Perhaps one of the nicest features of the JetDrive Lite is that it’s tough. It’s life proof. The cards are manufactured using advanced COB technology, making them resistant to water, dust and shock. So no matter what your lifestyle is like, you can rest assured that your storage is safe and secure — even if it ends up in the mud. Having the JetDrive as an ancillary hard drive has been a wonderful addition to my work flow. Even though it’s hearty enough to handle media files, I tend to keep documents only on it. One of the things I think is really cool about this device is that it is made specifically for Apple products. If you need extra storage space that is nearly invisible, I can highly recommend JetDrive Lite by Transcend. "This product was received at a free or discounted price in exchange for my review. I am a technology journalist and pride myself on providing fair and honest reviews. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have."

heaven sent and just for the macbook pro 13.3 retina display. there are other models made for exact fit in other apple laptops. find the one for that machine, and you cannot go wrong. doubles the storage instantly and stays in the port all the time without any single problem. now i see transcend is offering the 256 gb size for newer macbooks but not yet for the smaller 13 inch macbooks. too bad because i would have already bought that one too. if life got better than this, it would have to be up to apple to just incorporate bigger memory and storage into the laptops at manufacturing stage. then, of course, it would cost another $400 or such. this is a way less expensive, relatively permanent, completely reliable (so far) and simple way to install a major upgrade to your laptop without having to do a single thing beyond buy and push into the slot. that is it. no opening up the machine, no having to figure anything out, no geeksquad. nothing but pushing into the slot. mine is used exclusively for music files and after about a year with this in my laptop without removing or having to fuss with anything, i can tell you there have not been any issues at all with writing to or recognizing it. it just does not get any easier considering the limitations of cash and apple's manufacturing specs.

I've been using mine non-stop in my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) for 2 1/2 months now. It fits flush with the side, so I never have to worry about it getting bumped and ruined. There have been times when it seems to have 'ejected unexpectedly' but not often and could just be the Mac. It always seems to show up again, so I have not had to take it out and reinsert it (or remount it in Disk Utilities). It can be a little difficult to eject, but has little flanges that you can use your fingernails into to begin to work it out. But this is the intended design - you do not want it to come out without some effort involved! You need to be sure to use the guide pictured in their description for Choosing the Right Expansion Card. Otherwise, you could end up with one that is too short for your model Mac and it will not mount or connect with the connectors; or it could be too large and hang out, which could be ok, but you risk failure if it gets bumped, or ejects unexpectedly. You can find your model of Mac by going to the black arrow in upper left corner and then selecting About This Mac. It will be the line under your Version number and has the size and year in parenthesis. All of that information is important in finding which Transcend to buy. I use mine for my Photos library, and I make sure I back it up separately from the rest of my Mac, because my backup drive isn't large enough to do both the computer and the card.