OWC
Aura N
480GB NVMe SSD Add-In Solution for HDD-only Mac mini (Late 2014)
Complete add-in kit with installation tools and components
Space to play. Speeds to run.
Get Back in the Game
After years of good, hard work, storage on your Mac is getting tight and load times and data transfers lag. You've invested years of gear, programs and customizations and it's not the time to switch. Upgrade with OWC Aura® N to make your Mac fast and more spacious than ever – for a fraction of the cost of a new model – and keep everything else just the way you like it.
Stretch Out and Run
Aura N expands your Mac with up to 1TB of storage space, so you can add to your media, games, and apps without picking favorites. It's advanced NVMe technology revives read speeds up to 1600MB/s write speeds up to 1100MB/s, giving your Mac the power to run like new again.
Sprints and Marathons
Aura N combines speed and stamina to prepare your Mac for the short race and the long haul. Engineered with advanced SLC caching, this SSD provides incredible burst performance for a faster and more responsive experience. Plus, the extra storage and speed can increase the working life of your Mac by years.
Highlights
- Extra space: add 240GB capacity
- Read speeds up to 798MB/s
- Write speeds up to 768MB/s
- Consumes less power and runs cooler
- Designed for macOS 10.13 and beyond
- NVMe – PCIe 3.1 x2
- 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty
Right-Sized for Work and Play
The smaller stock SSDs for Mac can fill up quickly, especially with photo and video files, games, or even your email. Aura N SSDs are available in capacities up to 1TB, giving you more space to work and play. Newly calibrated to use less power and run cooler, Aura N is the best way to upgrade your PCIe equipped Mac.
No Hassles or Hacks Compatibility
Aura N SSD upgrades are precisely engineered for your Mac, so you'll never need to compromise your data by relying on complicated software hacks or TRIM-enablers to get the most from your upgrade. Just install, migrate your data, and enjoy the great performance of flash storage with up to 8 times the capacity of the original drive.
7% Over Provisioning
OWC SSDs perform maintenance tasks in the background that optimize the health, performance, and endurance of your drive. These jobs take advantage of available, unwritten areas on the SSD. Aura N storage reserves 7% of the overall capacity as free space. Always. With this allocated free space, Aura N SSDs can perform these normal maintenance tasks making your drive more stable, dependable, and ultimately a safer place to store your data.
Quality That Lasts
Aura N SSDs are proudly designed in Austin and are backed by a lifetime of free, award-winning USA-based support.
Product Specifications
Specifications
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Total Storage Capacity
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Standard Mechanism
- (1) OWC 480GB Aura™ N Solid State Drive
- *1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending upon operating environment (typically 5-10% less). The actual total capacity will depend on your own defined file settings/preferences.
- **OWC reserves the right to replace or upgrade to equivalent or better components.
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Capacity
- 448GB Useable Capacity
- Total Flash Memory Components: 480GB
- 32GB Allocated to real-time data redundancy and error correction
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Formatted Capacity
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Form Factor
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Interface
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Format
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Controller
- Phison E8 with 7% over-provisioning
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NAND Flash Components
- Synchronous Triple-Level Cell (TLC) 3D NAND Flash
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Native Command Queuing (NCQ)
- Up to 32 simultaneous commands
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RoHS Compliant
Performance
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Random 4K Read
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Random 4K Write
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Sequential Read (Max)
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Sequential Write (Max)
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Average Access Time
Reliability
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MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
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TRIM Support
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Error Correction
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Endurance
- 150TB total bytes written (TBW), equal to 83 GB per day for 5 years
Compatibility
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Mac OS Compatibility
- macOS 10.13 High Sierra
- macOS 10.14 Mojave
- macOS 10.15 Catalina
- macOS 10.12 Sierra
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Other Requirements
- Must upgrade to macOS 10.13 or later, prior to installation
Power
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Read Mode (Max)
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Write Mode (Max)
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Seek Mode (Max)
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Idle Mode (Max)
Physical
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Dimensions
- Height: 0.2 cm (0.1 in)
- Length: 8.9 cm (3.5 in)
- Width: 2.4 cm (0.9 in)
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Weight
Environmental
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Ambient Temperature
- Operating: 32°F to 158°F (0°C to 70°C)
- Non-Operating: -40°F to 185°F (-40°C to 85°C)
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Altitude
- Operating: -304.8 m to 3,048.0 m (-1,000 ft to 10,000 ft)
- Non-Operating: -304.8 m to 12,192.0 m (-1,000 ft to 40,000 ft)
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Humidity
- Operating: 5% to 95% non-condensing
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Shock
- Non-Operating: 1500 G max at 0.5 ms
Acoustics
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Idle (Typical)
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Seek (Typical)
Notes
- Note: Installing an Aura N SSD in a HDD-only Mac mini (Late 2014) Macmini7,1 requires additional tools and hardware. For a complete installation solution, see Aura N SSD Add-On Kits for Mac mini (Late 2014 - Current).
