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

[dobrink]

Well 1759€ incl. VAT is 1418€ if bought on a company's name. And this includes the work, which is at least 200€, if not more, so in total is less than 1200€ for 1TB NVMe SSD, which if bought in package with an iMac, is what, 800€ ? Yes, a lot more expensive, but still Apple performs such upgrades and customers are gonna have sleep issues, thus such bug reports are real!
Dunno they warranty, they just wrote "As a company we need to give a proper warranty for the part and service."

 

[bowen1506]

If you look at first page, you can see the consumption of power at idle, at read and write

I have a 2015 rMBP mid 2015 too amd I had no problem with an HP ex 920 - that is the sister drive (older version of sm2262 controller) of the adata sx8200

It should work just fine.

I tried both methods: restore from backup and a clean install and didnt find a difference

But, i would do a clean install.
Also, performance can go way down, as you fill up the drive. Still a lot better than SATA

My 2 cents

Were there any commands than you needed to run after clean install?
I see people talking about enabling trim or configuring sleep settings, but it seems that most of them don't apply to the 2015 15' MBP or Mojave?

 

[v584735]

Why does it seem like people aren't using the Sabrent Rocket over other drives? It seems like it's the best overall drive you can buy unless you really need performance or durability with something like Samsung... I know quite a few people here are in Europe so maybe availability/pricing is different, but at least in the US it seems just as cheap as other drives if not more so.

Am I missing something? Why are people buying SX8200 and HP EX 920 over the Rocket??

 

[djangoreinhardt442]

Why does it seem like people aren't using the Sabrent Rocket over other drives? It seems like it's the best overall drive you can buy unless you really need performance or durability with something like Samsung... I know quite a few people here are in Europe so maybe availability/pricing is different, but at least in the US it seems just as cheap as other drives if not more so.

Am I missing something? Why are people buying SX8200 and HP EX 920 over the Rocket??

If you look at my post history and prior posts, you will see plenty of information on Sabrent Xtreme SSD
Sabrent is a recent introduction to the SSD market; they are mostly known for enclosures and accessories.
The Sabrent drive uses a Phison E12-based controller.
Also, it is included in the charts on the first page (ranks highest in on of the charts).
Take a look at the tables on page 1.
Read my post history.
There is plenty of other users who have it, just NOT as many as Adata/HP/Samsung

 

[Earl Urley]

The Sabrent Rocket uses 3D NAND from Toshiba which hasn't quite proven itself yet just because it came out recently, but I've got one in an rMBP and another in a USB 3.1 enclosure and both are doing nicely.

It'd be nice if gilles tested a unit with Phison E12 firmware 12.2 as that is supposed to tweak things even further than the 12.1 he tested under, but the firmware updater may be destructive.

As I said, you can get the equivalent of the Sabrent Rocket for cheaper ($120 for 1 TB!) if you pick up the Inland Premium 1 TB from a Micro Center. A while back Amazon had Sabrent Rockets on sale for $129 or so which may be why its popular.

I haven't gotten an SSD with a Silicon Magic SM2262 such as the AData/HP SSDs but I've heard good things about them.

 

[djangoreinhardt442]

Were there any commands than you needed to run after clean install?
I see people talking about enabling trim or configuring sleep settings, but it seems that most of them don't apply to the 2015 15' MBP or Mojave?

No commands for me. I do believe that is due to the model year (as stated in post 1)
2015 15 inch rMPB don't need commands, or so I believe.

 

[bowen1506]

I installed the sx8200 pro 1Tb but the speed is definitely wrong. IDK...This is a fresh install of mojave, on a MBP 15 2015...I did use a short sintech adapter that I bought long time ago, early 2017 I think, directly from sintech website, I do not know which rev. it is but it looks exactly like the one in the picture in the first post, all the pcb traces and even the number 161305 on the connector is exactly the same. So I am confused.

Battery life is also considerably shorter, I lost 20% in 1 hour

 

[djangoreinhardt442]

By the way, anyone jump in on any of the Samsung SM961 1TB NVME SSD currently on sale for 150 USD?

https://flash.newegg.com/Product/9SIA53D94U7163

Basically, an OEM Samsung 960 PRO.
[doublepost=1557067402][/doublepost]

I installed the sx8200 pro 1Tb but the speed is definitely wrong. IDK...This is a fresh install of mojave, on a MBP 15 2015...I did use a short sintech adapter that I bought long time ago, early 2017 I think, directly from sintech website, I do not know which rev. it is but it looks exactly like the one in the picture in the first post, all the pcb traces and even the number 161305 on the connector is exactly the same. So I am confused.

