It seems odd that the company would be able to desolder the flash chips and controller from your 128 GB drive to make a 256 GB drive. BGA machines are very expensive.
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Upgrading 2013-2015 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe
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Found a decent guide on how to upgrade the SSD for 2015 MBP:
He's using an SX8200 for this one:
https://grh.am/2018/nvme-ssd-upgrade-guide-for-an-early-2015-macbook-pro/
If I find any more, I'll edit this post and update them
He's using an SX8200 for this one:
https://grh.am/2018/nvme-ssd-upgrade-guide-for-an-early-2015-macbook-pro/
If I find any more, I'll edit this post and update them
The guide is very good.
One thing I always do as soon as I remove the button cover is disconnect the battery. A dropped screw or screwdriver could spell disaster.
Ah yes, I think they mention this in another video. Good call.
EDIT:
Seen a bunch of videos so far. This one's quite thorough and brings up disconnecting the battery before replacing the SSD.
I'm stoked. I'll be doing this upgrade in the next following weeks.
Is there anything that you'd people would like me to test for a before/after?
Perhaps measure the battery consumption before/after and the read/write speeds of course.
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Have read some (though not all of the 122 pages - so apologies if covered)
I'm trying to understand if there's a 'mechanical' preference for the long Sintech adapter - assuming it's maybe the best at lining up the nvme drive & connector with the adaptor & it's connector and then this in turn with the MacBooks internal connector.
It seems possible that using the shorter Sintech adapter would give some more 'room' for things to get a little out of alignment maybe?
But then if the nvme drive is double sided - does that mean that there's actually a preference for the shorter Sintech due to the extra thickness of the drive? After all the long adaptor must take up some room - maybe not leaving enough if the nvme drive is double thickness.
Be great to hear if a double sided nvme dictates a specific Sintech choice.
My installation would be a late 2013 rMBP and I hope to get a 1TB ADATA to replace my 512GB existing.
I'm trying to understand if there's a 'mechanical' preference for the long Sintech adapter - assuming it's maybe the best at lining up the nvme drive & connector with the adaptor & it's connector and then this in turn with the MacBooks internal connector.
It seems possible that using the shorter Sintech adapter would give some more 'room' for things to get a little out of alignment maybe?
But then if the nvme drive is double sided - does that mean that there's actually a preference for the shorter Sintech due to the extra thickness of the drive? After all the long adaptor must take up some room - maybe not leaving enough if the nvme drive is double thickness.
Be great to hear if a double sided nvme dictates a specific Sintech choice.
My installation would be a late 2013 rMBP and I hope to get a 1TB ADATA to replace my 512GB existing.
More specifically a PCIe M.2 2280 spec. Too many throwing around “M.2” and not realizing there are different sizes and notches. Instead people list the top brand of manufacturer and drive.
So it sounds like there is no upgrade that will keep battery life the same as the original drive (except another compatible apple drive). Is this correct? I would rather not have to pay the premium but battery life is pretty important to me.
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I was able to fit an ADATA SX8200 Pro in my 2015 11” MacBook Air with the long version 3 sintech adapter. It was a bit of a squeeze but it didn’t cause any problems like KPs or overheating. Based on that I would guess that it should fit into a MBPr just fine, but as I haven’t done it myself I can’t say with certainty that you will have the same results.
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I was able to fit an ADATA SX8200 Pro in my 2015 11” MacBook Air with the long version 3 sintech adapter. It was a bit of a squeeze but it didn’t cause any problems like KPs or overheating. Based on that I would guess that it should fit into a MBPr just fine, but as I haven’t done it myself I can’t say with certainty that you will have the same results.
Success again! But first of all, thanks to gilles_polysoft and dosdude1 for discovering and sharing this upgrade possibility! Great work. For my rMBP 2013 13" (A1502) I replaced my Apple SSD about 2 weeks ago with a ADATA SX8200 PRO 1TB and disabled (deep)sleep. Ran fine, battery drain was not bad. Still, I was interested in taking it up a notch. I followed Inge83 and his hints (thanks!) and installed a Mattcard with a patched Bootrom - which contains the NVMe drivers of the 2015 Macbook Pro. It is the safest way to get that result, as the Matt card can be removed again if faulty.