- Some customers have reported an issue related to Apple NVMe resources that occurs when attempting to wake some Mac models from "Standby Mode" (a lesser known macOS "Sleep" behavior). If you experience this issue, please see this article for more details.
- The Aura N is a PCIe 3.1 x2 NVMe SSD capable of performing up to 1600MB/s. Performance can vary depending on many factors, including the Mac model and its drive bus specifications. Please check the compatibility section and the detailed specs for your Mac model’s drive bus specifications.
- Sequential read/write (max) performance numbers are based on testing with AJA System Test (4K-Full resolution, 64GB file size, 16bit RGBA codec, single file and file per frame tests) on a Late 2014 Mac mini (Macmini7,1).
Manufacturer provided specifications for OWC p/n OWCS3DAB2MM05K
Note: Installing an Aura N SSD in a Mac mini (Late 2014) that came with a factory-installed SSD or Fusion drive does not require the additional hardware included in this kit. See
Aura N SSD Upgrade Kits for Mac mini (Late 2014 - Current) for additional installation options.
Mac mini (Late 2014)
(October, 2014)
Model ID: Macmini7,1
1.4GHz, 2.6GHz, 2.8GHz, 3.0GHz
Includes
- (1) Aura N SSD
- (1) Torx T8 Driver
- (1) Torx T6S Driver
- (1) Nylon Pry Tool (Spudger)
- (3) Installation Components
- (1) Installation Guide for Mac mini (2014)
- 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty
Customer Ratings
Write a Review
5 / 5
1 out of 1 (100%) reviewers would recommend this product
Verified Buyer
Reviewer: JZKY
Location: Portland, OR
Age: 35-44
Experience Level: Home User
Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5
Great Product, Fast Installation, Fast SSD
December 3, 2020
My 2015 Retina MBP recently yelled at me for getting dangerously close to filling up my 240GB SSD. I took advantage of the Cyber Week deal to double my storage and turn my old SSD into an external drive. The installation was quick and the performance on the new SSD is super solid. This is a great way to extend the life of one of my favorite laptops ever. I highly recommend this SSD and the Envoy enclosure. I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 480GB OWC Aura N SSD Complete Upgrade Solution for Select 2013 & Later Macs.
Customer Videos:
Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Pennsy
Location: Lexington KY
Age: 55-65
Experience Level: Power User
Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5
100% amazing solution!
November 25, 2020
The process of replacing my storage and migrating data could not have been simpler! This kit contained every single tool required for installation. I don't know when I have made such and easy, trouble-free upgrade to a computer. I could not be more please and satisfied, and will happily recommend OWC. I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 240GB OWC Aura N SSD Complete Upgrade Solution for Select 2013 & Later Macs.
Customer Videos:
Reviewer: Knight55
Location: Chicago Suburb
Age: 45-54
Experience Level: IT Professional
Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5
Reasonably Fast & Power Efficient Drive
October 12, 2020
I purchased this hard drive for use in a late 2013 MacBook Pro 15 inch version. I was able to install this drive without any problems. This hard drive is slightly faster then the OEM drive and is also power efficient. I can run my laptop on battery power (new battery) for about 8 hours when using it for basic business applications. I also did not experience the hibernate issue. Maybe Apple has fixed the hibernate issue in their latest version of macOS Catalina. I did install macOS Catalina from scratch and performed a data migration afterwards from a time machine backup. I would recommend this hard drive to a friend. I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 1.0TB OWC Aura N SSD Upgrade (Blade Only) for Select 2013 & Later Macs.
Customer Videos:
Verified Buyer
Reviewer: Shafiq
Location: Singapore
Age: 35-44
Experience Level: Hobbiest
Owned Product: less than a month
Rating: 5/5
Tech support was on the dot!
August 20, 2019
Had the issue of the SSD not being detected by my macbook pro. Tech support skillfully helped me out and i managed to install everything safely and successfully. I would recommend this item to a friend! This review is from 480GB OWC Aura N SSD Complete Upgrade Solution for Select 2013 & Later Macs.
Customer Videos: