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

[Earl Urley]

The people who are benching 3000 MB/sec+ usually have 2015 machines that have PCIe 3.0 onboard.. Earlier machines are only PCIe 2.0 and have a slower maximum throughput, about 2100 MB/sec before overhead.

If I'm not mistaken, it's only mid-2015 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros that can max out the NVMe SSD speed.

 

[dannytang]

Hello, I just installed the Sabrent Rocket on my early 2014 Macbook Air. The install went without a hiccup and I was able to clean install Mojave with no problems. However, I am not too impressed with the speed. I thought it would be a night and day difference but honestly, it seems the same as my old stock AHCI SSD. I did a bench mark and attached the results. Getting 1000MB/s read and 1300MB/s write. On Amazon, I see people benchingmarking at 3000MB/s read and 1000MB/s write. Is my drive running correctly? Thanks!

What was the performance of your stock SSD? I don't think there's anything wrong with the drive, but rather you've already saturated the PCIe 2.0 lanes in your MacBook Air (i.e. the speed is being limited by your MacBook Air, not the drive).

 

[Audit13]

Hello, I just installed the Sabrent Rocket on my early 2014 Macbook Air. The install went without a hiccup and I was able to clean install Mojave with no problems. However, I am not too impressed with the speed. I thought it would be a night and day difference but honestly, it seems the same as my old stock AHCI SSD. I did a bench mark and attached the results. Getting 1000MB/s read and 1300MB/s write. On Amazon, I see people benchingmarking at 3000MB/s read and 1000MB/s write. Is my drive running correctly? Thanks!

The 2014 Air has a pci-e 2.0 x 2 bus while the 2015 Air has a pci-e 2.0 x 4 bus which could explain the lower speeds according to Everymac.com.

 

[macgeek01]

Hello, I just installed the Sabrent Rocket on my early 2014 Macbook Air. The install went without a hiccup and I was able to clean install Mojave with no problems. However, I am not too impressed with the speed. I thought it would be a night and day difference but honestly, it seems the same as my old stock AHCI SSD. I did a bench mark and attached the results. Getting 1000MB/s read and 1300MB/s write. On Amazon, I see people benchingmarking at 3000MB/s read and 1000MB/s write. Is my drive running correctly? Thanks!

That’s probably correct since your MBA is PCIe 2 x2.

(Didn’t notice the other replies when I posted this)

 

[jryee]

https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades#hdr-13

Sorry correct me if I'm wrong, but the MacBook air early 2014 has PCIe 2.0 with 4 lanes. If you look at my system profiler screenshot, it shows the correct link speed and number of channels. Each PCIe 2.0 channel maxes out at ~500MB/s. With a read speed of 1300, that means I'm using more than 2 channels correct?

 

[hanguolaohu]

Are the speeds of PCIe 2.0 x4 the exact same as PCIe 3.0 x2? I'm thinking of purchasing an early 2015 MacBook Air 13", which like the majority of the systems mentioned in this thread, uses PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes. I've noticed positive word from user @gilles_polysoft about the Kingston A1000, which uses a Phison 5008 PCIe 3.0 x2 controller. So I'm wondering if only 2 lanes are available, then would the real world speeds end up stunted to PCIe 2.0 x2 somehow? Am unclear about the backwards compatibility of PCIe 2.0 vs 3.0 and how lane count might have trouble trickling down. This seems like alchemy. A brave new world. Thanks to everyone for all the hard work on this incredible thread!

 

[aphirak]

I wonder from the Mojave os, bootrom of MBP Mid 2014 is already upgraded to
version 151.0.0.0.0. Do we still need the modified version of boot rom to support hibernate and deep sleep for 3rd party NVME SSD?

 

[MBehr2]

I mentioned this before with an earlier Mojave install, on my MacBook Pro 11,1, I performed a combo update from 10.14.2 on a Samsung SM951 AHCI SSD to 10.14.4, and my BootROM was duly updated to 151.0.0.0, up from 149.0.0.0.

Samsung 951s appear to work just like Apple OEMs for this purpose.