I patched the Bootrom myself using the ROM tool of dosdude1 and UEFItool (do not use the A54 version, use 0.26.0). Then I asked cmizapper.nl if he would flash this file on the matt card before sending it out, which he agreed to do (thanks!). Today I installed it, takes only 3 minutes. Restored the defaults of energy management (hibernate 3 and so on) - no sleep issues so far. I will write a short guide on how to patch the bootrom later. For noobs, here is my summary of upgrading options.
Upgrading 2013/2014 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe Summary
[doublepost=1548093258][/doublepost]Guide for getting a patched bootrom:
Use Rom Tool ( ROMTool.zip password rom) and dump your ROM to a file. My chip could not be clearly identified by Rom Tool, I simply chose the suggested one. Get OS X Update 10.14.1 to extract the latest Bootrom and its NVMe driver from the Macbook Pro 2015 (Macbook 12,1) - 10.14.2 does not contain a Firmware update, so use 10.14.1. Your current Bootrom must match the version number of the Firmware update!
Use Unarchiver and/or Finder's Show Package Contents, until you get the MBP121.fd file. Open it in UEFItool. I got 2 parseVolume messages - ignore. Search "Text" "not unicode" "case sensitive" for "NVMe", double-click on the "ASCII text "NVME" found". Save the entire branch (51116915-....) by right-click and "extract as is". Close this MBP121.fd file, open your Rom dump from above. Ignore the 2 parseVolume messages about unknown file system. Now you need to insert the saved branch there. Look for "NVMe" again (using options as above), then replace the entire branch (51116915-...) using "replace as is". The result is your patched Bootrom.
Be aware of the following:
This Bootrom file contains your serial number - and maybe also your EFI-password (at least not in plain characters). Understand that before you send it to a third party.
Alternatively, you can flash it yourself - not with Rom Tool, this does not work (signature missing). You could use a SOIC8 clip and a Raspberry Pi to flash the chip on the Matt Card.
I patched the Bootrom myself using the ROM tool of dosdude1 and UEFItool (do not use the A54 version, use 0.26.0). Then I asked cmizapper.nl if he would flash this file on the matt card before sending it out, which he agreed to do (thanks!). Today I installed it, takes only 3 minutes. Restored the defaults of energy management (hibernate 3 and so on) - no sleep issues so far. I will write a short guide on how to patch the bootrom later. For noobs, here is my summary of upgrading options.
Upgrading 2013/2014 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe Summary
[doublepost=1548093258][/doublepost]Guide for getting a patched bootrom:
Use Rom Tool ( ROMTool.zip password rom) and dump your ROM to a file. My chip could not be clearly identified by Rom Tool, I simply chose the suggested one. Get OS X Update 10.14.1 to extract the latest Bootrom and its NVMe driver from the Macbook Pro 2015 (Macbook 12,1) - 10.14.2 does not contain a Firmware update, so use 10.14.1. Your current Bootrom must match the version number of the Firmware update!
Use Unarchiver and/or Finder's Show Package Contents, until you get the MBP121.fd file. Open it in UEFItool. I got 2 parseVolume messages - ignore. Search "Text" "not unicode" "case sensitive" for "NVMe", double-click on the "ASCII text "NVME" found". Save the entire branch (51116915-....) by right-click and "extract as is". Close this MBP121.fd file, open your Rom dump from above. Ignore the 2 parseVolume messages about unknown file system. Now you need to insert the saved branch there. Look for "NVMe" again (using options as above), then replace the entire branch (51116915-...) using "replace as is". The result is your patched Bootrom.
Be aware of the following:
This Bootrom file contains your serial number - and maybe also your EFI-password (at least not in plain characters). Understand that before you send it to a third party.
