Upgrading 2013-2015 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe

[geoluv]

I can't figure out how to inject the 7,1 nvme driver into the 6,1 scap file. In UEFItool I can't "replace as is" the existing driver, it's grayed out. UEFItool is designed for modifying ROM files not update files it says so in the notes.

Apparently this is possible according to user Y.H Wong on stack exchange but I am stuck at the part where you replace the existing driver in the MBA61.scap file

 

[jackqueenking]

I can't figure out how to inject the 7,1 nvme driver into the 6,1 scap file. In UEFItool I can't "replace as is" the existing driver, it's grayed out. UEFItool is designed for modifying ROM files not update files it says so in the notes.

Apparently this is possible according to user Y.H Wong on stack exchange but I am stuck at the part where you replace the existing driver in the MBA61.scap file

Have you tried using the tool in the following link? Also did you just download mojave 10.14.1 and get the EFI Scap files from there?
https://github.com/LongSoft/UEFITool

 

[geoluv]

Have you tried using the tool in the following link? Also did you just download mojave 10.14.1 and get the EFI Scap files from there?
https://github.com/LongSoft/UEFITool

yes and yes

 

[BBsan]

yes and yes

Please make sure to use the last non „NE“ version of UEFITool, as the NE version cannot replace anything!

 

[geoluv]

Please make sure to use the last non „NE“ version of UEFITool, as the NE version cannot replace anything!

Let me guess NE means "no editing"?

I downloaded UEFItool 0.25.1 and am able to replace the driver, but just like you said uefitool can't create signed cap files. only lets you save as .cap

that ym wong guy really needs to chime back in with whatever method he used

 

[rjbeep]

Hi folks,

Thanks for all the help in this very informative thread. I was happy enough with the Apple SSD performance, especially being limited to PCIe 2.x on my machine. I wanted to expand capacity while keeping power consumption and heat as low as possible. Truth is, I would probably have preferred an Apple 512gb SSD and been happy with it if I could have found the right price and some faith that it wasn't already worn out. I settled on the Intel 760p hoping for lower power consumption and full user capacity (as opposed to giving up 32gb w/the Adata SX8200 480gb stick).

Just contributing my experience if it helps anybody else. The following are very *non-scientific* results. I can't swear the numbers are accurate, but they should be a fair relative comparison between the two SSDs. Happy to answer any questions if I can. Also appreciate any feedback / insight on this setup.

My system

• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
• Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5
• Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
• macOS Mojave 10.14.1
• Originally 128gb Apple SSD
• Replaced SSD w/ Intel 760p 512gb
• Sintech "B" (short) adapter
  • long "C" adapter worked just fine, but I didn't like how the case was closing.
  • short "B" adapter fit much better without the pressure on the case.
  • other than fit, both appeared to work just fine

Info collected below: Apple SSD / Intel 760p

1. Test starting w/ fully charged battery, continual stream from Netflix via Safari (constant video and wifi activity) plus loop of movie playing via VLC locally from SSD (constant video and read from SSD). Both videos sized about 1/4 screen. Screen brightness set down around 3 out of the 16 block scale (low).
   1. Battery life - 8h10m / 7h15m
   2. Discharge rate - 7.96w / 10.97
   3. Typical system temp (cpu cores/peci) - 45C / 56C
2. Machine idling during charge while plugged into power (battery around 50%)
   1. Typical system temp (cpu cores/peci) - 33C / 41C
   2. DriveDX SSD Temp - ? / 31C
3. PFM001 - There may be an issue with the System Management Controller (SMC).
   1. Though I experienced no troubles to warrant running diagnostics, I ran them anyway.
   2. No errors when using the Apple SSD
   3. When using the Intel 760p (or others I tried: Crucial 500, Adata SX8200, HP EX920), booting into diagnostics usually, but not always, gives me the PFM001 error.
   4. Again, all seems to be working fine: shutdown, boot, standby, fan control, etc...
   5. Would love to understand why PFM001 is happening. I've reset SMC and NVRAM *many* times.

