HomeMacityMacThe biggest mistake you can make when buying Apple's new MacBook Pro is underestimating the size of the internal Hard Disk: for some time Apple no longer allows you to replace the internal storage drive and if you reach the maximum storage volume you you find yourself constantly moving archives and data, evaluating each time the possibility that they will be useful to you when you are on the move.
The most obvious solution is that of an external hard disk but if you travel a lot the overall weight to carry increases and in some cases it can be bulky and dangerous (in case of impact and detachment) to be used in extreme situations.
The solution to this type of problem has been on the market for years and we have tried several versions here on Macitynet and it is the “small” SD cards that Trascend calls JetDrive that can be inserted into the SD slot of laptops with practically zero external footprint.
The packaging 
This is the 512 GB model but there are 64,128 and 256 GB 
The card is well protected 
We take out the card and manual 
Close up 
Partially inserted into MacBook Pro M1 Pro 
One more view 
View from above 
The card is fully inserted Too bad that Apple at some point decided to eliminate SD slots from laptops! All this, however, until the launch of the new MacBook Pro 14 “and 16” with M1 Pro and M1 Pro max in 2021.
The reappearance of the slot would allow the use of the Jet Drive 330 again as long as the physical dimensions allow the insertion and operation of the very particular mass memory. As we saw yesterday, Trascend ensures that the two new models are perfectly compatible and we wanted to test their effectiveness with one of the MacBook Pro M1s that gravitate around our editorial team.
For our test we used a 16 ″ model with M1 Pro that sees the Jet Drive 330 as an SDXC card formatted in ExFat format that allows access to all 512 GB of the model we are testing. We remind you that the cards are available in 128 and 256 GB sizes with identical performance.
The Trascend JetDrive 330 package and the
If the package were to be as large as the accessory it would disappear from view and so we find ourselves in front of an abundant cardboard box and a clamshell plastic casing that encloses the Jet Drive and carries a small manual. As mentioned, the card is formatted ExFat and is immediately ready for use on your Mac.
Even if the goal is to “disappear” in the chassis, extraction must always be possible, especially without special means, and this is possible if you have very short nails or use a sturdy sheet of paper to divide the “crown” resting the card on the side surface of the laptop. Once inserted, however, it is difficult to remove it by mistake and even less to lose it during a movement or the insertion / extraction of a backpack.
Performance
We have already announced that this is a memory with not very fast access: obviously you will not use it for 4K video sources on which to directly edit but to manage the part of your archive that you access sporadically or that does not require a very high bandwidth for continuous access: typically music, images, videos (ready to read) catalogs and PDF documents.
The purpose, as we have said, is to free up the much more efficient internal disk while carrying a good library or additional backup that takes up practically zero space on the desk.
macOS Journaled formatting In our speed tests we first measured the performance with the ExFat format then with the Journaled format of macOS and the performance remained essentially unchanged. Among other things, we can only confirm the plate data provided by Trascend with both formats. We also compared the performance with both the internal drive and an external dual drive supplied to the laptop owner and in use for years: this is a fully functional USB 2.0 drive.
The results have been merciless: the speed of the internal disk of a recent MacBook Pro is something extraordinary and outclasses any type of SDXC card while the old traditional hard drives are much slower than the JetDrive 330. But as mentioned in the introduction the card does not it is an archive on which to act in the editing phase of large video archives, photos or caches for rendering, it is a reservoir on which to transfer the data you access at low speed or that you need sporadically even if you always have to carry them with you; is a reservoir to free up valuable space on your main drive which you will in turn use for Photoshop cache or access 4K or 8K video files at speed without having to run on the go with an external drive hanging from the Thunderbolt port.
Formatting ExFat 
Formatting macOS Journaled 
the internal disk of MacBook Pro M1 
Traditional USB 2 external drive
At work
In both the 128 GB and the 256 GB models, and even more so in this 512 GB model, the usefulness of the Trascend T330 expands with daily use of the laptop. As you begin to produce data, projects, videos or collect documents, you realize that the base disk of your laptop shrinks as a useful capacity and the retractable SD card allows you to get rid of GB and GB of archives that can remain “dormant” and be used when needed wherever you are in the world.
On the market there are very compact “keys” that resist even the insertion of the laptop in the tightest backpacks but none has a direct USB-C interface and none is able to go below the practically non-existent thickness of the Jetdrive.
We must say that using a MacBook 15 from 2018, notoriously without SD slot and with a 512 GB SSD permanently close to the capacity limit, we greatly envied the solution installed on the MacBook Pro …
Below you will find all JetDrives and their compatible MacBook Pros.
ConclusionsNot astonishing but honest performance and excellent comfort: these words summarize the value of the Trascend JetDrive 330.
Use it to move archives that you always have to carry with you but rarely access, for your local Music library, for movies to watch on the go, to free up your lightning-fast internal drive for the heaviest video editing operations.
The price is commensurate with the usefulness of the product that can become the tool with which to extend the life of your Apple laptop and / or not make you regret the size of the internal disk with which you have chosen it.
Transcend JetDrive Lite 330 (here the complete card on the Trascend website) are also on sale on Amazon: prices start from 36.48 euros for the 128 GB version up to 63.07 euros for the larger 256 GB version. JetDrive is also available at Juice APR stores.
