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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Honestly, do you think this method of upgrading the ssd is reliable?

I mean, do you know someone running a custom ssd on a macbook without problems since months/years??
 
Why would you assume a SSD working fine will stop do do so? I'd assume the 5-years old SSD I replaced (MBP 2013) is more likely to fail compared to a shiny new product featuring up to date technology.

Btw: Apple uses custom SSDs, so switching to some aftermarket product is rather going standard than going custom. Just sayin' :)
 
Yes, by this point of view, you’re absolutely right. :)
But I'm concerned because I’ve read on IFIXIT that they tested these “adapters+custom ssd”, and even if everything seems to be working fine at first, there were several errors “under the hood” (CRC errors, slowness, etc)
 
Well, regarding slowness:
I upgraded two devices, both are noticeable faster now. Read/write speeds roughly doubled.

They feel faster as well, albeit not that much. I guess the original SSDs are already fast enough and don't make that much of a difference...
 
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ManuLegacy said:
Yes, by this point of view, you’re absolutely right. :)
But I'm concerned because I’ve read on IFIXIT that they tested these “adapters+custom ssd”, and even if everything seems to be working fine at first, there were several errors “under the hood” (CRC errors, slowness, etc)
Click to expand...
I've been running an Intel 600p with a Sintech adapter since December, 2017 in an early 2015 13" Air. No problems except for a bit more battery drain compared to the original Apple SSD. I upgraded to high Sierra and now running the latest release of Mojave.
 
Guys, that sounds really great, you're positive experiences are giving me high hopes!
I think I will upgrade the ssd, too, but first I need to figure out which ssd could be a better choice to avoid over heating, since I use my macbook pro heavily with apps like Photoshop & Logic Pro.

I have an early 2015 Macbook Pro Retina 13".
Do you have any suggestions?
 
The Adata SX8200 could be a good choice. Don‘t take the Samsung 970 Pro as it‘s very power hungry and heats up much more following many people here (that was my experience too).

You could take a look at the charts of gilles_polysoft in this thread (I quoted it, click at the links for the charts). He lists possible SSDs and compares them and at that time he recommended the Adata, too.


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gilles_polysoft said:
Hi everyone,
juste a little update to my tests of NVMe SSD.
This time I focused on energy consumption, I also included for comparison some AHCI and NVMe genuine Apple SSDs.
I've sorted the table in three way :
- SSDs sorted by performance / price ration
- SSDs sorted by growing power consumption (assuming a time ratio of 80% idle - 10% read - 10% write)
- SSDs sorted by power efficiency = speed / power consumption

Note that my favorite SSD at this time is the Adata SX8200, but it is not yet available in 2TB (although it has been announced for nearly 1 year...).

I don't especially love QLC ssds which have very low speed once the SLC cache has been filled.

I would also love to test the MyDigital BPX which seems to be very interesting : high performance / price value, MLC cells, 5 year warranty, high endurance (TBW), and exists in 2TB (at $519),

View attachment 811200 View attachment 811201 View attachment 811202
Click to expand...
 
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maxthackray said:
Hey, thanks for the reply. The reason I want a retina one is just for portability. So you reckon that the 2012 onwards models will accept a NVMe ssd? I just wasn't sure if the 2013 model would recognise it as NVMe appears to have only been introduced in the 2016 version but I don't know if thats a software update or whether theres a hardware change. I don't want to get a NVMe drive to find out that I'm still only getting 550MB/s if there's a bottle neck caused by AHCI
[doublepost=1488556849][/doublepost]

Hi. It did seem like I would have to approach it using clover but I would be happy to do that. Presumably once Ive used clover, I would be able to boot from the NVMe drive afterwards?
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I'd go 2013 and up. Stay away from 2012. Too old. I think you might want to be on the lookout for a model with force touch---that was 2015.
 
why no one use the Crucial P1?

cheaper than samsung and may not drain battery as much as the samsung although a bit less of performance, but should be fine for 2013/14 macbook pro's.
 
Flow91 said:
The Adata SX8200 could be a good choice. Don‘t take the Samsung 970 Pro as it‘s very power hungry and heats up much more following many people here (that was my experience too).

You could take a look at the charts of gilles_polysoft in this thread (I quoted it, click at the links for the charts). He lists possible SSDs and compares them and at that time he recommended the Adata, too.


[doublepost=1548401382][/doublepost]
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Thank you, also that charts are very useful.

But I'm not sure I can trust an ssd by Adata, I've seen the reviews and there are so many people saying the drive failed after few months
 
ManuLegacy said:
But I'm not sure I can trust an ssd by Adata, I've seen the reviews and there are so many people saying the drive failed after few months
Click to expand...

