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

[jwar1976]

Right I was looking at the internet recovery late last night, and amongst the folders was a file called install Yosmite or something like that. Now am I right in thinking that because it is seeing Yosmite within the internet recovery files, that it won’t have the updated bootrom, which is needed to detect drives like the 660p ?..

I found a image of instructions on Amazon last night, which states not only do you have to backup to time machine, but you also have to create a bootable usb drive. I will be trying this process today, then if that fails, I will buy the m2 enclosure, so that I can see if the drive is faulty or not.

 

[jwar1976]

Finally done so happy, black magic reporting on average getting 1295 mb/s read and 1485 mb/s write. Haven’t checked sleep / hibernation yet. This is the method I used in case it helps others.

(1) Download Mojave installer from the App Store
(2) Download & install Disk Drill for free from https://www.cleverfiles.com/
(3) Run Disk Drill and run create bootable installer, this will automatically put the Mojave installer file onto your usb flash drive.

(4) Backup with Time Machine

(5) Replace Drive and boot from the usb flash drive, go to disk utils and restore from Time Machine, choose backup that you wish to install.

After your backup has restored, it will ask you for your iCloud password, a passcode maybe sent to your other Apple device if you use 2 step verification.

Yes there could be other short guides that are more simplified, but thought I would give something back for all the help given to me on this forum.

 

[Jawnskeel]

Finally done so happy, black magic reporting on average getting 1295 mb/s read and 1485 mb/s write. Haven’t checked sleep / hibernation yet. This is the method I used in case it helps others.

(1) Download Mojave installer from the App Store
(2) Download & install Disk Drill for free from https://www.cleverfiles.com/
(3) Run Disk Drill and run create bootable installer, this will automatically put the Mojave installer file onto your usb flash drive.

(4) Backup with Time Machine

(5) Replace Drive and boot from the usb flash drive, go to disk utils and restore from Time Machine, choose backup that you wish to install.

After your backup has restored, it will ask you for your iCloud password, a passcode maybe sent to your other Apple device if you use 2 step verification.

Yes there could be other short guides that are more simplified, but thought I would give something back for all the help given to me on this forum.

I thought the time machine backup was enough to either reinstall mac os from scratch or from the backup.

Is that not the case?

 

[jwar1976]

I thought the time machine backup was enough to either reinstall mac os from scratch or from the backup.

Is that not the case?

Seemingly not, in all the sites I have looked at, it doesn’t hold the needed boot files, even the instructions given with the adapter, states that you backup with time machine and create a bootable usb disk. So when I tried to access the drive via internet recovery, the internet recovery offered to me was Yosmite, which doesn’t hold the bootrom information to access / format the new drive and install Mojave. The only way around it was by creating a bootable usb with Mojave and then selecting disc utils to initialise the new drive, then use time machine to restore to it. By all means there maybe some form of script on terminal to get around this, but as I am a newbie to Macs, I daren’t mess around with stuff like that just yet.

 

[jwar1976]

I am having some problems with Bootcamp, it gets to the point where it installs the helper tool and then it says that there is not enough disc space. This is despite the drive having a 249gb partition with over 700gb available on the Mac OS part. Any ideas ?

 

[owbp]

I am having some problems with Bootcamp, it gets to the point where it installs the helper tool and then it says that there is not enough disc space. This is despite the drive having a 249gb partition with over 700gb available on the Mac OS part. Any ideas ?

Known problem with latest Windows update, use 1803 instead.

 

[jwar1976]

Oh ok thank you

 

[owbp]

No prob, just to be clear, 1803 is 2018 April update.
The "not enough space' error is due to helper tool not being able to store .iso on MS-DOS FAT32 partition. Nothing to do with actual SSD size on your Mac.

 

[RaptorSausage]

Seems like I've been bitten by the 2x lanes bug with my mid-2015 MacBook Pro with a Sabrent Rocket 2TB disk. Resetting the SMC after a fresh install and migration has not helped. :'(

 

[yoda954]

Since my last post, I had struggled with recognition problem for several days and I finally made it.
Long story short, my Macbook pro retina 13" 2014-mid can hibernate with Samsung 960evo NVMe ssd driver as successfully flashing the modified bootrom. I used the cheapest SPI programmer, CH341a and Korean EFI-Rom converting board for J6100 port as hardwares and UEFI Tool and CH341a programmer as softwares. It didn't need to supply 3.3v to PP3V3_SUS. Instead, I plugged magsafe and battery port only while detecting the chip in the CH341a software.

