Sd Card Reader For A Mac
MacBook Airs and Retina MacBook Pros offer practically zero upgradability, but one area that there is some flexibility with is storage. Many third party memory manufactures are taking advantage of the SD card slot present in MacBook Airs and Retina Pros to add semi-permant storage to these Macs. We first saw these products begin popping up last year, but the release of Transcend’s JetDrive Lite line this morning made us think it was worth taking a look at three of the options currently available.
These expansion drives are nearly as convenient as on-board storage but can be used for Time Machine backups and transferring large files between devices.
The problem with shoving any SD card into your MacBook is that is protrudes out from the laptop casing, which leaves the card and your Mac vulnerable to damage or getting knocked out. It’s also an eyesore to constantly have a card peaking out from your Mac’s otherwise seamless and uniform design. The memory expansion modules we’re going to take a look at are customized to fit nearly flush.
The most well-known version is the PNY StorEDGE. It comes in two different capacities (64GB/128GB), is colored black, and protrudes just enough to make it easy to remove. The 64GB/128GB models retail for $100/$200, but these are available for $38.95 and $75.04.
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Micro Sd Macbook Pro
- As SD Card Slot storage solutions are compatible with each 13' MacBook Air model with an SD Card slot (and 11' MacBook Air models do not have an SD Card slot at all), identification assistance practically is unnecessary for this particular upgrade. However, just for confirmation, compatible MacBook Air models have Model Numbers A1369 or A1466.
- Any USB card reader that handles SD cards will work. Card readers are really very simple things, and their use is pretty fool-proof. All you do is buy it, plug it into your Mac, insert your card, and BOOM, the card mounts and shows up on your Desktop (you can even set iPhoto to open when this happens, or not).
The SanDisk minidrive is only available in 64GB, and it includes a pull tab to make it even easier to remove. Some people may dislike the fact that the pull tab has ‘SanDisk’ branded on it, but that doesn’t seem like a deal-breaker to me. It retails for $59.99, but is currently on sale for $49.99.
Just this morning Transcend announced its JetDrive Lite expansion cards in 64GB and 128GB capacities. Transcend says that users can expect read and write speeds of up to 95MB/s and 60MB/s respectively, which is the fastest of the bunch. Obviously, there isn’t any real world data to backup these claims yet and overall performance will also vary by Mac, it is still nice to see Transcend attempting to push the product category forward. The JetDrive Lites are priced aggressively with current rates starting at just $39.99 for 64GB and going up to $79.99 for 128GB.
If you already own a micro SD card you could opt to increase your MacBook storage by popping it into a custom adapter which mimics the modules mentioned above. The Nifty Minidrive is capped with hand-polished aluminum so it will match your Apple hardware. It’s available in silver and red at a retail price of $39.99 (on sale at Amazon for $34.99). There is also the less-elegent, but more budget-conscious solution called “The MiniDrive“, which looks to be a Nifty clone but at only $20.
Also, if you are really determined to expand your Mac’s memory, you can upgrade its internal SSD with one of Transcend’s new JetDrive kits.
Before making your final purchase, be sure that the model you choose is compatible with your specific Mac model as some manufactures have slightly different SKUs for different Macs. SD slot depth also varies between models so some of the aforementioned solutions may protrude more or less depending on your Mac.
The SD slot located on the back of some Mac Mini models is a Secure Digital memory card reader. The SD memory card standard is the industry removable storage leader: the memory card type is commonly used in the standard, mini and micro form factors in devices like cellular phones, digital cameras and tablets. According to photojournalism website PetaPixel, Apple began producing the Mac Mini with a built-in SD card reader in mid-2010. The built-in reader permits the computer to interface with SD cards without needing a USB adapter.
Mac Mini Models
The Mac Mini is the smallest form-factor Macintosh computer available. The Mac Mini's design is focused on being a space-efficient, inexpensive computing platform for the average user -- it is not a performance workstation. Mac Minis are often purposed as home theater PCs by virtue of their size and capabilities. According to Apple, the Mac Mini is designed so that the person using it can replace his computer and continue using existing peripheral devices like monitors, keyboards and mice.
SD Card Standards
SD memory cards are a type of flash memory storage device: they don't require moving parts to access and store data. Three SD card device generations offer increased capacity and performance over earlier generations: SD, SD High Capacity and SD Extended Capacity. The fastest, SDXC, was introduced in 2009. SD cards offer 2GB of storage capacity; SDHC cards offer 32GB; and SDXC cards provide 2TB of storage capacity. Mac Mini models with SD card readers support all three generations; however, SD readers can only use cards from the device's generation and prior generations. So an SDHC reader can't read SDXC cards, but an SDXC reader can read SD and SDHC cards.
SD Card Adapters
The Mac Mini's SD card slot can work with microSD and miniSD cards, but the cards must be placed inside of an adapter. MicroSD and miniSD cards often include a full-sized SD reader adapter that looks just like a full-sized card but features a connection slot for the smaller card. The Mac Mini's reader is too large to work with miniSD and microSD cards, which may get stuck in the slot if inserted. Many mobile devices such as cellular phones and cameras use the smaller microSD and miniSD standards to reduce the size of the device by using a smaller card slot.
Using the SD Slot
Any SD card properly inserted into the Mac Mini's SD slot will be recognized by the operating system as a USB storage device. Insert the card into the reader slot with the connectors facing down and towards the device. The card will slide in and click into place. The Mac Mini will mount and access the card automatically. Drag the card's icon into the trash to unmount the device before ejecting it to prevent data corruption. SD cards can be removed from a powered-down Mac Mini without a problem.
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