I’d check with OWC / MacSales to see what upgrades are possible, because I think you might be able to upgrade that SSD.
(I don’t think my option is that bad!)
It’s a late 2013 model. I bought it in 2014.
Thanks to @tjluoma’s tip, I just checked OWC and, according to them, I can replace the SSD. I’ll pop open the bottom to make sure, but the info is probably accurate.
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That works, except I use the SD slot. I guess I could use my USB card reader though, and drop a big microSD in there.
You wouldn’t always need to keep it in there, you could un-mount, remove it, use the SD slot for something else briefly then re-insert the “additional storage”.
To be fair, it’s not the most elegant solution, replacing the internal drive as others have suggested is probably the ideal approach for a long term solution. If you don’t like the idea of the MBP being opened up or just want to keep it ticking over till a complete new machine is viable, then this might buy you that time. The other issue with it is I doubt the speed will be that fast either. If you’re just using it for storage rather than a working area it might suffice though.
You might also find this link useful, you can have multiple photo libraries, doesn’t look like you can easily move photos between them without doing an export & import process but it could allow you to have an “archive” library on external media and a “current” library on the internal drive:
Do note the section about moving photos to an external drive, that seems to suggest that you can only have one library sync’ing with iCloud.
When you say you want to use the MBP ‘out the house’ is that well away from the house or in the garden & in still in wifi range? Is some sort of NAS storage an option?
I knew about multiple libraries, but hadn’t thought of that as a potential solution. Maybe I’ll made a second, test, library to see if both sync to iCloud or only one, (I also suspect only one).
“out of the house” means out of wifi range: coffee shop, the in-laws, that kind of thing.
I’ve looked at a NAS, but they all seem pretty expensive, and then I can’t use Backblaze. Something that would be great about a NAS is that I could have my Time Machine volume there and not worry about mounting/unmounting USB all the time, which would be awesome. I think if I was going to buy some sort fo NAS, I would just go the Mac Mini server route and hang a bunch of external drives off the back of it.
I have no problem opening up my MBP, (I’d love it if it was more tinker-able, like the pre-unibody ones were), so I’ll probably end up replacing the SSD. I had been debating upgrading to the new 16-inch, as this computer is not young, but it still works, pretty well actually, and got a new battery and display a year ago, so a new SSD seems like the most responsible option.
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Some NAS’s often have software & services that allows you to access them from anywhere but then you get into issues of bandwidth & charges etc. I believe that backblaze’s b2 service works with a NAS though again, this is an expensive option (the pricing structure is per TB). I’d also caution about using as NAS for Time Machine, network time machine backups tend to be quite fragile and corrupt themselves with relative ease meaning you have to start over. I’ve got 2 TM backups going, one to a NAS & one to a USB drive which I plug in every few days to update.
To be fair, from all that you’ve said, I’m inclined to agree that a new SSD is likely your best solution here.
I installed a 1TB Feather drive in the comparable system. See some of the discussion in this thread. After I installed it, the drive would force a reboot twice any time I opened the clamshell or unplugged the power cord. After consulting tech support more recently, I had to turn off hibernation mode and something else. Now, the drive is stable, albeit with greater power demand.
I have reservations to recommend Fledging based on my experiences. They may have improved their product line in the meantime.
In short, you can increase the internal SSD to whatever size you want.
Should you change out the SSD, I also recommend to do a clean install of the OS. In my case, I also partitioned the 1TB into a 750 + 250 split. The 250 stores lots of cruft that I use to create DevonThink databases for review. You could do the same with your photo library. The approach might afford you a clearer path to do backups and archives as well.
You also mention a debate about buying a new 16in. I am on the same decision point. You may want to consider where you will send this machine should you buy the new 16in. It may be better to purchase an external SSD that can transition with you to the new machine than to buy an internal SSD that will be “given away” in a year or so.
And, should rumors prove to be true, you could always consider this option at some point in the future for less than the price of the new MBP.
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JJW
Only one will. You have to tell Photos which is the primary library for iCloud to use.
