iMac 2013 (and later) with NVME SSD?

[davidw89]

What's the fastest PCI-e 3 nvme SSD that uses a generic driver and is NOT a Samsung (they use their own drivers) that will work in a iMac 2017 MID with this adapter:

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade 2013-2015 Year Macs(Not Fit Early 2013 MacBook Pro)

NOTICE:because too many customers can use it,I suggest you to try it again if your MAC can't detect nVME SSD. Pls notice to insert card fully into SSD slot and you must prepare bootable USB disk(see third point) with High Sierra to format M.2 SSD first, it can't support recover from internet. mai...

www.amazon.com.au

 

[Bd9999]

Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/-/en/gp/prod...o05_s00?tag=macr05-21&ie=UTF8&geniuslink=true

There is no difference in the SSDs or the connector between MacBook Pros, Airs or iMacs. Having said that, I would try the following:

1. Your EFI Firmware should be 430.0.0.0.0, if not update your iMac to the newest macOS you can (Catalina) and check again;
2. Install the Samsung properly seated in the adapter and then also properly seat it into the slot on the motherboard;
3. (The Samsung 970 Evo tends to get quite hot, so you might want to mount a slim metal heatsink such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076YZMQR5?tag=macr05-21&geniuslink=true)
4. Close the iMac and temporarily fix the screen carefully with sticky tape;
5. Start up and boot into Internet Recovery, there open Disk Utility and select 'show all devices' under 'View' in the toolbar. Even if not formatted, your Samsung 970 Evo should show;
6. (only if the Samsung does not show here, buy the ST-NGFF2013-C adapter!)
7. Select the Samsung SSD and format for Catalina, then continue installation;
8. Move all your data and observe the iMac's behaviour for a solid couple of days, particularly the sleep/hibernation issues which plagued the older iMacs in the past when upgraded with NVME drives (newer firmwares should have addressed this, but I have no way to test this);
9. Only is all is fine, seal the iMac with the correct display tapes.

In any case, the SSD's speed will be limited to about 780 MB/s (both read and write).

Good luck,
Magnus

I forgot to post that I found the solution for the 27in late 2013 iMac.
1) You must use the following adapter (I've tried them all and this one is the only that will work - the adapters for the laptops WILL NOT WORK on the iMac). So, yes, adapters are NOT created equal!
Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade 2013-2015 Year Macs(Not Fit Early 2013 MacBook Pro)
I'm using the Samsung 970 EVO (NOT the Plus model- that WILL give you problems)
2) You MUST upgrade your Samsung 970 EVO on another machine - it has it's own firmware and most of these on Amazon or other places do not have the latest firmware. If you don't do this, the iMac will not see the drive.
To do this, find a machine with an nvme 2 port on the mother board or use a PCIe-2 or greater adapter card (PCIe version 1 adapter WILL NOT WORK - trust me) with an nvme slot. I used the following PCI3-3 adapter on an old Windows PC and then downloaded Samsung's firmware and utility - it worked flawlessly.
NVME PCIe x16 Adapter, Electop M.2 Key-M SSD to PCI 3.0 Express Expansion Card
3) After doing this, you may take the SSD card and attach it to the adapter card (it's VERY snug - make sure it snaps into place). If the holes to not line up, push the SSD card into the adapter harder (don't try this while the adapter is plugged into the Apple mainboard - you may break it!). It will line up allowing you to screw it in.
4) Follow the other steps here to partition and load Catalina (late 2013 iMacs do not support Big Sur - and will never support it - so don't waste your time like I did trying to force it)
5) I created a dual boot Win10/Catalina system. The trick is to not use the latest Windows 10 version. Use 1803 or lower - THEN upgrade - I used 1703 "Win10_1703_English_x64.iso" - on a bootable USB drive (16GB - the larger ones don't seem to work!) successfully and it's now upgraded to 21H1 ). The 2 YouTube videos showing a successful 20H2 install are fake (really). I know, I wasted my time following these click baiters. You need the correct ISO - it took me a long time to find this version (genuine), fortunately, I had a copy (I'm an IT guy and try to keep all this stuff).

I hope this helps - sorry for the 3 month delay in getting back with everyone. SUCCESS!
Screen shot is from HWINFO on the Windows BootCamp Partition

 

[14UG]

I know I should read the whole thread but can anyone recommend the best M.2 SSD to use in a 21.5" Late 2013 iMac for best speed (for the buss) and no sleep issues?