Battery life is also considerably shorter, I lost 20% in 1 hour
View attachment 835379
View attachment 835380

I think your adapter may be the problem.
You should buy the long Sintech BLACK adapter and run those numbers again.
[doublepost=1557067512][/doublepost]

I installed the sx8200 pro 1Tb but the speed is definitely wrong. IDK...This is a fresh install of mojave, on a MBP 15 2015...I did use a short sintech adapter that I bought long time ago, early 2017 I think, directly from sintech website, I do not know which rev. it is but it looks exactly like the one in the picture in the first post, all the pcb traces and even the number 161305 on the connector is exactly the same. So I am confused.

Battery life is also considerably shorter, I lost 20% in 1 hour
View attachment 835379
View attachment 835380

If you shop on amazon, get this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adap...T6Q3DJRZQ4Q&psc=1&refRID=A5SMVN9B2T6Q3DJRZQ4Q

 

[MBAir2010]

By the way, anyone jump in on any of the Samsung SM961 1TB NVME SSD currently on sale for 150 USD?
.

i might, since I need a new ssd external drive for what? i donno?
samsung makes good things, my TV, external drive and something else i have works fine.

 

[djangoreinhardt442]

I installed the sx8200 pro 1Tb but the speed is definitely wrong. IDK...This is a fresh install of mojave, on a MBP 15 2015...I did use a short sintech adapter that I bought long time ago, early 2017 I think, directly from sintech website, I do not know which rev. it is but it looks exactly like the one in the picture in the first post, all the pcb traces and even the number 161305 on the connector is exactly the same. So I am confused.

Battery life is also considerably shorter, I lost 20% in 1 hour
View attachment 835379
View attachment 835380

One more thing:
Run the test 5x and use a 1GB file
Top left by the "ALL" green button, select pulldown to 5 (says 1 in your screenshot), and then next to it where it says "100MiB", pulldown to 1GB and re-run the test and post your screenshots

 

[subliming]

Installed a 512GB HP EX920 into my 2015 13" Macbook pro with the short black sintech adapter. Used internet recovery to format the drive and then restored mojave with time machine.

It has been working fairly well other than daily system crashes (kernel panics?) and significantly shorter battery life.

I can't reasonably return to using the 120GB stock SSD that the EX920 replaced so I will just deal with it.

I did not use any kapton tape to install the SSD (I don't have any) though. Would this fix the crashes?

 

[Zeke]

I have a similar problem but I've only had issues when running on battery. I get random kernel panics in both Mojave and Windows 10 when unplugged. On windows, I can pretty much crash on command by unplugging. In Mojave, it's a fair likelihood but not guaranteed.

Installed a 512GB HP EX920 into my 2015 13" Macbook pro with the short black sintech adapter. Used internet recovery to format the drive and then restored mojave with time machine.

It has been working fairly well other than daily system crashes (kernel panics?) and significantly shorter battery life.

I can't reasonably return to using the 120GB stock SSD that the EX920 replaced so I will just deal with it.

I did not use any kapton tape to install the SSD (I don't have any) though. Would this fix the crashes?

 

[bowen1506]

I think your adapter may be the problem.
You should buy the long Sintech BLACK adapter and run those numbers again.
[doublepost=1557067512][/doublepost]

If you shop on amazon, get this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adap...T6Q3DJRZQ4Q&psc=1&refRID=A5SMVN9B2T6Q3DJRZQ4Q

I suspected it could be the adapter, but it looks exactly same as the short adapter in op's post. And there aren't any component on this adapter either, it is just routing pins to the apple connector, so I think it should be either working or not working. To have it working but at crippled speed is really puzzling...did anyone else get this issue?

I wonder what OP means by the adapter not having proper wireing. Because they are just PCB traces connecting the pins, is it the thickness/length or whatever the property of the traces not able to handle the high frequency nvme signals? I am just guessing right now lol.

 

[subliming]

I have a similar problem but I've only had issues when running on battery. I get random kernel panics in both Mojave and Windows 10 when unplugged. On windows, I can pretty much crash on command by unplugging. In Mojave, it's a fair likelihood but not guaranteed.

I’ll try installing windows and see if I get the same behaviour. What firmware is your EX920 ?

 

[dr_of_tarts]

By the way, anyone jump in on any of the Samsung SM961 1TB NVME SSD currently on sale for 150 USD?

