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

[pedrosimao]

Depends on where you are, but I could give you a 128 GB AHCI drive just for that purpose... I've got some... give me a pm. (gilles at polysoft dot fr).

That's the most generous contribution I have ever received in an online forum.
I have just sent you an e-mail. (as I am in France too)

 

[gilles_polysoft]

Evening gang!

Well guess what ?!!! Samsung PM961 does WORK on Macbook Pro Retina 15" Mid-2014!!!!

I tried it again with another adapter and another PM961 (Lenovo model MZSLW1T0HMLH-000L1) 1TB SSD drive (not 512mb) and although I had to use terminal + diskutil to format the drive, it then appeared in Disk Utility and I was able to install High Sierra to it.

That's Great thanks a lot for your update !

What I got:
- Read Speed : 1500 MB/s
- Write Speed : 1200 MB/s

Don't know why the read speed is half of what it should be... ?? Any clues?

This is working in 4x Pci-E Lanes instead of 2x like the original Apple AHCI drive (non NVME).

Screenshots attached.

Maybe it's my fault... The first version of the SSD upgrade tables I published were incorrect on the speed for the late 2013-mid 2014 MBPr 15" : they "only" have 4x 2.0 PCIe lanes. Only the mid 2015 has 4x 3.0 PCIe lanes...
Well, 1500 MB/s is quite a great speed thought !
[doublepost=1508288372][/doublepost]

But again, if its not showing up on disk utility, because its not formatted to something OSX recognizes, it would still show up on system details under NVMExpress, if the hardware is not a problem?

Hello,
sorry for your problems. Yes, the 960 EVO should definitely appear in the NVMExpress line of System informations, regardless of High Sierra's buggy Disk Utility which doesn't recognized any blank disk.

As you have stated, you have the correct BootRom version for your early 2015 MBPr 13" (MBP121.0171.B00).
So there seems to be, in your case, a hardware default. Maybe the cableCC adapter ! I'll may purchase one to confirm it doesn't work. To this time, unless I'm wrong, only ChenYang and Sintech M.2 to apple 12+16 adapters have been confirmed.

I've got a new/exchanged Evo 960 on the way, and an adapter from ChenYang. The Kapton tape did cover the back of the pins... as I replied to the above post... I never could get any recognition of the Evo 960 in system details NVMExpress - and of course in disk utility... I even went as far as reinstalling Sierra, and downloading NVMe master patch/Kext utility, and following the procedure that has led to some success in getting NVMe recognized in Sierra..

Again, sorry for your problems with the cableCC adapter. Hope the ChenYang will work.
As for Sierra, don't loose time : it will never recognize the Samsung 960 Evo because it can't be formatted in 4K blocs.
As a reminder, here are the known NVMe SSD able to be formatted in 4K and work with both Sierra 10.12 and High Sierra 10.13 (but they NEED the updated BootRom in every case) :

• Kingston KC1000
• WD Black M.2
• Toshiba XG3-XG4 (maybe OCZ too ?)

Here are the NVMe SSDs known to only be able to work in 512B blocs and work only with High Sierra

• Samsung PM951
• Samsung SM951
• Samsung Evo 960
• Samsung Pro 960
• Intel P600

And as a reminder the Kingson HyperX are more expensive than NVMe SSDs, and not easy to find, but they are AHCI...

Do any Samsung EVO 960 1.0TB M.2 users know if 4k block formatting works? Sorry if this has been mentioned

I plan to purchase this: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsun...ate-drive-for-laptops/5678807.p?skuId=5678807

The 960 Evo can't be formatted in 4K blocks. So it can't work with Sierra. But it works very well and very fast in 512B blocs with High Sierra (~2200MB/sec sustained read on a PCIe 3.0 capable mac, write speed depends on the capacity : 1200MB/sec for a 500 GB)

 

[alef]

So... there is no way to update BootRom without an Apple original drive.
My MBP mid 2014 has a broken internal AHCI SSD, so I bought a 960 Samsung EVO, an Intel 600p and a couple of adapters, a ChenYang and a Kalea Informatique in order to test them. MacBook doesn't recognize drives; I decided to install Sierra on a SD card, and all went OK, but when I try to upgrade to High Sierra... firmware problem.
I hope there will be a solution... soon.

