[Note 3/17/23:  It appears the TarDisk is no longer in business]

Is your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro running low on storage space? If so you could consider installing a TarDisk which will increase your available storage space. A TarDisk is not your only option, but it’s an easy option that appeals to some. A TarDisk is a micro SD card that can easily be slid into the SDXC slot on the side of most recent Mac laptops made in the last handful of years.

If your Mac laptop is running low on storage space you could, of course, review its contents and delete some stuff that you no longer need. Another option is to replace the laptop’s existing hard drive with a larger one. While this is the most elegant solution it is not the easiest to do. You’d have to take your laptop to an Apple Store or another vendor who could install a larger drive and transfer everything from your current drive to the new one. This explains the appeal of the TarDisk. It’s a compact, lightweight storage device which can be inserted in a few seconds. At this point, it’s ready to be setup.

The TarDisk can be setup in two ways. It is designed to merge with the laptop’s existing drive to make one larger drive. In this mode, the TarDisk should not be removed from your laptop. Alternatively, if you want to be able to remove the TarDisk, it can be setup to work as a separate, stand-alone drive. This configuration would let you insert other SD cards, as needed. For example, if you own a digital pocket camera that stores photos on an SD card, then you might want to be able to insert the camera’s card into your Mac laptop.

There are a few models of TarDisks. They vary in both storage capacity and physical dimensions. These various dimensions let them sit flush with the outer edge of your laptop, regardless of which Mac laptop model you own.

You pay a bit of a premium price for TarDisks. A 128 GB TarDisks cost $150 and a 256 GB TarDisks cost $400. You could buy comparably sized SD cards for less money but they would extend out of your laptop’s case, might not be built as sturdily and do not come with an application that makes it easy to merge the SD card with your laptop’s built-in drive.

TarDisk’s longevity and durability are an unknown since the product was introduced in the summer or fall of 2015. I have had a handful of clients who have chosen this option over the past few months and so far I like what I’ve seen. iFixIt broke apart a TarDisk and one of its competitor’s competing products and liked the TarDisk’s design and clean, solid solder joints. Hopefully, this means the TarDisk will be durable, but since some laptops receive more wear and tear than others your experience may vary. The possibility of a TarDisk failing is a good reminder about the need to regularly backup everything on one’s Mac laptop.

If you consider installing a TarDisk in your Mac, please make sure you have a full TimeMachine backup of your laptop before you begin and that you have at least 10% free space and that you follow all of the other guidelines recommended by the manufacturer. At the time this article was written, OS X 10.10 or higher is required.

You can read more about TarDisk at DigitTrends detailed review. I think TarDisk is a reasonable option to consider. Keep it in mind if you’re running low on storage space.