I have a 500GB Samsung 980 Pro lying around but imagine that is overkill.

Also is there a bracket that would let me fit an SSD into the HDD slot and operate with two drives?

Thanks & props to any kind souls able to bring me up to speed on this. ?

 

[mbosse]

I know I should read the whole thread but can anyone recommend the best M.2 SSD to use in a 21.5" Late 2013 iMac for best speed (for the buss) and no sleep issues?

I have a 500GB Samsung 980 Pro lying around but imagine that is overkill.

Also is there a bracket that would let me fit an SSD into the HDD slot and operate with two drives?

Thanks & props to any kind souls able to bring me up to speed on this.

The Samsung is good, but indeed probably overkill. Your machine is limited to about ~750 Mb/s due to the PCIe bus, so it will limit the SSD’s speed. I’d screen this thread for cheaper options if you want it save some money (there are alternatives from Adata or Intel (760p)).

As for a SATA SSD to replace your hard drive, you won’t need any adapter as the SSD would have the same dimensions as the original drive.

Best,
Magnus

 

[14UG]

Thanks @mbosse. The drive in the machine (not the ones in my signature obvz) is dog slow currently. I think it's a fusion. Is there any chance that just splitting the drives by reformatting - and a fresh OS install and would bring this thing back to life or am I better off putting new drives in?

 

[mbosse]

Thanks @mbosse. The drive in the machine (not the ones in my signature obvz) is dog slow currently. I think it's a fusion. Is there any chance that just splitting the drives by reformatting - and a fresh OS install and would bring this thing back to life or am I better off putting new drives in?

It could be one or both are ageing. Download DriveDx (free trial) to get the SMART (drive health) data and post screenshots.

 

[14UG]

Here's the report. Load Cycle Count is potentially an issue? I'm not sure how to read this.

 

[mbosse]

Here's the report. Load Cycle Count is potentially an issue? I'm not sure how to read this.

That looks very healthy, but it appears that you only have the spinning hard drive, not a Fusion Drive?

In that case, I fear that your 2013 iMac lacks the necessary slot to put in a blade SSD.

Replacing the drive with a SATA SSD is your only option!

 

[14UG]

That looks very healthy, but it appears that you only have the spinning hard drive, not a Fusion Drive?

In that case, I fear that your 2013 iMac lacks the necessary slot to put in a blade SSD.

Replacing the drive with a SATA SSD is your only option!

Ah okay. The ifixit guide for my exact model does have blade SSD instructions but I take it the port is just not there on my machine?

 

[mbosse]

Ah okay. The ifixit guide for my exact model does have blade SSD instructions but I take it the port is just not there on my machine?

It’s what it says there:

“This guide is intended for the higher spec iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2638 models that are equipped with an SSD (Fusion Drive or blade SSD configurations).”

You can look up under (Apple logo) -> about this Mac -> storage

What does to say there?

 

[woefi]

I take it the port is just not there on my machine?

The Late 2013 21,5" Base model (2,7GHz i5) with 1 TB spinning drive (as I have one myself) does indeed have both connections, the SATA for the spinning drive AND the blade-slot.
I sucessfully upgraded it with a cheap Crucial P1 1TB NVMe and a Crucial MX500 2TB SATA-SSD for a total of 3TB internal space.

The SATA drive averages at about 466/513 MB/s
the NVMe reaches about 720/770MB/s (the same blade reaches 1400/1550MB in my MacPro5,1 on a PCI-card)

 

[woefi]

and no sleep issues?

I forgot: "sleep issues"

I did my upgrade in 2019 and at that time (Mojave 10.14.3 bootrom) there was the limitation with deepsleep. I really don't know if somethings changed now with newer Bootroms (from Catalina)...

My current settings are:

Spoiler: pmset -g

$ pmset -g
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
standby 0
Sleep On Power Button 1
womp 0
halfdim 1
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
powernap 1
gpuswitch 2
autorestart 0
networkoversleep 0
disksleep 10
standbydelayhigh 86400
sleep 11
autopoweroffdelay 28800
hibernatemode 0
autopoweroff 0
ttyskeepawake 1
displaysleep 11
highstandbythreshold 50
standbydelaylow 86400

I never really turn off my mac and I measured it significantly reduces power when sleeping (whichever sleep exactly that is...) and it wakes in less than 2 seconds.