My pmset adjusted like as in the following last night;
pmset -a standby 1 standbydelay 5 hibernatemode 25
ohnggniui-MacBook-Pro:~ ohnggni$ pmset -g
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
standbydelay 5
standby 1
halfdim 1
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
gpuswitch 2
powernap 0
disksleep 10
sleep 3 (sleep prevented by com.tclementdev.timemachineedit, sharingd)
autopoweroffdelay 28800
hibernatemode 25
autopoweroff 1
ttyskeepawake 1
displaysleep 3
acwake 0
lidwake 1

And I got the log this morning; (reduced nothing for about 5 hours)
2018-06-26 01:09:21 +0900 Sleep Entering Sleep state due to 'Clamshell Sleep': Using Batt (Charge:94%) 16393 secs
2018-06-26 05:42:34 +0900 Wake Wake from Standby [CDNVA] due to EC.LidOpen/UserActivity Assertion: Using BATT (Charge:94%) 389 secs

Regarding hibernation, I'll check it further as closing the lid for much longer time.

Please be sure to backup(dump) your original bootrom prior to mod & flash, by using CH341a software(Read & Save) or dosdude1's tool.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had gone through tremendous trial & errors before I got to know things above.
I nearly cried when I made it last night.
Special thanks to gilles_polysoft, terraphantm, vk2fro...

edit [Jun.26] IF you have interest in the converting board and you live in South Korea, contact the seller to directly buy via his homepage instead of ebay.

edit [Jun.27] Additionally I measured the battery consumption during hibernation last night. Minus 2% for 14.5hours. It seems so similar to Apple's advertisement, 30days standby time.

Hi

I ordered the same Korean adapter
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/NEW-EFI-ROM...=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353. m2749.l2649

can you tell me how to save my rom and how to flash it ?
is there a tutorial somewhere ?

thank you so much

 

[djangoreinhardt442]

Seems like I've been bitten by the 2x lanes bug with my mid-2015 MacBook Pro with a Sabrent Rocket 2TB disk. Resetting the SMC after a fresh install and migration has not helped. :'(

Do a fresh install. Worked for me!

 

[1146331]

Hi

I ordered the same Korean adapter
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/NEW-EFI-ROM-Converting-board-for-Apple-MacBook-J6100-SPI-ROM-EFI-ROM/323438231470?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353. m2749.l2649

can you tell me how to save my rom and how to flash it ?
is there a tutorial somewhere ?

thank you so much

My adaptor came in today, however I have the 25Q064A 14E40 chip rather than the one this guy had who wrote some of the original instructions:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...sd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-162#post-27299768

All attempts to read my chip have failed. My next steps are to get a 3.3v battery and attach it to the 3.3V and GND port on the reader. If that doesn't work, then I'm going to switch to a JTAG adapter rather than try to read the chip directly with a clip-on attachment.

Every time I try reading mine in flash rom it says:

No EEPROM / flash device found.
Note: flash rom can never write if the flash chip isn't found automatically.

The chip that I selected in flash rom was the N25Q064..3E [Note the 2 "."'s]. That apparently has the same PINOUT as the chip that I have on my Mid-2014 MBP.

When I pulled out my ThinkPad, I used 2 different programs (one Chinese, one Russian) to read the chip and both programs returned nothing but FF FF FF for the ROM. The Russian program did provide the write reader and chip, the Chinese program did not.

I might follow this guide with my Raspberry Pi just to make life easy [who also used the N25Q064..3D chip with flash rom]:
https://blog.wzhang.me/2017/10/29/removing-mac-firmware-password-without-going-to-apple.html

I'll do that only if this reader doesn't work.

Edit:
I realized you only ordered the adaptor, do you have the programmer?

