Macbook air 2017 SSD Compatibility with Samsung SSD

[Audit13]

>>
I also guess that the Evo performance cannot be actually seen on the MBA specs.
If I could get my hands on the 950 I would even get that one.

I recommend the Intel 760p, Adata sx8200 pro, or Crucial P1. The HP ex900 isn't that fast but it's cheap.

Yes, the speeds are limited by the Air pcie 2.0 bus which is why I bought an HP ex900 256 GB for a used air 2017 I have that did not come with the SSD. It was cheap and fast enough for me

 

[Macdctr]

I am using the small green adapter and it works fine in a 2013 and 2015 Air with an Intel 600p nvme drive. Other people have used the same adapter with various drives, including the 970 Evo. I don't recommend the 970 Evo Plus as a couple of members have panics with this drive.

Good call! I have run the 2TB 970 EVO drive with no issues to my 2015 MBA though... worth a note

 

[Audit13]

Good call! I have run the 2TB 970 EVO drive with no issues to my 2015 MBA though... worth a note

Here is a link to a post about the 970 Evo Plus: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...sd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-135#post-27090328

 

[Macdctr]

Here is a link to a post about the 970 Evo Plus: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...sd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-135#post-27090328

Glad you're on top of this! Until I read your comment I did not know Samsung came out with the 970 EVO Plus. It's good there are people on here putting out info so others can decide which upgrade path best suit their needs!

 

[zekeyou]

...
The problems have to do with installing a nvme drive before the Air is running the latest ROM or kernel panics related to hibernation in the 2013 and 2014 Air.
...
Install the latest Mojave release onto the Air.
Create a TimeMachine or CCC image.
Remove bottom casing, disconnect battery, replace the drive, replace casing, boot from backup, and restore.

I can confirm that I have successfully updated A Samsung 970 Evo + NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card For Upgrade 2013-2015 MacBook to my MacBook Air 2017 following the valuable comments here.

Process:

• OS Mojave 10.14.3: Formatted my Sandisk extreme to APFS (via terminal cause via Disk Utility is was not possible to convert to APFS)
• Checked that it is actual bootable
• Made a fresh install of Mojave
• Made a bootable usb clone using CCC
• Switched the SSDs
• Started in recovery > disk utility > restore > Failed: Cannot revert drive
• Started in recovery > disk utility > formatted NVMe into APFS
• Started in recovery > disk utility > restore: Failed: Cannot revert drive
  
• Rebooted via USB clone > checked that NVMe is shown in System Report
• Started disk utility via Option-⌘-R and did a fresh install of Mojave
• Everything works
• Restarted: Quick restart
• Switched off: Quick boot
• (Next step is bootcamp)

Very exciting results below:

[doublepost=1552175053][/doublepost]

I can confirm that I have successfully updated A Samsung 970 Evo + NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card For Upgrade 2013-2015 MacBook to my MacBook Air 2017 following the valuable comments here.
...

Does anyone know the disk size after a clean install of Mojave?

 

[pablo1985]

hi,
It's my first post on this forum so at the beginning I want to say Hello to everyone
Yesterday I have bought the following new SSD to upgrade my MBA 2017: https://www.x-kom.pl/p/463154-dysk-ssd-transcend-512gb-m2-pcie-gen3-x4-nvme-2280.html
I use an adapter to install new SSD: https://allegro.pl/oferta/adapter-m-2-nvme-macbook-air-pro-2013-2014-2015-7883584900

Unfortunately, MBA does not see my new SSD Transcend 512GB. When I run installation manager (OS Mojave) the disk utilities does not see my new drive.

I don't know what can be the reason. I have made a comparison of Transcend SSD with Samsung Evo and at first glance, they have the same spec.