I have just installed the SSD this morning and it runs way better than the Evo I tried before. Both cost the same, but the Evo ran too hot and drained the battery even when the machine was powered off. The Adata lets the system work much cooler (still a bit warmer than the original SSD, but in my eyes it's so little that it doesn't matter, it's barely noticeable) and I haven't experienced the battery drain that I had with the Evo. Write/read speeds are about 1200/1500 MB/s which is my MacBook's limit regarding the lanes. So I'm happy with it and I hope that it won't fail soon.

Somewhere in this thread I read that the Intel 760p has the same controller as the Adata and that it's quiet similar, maybe that SSD has better reviews.
 
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Gu42 said:
Thanks Adata SX8200 and SX8200 are roughly at the same price, I can't find anything about power consumption though, I assume the newer model may draw more power?
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Probably, that's why I chose the old version because the speeds are limited by my MacBook (2014) anyhow.
 
Flow91 said:
Probably, that's why I chose the old version because the speeds are limited by my MacBook (2014) anyhow.
Click to expand...

sounds fair, I've got a 2014 too so will probably go for the base model too. Have you had to change the power settings to deactivate sleep etc?
 
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Gu42 said:
sounds fair, I've got a 2014 too so will probably go for the base model too. Have you had to change the power settings to deactivate sleep etc?
Click to expand...

I have too, MBP mid 2014, ADATA 8200 - 480GB and ADATA 8200 PRO - 512GB, OS - MOJAVE. Im still finding the best power setting too. Hibernation fails =/.
 
What do you think about the Transcend JetDrive 850?

I know that it has the apple connector (so it doesn’t require the adapter), but it’s still a NVMe SSD, so it should have the same issues as any other NVMe SSD (wake up, sleep, hibernation, etc), am I right?
 
ManuLegacy said:
What do you think about the Transcend JetDrive 850?

I know that it has the apple connector (so it doesn’t require the adapter), but it’s still a NVMe SSD, so it should have the same issues as any other NVMe SSD (wake up, sleep, hibernation, etc), am I right?
Click to expand...

100% positive JetDrive 850 has the hibernation issues on pre 2015 macbooks. They obviously don't advertise it but you can see it here:

https://www.transcend-info.com/Support/FAQ-1196

Since they sell this thing for a lot of money it's no deal... Every nvme out there + sintech adapter will give you the same result at half the cost.
 
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Terzopoulos said:
Hello!!!
I have a Macbook Pro Retina 13.3(early 2015) and I want to upgrade the factory ssd(128gb)...
I bought an ssd Intel 760p 512gb and now I am searching for adapter.
Please let me know the difference between two adapters:

ST-NGFF2013-B http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1143.html

and

ST-NGFF2013-C http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1229.html

Thanks very much!!!
Click to expand...
basically, differences only in construction
 
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Terzopoulos said:
Hello!!!
I have a Macbook Pro Retina 13.3(early 2015) and I want to upgrade the factory ssd(128gb)...
I bought an ssd Intel 760p 512gb and now I am searching for adapter.
Please let me know the difference between two adapters:

ST-NGFF2013-B http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1143.html

and

ST-NGFF2013-C http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1229.html

Thanks very much!!!
Click to expand...
You could also save a bit of money if you don't need the screwdrovers: http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html
 
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Post install migration question... I have Time Machine on my network, using an Apple Time Capsule. I also have a Thunderbolt connected SSD that I use for occasional SuperDuper backups (yeah, paranoid about it).

So, my question is, after I install my new EVO drive and install Mojave on it from my USB installer, should I 'restore' from Time Machine, or 'migrate' from my SuperDuper image? I am 'thinking' that the local Thunderbolt SSD will be faster than my 802.11ac network, and that migration assistant is the best route. Any 'other' thoughts? Should get my new drive installed this afternoon... (had to hunt up the tori screwdriver which had gone missing).

Thanks in advance.
 
OneCrazyDJ said:
Loki gave me the magic settings.

Make sure screen saver is off. Uncheck everything on energy saver also. Either with battery or plugged in. You can leave automatic graphics switching on if you have dual GPU's.

Open terminal and type

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 autopoweroff 0 standby 1

Haven't had a issue since.

I have a macbook pro mid 2014 15" with sintech adapter and a samsung 970 evo 2tb.
Click to expand...
Just want to boost this back up on the thread if anyone is looking for these settings.
[doublepost=1548547957][/doublepost]
09872738 said:
Too bad I cannot try this - I am for now stuck with High Sierra as I am dependent on CUDA, which isn't supported by Apple's nVidia drivers.
Click to expand...
What specs do you have on your Macbook Pro loki? I have a 2014 Macbook Pro 15", 16gb ram, sintech adapter b, 970 evo samsung 2tb, dual graphics with nvidia graphics also. What are you trying to do? I've been running mojave 10.14.3 since it came out. Not sure what your trying to do, I may be able to help you since you helped me with your magic settings. LMN
 
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