 

[Jawnskeel]

Seemingly not, in all the sites I have looked at, it doesn’t hold the needed boot files, even the instructions given with the adapter, states that you backup with time machine and create a bootable usb disk. So when I tried to access the drive via internet recovery, the internet recovery offered to me was Yosmite, which doesn’t hold the bootrom information to access / format the new drive and install Mojave. The only way around it was by creating a bootable usb with Mojave and then selecting disc utils to initialise the new drive, then use time machine to restore to it. By all means there maybe some form of script on terminal to get around this, but as I am a newbie to Macs, I daren’t mess around with stuff like that just yet.

I have experience creating restore USB drives for mac os, so I went ahead and made one before I switched to my new SSD. But I gave the time machine backup a try first, and it worked perfectly. Connected the time machine drive via USB, powered on without clicking anything (no holding cmd + R), and it booted into whatever was on the USB time machine drive.

I wanted to a do a fresh install because my old install was littered over the past 6 years with various school software and what not.

 

[The_Moves]

My adaptor came in today, however I have the 25Q064A 14E40 chip rather than the one this guy had who wrote some of the original instructions:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...sd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-162#post-27299768

All attempts to read my chip have failed. My next steps are to get a 3.3v battery and attach it to the 3.3V and GND port on the reader. If that doesn't work, then I'm going to switch to a JTAG adapter rather than try to read the chip directly with a clip-on attachment.

Every time I try reading mine in flash rom it says:


The chip that I selected in flash rom was the N25Q064..3E [Note the 2 "."'s]. That apparently has the same PINOUT as the chip that I have on my Mid-2014 MBP.

When I pulled out my ThinkPad, I used 2 different programs (one Chinese, one Russian) to read the chip and both programs returned nothing but FF FF FF for the ROM. The Russian program did provide the write reader and chip, the Chinese program did not.

I might follow this guide with my Raspberry Pi just to make life easy [who also used the N25Q064..3D chip with flash rom]:
https://blog.wzhang.me/2017/10/29/removing-mac-firmware-password-without-going-to-apple.html

I'll do that only if this reader doesn't work.

Edit:
I realized you only ordered the adaptor, do you have the programmer?View attachment 836483View attachment 836484View attachment 836485View attachment 836486View attachment 836483View attachment 836484 View attachment 836485 View attachment 836486

I was thinking of going the RapI route too. All that is needed is to provide power to the chip and that is what we are missing with our flasher and SOIC8 clip. I have same chip 25Q064 as you.

I’ve not yet done or figured it out to the end yet....

 

[yoda954]

My adaptor came in today, however I have the 25Q064A 14E40 chip rather than the one this guy had who wrote some of the original instructions:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...sd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-162#post-27299768

All attempts to read my chip have failed. My next steps are to get a 3.3v battery and attach it to the 3.3V and GND port on the reader. If that doesn't work, then I'm going to switch to a JTAG adapter rather than try to read the chip directly with a clip-on attachment.

Every time I try reading mine in flash rom it says:


The chip that I selected in flash rom was the N25Q064..3E [Note the 2 "."'s]. That apparently has the same PINOUT as the chip that I have on my Mid-2014 MBP.

When I pulled out my ThinkPad, I used 2 different programs (one Chinese, one Russian) to read the chip and both programs returned nothing but FF FF FF for the ROM. The Russian program did provide the write reader and chip, the Chinese program did not.

I might follow this guide with my Raspberry Pi just to make life easy [who also used the N25Q064..3D chip with flash rom]:
https://blog.wzhang.me/2017/10/29/removing-mac-firmware-password-without-going-to-apple.html

I'll do that only if this reader doesn't work.

Edit:
I realized you only ordered the adaptor, do you have the programmer?View attachment 836483View attachment 836484View attachment 836485View attachment 836486View attachment 836483View attachment 836484 View attachment 836485 View attachment 836486

Hi friend

I just order the adapter, I do not think there is the programmer

where can I find the programmer ?

thank you

 

[jwar1976]

No prob, just to be clear, 1803 is 2018 April update.
The "not enough space' error is due to helper tool not being able to store .iso on MS-DOS FAT32 partition. Nothing to do with actual SSD size on your Mac.

