Macbook air 2017 SSD Compatibility with Samsung SSD

[dudaslaszlo]

Thanks for the update. Glad you got it working

Use it for a while and let us know about the battery life.

Well, it drains so faster than before, the battery life reduced just 6 hours instead of 10. There was some temperature problem, but luckily I made an SMC reset and it is solved.
Is there any possible way to increase the battery life?

 

[Audit13]

Well, it drains so faster than before, the battery life reduced just 6 hours instead of 10. There is some temperature problem, but luckily I made an SMC reset and it is solved.
Is there any possible way to increase the battery life?

Don't think there is much you can do about the battery life. I think it is because macOS is not optimized for battery life with third-party nvme drives.

 

[dudaslaszlo]

Don't think there is much you can do about the battery life. I think it is because macOS is not optimized for battery life with third-party nvme drives.

About 2 hours ago, when I woke up my macbook the screen changed black and white, I couldn't do anything and the fans were loud about 10 seconds. When I turned off after I can't turn on... I plugged the cable and it turned on. I checked the battery status and it said replace and service. The condition is poor, but in CoconutBattery checker it says its fully charged. Before this incident the battery was perfect.
I don't know what happened...

 

[Audit13]

I don't know what could have happened. Did you try SMC reset?

Is it okay now?

 

[dudaslaszlo]

I don't know what could have happened. Did you try SMC reset?

Is it okay now?

I've tried many times, but still doesn't work
I remove the new ssd and apply the old one, maybe the ssd blocks the battery.

 

[dudaslaszlo]

I've tried many times, but still doesn't work
I remove the new ssd and apply the old one, maybe the ssd blocks the battery.

I replaced the ssd and after that it works good, the battery is in good condition... I don't know what happened, so I have to write off this samsung ssd. (Before this process I made an SMC reset)
Any idea what happened?

 

[Audit13]

Glad you got it working. I'm surprised that the Samsung would be the cause.

Is the 970 running the latest firmware? Maybe you need to try a Sintech adapter?

 

[Macdctr]

I replaced the ssd and after that it works good, the battery is in good condition... I don't know what happened, so I have to write off this samsung ssd. (Before this process I made an SMC reset)
Any idea what happened?

If I remember correctly, the 970PRO/EVO SSDs mentioned in the SSD M.2 thread in the MacBook Pro forum would not work due to chipset incompatibilities. I tried to get the Samsung SM981 to work in my 2015 MacBook Air but unfortunately I was having issues and found out that the SM981 was similar to the 970PRO/EVOs. You might be able to get the Samsung 960PRO/EVO to work reliably.

 

[Audit13]

This person was able to use the 970: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-57#post-26121781

 

[dudaslaszlo]

Glad you got it working. I'm surprised that the Samsung would be the cause.

Is the 970 running the latest firmware? Maybe you need to try a Sintech adapter?

After many unsuccesful trying, I've decided to sell this product. I think this SSD is "dangerous" and can damage my Mac...
Maybe I change another SSD type or buying an original Apple SSD in used condition.
Sintech adapter is a good option, it has better quality than this cheap adapter, but postage is so long, it arrives 2 weeks later in Hungary.

 

[Audit13]

It took me about 3 weeks before I received my Sintech in Canada.

 

[dudaslaszlo]

If I remember correctly, the 970PRO/EVO SSDs mentioned in the SSD M.2 thread in the MacBook Pro forum would not work due to chipset incompatibilities. I tried to get the Samsung SM981 to work in my 2015 MacBook Air but unfortunately I was having issues and found out that the SM981 was similar to the 970PRO/EVOs. You might be able to get the Samsung 960PRO/EVO to work reliably.

Thank you giving me this information, maybe I try with the 960 version.

 

[Macdctr]

Thank you giving me this information, maybe I try with the 960 version.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing for my 11" MBA once I get a 2015 i7 logic board to swap in. It is now summer and I'm busy working on my cars (summer project) so upgrading my MBA will wait till fall when weather begins to get cooler and I resume working on my computers again...

 

[dudaslaszlo]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing for my 11" MBA once I get a 2015 i7 logic board to swap in. It is now summer and I'm busy working on my cars (summer project) so upgrading my MBA will wait till fall when weather begins to get cooler and I resume working on my computers again...

I've tried again to install macOS and the result was terrible. I used duct tape around the connecting of the adapter and the ssd. I checked the perfomance with Blackmagic again and it just 560MB/s Write and 900MB/s Read speed. The temperature of the drive was so high, it was 133°F... When I wanted to check the drive information in DriveDx, it said the SMART function is not supported. How can I check the health of the drive? Any idea about heating problem?

 

[Macdctr]

I've tried again to install macOS and the result was terrible. I used duct tape around the connecting of the adapter and the ssd. I checked the perfomance with Blackmagic again and it just 560MB/s Write and 900MB/s Read speed. The temperature of the drive was so high, it was 133°F... When I wanted to check the drive information in DriveDx, it said the SMART function is not supported. How can I check the health of the drive? Any idea about heating problem?

It might be your adapter that’s causing issues. Not sure however I found a Sintech adapter that is compatible with 2013-2017 MacBook Airs.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Sintech-NGFF...e-of-2013-2017-Macs-ST-NGFF2013-/323315216311

As for temps, if you’re using the 960 series NVMe M.2 drive then you can expect to see higher temps from those drives. I will have to take a look at the temps generated by my 950 series drive and post later when I get home...