Alternatively, you can flash it yourself - not with Rom Tool, this does not work (signature missing). You could use a SOIC8 clip and a Raspberry Pi to flash the chip on the Matt Card.
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Has anyone here tried the 2TB version of Intel 760p, successfully or otherwise?
I am not sure whether I can expect it to be the same as the 1TB version in terms of physical dimensions, power draw, heat dissipation etc and would appreciate any info.
I am not sure whether I can expect it to be the same as the 1TB version in terms of physical dimensions, power draw, heat dissipation etc and would appreciate any info.
I didn't read all the pages but I can't seem to find if it's possible to upgrade early 2013 MacBook Pro to NVME M.2 SSD? Could someone please summarize if it's possible at all? I'm currently on 10.12.6 do I need to upgrade OS for this to happen?
Thanks.
Thanks.
No, only late 2013 models onwards can be updated to NVME M.2 SSD.
Yes, it's possible. Here is a good starting point: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-65#post-26224320
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Thank you for a quick reply. My concern is it mentions late 2013 model, and I have early 2013, is it a deal breaker?
And since my model has PCIe 2x lanes, what would be my max possible speed? 350MB/sec x 2 = 700 MB/sec?
No, this is not possible since the early 2013 still work on SATA SSDs (special Apple blade type).
No update on my late 2013 13" Pro or early 2015 13" air.
You have to open App Store and write Mojave, then the new version is gonna show. Clicking the About this Mac -> Software Update won't give it to you.
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I am not completely sure that what I am trying is making any sense, but I tried to dump the ROM with ROMTool on iMac 27 5k Late 2015. It gives me unhandled exception, meaning it cannot extract the ROM file (161.0.0.0.0) from the machine. Then I did the same on iMac 27 Late 2013 and it successfully dumped the ROM (133.0.0.0.0) to a .bin file, which of course I do not need cos it is an older version which do not support NVMe.
My idea was to extract the ROM of the 2015 iMac and then flash it to the 2013 iMac, so that when I am going to install the NVMe drives, both machines are going to have a new ROM which would support hibernate. On both I currently run Mojave 10.14.3 and the default Fusion drives.
Is this how flashing the ROMs is supposed to be done for handling the hibernate issue, or am I completely wrong and I have to somehow install the new NVMe first? Would it do the work if the ROMTool would function in the newer 2015 model mac to dump its rom and flash it to the 2013 machine?
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Upgrading from 10.14.1 to 10.14.2 updated the bootrom for both of my MacBooks (13" pro and early 2015 13" air). Upgrading from 10.4.2 to 10.14.3 did not update the bootrom for either of my MacBooks.
A fresh install of 10.14.3 into an early 2015 13" (previously running Sierra) that I repaired updated the bootrom to 182.0.0.0. This air with the fresh 10.14.3 install now has the same bootrom as the air that was upgraded from 10.14.2 to 10.14.3.
NEVER flash a complete ROM from one machine to another. Besides hardware differences, you would copy the serial number over, meaning imessage and find my mac would not work anymore.
Only substitute the NVMe part, which you get from either a ROM of a modern mac you own, or better yet from a firmware update file of a modern mac.
RomTool offers a flashing mode, but it does not work. You need hardware to do that (Matt card or SPI programmer).
How do I access those files? I have the 6GB Mojave 10.14.3 and I can browse inside, but what am I looking for in there and how to use it when I find it, can it be done on a software level as those are just files? (it is a pity that I cannot use my modern iMac to help with my older iMac :/)
If not then do you have any purchase links for those Matt card and SPI programmer?
Hi everyone and thanks for all the good tips. I’m Im planning to upgrade my macbook pro 2014 and ordered the sintech long adapter. About the ssd i’d go for sx8200 but see adata has 2 different models called sx8200. For instance 480gb and 512gb, any idea what the difference is and would both models work?
Thx
Thx