This is my first post in this forum, so I want to thank you for your helpful work.

 

[Transfusion]

View attachment 725753
[doublepost=1508196094][/doublepost]

Working Settings, (but not sure about the battery consumption in this hibernate mode):

TEST ONE OK

AC:

sudo pmset -c sleep 0
sudo pmset -c standby 0
sudo pmset -c standbydelay 5
sudo pmset -c hibernatemode 3

Battery:

sudo pmset -b sleep 120
sudo pmset -b standby 1
sudo pmset -b standbydelay 5
sudo pmset -b hibernatemode 3

All:

sudo pmset -a acwake 0
sudo pmset -a lidwake 0
sudo pmset -a ttyskeepawake 0
sudo pmset -a darkwakes 0
sudo pmset -a standby 0

I tried sleeping with with these settings, especially standby 1, yesterday using a 960 EVO 250G on an Early 2015 8GB Air twice, each lasting more than 8 hours (I left it alone in the morning, came back in the evening to use on AC, unplugged and used it on battery for a while, then slept throughout the night). Funny thing is that earlier this morning, a shorter sleep and wake (around 10-15 seconds) resulted in SSD lost folder and question mark icon.

The battery drain on hibernate mode 3 is tolerable for me if we can get it to work properly. I slept at 70% and woke around 62% during this time. What I'm more concerned about is battery during idle usage; did anyone notice lower estimated battery life in Activity Monitor? Even on full charge I haven't seen estimates above 6 hours, of course I don't know whether this is because of fresh OS install...

...
A caveat with hibernatemode 25 is that you need to allow it enough time, after it enters into the processing of writing the RAM contents to the drive, to complete. If you open it up during the middle, or before it has had a chance to power off after writing to the drive, you run the risk of crashing as with mode 3. You can open it for some length of time before that occurs, but again, not in the middle or towards the end of it. Those values are controlled by standbydelay and autopoweroffdelay values for pmset.

To me this sounds like the most likely explanation. If you hear carefully when cold booting the Air there is a short mechanical sound, the sound of the fan starting up. Every successful wake from sleep is accompanied by that sound for me, suggesting that it is truly in the lower power state, but every folder lost seems to have something to do with in-between power states. BTW, hibernatemode 3 writes the image to disk too; it's controlled by standbydelay in seconds. https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...nce-between-autopoweroff-and-standby-in-pmset I will try with Gilles' settings (hibernatemode 0, standby 0 and autopoweroff 0) and check the battery drain. In the worst case maybe just use a script to switch between the two settings depending on whether you're going for a long sleep or short sleep...


BTW, restarting has always worked fine since the first install of the OS, restarting from Apple menu, and restarting when installing some pkgs. BTW2, smartmontools doesn't work for NVMe drives right?

 

[@t0mX]

and a couple of adapters, a ChenYang and a Kalea Informatique in order to test them. MacBook doesn't recognize drives;

Careeful with the Kalea informatique one, that's the one that did not work with my first PM961 512gb drive.

 

[pedrosimao]

Careeful with the Kalea informatique one, that's the one that did not work with my first PM961 512gb drive.

I have bought ChenYang adapter here:
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B073FRCBSP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It works perfectly with a Kingston KC1000.

 

[gilles_polysoft]

So... there is no way to update BootRom without an Apple original drive.

Hello,

It's quite logical in fact : while you still are with the old BootRom, your Mac still can't read properly NVMe drives...
Or, the process of updating the BootRom needs to read the rom update file from the EFI partition of the internal drive at EFI level... So with a NVMe drive and still the old BootRom it will fail...

The update process from the old BootRom can only be done with what the old BootRom recognize : an internal AHCI drive, being it an Apple original, or a tiers AHCI drive (Kingston Hyper-X, Liteon...).
It surely works with a tiers AHCI drive and sintech adapter : I have tested with an AHCI Kinston PCIe Hyper-X and I confirm it works.