 

[STM242]

I would appreciate some advice from this forum. I have a 21" Late 2013 2.7G iMac with a 1TB Fusion drive. I want to increase storage to 2-3TB. I've learned about the Fusion drive that I have a 128G PCIe SSD and a 1T HDD. Given I am limited to using PCIe 2.0 x2 SSD does it make sense for me to replace both the SSD and HDD or just the HDD. I purchased the Samsung 2TB 870QVO thinking I would only replace the HDD but reading this forum got me thinking about replacing the SSD too. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[STM242]

The Late 2013 21,5" Base model (2,7GHz i5) with 1 TB spinning drive (as I have one myself) does indeed have both connections, the SATA for the spinning drive AND the blade-slot.
I sucessfully upgraded it with a cheap Crucial P1 1TB NVMe and a Crucial MX500 2TB SATA-SSD for a total of 3TB internal space.

The SATA drive averages at about 466/513 MB/s
the NVMe reaches about 720/770MB/s (the same blade reaches 1400/1550MB in my MacPro5,1 on a PCI-card)

Woefi- you look to have the same iMac I do. I found in research that my model iMac support PCIe 2.0 x2. The Crucial P1 1TB that I see on Amazon says it Gen 3 x4. Did that work in your machine?

 

[Jack Neill]

For those not wishing to take apart their Macs, I recommend a NVMe enclosure and a TB2 adapter. I am currently using a Trebleet Dual Slot that has 2 NVMe slots and is currently booting 12.1 on a Crucial P5 1TB on a Late 2013 21.5". Its for sure not the most cost effective solution as the enclosure was 200$ and the price of the NVMe drive you get, but its a fantastic easy setup with no disassembly and it can be used with multiple Macs if you're like me and have a bunch laying around.

 

[woefi]

Woefi- you look to have the same iMac I do. I found in research that my model iMac support PCIe 2.0 x2. The Crucial P1 1TB that I see on Amazon says it Gen 3 x4. Did that work in your machine?

Yes that is working fine for me since spring 2019.
Those stated are also the mathematical max. throughput numbers given the pci lanes (-/+ 10%).

The only thing to consider with this configuration is the standby (hibernatemode-)mode, which should be disabled (standby 0, hibernatemode 0 in pmset).

This 2013 Mac sleeps fine, consumes <1W and wakes fast without any panics, ever.

Just for comparison, on my more modern 2019 iMac4k, it is set to the default (standby 1 hibernatemode 3), like a laptop, which conveniently writes RAM to disk after 28800 seconds so you can pull the plug (or have an power outage) and later wakes up as if nothing happened (also 3rd party NVMe). This never worked for my older one.

 

[woefi]

... Its for sure not the most cost effective solution as the enclosure was 200$ ...

That's correct, and for someone who doesn't want to hassle with opening the case and already has such an expensive enclosure it would not be slower than the internal blade ssd.

For me I would have opened it either way just to get rid of the harddisk noise and the annoying lag when the disk wakes up...

 

[MrMike98]

That's correct, and for someone who doesn't want to hassle with opening the case and already has such an expensive enclosure it would not be slower than the internal blade ssd.

For me I would have opened it either way just to get rid of the harddisk noise and the annoying lag when the disk wakes up...

Hi!, I have an iMac 21.5" late 2013 I installed the NVMe syntech adapter and an old Samsung 960 evo, I am using the latest version of MacOS Catalina but I only get a speed around 315 MB/s and I notice it a bit slow, for now no hibernation problem

Additionally I replace the 2x4gb RAM to 2x8gb

This is the information I have I hope you can help me solve it

 

[Jack Neill]

or me I would have opened it either way just to get rid of the harddisk noise and the annoying lag when the disk wakes up...

I have been using it as a Time Machine/storage drive so it doesn't really bother me.

Hi!, I have an iMac 21.5" late 2013 I installed the NVMe syntech adapter and an old Samsung 960 evo, I am using the latest version of MacOS Catalina but I only get a speed around 315 MB/s and I notice it a bit slow, for now no hibernation problem

Additionally I replace the 2x4gb RAM to 2x8gb

This is the information I have I hope you can help me solve it

That seems a bit slow but it's still a lot faster than a platter drive.

 

[MrMike98]

I also want to clarify that for some reason the fan is always at maximum speed, I don't know if this was related to the slowness that is perceived in the system because despite not being the highest speed possible, 315 mb/s should be substantially faster

I have been using it as a Time Machine/storage drive so it doesn't really bother me.

That seems a bit slow but it's still a lot faster than a platter drive.

