from an iMac or a MacBook Pro 2013-2015, or buy one that someone had 'liberated' from the Chinese factory making stuff for Apple. Originally there were only two sources for replacing the original SSD, either buy a secondhand one some body had removed from another Mac e.g. (Which will not fit.)Īs others mentioned, the original Apple one for the Mac Pro 2013 comes with a heatsink attached and this prevents it overheating under high usage.

It does actually use the same technology as an M2 Samsung 951 AHCI SSD. The original Apple SSD drive is usually manufactured by Samsung for Apple but uses a unique Apple only connector. Check the reviews on Amazon and elsewhere (I believe OWC sells on Amazon). I don't have any first-hand experience with them but I would do your homework before jumping into something like that.

That is likely because the main purpose of those upgrades is to increase the available capacities while attempting to keep performance in the same ballpark. Some of the other Macs from 2013-2015 use a similar looking drive.įrom what I see, OWC's drive is a completely different form factor that uses the same kind of connector as the OEM drive. The Mac's drive is a custom PCIe drive (both the form factor and the connector). The 950s are based on SATA technology and the 960s are based on NVMe, which is a new, standardized data protocol for SSDs. Both of those series also use a different data protocol than Apple's drive. The Samsung 950 / 960 series you've seen are similar looking but they're actually a different type of SSD (with a slightly different type of connector) called M.2. It's easy to get these types of drives confused when looking at them.

Posting some extra detail in case others find it useful I've seen this question a number of places online.

Mac pro late 2013 ssd upgrade