Once the BootRom is updated your Mac will then able to read at EFI level from NVMe drive.
We can thus expect future BootRom updates to be able to be done with NVMe internal drives...
It is hypothetical and I can't garantee that but it sounds pretty logical...

My MBP mid 2014 has a broken internal AHCI SSD, so I bought a 960 Samsung EVO, an Intel 600p and a couple of adapters, a ChenYang and a Kalea Informatique in order to test them. MacBook doesn't recognize drives; I decided to install Sierra on a SD card, and all went OK, but when I try to upgrade to High Sierra... firmware problem.
I hope there will be a solution... soon.

To my knowledge, we can't force the Apple BootRom update files to write and read from an external EFI partition... (and it only works with EFI partition on internal AHCI drive).

So, I'm sorry about that but if you want to install a NVMe drive, you need to have an AHCI drive first in order to do the BootRom update process...
Where are you located ?

 

[zero_conduite]

Thank you, all of you: contributors, for the fitful starts-ends and.. the glimpses of solution.

The OCZ Toshiba RD400 NVMe PCIe m.2, 03.2017 f/w [Edit:][ 57C24102 ].
Observations from my system, an internal RD400 4k-sector/Journaled, 10.12 with no external drives. SMC/NVRAM reset. 15" rMBP 2014 w/ updated BootROM:

Same boot, restart, sleep & standby behaviors, in 10.12 & 10.13, as the WD Black NVMe PCIe used in Post #194. However, the OCZ RD400 writes 4x faster than the WD Black, via Blackmagic; read speeds for both are relatively alike.

----------
Curious about boot phases, ? folder and device tree with an internal NVMe PCIe: the phase transition from UEFI firmware to boot manager to OS boot loader. Consequently, I substituted another boot manager using the EFI stub, instead of using the native Apple boot manager, and a self loading Linux OS, onto the SSD--no MacOS, no white apple progress display. Pointing directly to the boot manager, configured the manager to delay 5 sec. for new devices (i.e. cd drives spinning up). I gave the NVMe time.

Only UEFI firmware booting was untouched. Cold boot, restart & sleep behaviors with this installation are similar to my MacOS non-Apple NVMe installations. The trial setup cold boots instantly to the boot manager display, then starts Linux. When restarting, the ? folder displays immediately, unlike the typical 30 sec. of black screen--a difference in detail from using the native Apple boot manager. Option-key invokes the familiar graphical Apple boot manager native in firmware.

Trying.

...
After this night sleeping on battery, it had exactly the same behaviour on wake up : it did not properly wake up from sleep. Display stayed black, and after a while (3s) the mac did chimie and made a cold start.
Sip was disabled yesterday evening before sleep, this setting has been lost at restart this morning.

My SIP/csr-setting/NVRAM-variables never appear to reset when resuming from standby. Checked frequently.

 

[tetet]

The OCZ Toshiba RD400 NVMe PCIe m.2, 03.2017 f/w [TBD].
Observations from my system, an internal RD400 4k-sector/Journaled, 10.12 with no external drives. SMC/NVRAM reset. 15" rMBP 2014 w/ updated BootROM:

Same boot, restart, sleep & standby behaviors, in 10.12 & 10.13, as the WD Black NVMe PCIe used in Post #194. However, the OCZ RD400 writes 4x faster than the WD Black, via Blackmagic; read speeds for both are relatively alike.

----------
Curious about boot phases, ? folder and device tree with an internal NVMe PCIe: the phase transition from UEFI firmware to boot manager to OS boot loader. Consequently, I substituted another boot manager using the EFI stub, instead of using the native Apple boot manager, and a self loading Linux OS, onto the SSD--no MacOS, no white apple progress display. Set the NVRAM pointing directly to the boot manager, configured the manager to delay 5 sec. for new devices (i.e. cd drives spinning up). I gave the NVMe time.

Only UEFI firmware booting was untouched. Cold boot, restart & sleep behaviors with this installation are similar to my MacOS non-Apple NVMe installations. The experimental setup cold boots instantly to the boot manager display, then starts Linux. When restarting, the ? folder displays immediately, unlike the typical 30 sec. of black screen--a difference in detail from using the native Apple boot manager. Option-key invokes the familiar graphical Apple boot manager native in firmware.