 

[dudaslaszlo]

It might be your adapter that’s causing issues. Not sure however I found a Sintech adapter that is compatible with 2013-2017 MacBook Airs.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Sintech-NGFF...e-of-2013-2017-Macs-ST-NGFF2013-/323315216311

As for temps, if you’re using the 960 series NVMe M.2 drive then you can expect to see higher temps from those drives. I will have to take a look at the temps generated by my 950 series drive and post later when I get home...

I used the 970 series. Thanks!

 

[Macdctr]

I used the 970 series. Thanks!

To be honest I don't think you will gain much more than what you have using the 970 series because of chipset incompatibilities in the 2015 MBA. The max speed gains that the 970 is supposed to have won't be reached due to architecture differences in the drive and logic board... looking thru the MBP forum I read that the SM981 (which I have) was supposed to be similar to the new 970 M.2 drive that you're using so I am "assuming" these drives are simply too different in architecture to be fully supported by the 2015 architecture. It has been proven in the MBP thread and also verified by me on my 2015 MBA that the SM981 M.2 NVMe drive will not work because you can not select this drive as the new drive for your boot drive and that the Phoenix Controller is not compatible with the MBA.
That's my guess so if anything when I'm ready I will move up to the 960PRO M.2 drive but that's about as far as I will take my MBA because of this...

 

[dudaslaszlo]

To be honest I don't think you will gain much more than what you have using the 970 series because of chipset incompatibilities in the 2015 MBA. The max speed gains that the 970 is supposed to have won't be reached due to architecture differences in the drive and logic board... looking thru the MBP forum I read that the SM981 (which I have) was supposed to be similar to the new 970 M.2 drive that you're using so I am "assuming" these drives are simply too different in architecture to be fully supported by the 2015 architecture. It has been proven in the MBP thread and also verified by me on my 2015 MBA that the SM981 M.2 NVMe drive will not work because you can not select this drive as the new drive for your boot drive and that the Phoenix Controller is not compatible with the MBA.
That's my guess so if anything when I'm ready I will move up to the 960PRO M.2 drive but that's about as far as I will take my MBA because of this...

I partly agreed with you, but some users have no problems with samsung.
First time, when I installed this drive there wasn't any problem (only battery draining and a minimal heating problem, that later solved)
Next day the ssd killed the battery, but it was a software issue.
I am in great dilemma, because I don't know what should I have to do. Order a new sintech adapter or replace the 970 series. It is hard to sell the SSD in Hungary and if I can, I lose a lot in the price.

 

[Audit13]

Installed Mojave beta onto my early 2015 Air and noticed that the bootrom was updated as well.

 

[Macdctr]

Installed Mojave beta onto my early 2015 Air and noticed that the bootrom was updated as well.

strange because when I upgraded my 2015 MBA13 to Mojave, my bootrom stayed at .0176

 

[Audit13]

strange because when I upgraded my 2015 MBA13 to Mojave, my bootrom stayed at .0176

My apologies, I should have stated that I was using an OEM apple SSD rather than a third party nvme drive when I installed Mojave.

I mentioned the bootrom update in case anyone was contemplating a move to Mojave and wanted to install the updated bootrom.

After updating the bootrom, I reinstalled my Intel 600p SSD and reinstalled Mojave.

 

[Macdctr]

My apologies, I should have stated that I was using an OEM apple SSD rather than a third party nvme drive when I installed Mojave.

No apologies necessary. You know I'm running NVMe on my 2015 MBA13 so I was just wondering how your bootrom was different from mine, that's all No worries!

So far I haven't had any "major" issues running Mojave on my MBA13

 

[Audit13]

I actually have two MacBook Airs.

The one with the Intel SSD is a "Frankenstein Air" that I clobbered together from the different machines. I use it as my testing machine rather than my main MacBook.

 

[gilles_polysoft]

I would order this...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/M2-M-Key-S...863013?hash=item33d50f0365:g:41sAAOSweZJaSPrL

The adapter looks like this and comes with tools to allow you to install the new drive.

The link that I got my adapter from : https://www.ebay.com/itm/112615200702?ul_noapp=true&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true


Glad to help!

No... No... No... don't use this adapter. It has issues with reboot, issues with Samsung drives.
Only sintech rev. B or C work ! And with kapton tape...

 

[djsick2000]

Hi!

I am planning to upgrade a MBA 2017 for a 500gb SSD. I read most for the posts on this forum and it seems that :

• Samsung makes the best SSD BUT it always need the Sintech Adapter to fit it in.
• The Samsung 950PRO seems to work but the 960 is not recommended (heat, etc) and 970 does not seem to work.

On the net, I found the MCE SSD... it is more expensive but it seems it does not need any adapter. What do you think ?

https://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=MBASSD2015_17

I suppose the issue is that nobody knows how it performs and Samsung is probably the best anyway.

Can someone confirm me that the above is correct.

-----------

Also practically, I am planning to do a clean install (no need to back up anything) and install High-Sierra with the wifi (because it is easy). Would it be OK ?

Some people talk about formatted it in APFS, what does it mean ? I suppose that it would not work otherwise. How do you do format in APFS and when ?
Is it :
1) Put the new SSD in
2) Run Disk Utility and format it in APFS (I am not sure I will be able to do it, it is easy and straightforward?)
3) then do the clean install with the fresh High-Sierra (and all updates)

Is that correct ? I am bit worried about the APFS thing...

Thank you !