 

[jackqueenking]

Let me guess NE means "no editing"?

I downloaded UEFItool 0.25.1 and am able to replace the driver, but just like you said uefitool can't create signed cap files. only lets you save as .cap

that ym wong guy really needs to chime back in with whatever method he used

So you're saying you can successfully inject the NVME driver into the pre 2014 files but you cannot sign the scap file and so you cannot install it on your machine?

 

[keiji11]

Thanks for that. Some interesting stats. Certainly the Adata SX8200 stacks up well. Unfortunately the Pro version wasn't listed in it so none the wiser. I can get the 1Tb SX8200 Pro for about £180 so its tempting but dont want to buy it if it runs hot and is heavy on the battery. Im told it uses a different controller from the standard SX8200 so could make a difference. I can get the 960Gb SX8200 for about £210. If I'm unable to to find anything definitive on it, may play safe and stick to the 960Gb version. On the other hand I could dig deeper and go for the 1Tb Samsung 970 Pro. Comes in at £360 but battery life on it is meant to be as good if not better the the Apple SSD's. Decisions, Decisions

dont go for the samsungs get the adata or intel
[doublepost=1543457588][/doublepost]

Hi folks,

Thanks for all the help in this very informative thread. I was happy enough with the Apple SSD performance, especially being limited to PCIe 2.x on my machine. I wanted to expand capacity while keeping power consumption and heat as low as possible. Truth is, I would probably have preferred an Apple 512gb SSD and been happy with it if I could have found the right price and some faith that it wasn't already worn out. I settled on the Intel 760p hoping for lower power consumption and full user capacity (as opposed to giving up 32gb w/the Adata SX8200 480gb stick).

Just contributing my experience if it helps anybody else. The following are very *non-scientific* results. I can't swear the numbers are accurate, but they should be a fair relative comparison between the two SSDs. Happy to answer any questions if I can. Also appreciate any feedback / insight on this setup.

My system

• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
• Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5
• Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
• macOS Mojave 10.14.1
• Originally 128gb Apple SSD
• Replaced SSD w/ Intel 760p 512gb
• Sintech "B" (short) adapter
  • long "C" adapter worked just fine, but I didn't like how the case was closing.
  • short "B" adapter fit much better without the pressure on the case.
  • other than fit, both appeared to work just fine

Info collected below: Apple SSD / Intel 760p

1. Test starting w/ fully charged battery, continual stream from Netflix via Safari (constant video and wifi activity) plus loop of movie playing via VLC locally from SSD (constant video and read from SSD). Both videos sized about 1/4 screen. Screen brightness set down around 3 out of the 16 block scale (low).
   1. Battery life - 8h10m / 7h15m
   2. Discharge rate - 7.96w / 10.97
   3. Typical system temp (cpu cores/peci) - 45C / 56C
2. Machine idling during charge while plugged into power (battery around 50%)
   1. Typical system temp (cpu cores/peci) - 33C / 41C
   2. DriveDX SSD Temp - ? / 31C
3. PFM001 - There may be an issue with the System Management Controller (SMC).
   1. Though I experienced no troubles to warrant running diagnostics, I ran them anyway.
   2. No errors when using the Apple SSD
   3. When using the Intel 760p (or others I tried: Crucial 500, Adata SX8200, HP EX920), booting into diagnostics usually, but not always, gives me the PFM001 error.
   4. Again, all seems to be working fine: shutdown, boot, standby, fan control, etc...
   5. Would love to understand why PFM001 is happening. I've reset SMC and NVRAM *many* times.

i am using the same machine as yours but installed 760p 1t. At first there was that sleeping problem but after reseting smc the problem was gone. I dont have your pfm001 issue. The only problem i have is the battery drain faster than the apple ssd

 

[geoluv]

So you're saying you can successfully inject the NVME driver into the pre 2014 files but you cannot sign the scap file and so you cannot install it on your machine?

yes, but UEFItool can only save it as a .rom file, not a .scap file.