Trying.



My SIP/csr-setting/NVRAM-variables never appear to reset when resuming from standby. Checked frequently.

Interesting work! Were you using clover as boot manager?

 

[posh]

hello to everyone,
I'have a macbook pro 13" early 2015
I read all the tread and I buy an Kinston PCIe Hyper-X 960gb and the adapter.
I try to install high sierra (with usb key) but the macbook don't find the ssd!
is the problem the bootroom? ssd work with windows pc.
thank you.

 

[dlwg]

Gilles,

Can you confirm that even after High Sierra ROM update Mac Pro 2009-2012 are still no go for booting with NVMe?

Thank you.

 

[gilles_polysoft]

hello to everyone,
I'have a macbook pro 13" early 2015
I read all the tread and I buy an Kinston PCIe Hyper-X 960gb and the adapter.
I try to install high sierra (with usb key) but the macbook don't find the ssd!
is the problem the bootroom? ssd work with windows pc.
thank you.

Hello,
the Kingston Hyper-X predator is AHCI so will work even with an old bootrom.
Did you use a Sintech or Chenyang M.2 to 12+16 adapter ?

Also, blank disk not recognized by High Sierra disk utility is a really common problem and is not related with NVMe drives.
Did you try to format the drive with "diskutil" command ? or to follow this guide :
https://tinyapps.org/blog/mac/201710010700_high_sierra_disk_utility.html

Gilles,
Can you confirm that even after High Sierra ROM update Mac Pro 2009-2012 are still no go for booting with NVMe?

Sorry it's definitely a no go. The BootRom for 5.1 Mac Pros (or 4.1 flashed to 5.1) doesn't handle at all NVMe drives boot.

 

[zero_conduite]

[Update: Post #258]

Looked at UEFI device tree for the internal NVMe, before firmware booting exits, starts the boot manager and loading the OS. All in RAM.

System 15 rMBP 2014.
On cold boot: The NVMe PCIe Controller driver is mapped to my PCIe mass storage device (SSD) in the UEFI device tree. UEFI finds booting applications on the drive. Ready to pass device info for booting.

On restart/warm-boots: No NVMe PCI Controller or PCIe mass storage device in the device tree. NVMe Controller driver exists, yet no PCIe NVMe device discovered. Forced rediscovery of devices, updated driver pairing--nothing, still no SSD device (tested hot plugging a Thunderbolt device; discovered & appears in the device tree).


So, checked the PCI bus via software while in EFI firmware booting.
On cold boot: PCI Bus 5 is present; the NVMe is identified & configured in memory (PCI, PCIe extended data is visible, readable/writable). Note: this drive, the Vendor is Sandisk.

On restart: No PCI Bus 5 in the list of all PCI devices. Configuration memory for Bus 5 is entirely zeroed--intentionally on restart, consequently the NVMe device disappears. No device.

Surmise a PCI bus probe will update device configuration spaces and the device tree. Thoughts?

Wondering in a 2015+ MBP: if the PCI device configuration spaces persist in memory after a restart. None to test.

 

[gilles_polysoft]

[Update: Post #258]
On restart/warm-boots: No NVMe PCI Controller or PCIe mass storage device in the device tree. NVMe Controller driver exists, yet no PCIe NVMe device discovered. Forced rediscovery of devices, updated driver pairing--nothing, still no SSD device (tested hot plugging a Thunderbolt device; discovered & appears in the device tree).

Observations from my system, while using internal WD Black PCIe NVMe 4k-sector/Journaled, 10.12 with no external drives. SMC/NVRAM reset. 15" rMBP 2014 w/ updated BootROM:

-- 30 seconds of black screen elapse from cold-boot Startup chime to Apple logo & status bar. Booting from internal NVMe.
-- 5 sec. elapse from cold-boot Startup chime, holding Option-key, to displaying internal NVMe boot drive icon. Apple logo and status bar begin instantly when Return key pressed. Almost 30 sec. from chime to desktop.

