MacBook Air 11" Mid 2011 Solid-State Drive Replacement

Written By: Walter Galan
  • Comments: 25
MacBook Air 11" Mid 2011 Solid-State Drive Replacement

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

5

Time Required

6 - 10 minutes

Introduction

Use this guide to upgrade or replace the solid-state drive in a MacBook Air 11” Mid 2011. This MacBook Air uses a proprietary storage drive connector, and is therefore not compatible with common M.2 drives without the use of an adapter.

Before you perform this repair, if at all possible, back up your existing SSD. Then, either familiarize yourself with internet recovery or create a bootable external drive so you’ll be ready to install macOS onto your new drive and migrate your data to the new SSD.

Finally, we strongly recommend installing macOS 10.13 High Sierra (or a later macOS) before replacing the original SSD from your MacBook Air. Most new SSDs require updated storage drivers not found in versions of macOS prior to High Sierra.

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    • Before proceeding, close your computer and lay it on a soft surface top-side down.

    • Remove the following ten screws:

    • Two 8 mm 5-point Pentalobe screws

    • Eight 2.5 mm 5-point Pentalobe screws

    • The special screwdriver needed to remove the eight 5-point Pentalobe screws can be found here.

    I recommend that one of the tools you obtain is a jeweler's loupe that mounts on your glasses. It makes things easier.

    blairweaver -

    This is not correct. You need the pentalobe tool at this point.

    Duane Hellums -

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    • Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.

    • Remove the lower case and set it aside.

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    • In this step you will disconnect the battery to help avoid shorting out any components during service.

    • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry both short sides of the battery connector upward to disconnect it from its socket on the logic board.

    • Bend the battery cable slightly away from the logic board so the connector will not accidentally contact its socket.

    My macbook air's configuration (Mid-2011 core i5) has a different battery connector. It slides into a receptacle on the logic board. If your battery connector does not look like the one pictured, use the pointy end of a spudger to depress the small indentation in the middle of the battery connector cable terminal, and pull aft to release the clasp mechanism.

    Ethan Cross -

    Maybe your battery connector doesn't match the picture because these instructions are for the mid-2012 model and yours is mid-2011.

    colleenthompson -

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    • Remove the single 2.9 mm T5 Torx screw securing the SSD to the logic board.

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    • Use a spudger to help lift the free end of the SSD just enough to grab it with your other hand.

    • Do not lift the end of the SSD excessively.

    • Pull the drive straight out of its socket and remove it from the logic board.

    • When reinstalling the SSD, be sure it is properly seated before reinstalling its retaining screw.

    When you've completed all these steps to replace your SSD, don't despair if the MacBook Air shows a flashing folder with a question mark when you first power up the MacBook Air.

    - Power off the machine, then keep the option key (= Alt key) pressed down, power on the machine again, and keep the option key pressed down until a prompt appears.

    - If you've set a firmware password, then type it in at the prompt

    - You should now be prompted for a hard drive to boot from. Select "EFI Boot"

    - The MacBook Air should now boot to a window showing "OS X Utilities"

    - Click on the  at the top left, then select "Startup Disk..."

    - Select your SDD/Hard drive, and restart.

    Michael Welham -

    When replacing the SSD, be careful about the connector orientation. Replacement boards look almost the same if they are upside-down. Note that the connector is not reversible - there is a notch that will only line up if the board is right-side up. If it doesn't seem to line up, flip the board over.

    shamino -

    can i ask some links for some ssd’s that are compatible with that macbook model ?

    giannismistil -

    Hi I completed steps above, but the MacBook Air 2012 doesn’t seem to read the drive, on reboot I get a flashing folder, and upon clicking Control R on reboot it goes to internet recovery mode and then can’t find the drive on disk utility. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks, Devin

    Devin Patrick Hughes -

    if you’re using an M2 adaptor, be mindful to check the compatibility with the other end. In my specific case my adaptor was only compatible with M2 Sata and not with M2 NVMe.

    Andres Urena -

    This was a confusing upgrade. Sintech M.2 NGFF SSD fo 2010-2011 MacBook Air was used, yet it’s got a graphic in the sales content that claims it works with ‘M’ key only (NVMe, AHCI), so NOT SATA. Yet in the answered questions on Amazon the sales tech claims you MUST use SATA drive. I bought 2 NVMe SSD’s and found that the first USB adapter board was unstable with both. So, bought another adapter board that supported SATA and NVMe (RIITOP M.2 SSD to USB 3.1 adapter that claimed to be compatible with ‘M’ and ‘B+M’ SATA SSD’s) and a SATA SSD (Silicon Power A55 M.2 SATA III). The NVMe drives couldn’t be seen by the MacBook Air, but the SATA drive worked (Restore didn’t work, but SuperDuper! does fine). Physical install is as shown.

    Robert Sutherland -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Walter Galan

687819 Reputation

15 comments

Note: if you're installing a blank SSD, you'll want to format it with Disk Utilities) before the OS X installer will recognize it.

aaronmiller -

Could not have been any easier, with this guide.

Thank you very much!

916sp -

is it possible to replace an 128 GB Solid State Drive with an 240 GB? (MacBook Air, 11", Mid 2011)

zimmermatthias -

Does anyone know if the Samsung 960 pro 512gb m.2 drive is compatible with this machine?

Mark -

No, is not, I just bought a 1TB Samsung 960 EVO m.2 and had to return it, for not being compatible. (is smaller and the pin-out is not the same)

fjlbandeira -

Can anyone suggest SSD that can be use with MacBook Air, 11", Mid 2011. Need at least 256 GB or more.

Chairat

Chairat Usavangkul -

480GB OWC Aura 6G SSD

Bertil von Arx -

Or you use an adapter, you can put in any m.2 SSD in.

Eric -

*any SATA m.2 SSD

craig -

Super clear and helpful, thank you.

eigenhombre -

Is there a way to retrieve data from an old Samsung SDD taken from my Mac Air 2011? The Mac was totally dead after water damage but I want the photos.

alan s. -

Where can I get an adapter? And what’s the right signature ?

Roman Loeser -

What adapter do I need to be able to put a 970 EVO plus, or any NVMe ssd into this machine??

Brick Wall -

Thank you very much - worked like a charm; now….on to the battery…

Kurt Navratil -

Parfait mon macbook air vient de passer de 60 Go à 500 Go !!! Et en plus c’est facile ! Merci pour ce tuto très bien réalisé qui permet de recycler nos vieux macbook qui fonctionnent toujours très bien !

Laurent Durieux -