Can I install macOS on a Transcend memory card to replace a failing hard drive?

ninjaphrodite wrote:

We always spoke about the harddisk not working properly. Since that’s the only issue, they suggested the SD card, so I could continue using the rest of the computer. I guess they suggested an SD card over the USB and external harddrive I brought with me for ease of movement or processing speed? But they’re way more expensive for way less space than an external harddrive! Either way, they said something like this is my best shot of recovering what I can from my internal harddrive.

SD card performance is sow, and they’re low-spec flash, and the physical size constrains the available storage capacity.

Slow? “Class 10” (fairly high-end for an SD) is roughly a tenth of the speed of a slow hard disk, give or take. And a hard disk is a very small fraction of an SSD.

Will it work? Probably.

If the only thing that’s wrong is the SSD itself, I’d consider an SSD swap. Or using that money and risk as part of scrounging a less-old (working) Mac.

Which MacBook Pro?

There might be options

If this MacBook Pro is old enough to have a hard disk, there are options.

Booting external storage is possible too.

Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community

ninjaphrodite wrote:

2015

MacBook Pro retina 13” early 2015.

No hard disk in that.

There are, however, replacement SSDs available.

See the two links above.

Whether the intermittency is the SSD itself, or something else?

OWC external storage options are quite likely to work too, if you decide on that path.

if you by memory card mean a SD card or the likes then likely not, if you mean a SSD external harddisk then yeah

ninjaphrodite wrote:

We always spoke about the harddisk not working properly. Since that’s the only issue, they suggested the SD card, so I could continue using the rest of the computer. I guess they suggested an SD card over the USB and external harddrive I brought with me for ease of movement or processing speed? But they’re way more expensive for way less space than an external harddrive!

SSDs and memory cards both use flash memory – and generally cost more, per GB, than hard drives. That part is to be expected.

If that is all there was to it, then starting up from a memory card (or a USB flash drive) would not necessarily be a bad idea. But memory cards and USB flash drives often get slower and less durable flash memory than the stuff found in a decent-quality SSD.

ninjaphrodite wrote:

The “Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community” link mentions iMacs & Mac minis. So do they also work for MacBooks?

If you’re willing to be less than portable, yes.

If so, it looks like the “OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro - OWC” could work. Any ideas where I can find something similar sold in France or the EU?

Sorry, but my French parts-scrounging missions have been limited to Lyon, and that was a while ago.

ninjaphrodite wrote:

If so, it looks like the “OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro - OWC” could work. Any ideas where I can find something similar sold in France or the EU?

Check the OWC Resellers page where it lists various resellers in different regions.

https://www.owc.com/partners/where-to-buy/

Not sure if a std. Sd card support TRIM and if not its lifespan as os drive could be short

ninjaphrodite wrote:

I never heard anything about replacing the SSD. Can I do it myself? What do I need to look for?

I linked to that info earlier.