Does anyone know what could be the reason of this problem?
Thank you in advance for your support

 

[Audit13]

hi,
It's my first post on this forum so at the beginning I want to say Hello to everyone
Yesterday I have bought the following new SSD to upgrade my MBA 2017: https://www.x-kom.pl/p/463154-dysk-ssd-transcend-512gb-m2-pcie-gen3-x4-nvme-2280.html
I use an adapter to install new SSD: https://allegro.pl/oferta/adapter-m-2-nvme-macbook-air-pro-2013-2014-2015-7883584900

Unfortunately, MBA does not see my new SSD Transcend 512GB. When I run installation manager (OS Mojave) the disk utilities does not see my new drive.

I don't know what can be the reason. I have made a comparison of Transcend SSD with Samsung Evo and at first glance, they have the same spec.

Does anyone know what could be the reason of this problem?
Thank you in advance for your support

If the MBA running the latest bootrom?

Did you install Mojave to the original Apple SSD?

Did you try adding tape to the adapter to ensure that the pins on the adapter do not touch the metal shield over the motherboard's pci-e connector?

 

[pablo1985]

If the MBA running the latest bootrom?

Did you install Mojave to the original Apple SSD?

Did you try adding tape to the adapter to ensure that the pins on the adapter do not touch the metal shield over the motherboard's pci-e connector?

Thank you for your answer

My boot rom is: 182.0.0.0.0
Yes, I have installed Mojave on the original Apple SSD

Now I will try to add the tape on the adapter according to your suggestion

 

[Audit13]

Thank you for your answer

My boot rom is: 182.0.0.0.0
Yes, I have installed Mojave on the original Apple SSD

Now I will try to add the tape on the adapter according to your suggestion

The MBA's bootrom is the same as mine.

If the tape does not work, it could be the adapter or the drive.

 

[pablo1985]

Unfortunately additional isolation by tape doesn't help.
I'm afraid that the new disk is not compatible with MBA

Once again thank you for your support

 

[Audit13]

Unfortunately additional isolation by tape doesn't help.
I'm afraid that the new disk is not compatible with MBA

Once again thank you for your support

Are you sure the drive is the problem? Do you have any way of trying the drive in another computer? Maybe order a Sintech adapter?

 

[zekeyou]

Are you sure the drive is the problem? Do you have any way of trying the drive in another computer? Maybe order a Sintech adapter?

Just did an installation (of Samsung, nonetheless) but went for the Sintech adapter. As

Unfortunately additional isolation by tape doesn't help.
I'm afraid that the new disk is not compatible with MBA

Once again thank you for your support

I just did an installation (of Samsung, nonetheless) and went for the Sintech adapter. As noted above it is the preferred adapter for the job around this thread. Try it before ruling out your drive. GL

 

[pablo1985]

Just did an installation (of Samsung, nonetheless) but went for the Sintech adapter. As


I just did an installation (of Samsung, nonetheless) and went for the Sintech adapter. As noted above it is the preferred adapter for the job around this thread. Try it before ruling out your drive. GL

Ok. I will order the Sintech Adapter. I hope it helps.
I will let you know when I get it

Thank you guys

 

[mbike]

Hi So I just upgraded my 2017 Macbook Air with the Samsung 960 500gb
Parts from Amazon
Samsung (MZ-V6E500BW) 500GB EVO PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive - £99.99
Cablecc 12+16pin 2014 2015 Macbook to M.2 NGFF M-Key AHCI SSD Convert Card for A1493 A1502 A1465 A1466 - £13.00

I installed it off a High Sierra USB the restored my time machine backup.

Everything works fine.

Thanks to everyone who contributed here.

 

[Audit13]

My MacBook Air 2015 and Air 2017 both received a bootrom update with the 10.14.4 update from 10.14.3 while using a nvme drive.

Early 2015 13" MacBook Air 7,2:

Bootrom with 10.14.3: 182.0.0.0.0
Bootrom with 10.14.4: 184.0.0.0.0

The good part is that the bootrom was updated by installing the 10.14.4 update over 10.14.3 with my green Sintech adapter and Intel 600p inside the MacBook.

2017 13" MacBook Air 7,2:

Bootrom with 10.14.3: 182.0.0.0.0
Bootrom with 10.14.4: 184.0.0.0.0

The good part is that the bootrom was updated by installing the 10.14.4 update over 10.14.3 with my small black Sintech adapter and HP ex900 inside the MacBook.