 

[tshelby73]

yes, but UEFItool can only save it as a .rom file, not a .scap file.

I played around with it as well and ran into the same problem. Can only save as a rom file also. I wonder if saving as rom then renaming to scap would work.

 

[rjbeep]

dont go for the samsungs get the adata or intel
[doublepost=1543457588][/doublepost]
i am using the same machine as yours but installed 760p 1t. At first there was that sleeping problem but after reseting smc the problem was gone. I dont have your pfm001 issue. The only problem i have is the battery drain faster than the apple ssd

thanks for the feedback on this. the pfm001 seems to be gone now for me as well. all seems good other than the reduction in battery life which I guess is to be expected based on all the other comments I've seen.

 

[kaiz]

Hi everyone,

I didn't read through over 100pages , I had a mbp 15" mid 2015, does the long version adapter (ST-NGFF2013-C) has any sleep issue like the short version?
Im going to order HP ex920 1tb nvme m.2 ssd + ST-NGFF2013-C

Thank you.

 

[weckart]

Hi everyone,

I didn't read through over 100pages , I had a mbp 15" mid 2015, does the long version adapter (ST-NGFF2013-C) has any sleep issue like the short version?
Im going to order HP ex920 1tb nvme m.2 ssd + ST-NGFF2013-C

Thank you.

No wake from sleep issues with 2015 MBPs or MBAs. Only with 2013-4 models.

 

[avdo]

Pretty gutted with the read speed being slower that the write speed on an EVO 970 1TB with a rev.C Sintech black long adapter.The latest firmware was already on the EVO.

This is on a 11,5 Mid 2015 15" Macbook Pro so the read speeds are only marginally faster than the stock Apple-Samsung 512gb SSD that was removed.

Not sure if its a bad adapter or it's something to do with the Macbook being the Radeon R9 dGPU model.

Speed test results are consistent on Win10 Bootcamp, Mojave 10.14.1 and Sierra 10.13.6.

Temps are average 33'c on the 970 EVO so thats one positive. Another positive is zero battery drain after 10 hours hibernation.

Short adapter ordered, hoping this will sort it out.

Edit: After re-reading all 105 pages again, it would appear that a couple of folk with the 2015 15" mbp are experiencing the same drive speeds. Shame really but still a cheap way of upgrading to 1TB of storage space.

 

[Berlinsky]

Pretty gutted with the read speed being slower that the write speed on an EVO 970 1TB with a rev.C Sintech black long adapter.The latest firmware was already on the EVO.

This is on a 11,5 Mid 2015 15" Macbook Pro so the read speeds are only marginally faster than the stock Apple-Samsung 512gb SSD that was removed.

Not sure if its a bad adapter or it's something to do with the Macbook being the Radeon R9 dGPU model.

Speed test results are consistent on Win10 Bootcamp, Mojave 10.14.1 and Sierra 10.13.6.

Temps are average 33'c on the 970 EVO so thats one positive. Another positive is zero battery drain after 10 hours hibernation.

Short adapter ordered, hoping this will sort it out.

Edit: After re-reading all 105 pages again, it would appear that a couple of folk with the 2015 15" mbp are experiencing the same drive speeds. Shame really but still a cheap way of upgrading to 1TB of storage space.

Hey, looks like a normal speed result of the 1TB version, I just did a quick search here and it looks like the 1TB version doesn't hit the 3k mark reading wise.
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/494791/Samsung-SSD-970-EVO-1TB

But what seems strange is your Amorphous results. Was the SSD empty? Did you check mdworker activity?

best

 

[avdo]

Hi

Hey, looks like a normal speed result of the 1TB version, I just did a quick search here and it looks like the 1TB version doesn't hit the 3k mark reading wise.
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/SpeedTest/494791/Samsung-SSD-970-EVO-1TB

But what seems strange is your Amorphous results. Was the SSD empty? Did you check mdworker activity?

best

Hi,

The SSD is 28% full. I have just re-run the test again and it's very similar to the one in the screenshot. No heavy mdworker activity either.