[Update:]

Sleep: Closing lid or Sleep menu item and then waking after a few minutes works. Closed the lid overnight and then resumed, resulted in a chime and ? folder.

Hello zero_conduite,
Sorry for your problems. I don't have at present under hand any mid-2014 15" rMBP to test, all my tests those late days are with 2 rMBP 13" : one early 2013 and another early 2015, and 2 mid 2015 rMBP 15" (also a 2017 MBA).

Regarding the wake-up failing from "overnight" sleep, did you try to set the "standby" mode to 0 ?
(sudo pmset -a standby 0)

Regarding your problem of 30s of black screen from startup chimie at cold boot I didn't had such behavior you had on any 2013-2015 rMBP.
I always have a regular 5s from cold start chimie to apple logo, and then another 20s to desktop.
Neither did I have the flashing folder and no startup at restart.

Does your SSD appear as selected in the startup preference pane ? (just opening the prefence pane... nothing else)
Have you tried a pram-nvram reset ? and a SMC reset ?

Also which is your alternate EFI bootloader (rEFIt ? Clover ?) so that I can try the device tree listening with same configurations.

 

[zero_conduite]

...
Regarding your problem of 30s of black screen from startup chimie at cold boot I didn't had such behavior you had on any 2013-2015 rMBP.
I always have a regular 5s from cold start chimie to apple logo, and then another 20s to desktop.
Neither did I have the flashing folder and no startup at restart.

Does your SSD appear as selected in the startup preference pane ? (just opening the prefence pane... nothing else)
Have you tried a pram-nvram reset ? and a SMC reset ?
...

Like you, using the WD Black or OCZ RD400, I always "have a regular 5s from cold start chimie to apple logo, and then another 20s to desktop."[gilles_polysoft]--only early after WD Black installation experienced chime then 30 sec. of black screen before the apple logo (further into Post #194 as Update: Startup Volume was set, it worked itself out after numerous cold boots to 30 sec. from chime to Desktop, without the 5 sec. of black screen detail). Yet on my system, Restarts/reboots always chimes, then 30 sec. of black screen until the ? folder: powering down manually allows a cold boot. This is with a state of SMC-NVRAM reset & internal NVMe selected as Startup Volume.

When testing the OCZ, the standbydelay was set to 600 occasionally, standby mode was enabled.

...
Also which is your alternate EFI bootloader (rEFIt ? Clover ?) so that I can try the device tree listening with same configurations.

Narrowing where the NVMe is lost, the internal NVMe was installed without MacOS. I made a several trial configurations, all using the EFI stub, therefore the native Apple boot manager/loader's role is effectively diminished: GRUB and Arch; Arch direct booted without GRUB, etc. All configurations deliberately unrecognized by the native Apple OS loader, yet boots. Arch is configured for self-EFI-bootloading; other contemporary Linux distributions will self-EFI-bootload when configured.

 

[posh]

Hello,
the Kingston Hyper-X predator is AHCI so will work even with an old bootrom.
Did you use a Sintech or Chenyang M.2 to 12+16 adapter ?

Also, blank disk not recognized by High Sierra disk utility is a really common problem and is not related with NVMe drives.
Did you try to format the drive with "diskutil" command ? or to follow this guide :
https://tinyapps.org/blog/mac/201710010700_high_sierra_disk_utility.html


Sorry it's definitely a no go. The BootRom for 5.1 Mac Pros (or 4.1 flashed to 5.1) doesn't handle at all NVMe drives boot.

Hello Gilles,
you are very kindly.
I have adapter Chenyang M.2 to 12+16 and bootRom 121.0171.B00
I'll try this later:
https://tinyapps.org/blog/mac/201710010700_high_sierra_disk_utility.html
I'll update you.
thank you for now.
Antonio

 

[dafichias]

Hi guys,

This is my first post on this forum.
I have some troubles with the mac mini 2014.
I have installed high sierra on the old hdd and copied the OS over to a 960 evo.
Cold boot works perfect, but when rebooting the ssd is not recognized.
Any help on this?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[DarkMeLo]

Hi guys,

This is my first post on this forum.
I have some troubles with the mac mini 2014.
I have installed high sierra on the old hdd and copied the OS over to a 960 evo.
Cold boot works perfect, but when rebooting the ssd is not recognized.
Any help on this?