Just signed up to say, firstly, thanks to this thread, I've bought a Sintech adapter (short, black) for my Late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina 15" (MacBookPro11,3), and secondly that I also just bought a Sabrent Rocket 1TB from Amazon UK, was £149.99 yesterday, is £129.99 today! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07LGF54XR/

I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[djangoreinhardt442]

I suspected it could be the adapter, but it looks exactly same as the short adapter in op's post. And there aren't any component on this adapter either, it is just routing pins to the apple connector, so I think it should be either working or not working. To have it working but at crippled speed is really puzzling...did anyone else get this issue?

I wonder what OP means by the adapter not having proper wireing. Because they are just PCB traces connecting the pins, is it the thickness/length or whatever the property of the traces not able to handle the high frequency nvme signals? I am just guessing right now lol.

Can you do this please, and post results:

"One more thing:
Run the test 5x and use a 1GB file
Top left by the "ALL" green button, select pulldown to 5 (says 1 in your screenshot), and then next to it where it says "100MiB", pulldown to 1GB and re-run the test and post your screenshots"

 

[bowen1506]

Can you do this please, and post results:

"One more thing:
Run the test 5x and use a 1GB file
Top left by the "ALL" green button, select pulldown to 5 (says 1 in your screenshot), and then next to it where it says "100MiB", pulldown to 1GB and re-run the test and post your screenshots"

I ran the benchmark again, pretty much the same result. Also when I wake my MBP out of sleep this time I got a message saying your computer was restarted because of an error.

 

[spukhafte Fernwirkung]

Hello,

I have a Macbook Pro Mid 2015 15" on Mojave 10.4.4 and I'm using a Samsung 970 Pro with the short Sintech adapter from Amazon.

I'm getting kernel panic crashes after waking from sleep which I thought weren't supposed to happen on this model of mac. I ordered the long Sintech adapter in case it was just the adapter I'm using currently and it should be here tomorrow. Could the adapter be the cause or something else? I've gone through this thread as thoroughly as a I could and was unable to find an answer to my situation.


*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7fa09c8a6e): nvme: "Fatal error occurred. CSTS=0xffffffff US[1]=0x0 US[0]=0xa VID/DID=0xffffffff
. FW Revision=1B2QEXP7\n"@/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/IONVMeFamily/IONVMeFamily-387.250.10/IONVMeController.cpp:5327
Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff920d583a10 : 0xffffff801cfaf82d
0xffffff920d583a60 : 0xffffff801d0eb795
0xffffff920d583aa0 : 0xffffff801d0dcf4a
0xffffff920d583b10 : 0xffffff801cf5cae0
0xffffff920d583b30 : 0xffffff801cfaf247
0xffffff920d583c50 : 0xffffff801cfaf093
0xffffff920d583cc0 : 0xffffff7fa09c8a6e
0xffffff920d583e20 : 0xffffff801d65fa77
0xffffff920d583e90 : 0xffffff801d65f999
0xffffff920d583ec0 : 0xffffff801cfee265
0xffffff920d583f40 : 0xffffff801cfede05
0xffffff920d583fa0 : 0xffffff801cf5c0ce
Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
com.apple.iokit.IONVMeFamily(2.1)[991B73D6-1E64-36C6-AC16-E6D852CC3400]@0xffffff7fa09b4000->0xffffff7fa09f2fff
dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity(1.0.5)[F3F09078-2CDE-3D01-A96C-CB38E035E1D5]@0xffffff7f9dd87000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[54C3F778-4B95-3093-A51D-D761607C96CB]@0xffffff7f9d895000
dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM(2.1)[B73CD2FB-BD72-3C92-BF4A-D8960F59F64B]@0xffffff7f9df5b000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(2.1)[C322B8D1-C27F-3EFA-8A45-D7035ACC8D07]@0xffffff7f9db7e000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily(47)[86DDD149-2800-3D3E-9914-3556918455F1]@0xffffff7f9e0aa000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
18E227

I recently experienced very similar kernel panics after my SSD upgrade:
2015 rMBP 13"
Short black Sintech adapter from Amazon
ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Mojave 10.14.4 (before and after SSD upgrade)
No modification of hibernate/sleep settings.
No sleep/wake/hibernate issues, but there is 2-3% battery drain per hour while sleeping.

I have found several ways to generate panics similar to above - "nvme: "Fatal error occurred....IONVMeFamily...etc." Sounds very similar to what is discussed here, occurring with both Apple and 3rd party NVME drives:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250026626

All panics would occur 3-4 minutes after starting one of the below triggering processes, reproducibly.