Does the Samsung SM951 AHCI SSD show up under:

System Information:Hardware:SATA/SATA Express
or
System Information:Hardware:NVMExpress?

 

[owbp]

Does the Samsung SM951 AHCI SSD show up under:

System Information:Hardware:SATA/SATA Express
or
System Information:Hardware:NVMExpress?

SM951AHCI should appear under SATA since it is nearly identical to what Apple uses.
I'm using "should" since on some Macs it is under PCI, but never under NVMExpress unless it is NVMe.

 

[Audit13]

https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades#hdr-13

Sorry correct me if I'm wrong, but the MacBook air early 2014 has PCIe 2.0 with 4 lanes. If you look at my system profiler screenshot, it shows the correct link speed and number of channels. Each PCIe 2.0 channel maxes out at ~500MB/s. With a read speed of 1300, that means I'm using more than 2 channels correct?

According to this, the bus is PCI-e 2.0 x 2: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...book-air-core-i5-1.4-13-early-2014-specs.html

The 2014 Air's read/write speeds are in line with speeds for an HP ex900 in a 2017 Air (see attached image).
[doublepost=1554044013][/doublepost]

I wonder from the Mojave os, bootrom of MBP Mid 2014 is already upgraded to
version 151.0.0.0.0. Do we still need the modified version of boot rom to support hibernate and deep sleep for 3rd party NVME SSD?

Yes, any MBP or MBA prior to 2015 needs a modded bootrom.

 

[jackqueenking]

I believe the firmware updates are protected with a RSA signature which means no way to bypass unless someone gets hold of Apple’s private keys.

I see. Strangely enough i've seen a lot of discussion here about some bootroms not getting updated, i tried two versions using terminal, the first was the FirmwareUpdate.pkg with my modified SCAP file, when I rebooted the mac nothing happened. Then I tried extracting just the firmware package from 10.14.4 to get the 151 firmware for my MBP2014, I didn't modify any NVME drivers that means the SCAP file is still properly signed, I ran the updater commands from terminal and restarted and nothing happened, my firmware version is still 149. Something tells me that because we're running on NVME drives, there's some sort of issue with updating the firmware whether its a hard drive partition or something else.

I am curious to see if anyone who still has the OEM ssd installed can try manually updating the firmware to 151 and if that works, then try modifying your SCAP file to include the NVME DXE driver and doing the same thing, maybe it will work...

 

[dobrink]

Can you explain step by step what you do and type in Terminal to run these updaters, in a way so that even an absolute newbie can repeat it. This will not only widen the assistance range, but will also allow pros to debug, in case you do something wrong.

 

[jackqueenking]

Can you explain step by step what you do and type in Terminal to run these updaters, in a way so that even an absolute newbie can repeat it. This will not only widen the assistance range, but will also allow pros to debug, in case you do something wrong.

So there's two versions, the first involves the modified scap file injected into the firmware update package, the second involves no modifications.

Version 1:
1. Follow the steps to modify the 2014 firmware NVME driver with the driver from 2015 MBP using the 10.14.4 installer which is an installer that has a firmware update
2. Run steps 3 and 4 from this URL: https://gist.github.com/elvisizer/2dfa119e959ae6f35389d4d56054f067

Version 2:
1. Don't modify the firmware update package, instead download the 10.14.4 installer and mount the dmg file and copy the macOS installer package to your desktop.
2. Extract the contents of the macOS installer using package util, in my case i used the following command while my current directory is Desktop
pkgutil --expand macOSUpd10.14.4.pkg ./Output

3. In the output directory there is a folder called FirmwareUpdate.pkg, you should be able to "cd" your way to the Scripts folder from Terminal
4. Run the commands from this URL: https://gist.github.com/elvisizer/2dfa119e959ae6f35389d4d56054f067 (Same as above)

In both cases, whether the modified file is signed or not, my mac with an intel 760p doesn't get an updated firmware even though the commands detect and mount the more recent firmware, version 151.

