Some Mac owners who have replaced their machine's storage with Aura SSDs from OWC are not able to install macOS High Sierra at this time due to an incompatibility issue that prevents the update from successfully converting the drives to the new APFS format.

The Aura SSDs show up as "Rotational" drives instead of Solid State, and when attempting to install macOS High Sierra, users are seeing an error message about a firmware update before the installation process crashes.

owcaurassdupgrade
Several customers who have purchased Aura SSDs have complained on a macOS High Sierra beta blog post, as the issue long pre-dates the macOS High Sierra release. One customer was told that new firmware would not be developed until the High Sierra golden master was released, but new firmware has apparently not made it out yet.

OWC offers Aura SSDs for a range of Macs, including many MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro models. According to the company, Aura SSDs compatible with the following machines are affected:

- MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013)
- MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2014)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)

Apple is aware of the issue with select third-party SSDs, and the OWC engineering team is working directly with Apple on a fix. OWC expects "a very timely solution."

Tag: OWC

Top Rated Comments

Weaselboy Avatar
Weaselboy
107 months ago
It is probably because those drives were setup as RAID0 internally.

Here is an excerpt from the THESSDREVIEW ('http://www.thessdreview.com/mac/macreviews/owc-aura-1tb-pcie-ssd-review-mid-2013-later/'):

The OWC Aura contains two SMI 2246 XT 4-channel controllers which are situated in a RAID configuration through a Marvell 9230 RAID controller. There are four unbranded 256MB MLC synchronous NAND flash chips which, once paired, create a RAID 0 volume with a 1TB capacity.
The whole setup was a kludge from the beginning.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dan9700 Avatar
dan9700
107 months ago
That makes no sense if you swap the ssd with original then replace it back you wouldnt have the OS what a dumb fix
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OldSchoolMacGuy Avatar
OldSchoolMacGuy
107 months ago
Surprising. Generally OWC has the best customer support in the business and is all over this kinda stuff.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
robeddie Avatar
robeddie
107 months ago
Agreed. No clue why someone would buy OWC over Crucial, especially considering that OWC is more $$$. Been running my Crucial M4 in my MacBook Pro for 5 years now and never had so much as a hiccup.
Umm, we're talking about AURA SSD's which is only one of two vendors that make SSD's for macbooks from 2013 onward. So for anyone with a 2013, 2014, or 2015 macbook pro or macbook air, Crucial does NOT make compatible ssd's for those models.
It's either OWC, or these guys -

http://www.transintl.com/super-blade-flash-storage-ssd.html
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pike R. Alpha Avatar
Pike R. Alpha
107 months ago
Why OWC need Apple to resolve this is a mystery to me.

Tip: simply repack the latest FirmwareUpdate.pkg that comes with macOS High Sierra as a stand alone installer and run it. That's how easy it is.

FirmwareUpdateStandAlone-1.0.pkg ('https://uploadfiles.io/wn0l7')

md5 = 24a1731b514c633c7aff07b5d739828c

You can make it yourself by running:

./installSeed.py -a update -f FirmwareUpdate.pkg -t / -u /tmp/FirmwareUpdate

./munkipkg.py --create /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone

cp /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/postinstall_actions/update /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/postinstall

cp -R /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/Tools /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/

./munkipkg.py /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone

Used scripts:

https://github.com/Piker-Alpha/HandyScripts/blob/master/installSeed.py
https://github.com/munki/munki-pkg/blob/master/munkipkg
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jclo Avatar
jclo
107 months ago
Updated this with a specific list of machines affected. It's limited to some MacBook Air and Mac Pro models. Other machines with Aura SSDs should be able to install High Sierra with no problems.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Read Full Article • 81 comments
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Read Full Article • 42 comments
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Read Full Article • 64 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Read Full Article • 56 comments
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Read Full Article • 113 comments
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Read Full Article • 38 comments
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Read Full Article • 99 comments
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Read Full Article • 54 comments
maxresdefault

iOS 26 Code Leak Reveals Apple Smart Home Hub Details

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Macworld claims to have access to an ...
Read Full Article • 117 comments