I started with a clean install (booting from an external USB drive with Mojave installer).
Install went fine, but migration assistant crashed from these kernel panics every time I tried to bring in data from my Time Machine backup.
Finally I had to boot into recovery mode and 'restore from Time Machine backup', which worked without issues.
If it is relevant, the Time Machine backup disk was not encrypted and was not APFS. The MBP SSDs were APFS before and after the SSD upgrade. FileVault was off after the upgrade (unsure about before).

I next experienced the panics when trying to import my Apple Mail and Photos libraries, one at a time, during their automatic setup process.
After several crashes the imports were successful. The apps worked fine afterwards.
This seems to be related to something deeper than just transferring a lot of data. I could copy my 5 GB iPhoto library around the file system 10 times in a row back-to-back without any panics.

Finally, I noticed the issue similar to yours where there was a kernel panic several minutes after waking from sleep.
This turned out to be due to Dropbox trying to synchronize files.
When syncing was disabled, the panics stopped.
Reinstalling Mojave from internet recovery did not fix the problem.
Creating a new User and trying to sync Dropbox to this "clean" location did not fix the problem.
Completely uninstalling Dropbox and then reinstalling finally fixed the problem
This made the kernel panics stop, and proper Dropbox Syncing resumed.

I got here by reading some related discussion in Dropbox help forums and then followed their uninstall instructions below:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Ins...Dropbox-Issues-with-Mac-OS-Mojave/td-p/304593

https://help.dropbox.com/desktop-web/uninstall-dropbox

Dropbox CPU usage also decreased dramatically after reinstalling.

Things appear to be running smoothly now.
I hope that this information is helpful to someone.
Anybody have any idea why I have been running into these issues?

 

[djangoreinhardt442]

I ran the benchmark again, pretty much the same result. Also when I wake my MBP out of sleep this time I got a message saying your computer was restarted because of an error.
View attachment 835525
View attachment 835526

Actually, your numbers look fine
but it is almost as if your pcie linkwidth is pcie 2.0 x4

Can you send a screenshot of your hardware profile, under nvme express:
It looks something like this:

Vendor: Apple

Product: SSD Controller

Physical Interconnect: PCI

Link Width: x4

Link Speed: 8.0 GT/s

 

[bowen1506]

Actually, your numbers look fine
but it is almost as if your pcie linkwidth is pcie 2.0 x4

Can you send a screenshot of your hardware profile, under nvme express:
It looks something like this:

Vendor: Apple

Product: SSD Controller

Physical Interconnect: PCI

Link Width: x4

Link Speed: 8.0 GT/s

I posted this screenshot before. But here it is again.
Hmm, for some reason my link speed is now 2.5GT/s. Is this the problem? but why? Though even before when it was showing the 8gt/s, I was still getting the same speed.

 

[jwar1976]

Just signed up to say, firstly, thanks to this thread, I've bought a Sintech adapter (short, black) for my Late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina 15" (MacBookPro11,3), and secondly that I also just bought a Sabrent Rocket 1TB from Amazon UK, was £149.99 yesterday, is £129.99 today! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07LGF54XR/

I'll let you know how I get on.

Yes please do let us know how you get on.

I got home yesterday evening after a few days away from home and was extremely surprised to see that my Sintech short adapter had arrived, especially as it wasn’t due until the 24th May. I am now on the lookout for 1tb drive for my Early 2015 13” MBP, but am not really keen on spending out almost £200 for a drive, so need to get one which is cheaper but reliable, even if it means getting a slightly older slower one that isn’t going to be a battery killer. So if there are any recommendations, I would gladly hear of them.

 

[Zeke]

I’ll try installing windows and see if I get the same behaviour. What firmware is your EX920 ?

I don't have an EX920. I've got a Crucial P1. Just commenting on the kernel panics.

 

[jwar1976]

I have been looking at the tools needed, am I right in thinking that all I need is a Pentalobe P5 to remove the back panel from the 13” early 2015 and the Torx T5 to remove the original drive ?.

 

[Colin0317]

Should I be using hibernate mode 0 or 25 on a 13” 2014 MacBook Pro used mostly in clamshell mode plugged in?

 

[Audit13]

Should I be using hibernate mode 0 or 25 on a 13” 2014 MacBook Pro used mostly in clamshell mode plugged in?

Hibernate 0 as 25 will cause kernel panics.