Unfortunately Microsoft have now greyed out the option of the April 1803 version, I was able to get a 1709 version but had no end of problems like no network adapter and no 2 finger right click ability. In fact it was that bad, that I had to perform a NVRAM reset, so that I could get back onto Mac OS. Needless to say that I restored back to a single OS for the time being. I also found some other 1803 archives dated between April & October, but none of those worked.

I did read of a method with changing the string, which apparently allows you to download the April version from Microsoft, but I haven’t been successful in getting it to work. I will continue to look and hopefully get the April 1803 version.

 

[The_Moves]

Hi friend

I just order the adapter, I do not think there is the programmer

where can I find the programmer ?

thank you

This is referenced in the first post - amazon/eBay.

 

[pappapeep]

Unfortunately Microsoft have now greyed out the option of the April 1803 version, I was able to get a 1709 version but had no end of problems like no network adapter and no 2 finger right click ability. In fact it was that bad, that I had to perform a NVRAM reset, so that I could get back onto Mac OS. Needless to say that I restored back to a single OS for the time being. I also found some other 1803 archives dated between April & October, but none of those worked.

I did read of a method with changing the string, which apparently allows you to download the April version from Microsoft, but I haven’t been successful in getting it to work. I will continue to look and hopefully get the April 1803 version.

It’s not greyed out for me... that is odd

 

[1146331]

Hi friend

I just order the adapter, I do not think there is the programmer

where can I find the programmer ?

thank you

This is the programmer I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I1EU9LG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You won't need this since you bought the adapter, but you mind as well buy one anyway:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V9QNAC4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's a direct clip on adapter, but I promise the one you bought will be so much easier. I'm too cheap to buy it for $50, for another $20 I can just buy a Matt Card and eliminate the whole flashing procedure.

 

[liberace]

This is the programmer I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I1EU9LG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You won't need this since you bought the adapter, but you mind as well buy one anyway:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V9QNAC4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's a direct clip on adapter, but I promise the one you bought will be so much easier. I'm too cheap to buy it for $50, for another $20 I can just buy a Matt Card and eliminate the whole flashing procedure.

can you guys then as you find out keep us with you and explain a bit about connection of 3.3v supply coz i am trying to repeat everything step by step just waiting a friend with another macbook and clarifying about 3.3v supply that is necessary?!

 

[lucaros]

Hi all, my setup Mbp retina '13 2015 using sintech black short adapter within intel 760p 1tb on mojave.
BootROM is up to date.
Apparently no kernel panics but apple diagnosis (power on + D) shows PPN001 error.
Using apple ssd the error does not show.
Resetting Pram and SMC had no effects.
Any idea for how to solve?
Thanks

 

[1146331]

can you guys then as you find out keep us with you and explain a bit about connection of 3.3v supply coz i am trying to repeat everything step by step just waiting a friend with another macbook and clarifying about 3.3v supply that is necessary?!

From what I've read it's not necessary usually, but sometimes it might be.

I gave an answer like a politician just now lol, but it appears in my case either I'm not getting enough voltage to the chip to read, or I really suck at attaching the clamp to the chip properly. Either way I'll let you know, though I won't get to this this week [Preparing to go on a trip].

 

[Audit13]

Hi all, my setup Mbp retina '13 2015 using sintech black short adapter within intel 760p 1tb on mojave.
BootROM is up to date.
Apparently no kernel panics but apple diagnosis (power on + D) shows PPN001 error.
Using apple ssd the error does not show.
Resetting Pram and SMC had no effects.
Any idea for how to solve?
Thanks

I don't see that particular error in this list: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203747

 

[lucaros]

I don't see that particular error in this list: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203747

I do not see it either in that list but it exist
"There may be an issue with the power management system error code PPN001"

 

[lasszo]

Hi,

i've installed ADATA SX8200 480GB NVMe with Sintech short black adatper in a Macbook Air 13 2017.
I've measured 730MByte read and 730MByte write speeds with Blackmagic.
I've measured 600MByte read and 1200MByte write speeds also with Blackmagic with the original Apple 128GB SSD.
I thought ADATA should preform faster.
Anybody has experience with the same setup maybe?

Would appreaciate your opinion.

Thanks