Replace external startup SSD with a larger SSD.

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jetlag11 Author

Level 1

12 points

Replace external startup SSD with a larger SSD.

How to replace a nearly-full startup 250 GB SSD with a new 500GB SSD? Both external. Intel-based MBA, Ventura 13.2.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Feb 4, 2023 2:07 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

214,596 points

Feb 4, 2023 2:36 PM in response to jetlag11

Why stop at 500 GB? I'd get a 1 TB SSD so I'd have some wiggle room to expand. I recommend drives from OWC (MacSales.com) as they have proven reliability, excellent customer support and warranties. Consider one of these depending on your budget and needs:

1 TB OWC Envoy Pro mini - probably the best for a portable device.

1 TB OWC Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt 3 + USB-C Portable NVMe SSD

1 TB OWC Envoy Pro SX Rugged Portable NVMe SSD with Thunderbolt/USB4

1 TB OWC Envoy Pro Elektron USB-C portable NVMe SSD

Envoy Pro EX with USB-C or USB 3

OWC Envoy Pro SX - up to 2847 MBps

For your particular model contact OWC's customer support and get their recommendation for the SSD model that would best suit your iMac model, work requirements and budget. They may have additional models other than those I've shown above.

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Answer 2

jetlag11 Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 4, 2023 6:58 PM in response to ghr165

Thank you for replying. My preference is to use Apple software and procedures. I need guidance on how to handle a few things: 1) Apple has safeguards to make it difficult to simply plug in another startup drive. When I started with the external drive I don't remember having to get around this, but now, several years later, Apple is more secure. 2) There are procedures to restore an internal drive -- how do they handle restoring an external startup drive. 3) Is migration asst of any help here?

Making a mistake here could take me hours to correct, if possible. And the possibility of loosing files is too likely. And I have only an incomplete backup.

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