 

[TokMok3]

I recommend the Intel 760p, Adata sx8200 pro, or Crucial P1. The HP ex900 isn't that fast but it's cheap.

Yes, the speeds are limited by the Air pcie 2.0 bus which is why I bought an HP ex900 256 GB for a used air 2017 I have that did not come with the SSD. It was cheap and fast enough for me

Hi,

Which machine do you prefer? The Mac book air 2015 or the MacBook Air 2017?

Have you notice any increase on performance in the 2017?

I'm trying to decide if I get a MacBook Air 13 2015 i7 or a MacBook Air 13 i7 2017.

Letter I will install a Samsung Evo 512 for better performance, not interested in battery life.

What machine do you recommend.

Thank you!

 

[Audit13]

Hi,

Which machine do you prefer? The Mac book air 2015 or the MacBook Air 2017?

Have you notice any increase on performance in the 2017?

I'm trying to decide if I get a MacBook Air 13 2015 i7 or a MacBook Air 13 i7 2017.

Letter I will install a Samsung Evo 512 for better performance, not interested in battery life.

What machine do you recommend.

Thank you!

My 2015 and 2017 Air have a i% cpu. Both are identical in terms of performance as I would expect as they are identical except the 2017 has a cou that is 200 Mhz faster.

I really don't think you are going to benefit from a Samsung 970 Evo SSD over the Adata sx8200 pro.

 

[TokMok3]

I really don't think you are going to benefit from a Samsung 970 Evo SSD over the Adata sx8200 pro.

Why?



Thank you!
[doublepost=1554243972][/doublepost]

Hi So I just upgraded my 2017 Macbook Air with the Samsung 960 500gb
Parts from Amazon
Samsung (MZ-V6E500BW) 500GB EVO PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive - £99.99
Cablecc 12+16pin 2014 2015 Macbook to M.2 NGFF M-Key AHCI SSD Convert Card for A1493 A1502 A1465 A1466 - £13.00

I installed it off a High Sierra USB the restored my time machine backup.

Everything works fine.

Thanks to everyone who contributed here.

Is your MacBook Air i5 or i7?

 

[Audit13]

I really don't think you are going to benefit from a Samsung 970 Evo SSD over the Adata sx8200 pro.

Why?



Thank you![/QUOTE]
I'm looking at from the point of cost, battery life, heat generated by the drive, and the fact that the Air has a PCI-e 2.0x4 lane configuration,

 

[TokMok3]

I can confirm that I have successfully updated A Samsung 970 Evo + NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card For Upgrade 2013-2015 MacBook to my MacBook Air 2017 following the valuable comments here.

Process:

• OS Mojave 10.14.3: Formatted my Sandisk extreme to APFS (via terminal cause via Disk Utility is was not possible to convert to APFS)
• Checked that it is actual bootable
• Made a fresh install of Mojave
• Made a bootable usb clone using CCC
• Switched the SSDs
• Started in recovery > disk utility > restore > Failed: Cannot revert drive
• Started in recovery > disk utility > formatted NVMe into APFS
• Started in recovery > disk utility > restore: Failed: Cannot revert drive
  
• Rebooted via USB clone > checked that NVMe is shown in System Report
• Started disk utility via Option-⌘-R and did a fresh install of Mojave
• Everything works
• Restarted: Quick restart
• Switched off: Quick boot
• (Next step is bootcamp)

Very exciting results below:

View attachment 825615
[doublepost=1552175053][/doublepost]

Does anyone know the disk size after a clean install of Mojave?

Why?



Thank you!

I'm looking at from the point of cost, battery life, heat generated by the drive, and the fact that the Air has a PCI-e 2.0x4 lane configuration,[/QUOTE]


Thank you for your advice.

 

[Macdctr]

I really don't think you are going to benefit from a Samsung 970 Evo SSD over the Adata sx8200 pro.

