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Use this guide to upgrade or replace the solid-state drive in a MacBook Air 13” Mid 2012. This MacBook Air uses a proprietary storage drive connector, and is therefore not compatible with common M.2 and mSATA 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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crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0P5 Pentalobe Screwdriver Retina MacBook Pro and Air$5.99
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Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove ten screws securing the lower case, of the following lengths:
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Two 9 mm screws
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Eight 2.6 mm screws
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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.
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Remove the lower case and set it aside.
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Grab the clear plastic pull tab attached to the battery connector and pull it toward the front edge of the Air to disconnect the battery from the logic board.
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Remove the single 2.9 mm T5 Torx screw securing the SSD to the logic board.
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Slightly lift up the end of the SSD and pull it straight out of its socket on the logic board.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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I understand this is probably a noob question, but can somebody explain what is preventing anybody from swapping a 128GB SSD for a 256GB?
Eugene - nothing, I just followed this guide to upgrade from 256GB to 512GB. It's just that MBA 2012 SSDs are pretty hard to come by. I had to lurk on eBay for quite some time.
How do I get the operating system on to SSD?
You should be able to transfer the os installer into an 8+ gb thumb drive via DiskMakerX. You do need a working mac with something that works with the mac app store installed and enough space to download the os from the app store. Afterwards, just boot up your mac with the alt key, and install.
diskmakerx.com
Are you certain it's a P5 pentalobe driver? We found the P5 doesn't fit, and have always used a Wiha 267IPR / 4IPR x 40