 

[macgeek01]

https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades#hdr-13

Sorry correct me if I'm wrong, but the MacBook air early 2014 has PCIe 2.0 with 4 lanes. If you look at my system profiler screenshot, it shows the correct link speed and number of channels. Each PCIe 2.0 channel maxes out at ~500MB/s. With a read speed of 1300, that means I'm using more than 2 channels correct?

Looks like you are correct and I don’t believe system info would report x4 if it wasn’t negotiating at that speed.

Gilles has Sabrent benchmarks on his chart from his his MacBook Pro which is also PCIe 2x4. He benchmarked 100GB read at 1250 and write at 1550.

He tested a 512gb which should be slightly faster than yours. You could try testing again and make sure the drive isn’t indexing which would slow it down. Also test with 100GB. I believe the Black Magic tests defaults to a average of sizes.
[doublepost=1554057538][/doublepost]

Are the speeds of PCIe 2.0 x4 the exact same as PCIe 3.0 x2? I'm thinking of purchasing an early 2015 MacBook Air 13", which like the majority of the systems mentioned in this thread, uses PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes. I've noticed positive word from user @gilles_polysoft about the Kingston A1000, which uses a Phison 5008 PCIe 3.0 x2 controller. So I'm wondering if only 2 lanes are available, then would the real world speeds end up stunted to PCIe 2.0 x2 somehow? Am unclear about the backwards compatibility of PCIe 2.0 vs 3.0 and how lane count might have trouble trickling down. This seems like alchemy. A brave new world. Thanks to everyone for all the hard work on this incredible thread!

You are correct PCIe 2 x 4 is basically the same speed as PCIe 3 x 2 but since that drive has two lanes then it will only work with two lanes. Using with PCIe 2 x2 will be slower than PCIe 3 x2.

 

[09872738]

I mentioned this before with an earlier Mojave install, on my MacBook Pro 11,1, I performed a combo update from 10.14.2 on a Samsung SM951 AHCI SSD to 10.14.4, and my BootROM was duly updated to 151.0.0.0, up from 149.0.0.0.

Samsung 951s appear to work just like Apple OEMs for this purpose.

Fyi: Installed Mojave 10.14.4 from scratch, Boot ROM still 149.0.0.0 (MBP 11,3 Crucial P1)

 

[sanichor]

I have an empty case of Jetdrive 855. Can I put a Sintech adapter inside it to use the case with any NVME ?

 

[macgeek01]

Fyi: Installed Mojave 10.14.4 from scratch, Boot ROM still 149.0.0.0 (MBP 11,3 Crucial P1)

Looks like only 2015 models are getting firmware updates with NVME.

I have an empty case of Jetdrive 855. Can I put a Sintech adapter inside it to use the case with any NVME ?

It should work if the SSD will still fit in the enclosdure with the adapter connected. The screw won’t line up anymore though.

If it doesn’t fit then you can pull the board out of the case and use without an enclosure or try to fit inside another enclosure.

 

[booksbooks]

I have a 13" early MacBook Pro and a 15" mid-2015 MacBook Pro. What is the best SSD to get?

 

[macgeek01]

Just got finished installing the 2TB Sabrent in my Late 2015 iMac which is is PCIe 3x4 like the drive. I’m getting 2600 MBps read and writes benchmarking with Black Magic.

Thought I would throw is out there since 2015 MacBook Pros are also PCIe 3x4.

 

[majonex]

I have been testing so many different NVMe drives in MacBook Air and Pro since OS X 10.13. I think I found the perfect drive now. Adata SX 8200 Pro . I have been configuring pmset, different adapters and sometimes this has been a real puzzle. I installed this drive a couple of weeks ago in a 2014 MacBook Pro. I get 5GT/s and X4 lanes. Hitting R/W speeds of 2300/1900 MB/s. I guess I would get even better speeds in a MBP 2015. (on my ThinkPad I got 2900 MB/s!) This time I did not touch pmset settings! I have had no problems with sleep and the performance is amazing. The SX8200 Pro is even cheaper than the non-Pro model but not as cheap as Samsung 970 EVO but I concluded that the MBP anyway does not utilize the 970s speed. The Adata inlcudes a simple heat sink. The Adata SX8200 runs much cooler than the 970 and on the spec sheet should use about half as much power. So I am impressed. I use the small green Sintech adapter. Tried the long black one but can't tell any difference.

