Best options for expanding storage on Macbook pro retina 15'

I bought a macbook pro retina 15 inch when it first came out. I got the 256gb SSD. because im using both OS X and windows on it I am in need for more space. but as far as i know I cannot upgrade the SSD inside/ by myself.
what other options are out there that i might not be aware of regarding expanding storage ?
I rather not just use a USB 3 external hard drive because I fear it would be too slow to run games from it or applications etc...
maybe an external thunderbolt hard drive ? never tested one of thoes , heared its faster than USB 3 ?
or any other ideas ?

 

you can try buying a apple ssd from ifixit, or you can go the owc route and get one for your machine.

usb3 will give you variable read and write because of its nature, thunderbolt wont

 

You can upgrade the drive in a Retina machine, but the process is fiddly and the drives are expensive. External Thunderbolt drives are coming down in price and would be the way to go if you don't mind having an extra peripheral hanging around all the time.

 

well the process is actually easy, the problem is finding those drives

 

Wont i lose warranty if i open up the macbook pro retina? I also noticed it has wiered screws on the buttom

 

It's not weird screws, it's pentalobe screws.

Have worked with those type for few years on other stuff also at my work.

If ppl havent seen "Nifty drive" look it up, easy way to get 64GB more storage, or buy the OWC ssd.
The Nifty MiniDrive

OWC SSD for MacBook Pro with Retina display 2012 - OWC Aura Pro Sandforce Driven

Guide from OWC for SSD upgrade.
How to upgrade the SSD in a 2012 MacBook Pro 15" with Retina Display - YouTube

 

If you're going to use an external HDD, USB 3.0 is fine. The HDD will be the bottleneck. If you're going to use an external SSD, then go with Thunderbolt.

I suggest you keep all your programs on the internal SSD, and move media files off to the external drive. I prefer to play games from the internal drive, but only have room to keep 2-3 on it simultaneously. So I usually install a game to the internal drive, play it, then move it off to the external drive.

 

dmk2 is right, there is really no point in going the thunderbolt route if you want an external hard drive as its read and write speeds won't be able to even approach the bandwidth limit of USB 3.0 let alone thunderbolt. I have a thunderbolt adapter for my external 1TB Seagate and it gets about 80 MB/s write speed on my MBA. I get the exact same write speed at work on my Windows desktop with USB 3.0. Thunderbolt is more advantageous for external SSDs and daisy-chaining. The prices of external HDDs have all decreased while their capacities have increased. Running a program off of a USB 3.0 HDD would really be no different than running a program off of the internal HDD on a different MacBook Pro. The main issue with external SSDs is that they are still rather expensive for their capacities. You would need to buy a drive that came with a thunderbolt compatible enclosure or find an enclosure to use. Not only that but you're looking at another ~$50 for a thunderbolt cable.