Thanks,
Kevin

Have you read any of the posts :/.

 

[dafichias]

Have you read any of the posts :/.

I've red everything, but most is macbook oriented so I thought I may be missing out on something.
When searching for more information on the mac mini I landed on French sites, which I do not understand.

 

[pedrosimao]

Depends on where you are, but I could give you a 128 GB AHCI drive just for that purpose... I've got some... give me a pm. (gilles at polysoft dot fr).

Hello Gilles,
I just want to say that your disk arrived well and safe at my place. I managed to install High Sierra on it and my Bootrom/Firmware got updated the latest version. Now I can finally boot from my NVME disk!!! Yey!
A big thanks to your contribution. People like you represent the true spirit of the internet. I have never had someone sending me free hardware on Internet forums. Just count on me for whatever you might need.

Btw, I have installed my HighSierra with FileVault, which automatically converts the file system to APFS encrypted. I have run some speed tests and I got 1000MB/s on write speed and 1400MB/s on read speed on a Kingston KC1000 (MacBook Pro late 2013). The same tests before encryption were a tiny bit faster, like 1100 MB/s on writing, but the same speed on reading. I guess those benchmarks I saw on the internet saying APFS is slow (even slower than HFS+) when encrypted are not so true. At least I couldn't reproduce the slow speed in my system. What about yours? Do you think APFS encrypted really slows down the system?

Cheers!

 

[posh]

Hello Gilles,
you are very kindly.
I have adapter Chenyang M.2 to 12+16 and bootRom 121.0171.B00
I'll try this later:
https://tinyapps.org/blog/mac/201710010700_high_sierra_disk_utility.html
I'll update you.
thank you for now.
Antonio

Hello,
I just try The solution by link, but when I send “diskutil list” but none phisical disk has found.
I think that the adapter is broken.
It’s possible that none disk found because the disk is formatted NTFS?
Thank you to everyone
Antonio

 

[burnthefires]

Finally got my Sintech adapter and can only confirm it works flawlessly with KC1000 480GB on a 2015 13" MBPr. Just had to format it using diskutil to get it to show up in HS installer. For now sleep works fine, but that shouldn't be a surprise on 2015. R/W speeds are ~1400/1100.
Didn't use any tape just 2x1,8mm adhesive foam under the adapter.

 

[rmjohnso75]

Hello,
the Kingston Hyper-X predator is AHCI so will work even with an old bootrom.
Did you use a Sintech or Chenyang M.2 to 12+16 adapter ?

Also, blank disk not recognized by High Sierra disk utility is a really common problem and is not related with NVMe drives.
Did you try to format the drive with "diskutil" command ? or to follow this guide :
https://tinyapps.org/blog/mac/201710010700_high_sierra_disk_utility.html


Sorry it's definitely a no go. The BootRom for 5.1 Mac Pros (or 4.1 flashed to 5.1) doesn't handle at all NVMe drives boot.

YES!!!!!! THANK YOU GILLES!! I can confirm the CABLECC adapter works fine with a Samsung 960 evo on a rMBP early 2015. I simply typed in the command diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ NewDisk GPT Disk0, and Bobs youe Uncle, there she is sitting all pretty and pert in Disk Utilty as an internal drive!

 

[Dragasch]

Hi guys,
I am in similar situation right now, I have late 2013 MBP and old boot room, however my original apple ssd is pretty much dead . Now I am stuck with new Samsung m.2 SSD and adapter , I can not install high sierra or any os , until update boot rom ...

 

[rmjohnso75]

YES!!!!!! THANK YOU GILLES!! I can confirm the CABLECC adapter works fine with a Samsung 960 evo on a rMBP early 2015. I simply typed in the command diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ NewDisk GPT Disk0, and Bobs youe Uncle, there she is sitting all pretty and pert in Disk Utilty as an internal drive!

1000 read 1500 write, awesome, compared to the 400 read 900 write I was getting.