 

[dobrink]

The only minuses are that ADATA's customer service consists of uneducated Chinese, their software not only sucks, but it also is only for Windows. The drive usage values on an iMac and Windows laptop are showing TBW at almost 2TB for less than a month of use, which is impossible considering my low personal use.

Far cheaper SSDs are coming out now and by more reputable manufacturers. But otherwise, yes, up to this moment, the ADATA was probably the most cost efficient quality solution.

 

[majonex]

The only minuses are that ADATA's customer service consists of uneducated Chinese, their software not only sucks, but it also is only for Windows. The drive usage values on an iMac and Windows laptop are showing TBW at almost 2TB for less than a month of use, which is impossible considering my low personal use.

Far cheaper SSDs are coming out now and by more reputable manufacturers. But otherwise, yes, up to this moment, the ADATA was probably the most cost efficient quality solution.

Interesting. I hope I do not need support then! But do you think the drive will wear out faster than e.g. a Samsung EVO 970? What other drawbacks?

 

[jackqueenking]

Interesting. I hope I do not need support then! But do you think the drive will wear out faster than e.g. a Samsung EVO 970? What other drawbacks?

I believe at this point we're reach a point of diminishing returns after you get something better than the samsung 970.

First I bought an sx8200 non-pro which fried after 35 days, I got a replacement but switched it up for an Intel 760p, I didn't really notice a difference in power consumption between the two drives and the endurance is pretty much the same since we are not in QLC territory. I believe the pro model just performs better, I don't think it comes with a lower power rating than any other drive in this range. I don't know why but I feel like Intel has the more reliable drive even though it is one of them that can't achieve full write speed on mac because of some cache issue, it seems to be more steady and fits in the case without contact since its single sided. My ADATA drive created a slight bump with the long black sintech adapter.

I don't think the drive will wear out faster, its probably just a bug in the software, check if there are other SSD health monitors out there that can determine your TBW to date and compare.

On a side note, I'd like to know why NVMEs consume more battery power than stock OEM drives on 2013-2014 MBP, I looked at gilles_polysoft's chart and it seems like drives like sx8200 and 760p are far more efficient than the apple OEM drives with the exception of a 0.3W increase in idle power consumption, so if you get something that uses even less power on read/write/average like the Sabrent, then shouldn't we be getting better battery usage than with the OEM SSD? Or are the Apple SSDs in the chart not representative of what is in the 2013 and 2014 models?

 

[Earl Urley]

I'm currently running a Late 2013 rMBP with this SSD:

https://www.microcenter.com/product...80-pcie-nvme-30-x4-internal-solid-state-drive

$135 for a 1 TB SSD is not bad at all! It also has tremendous performance; I'm getting something like 1600 MB/sec reads on the 2013, am going to try it in a 15-inch 2015 rMBP to see if it really gets 3000 MB/sec.

Shortly the market will be flooded with chips that use this same controller, and it's a real honey; it gives you Samsung 970 Pro performance for half the price!

This SSD is pretty much the same as this one reviewed a month ago by AnandTech:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/1395...80-ssd-review-phison-e12-with-newer-firmware/

but with even newer firmware, v.12.2..

 

[guho]

I have an MF843LL, early 2015 13" Macbook Pro with stock Apple 512GB SSD. This SSD is very fast, reading & writing at 1500MByte/s according to benchmarks. Now I upgraded to a Samsung PM961 1TB NVME using the sintech adapter. To my dismay the read speed has not improved and the write speed is worse @ 1200MByte/s. In this thread there is mention of 4k sectors, will the performance improve using 4k sectors instead of 512 byte? I checked the performance both in Mac OS latest version and Bootcamp W10 x64 using the latest Samsung NVME driver. I understand this notebook has PCI Express 2.0 with 4 lanes so I am not expecting it to perform like the newer Macbook Pros with PCI Express 3.0 4x, but this was a bit of a surprise. Any hints?