To my knowledge iCloud only synchronizes with a Photos library on the internal drive that also has the macOS.
Correction!
Short update on the Fledgling drive.
Here’s an upcoming option from Fledgling.
I did this for my 2104 MBP. Worked great. I had a 128 GB card that was there basically permanently. I only took it out when I had to download pictures from my camera, which wasn’t that often.
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Neat! This should mean, when I eventually do purchase a new MBP, I can install back the original SSD in my old MBP and carry the Feather SSD directly over.
Thanks for the link!
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JJW
It doesn’t work with Apple-format SSDs though. The Feather might be a standard SSD with an attached adapter (e.g.), but I’m not sure.
It is only possible to sync one photo library with iCloud PER USER. This means that you can create a second user account on your Mac and sign into the same iCloud account with both users. You can then set one photo library to “optimize storage” and set the other library to “download originals”. You can then move the “originals” library to an external drive. This will allow you to sync all your iCloud photos to an external drive while still keeping your most recent and most used iCloud photos locally. I did this for a while and never had any issues. I used “optimize storage” on my main user account and simply signed into my other user account about once a week, attached my external drive, and let iCloud download all the photos I took that week.
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@JohnBeales I would note that if you back up to a connected external drive, then BackBlaze will back up that volume. I specifically have a Drobo drive bay for that purpose: to insure that my photos and other media get backed up. I mirror my Photos album to the Drobo via a ChronoSync sync schedule. That way I know all the things I really care about are backed up in the cloud. And I have a NAS because I’m really paranoid. It’s the 3-2-1 rule: 3 backups, 2 different locations, 1 in the cloud. Cheers, David
John, I have a MBP with the exact same specs as yours. I also looked to OWC and came up with this solution - a 1 TB SSD for ~ $320 (https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/S3DAPT4MB10K/). They have an installation video and it appears very straight forward (I have not yet upgraded). Replacing the battery on the other hand, not so simple…
I installed an external SSD harddisk, copied my Movies folder to it (in your case you would use the Pictures folder presumably), and then erased the movies folder, and auto mount the harddisk at /Users/me/Movies.
This is for a desktop, but I imagine there are lots of times you use a laptop and have no need for the Pictures folder anyway.
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That’s true, but just a precaution…
I have an APFS volume for my Pictures as was discussed around the web a few weeks ago. The volume has a quota on it to keep it from growing unchecked.
The problem is that if you use iCloud Photo Library, once photolibraryd starts and attaches itself to the photo library, you might not be able to get the OS to unmount the volume. I assume it would be the same with an external drive.
Trying to find a way around this, I killed photolibraryd and tried “Force Unmount”… and my photo library soon got corrupted. I had to delete it and re-download the entire thing again.
Now I have /etc/fstab setup to prevent /Volumes/Photos from mounting at login, and once I mount it manually, I don’t even try unmounting it. I just reboot.
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Update:
I went ahead and ordered a Terabyte SSD from OWC, installed it, installed a fresh OS, and used Migration Assistant to move everything from my old SSD. It worked seamlessly and now I have enough space to last me for a while. For Canadians wondering how this works out after shipping, duties, and exchange, I paid CA$512.13, (for the “kit” with screwdrivers and an enclosure, and for the faster SSD). Compared to CA$3,499 + tax, (so, over CA$4k after tax + AppleCare), for the cheapest 16" Macbook Pro that comes with a terabyte of storage this is decent value even if I replace my computer in less than a year.
The new SSD seems to have resolved some problems I was having where the computer would lock up from for a few seconds a few times a day.
This is why I was looking for some sort of external storage option, or a Full Library / Walking Around Library option, but it seems like the software isn’t set up for that, especially after seeing @tjluoma’s experience. If this was a desktop I would absolutely have just shifted a bunch to an external SSD.
As a side note: Those OWC screwdrivers are great. They don’t feel like they’re going to strip, or strip the screws, like my T# head screwdriver kit from Princess Auto.
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