Are you referring to the 4k results? They do seem pretty dire.

 

[Berlinsky]

Hi


Hi,

The SSD is 28% full. I have just re-run the test again and it's very similar to the one in the screenshot. No heavy mdworker activity either.

Are you referring to the 4k results? They do seem pretty dire.

Yepp. I wouldn’t have thought that the difference would be that high between these two SSDs.

 

[avdo]

Win10 1809 Bootcamp results:

Stock Microsoft driver.
CrystalDiskMark 6.01 x64

SeqQ32T1 - Read 2474 / Write 2519
4kQ1T1 - Read 31.34 / Write 174
4kQ1T8 - Read 244.2 / Write 1077.3
4kQ8T8 - Read 2025 / Write 1665
4kQ32T1 - Read 552 / Write 432

Do these figures look about right would you say?

 

[Berlinsky]

Win10 1809 Bootcamp results:

Stock Microsoft driver.
CrystalDiskMark 6.01 x64

SeqQ32T1 - Read 2474 / Write 2519
4kQ1T1 - Read 31.34 / Write 174
4kQ1T8 - Read 244.2 / Write 1077.3
4kQ8T8 - Read 2025 / Write 1665
4kQ32T1 - Read 552 / Write 432

Do these figures look about right would you say?

Yeah looking good i'd say, here are mine (with Samsung NVME driver), 1GB:


Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 3528.087 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 2320.284 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1698.782 MB/s [ 414741.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1531.974 MB/s [ 374017.1 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 479.366 MB/s [ 117032.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 427.582 MB/s [ 104390.1 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 35.063 MB/s [ 8560.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 179.927 MB/s [ 43927.5 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 19.1% (21.5/113.0 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2018/12/01 20:20:29
OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 17763] (x64)

 

[avdo]

Yeah looking good i'd say, here are mine (with Samsung NVME driver), 1GB:


Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 3528.087 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 2320.284 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1698.782 MB/s [ 414741.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1531.974 MB/s [ 374017.1 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 479.366 MB/s [ 117032.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 427.582 MB/s [ 104390.1 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 35.063 MB/s [ 8560.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 179.927 MB/s [ 43927.5 IOPS]

Test : 1024 MiB [C: 19.1% (21.5/113.0 GiB)] (x5) [Interval=5 sec]
Date : 2018/12/01 20:20:29
OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 17763] (x64)

Thank you very much for going out of your way to test your drive, brilliant. Greatly appreciated.

So either Amorphous isn't communicating with the drive correctly or theres something going on with the O/S.
To be fair, it still feels a little snappier than the standard Apple-Samsung drive it replaced !

 

[brdeveloper]

Hello,

I've ordered this SinTech adapter: http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html
And I've ordered a 512GB Toshiba XG5 m.2 NVMe SSD for installing on my wife's 13" Macbook Air 2015.

I read somewhere that this SSD can format in 4K cluster size and this can be good for solving some problem that I don't remember well which.

Please tell me I did a good choice

 

[Berlinsky]

Hello,

I've ordered this SinTech adapter: http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html
And I've ordered a 512GB Toshiba XG5 m.2 NVMe SSD for installing on my wife's 13" Macbook Air 2015.

I read somewhere that this SSD can format in 4K cluster size and this can be good for solving some problem that I don't remember well which.

Please tell me I did a good choice

Hahahahaha. The best Choice ever! Check Post #2485 for details. Battery wise excellent choice.
Best

 

[ilovejamon]

Hi folks!

Small update here: I upgraded to 10.14.1 using my ADATA SX8200. Bootrom was not upgraded no matter how hard I tried (including manually forcing the upgrade). Installed the stock Apple SSD and boom: upgraded to 149.0.0.0.0 (I have a 2014 MBP 15").

Since I was experiencing wake up from sleep problems from time to time (just a couple of times since installing the new SSD), I decided to patch the bootrom (following this guide).