Unless you're looking for 2TB storage you won't get it with the Adata SX8200 PRO. I do like the Adata SX8200 PRO but you will only have 1TB storage. For most people this is more than enough storage inside the MBA.
[doublepost=1554254698][/doublepost]

Hi,

Which machine do you prefer? The Mac book air 2015 or the MacBook Air 2017?

Have you notice any increase on performance in the 2017?

I'm trying to decide if I get a MacBook Air 13 2015 i7 or a MacBook Air 13 i7 2017.

Letter I will install a Samsung Evo 512 for better performance, not interested in battery life.

What machine do you recommend.

Thank you!

If you're looking to get a spec'd i7 13inch MBA then I say get the 2015 model. Spec for spec the 2015 i7 2.2GHz 8GB model is identical to the 2017 i7 2.2GHz 8GB model (I have the 2015 spec'd 13inch MBA). Only thing different is the model identifier otherwise they are the same computer.

You will pay less for the 2015 getting the same spec'd computer in my opinion.

 

[mbike]

Why?



Thank you!
[doublepost=1554243972][/doublepost]


Is your MacBook Air i5 or i7?

It's an i5. Hope this helps

 

[imrazor]

I got a good deal on the older version of the i7 MBA, but had to take a 128GB SSD. So I decided to try this upgrade.

I got the Sintech adapter off of Amazon (expensive at $15, but good return policy), an Intel 512GB 760p and a toolkit with Pentalobe bits. Instead of doing a Time Machine backup or cloning the drive with CCC or SuperDuper, I installed Mojave to a 128GB SSD then imported my settings with Migration Assistant. I then made sure that my SD card was bootable.

I then set about taking apart the MBA. I've taken apart a MBP a couple of times, but was still a bit nervous. My vision isn't the best and it's a bit hard to see the tiny little screws holding the MBA together. I got the MBA apart, unscrewed the old Apple SSD, put the adapter on the Intel SSD and tried to slide the whole thing into the slot. It wouldn't go at first, but found I needed to raise the adapter a millimeter or two to slide in properly. I then screwed it in place.

Once I booted up, I then installed Mojave fresh onto the SSD, then imported my apps and settings in reverse from the SD card. Everything transferred over properly, but it did take a while. I then booted up and ran some benchmarks.

I was a bit disappointed. My Apple drive had gotten about 680MB/s in write speeds, but the new Intel drive was a bit slower.

However, read speeds were about 80 - 100MB/s faster, so it's a wash as far as I'm concerned.

I then installed Boot Camp and Windows 10 and tried to benchmark the drive in Win10 and got a big surprise.

I was puzzled by the big increase in write speeds in Windows, until I realized that my Apple drive was encrypted, but the Windows volume was not.

So overall I'm happy with the big increase in capacity, instead of spending $1400 or $1500 on a new MBA with a stock 512GB SSD. However I'm kind of disapointed that the Intel drive is more or less the same speed as the old Apple SSD.

 

[TokMok3]

Unless you're looking for 2TB storage you won't get it with the Adata SX8200 PRO. I do like the Adata SX8200 PRO but you will only have 1TB storage. For most people this is more than enough storage inside the MBA.
[doublepost=1554254698][/doublepost]

If you're looking to get a spec'd i7 13inch MBA then I say get the 2015 model. Spec for spec the 2015 i7 2.2GHz 8GB model is identical to the 2017 i7 2.2GHz 8GB model (I have the 2015 spec'd 13inch MBA). Only thing different is the model identifier otherwise they are the same computer.

You will pay less for the 2015 getting the same spec'd computer in my opinion.

Thank you!!!

 

[pablo1985]

Are you sure the drive is the problem? Do you have any way of trying the drive in another computer? Maybe order a Sintech adapter?

Hi,
Today finally I've received the Sintech Adapter, and my Transcend 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe 2280 is visible in disk utilities. Thank you very much for the hint !
Do I need to perform any additional steps after installation of the system? My HW is:
MacBook Air 2017
My boot rom is: 182.0.0.0.0