 

[dictoresno]

I'm getting a new logic board for my late 2015 21.5 iMac with 16GB RAM and a PCIe connection already installed. I already replaced the original drive with an SSD back in 2017. any tips on how to re-open a once opened iMac screen? I used the common double sided adhesive strips to re-seal it after removing the original foam type adhesive. I have an assortment of opening tools and the "pizza cutter" tool. I can also use a hair dryer or soldering station heat gun on low if needed. I totally didn't think about the fact the adhesives are different now. for those that went back into their iMacs with these adhesive strips, what's the best way to get back in?

 

[woefi]

any tips on how to re-open a once opened iMac screen?

Sorry, I heard about stories that the 3rd party tapes were too strong, so although I bought it, I never used it.
Having opened an iPad once, I'm not sure I would dare to try my luck on the big screen of an iMac, unless it's the original foam tape...

On my iMacs, I always leave some of the original tape (when it is not too wrinkled) and for security put four strips of black isolation tape on the corners. Just where the black canvas of the screen is.

 

[MacManager123]

Hello,

I have a late 2013 27 inch Imac (i5 3.2ghz) HDD only model. The HDD has become very slow (150 r/w on good days) and I really want to add an nvme SSD as boot drive (dual boot catilina and big sur) and use the HDD for backup/file storage purposes. Because I am running big sur (from patcher), my boot rom is 433.140.2.0.0. I was planning to purchase this adapter, this ssd, and use these adhesive strips. I plan to: 1, open up my imac and install the SSD, using electrical tape if shorting on pcle shield. 2, closing the imac with painters tape to test. 3, boot into recovery mode and clone (restore) from HDD. 4, boot into OS and test all functions. 5, shut down Imac and seal with adhesive strips. Can anyone confirm that the SSD+adapter will work? Also nervous about so many reviews that say their displays fell off. Has anyone else used these adhesive strips before? Any help is appreciated!

 

[Jack Neill]

Hello,

I have a late 2013 27 inch Imac (i5 3.2ghz) HDD only model. The HDD has become very slow (150 r/w on good days) and I really want to add an nvme SSD as boot drive (dual boot catilina and big sur) and use the HDD for backup/file storage purposes. Because I am running big sur (from patcher), my boot rom is 433.140.2.0.0. I was planning to purchase this adapter, this ssd, and use these adhesive strips. I plan to: 1, open up my imac and install the SSD, using electrical tape if shorting on pcle shield. 2, closing the imac with painters tape to test. 3, boot into recovery mode and clone (restore) from HDD. 4, boot into OS and test all functions. 5, shut down Imac and seal with adhesive strips. Can anyone confirm that the SSD+adapter will work? Also nervous about so many reviews that say their displays fell off. Has anyone else used these adhesive strips before? Any help is appreciated!

Seems like a lot work, I boot my 2013 off of NVMe with a powered enclosure via TB1 and get about 800 R/Ws or I have a HP Dual SATA enclosure that is TB2 but works fine on the TB1 port and that gets about 340 R/W and I use OCLP to run 12.7.1. No need to disassemble anything. This screen is it booting off the Sata SSD in the TB enclosure

 

[mbosse]

Hello,

I have a late 2013 27 inch Imac (i5 3.2ghz) HDD only model. The HDD has become very slow (150 r/w on good days) and I really want to add an nvme SSD as boot drive (dual boot catilina and big sur) and use the HDD for backup/file storage purposes. Because I am running big sur (from patcher), my boot rom is 433.140.2.0.0. I was planning to purchase this adapter, this ssd, and use these adhesive strips. I plan to: 1, open up my imac and install the SSD, using electrical tape if shorting on pcle shield. 2, closing the imac with painters tape to test. 3, boot into recovery mode and clone (restore) from HDD. 4, boot into OS and test all functions. 5, shut down Imac and seal with adhesive strips. Can anyone confirm that the SSD+adapter will work? Also nervous about so many reviews that say their displays fell off. Has anyone else used these adhesive strips before? Any help is appreciated!

Principally, the SSD should work, but I have never heard of this brand, hence I personally would go with a Crucial or a Western Digital NVMe SSD. You also might want to add a 3mm thin metal cooler over the SSD which isa minor additional cost.

The rest of your plan sounds good. For peace of mind I recommend to add a step 6: after you seal it, place the iMac carefully screen down on a blanket on an even floor/table and let it rest there for 24h so that the weight of the iMac itself helps fastening the adhesive strips.

Good luck,
Magnus