The only mildly non trivial things were

• Soldering the pins on the adapter board (the red thingy you plug into the programmer)
• Finding the diagnostic port on my motherboard
• Choosing which SPI chip name to use with flashrom. In the end I chose the same combination of the guide

It all went smoothly in the end (yes: I was ******** myself while the programmer was writing the modified rom).

Benefits as far as I can tell

• No delay in cold boot
• No delay in waking from sleep

Time will tell if the wake from sleep problems are gone as well.

 

[BBsan]

Hi folks!

Small update here: I upgraded to 10.14.1 using my ADATA SX8200. Bootrom was not upgraded no matter how hard I tried (including manually forcing the upgrade). Installed the stock Apple SSD and boom: upgraded to 149.0.0.0.0 (I have a 2014 MBP 15").

Since I was experiencing wake up from sleep problems from time to time (just a couple of times since installing the new SSD), I decided to patch the bootrom (following this guide).

The only mildly non trivial things were

• Soldering the pins on the adapter board (the red thingy you plug into the programmer)
• Finding the diagnostic port on my motherboard
• Choosing which SPI chip name to use with flashrom. In the end I chose the same combination of the guide

It all went smoothly in the end (yes: I was ******** myself while the programmer was writing the modified rom).

Benefits as far as I can tell

• No delay in cold boot
• No delay in waking from sleep

Time will tell if the wake from sleep problems are gone as well.

Which exact hardware combination did you use for flashing? Was it the Clip?

 

[schns]

Hi folks,

Thanks for all the help in this very informative thread. I was happy enough with the Apple SSD performance, especially being limited to PCIe 2.x on my machine. I wanted to expand capacity while keeping power consumption and heat as low as possible. Truth is, I would probably have preferred an Apple 512gb SSD and been happy with it if I could have found the right price and some faith that it wasn't already worn out. I settled on the Intel 760p hoping for lower power consumption and full user capacity (as opposed to giving up 32gb w/the Adata SX8200 480gb stick).

Just contributing my experience if it helps anybody else. The following are very *non-scientific* results. I can't swear the numbers are accurate, but they should be a fair relative comparison between the two SSDs. Happy to answer any questions if I can. Also appreciate any feedback / insight on this setup.

My system

• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
• Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5
• Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
• macOS Mojave 10.14.1
• Originally 128gb Apple SSD
• Replaced SSD w/ Intel 760p 512gb
• Sintech "B" (short) adapter
  • long "C" adapter worked just fine, but I didn't like how the case was closing.
  • short "B" adapter fit much better without the pressure on the case.
  • other than fit, both appeared to work just fine

Info collected below: Apple SSD / Intel 760p

1. Test starting w/ fully charged battery, continual stream from Netflix via Safari (constant video and wifi activity) plus loop of movie playing via VLC locally from SSD (constant video and read from SSD). Both videos sized about 1/4 screen. Screen brightness set down around 3 out of the 16 block scale (low).
   1. Battery life - 8h10m / 7h15m
   2. Discharge rate - 7.96w / 10.97
   3. Typical system temp (cpu cores/peci) - 45C / 56C
2. Machine idling during charge while plugged into power (battery around 50%)
   1. Typical system temp (cpu cores/peci) - 33C / 41C
   2. DriveDX SSD Temp - ? / 31C
3. PFM001 - There may be an issue with the System Management Controller (SMC).
   1. Though I experienced no troubles to warrant running diagnostics, I ran them anyway.
   2. No errors when using the Apple SSD
   3. When using the Intel 760p (or others I tried: Crucial 500, Adata SX8200, HP EX920), booting into diagnostics usually, but not always, gives me the PFM001 error.
   4. Again, all seems to be working fine: shutdown, boot, standby, fan control, etc...
   5. Would love to understand why PFM001 is happening. I've reset SMC and NVRAM *many* times.

Hi,

I have the same MBP model and am considering upgrading my storage with the Intel 760p. Would you mind sharing your disk speed test results with this ssd, if possible?