My first Apple computer was an iMac G5. I simply loved that machine for all the qualities a desktop has, such as increased processing power (both computational and graphical), more storage space, a beautiful large built-in screen (for all-in-one like iMac) , etc. But the world has changed, and with it I have to adapt.
As much as I really like the idea of ​​having a 27 ″ iMac at home for my daily work here at , this, today, doesn't make much sense because of the trips we need to make periodically (MM Tours, Apple International Event Coverage) A notebook ends up making a lot more sense to me just because it can work from * anywhere *, I just need my computer in my backpack and an internet connection.
But there's one thing I miss so much: storage space. While any iMac comes with minimal 1TB of space, the MacBook Pro comes with capacities between 128GB and 512GB. Of course you can customize yours and put up to 2TB in it, but I don't even have to say that to do that, you have to shell out some more great money!
And another: In 2015, when I bought my current MacBook Pro, 512GB was more than enough for me; today in 2017 no. And the idea of ​​having to change machines for “not being able” to upgrade his SSD or having to ride an external HDD / USB stick is not cool. right here, in this gap, that enters the Tardisk.
The truth is that there are several solutions like this on the market. We're talking about a "simple" SD card that fits MacBook Air / Pro (obviously on "old" machines, as new ones don't have such a slot) and increases the storage capacity at the flick of a finger. But I venture to say that none of these solutions we have commented here on the site is so cool and integrated with macOS like TarDisk!
That's because it has software called Pear. What he does is something simply amazing: by running it, he merge the space available on the card with that of the SSD / HDD. This means that unlike other cards, you don't have a new disk drive (a Desktop or Finder icon) open from your Mac, dragging files and documents from side to side. Want a practical example?
As you can see in the image above, after installation, my 512GB MacBook Pro is now 768GB! And the indication Fusion Drive no wonder, no: you get a single storage drive, merging the original capabilities of Mac with those of TarDisk.
And the performance of this combination is very satisfactory. TarDisk transfers data over the UHS-1 SDXC protocol, with class 3 or higher speed. According to the manufacturer, the data transfer speed is 95MB / s, which is about 1/5 of that found in a high performance SSD. Bad? Not necessarily. Pear's cat jump more than makes up for this difference in performance. That's because we have the same concept as Apple's Fusion Drive: a complementary storage to the original, Mac: the internal SSD of the computer always used before TarDisk and its most used files always automatically in the SSD, maintaining the speed / performance you're already used to.
Another good news is that TarDisk consumes very little battery. According to the manufacturer, it always consumes an average of 70 milliwatts to keep running. Putting this in perspective, for a MacBook Air with a battery of 50W / h and a battery life of 7 hours, the consumption will be less than 5 minutes of the total a more than valid exchange, in my opinion.
To top it off, the TarDisk is waterproof, shock and impact proof, high and very low, X-ray, magnetism proof and can be used with FileVault (to encrypt your Mac files) enabled .
One downside of the product is that once you have merged the SD card with your Mac's SSD / HDD, you simply won't be able to take TarDisk out of the Mac. slot For nothing after all, it is now part of your computer storage, and if you remove it, unpleasant things might start to happen. This means, for example, that if you use a camera a lot and transfer photos to your Mac using the slot For SD cards, you will need to purchase an adapter and use one of the USB ports for this. Nothing is impossible or giving you a lot of headaches, but it's always good to know what you're getting into.
Regarding the use of TarDisk itself, in my specific case, I ended up having two annoying problems when running Pear after all, problems happen. While trying to merge the spaces, an alert came up stating that I had two or more parties on my SSD, which was not true. I then created a new partition and then deleted it. The installation has been completed and, in theory, the fused spaces.
The second problem is that even with all the installation steps properly done, my SSD did not show that it had been expanded by 256GB and was still starting with 512GB. The way, then, was to erase the system and start everything from scratch. After the retry, yes everything was as it should be!
Of course this is not necessarily happening to you, but it is important to know that, as I said, problems do happen. The good part is that all these possible problems and solutions are properly documented on the product website. Then just follow the step-by-step instructions that they will, in one way or another, work.
Of course, you can just stick TarDisk on your MacBook Air / Pro and use it as an external storage drive, whatever else is ideal and great, for example if you just want to back up your files (either manually or using Time Machine) or store a library of photos, music, videos, etc.
The great advantage of this form of use can be to remove / put TarDisk from slot Whenever this is convenient, you should be aware that you should remove TarDisk using the metal card that comes in the product box. On the other hand, you don't have Fusion Drive, which is what sets TarDisk apart from anything I've seen before.
Below you will find a product explanatory video:
Very nice product and I recommend it! Of those SD cards to expand the storage capacities of Macs we've seen, that's what surprised me most! You can get yours in a good way because they even ship to Brazil without shipping cost! Prices range from $ 130 to $ 400, depending on the model (128GB or 256GB) and your machine (MacBook Air or MacBook Pro).