Review: Transcend's 1TB JetDrive Lite 330 Adds Convenient Removable Storage to Your MacBook Pro

The JetDrive lite 330 expansion card for the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro was launched last week by Transcend, giving users a convenient way to add significant amounts of storage to their machines without any extra bulk. The JetDrive lite 330 can be a very handy addition to your setup, and I have had a chance to spend some time with the new card, and while there are limitations for some of the things you might want to do with it, the JetDrive lite 330 can be a very handy

The novel aspect of the JetDrive lite 330 is that it is designed to fit flush with the MacBook Pro's edge, allowing you to leave the card inserted at all times without having to worry about it.

The JetDrive lite 330 has a thin plastic face that rests against the edge of the MacBook Pro, and it provides just enough of a surface to get a fingernail behind it to remove the card. It is a simple but great design that all but guarantees the card will stay in place throughout the day, as well as packing your machine in and out of a bag.

Transcend says the JetDrive lite 330 card has read speeds of up to 95 MB/s and write speeds of up to 75 MB/s per second, and I came close to that in my testing, with the Blackmagic Speed Test recording roughly 90 MB/s and 75 MB/ That is over an order of magnitude slower than the internal SSD on a MacBook Pro or even a Thunderbolt or 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 external drive, but for certain tasks, it is sufficient.

You can not use the JetDrive lite 330 as a boot drive because of the transfer speeds. It is not designed for those tasks, but it is ideal for onboard storage for documents, media, and other types of data.

One popular use case for the JetDrive is as an onboard Time Machine backup drive, and the new 1 TB capacity option makes this a more reasonable solution than ever. My MacBook Pro has a 1 terabytes of storage, but only about 230 gigabytes of it is currently used. It is recommended that your Time Machine drive be at least two or three times as large as the drive you are backing up in order to have enough room to save a sufficient amount of history.

It should be obvious, but it is important to note that onboard Time Machine storage isn't an ideal solution as if your Mac is lost or stolen, so is your backup. I back up to an Apple Time capsule at home, but it would be safer to store backups offsite, so I use the JetDrive lite to tide me over while I travel.

Setting the JetDrive lite up as a Time Machine drive was very easy, with the card being recognized as a standard drive in Finder immediately after being inserted, and then showing up in Time Machine settings as an available backup destination. It took over 80 minutes to complete the initial backup after I selected it and started Time Machine. Subsequent backups have taken no more than a minute or two as Time Machine looks for changes and pushes 500 MB onto the card.

The Time Machine backups over wi-fi are slower than usual, but the spinning hard drive backups are just as smooth. It is easier to browse through Time Machine backups.

I will be able to use the JetDrive lite 330 for general storage once I return from my international travels, as I will be able to bring some music and photos with me. It's nice to have all of that accessible from my Mac.

The reverse is also true, as Apple charges $400 to double the storage on a MacBook Pro from 1 t to 2 t, and a single 2 t drive has certain benefits over this JetDrive lite solution. The JetDrive lite can be easily added after the fact and can be removed as needed for safe storage or transfer to another machine.

The JetDrive lite 330 is available for $249.99 from Amazon, and for those who don't need as much storage, there are cheaper options.

The JetDrive lite 330 is compatible with the latest MacBook Pro models from the year 2021.

Transcend offers a JetDrive Toolbox app for Mac and Windows that can be used to recover deleted files, unmount and remount the card, and save power, but unfortunately, it is not compatible with Windows.

Transcend gave MacRumors with the JetDrive lite 330 for the purpose of the review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an Amazon partner. We may receive a small payment when you click a link and make a purchase.