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

[trondhauklien]

I just upgraded my 13" Retina MacBook Pro, Early 2015, from the standard Apple 128 GB SSD to 1 TB Intel 660P QLC SSD (bought from a Norwegian retailer for aprox. $130, tax and shipping included. Yes, SSDs are a bit pricy here).
The replacement process went smooth with no problems. I used the small black Sintech adapter.
According to EveryMac's specifications page for the 13" MBP 2015, the original model has write speeds of 643.6 MB/s and read speeds of 1.3 GB/s. (With Blacmagic Disk Speed Test.) I forgot to do my own benchmarks before I swapped the SSD out.
The speeds with the new Intel SSD were really good! Write speeds of 1.2 GB/s and read speeds of 1.5 GB/S. An increase in write speeds of 81,7 % and read speeds of 13,6 %.

Also, I did a speed test with AmorphousDiskMark to see if there was any difference. Here are the results:

When it comes to power draw, I have done some testing with iStat Menus to monitor power consumption, and got varying results. Idle power consumption was around 0,6 W and active power consumption close to 2,5 W, just like described in post #1. However, I would like to know how the 100 GB read/write test was performed, and would love if someone could explain what power consumption values @gilles_polysoft refers to in his charts (average etc.?).

 

[lucaros]

I have bought Silicon Power P34A80 (SP512GBP34A80M28).
Apple Diagnostics result are both ADP000 (D or Option+D at start-up), no error.

MacBook Pro 13 2015 / macOS 10.14.5 / EFI firm 184.0.0.0.0 / SMC 2.28f7
D: 1.0.36r2 ADP000
option+D: 1.1.25r2 ADP000

I do not know why the result of the diagnosis will be like this, but I'm glad that there is no problem with the result.

What about battery drain while using?
We use same mbp so would be interesting share informations and settings.
I've noticed more battery drain using the sabrent rocket (like 20% or so) in the place of intel 760p

 

[Intenditore]

Guys, there are news out there the latest firmware now gives NATIVE support for NVMe drives.

But I've got a question: what if I dislike newest and "greatest" os and want to stay on HS, for instance. Would the new firmware STAY if I reinstall the system?

 

[Audit13]

Guys, there are news out there the latest firmware now gives NATIVE support for NVMe drives.

But I've got a question: what if I dislike newest and "greatest" os and want to stay on HS, for instance. Would the new firmware STAY if I reinstall the system?

Yes, the bootrom would not downgrade if you install an older os.

The HS bootrom update supports the use of nvme drives. Do you mean there is support for hibernation mode 25 in the latest bootrom for pre-2015 MacBooks?

 

[Intenditore]

It's supposed to be there. But I still have not proven it by myself

 

[Audit13]

It's supposed to be there. But I still have not proven it by myself

Do you have a link to this information?

I'm using a nvme drive in an early 2015 Air and 2017 Air and neither of these had kernel panics from hibernation mode 25.

 

[rockstarjoe]

Hi everyone. I have been following this thread for a while looking for purchasing advice, so I thought I would ask everyone's opinion. I would like to upgrade the SSDs on my 15" 2015 MBP (11,4) and my wife's 2017 Air (7,2). I want to maximize storage space / system stability and minimize battery drain / heat. Speed is nice but it is not my highest priority. Because I want the maximum amount of storage, I am looking at 2TB models.

Which would you recommend? I've narrowed it down to the Sabrent Rocket or the Intel 760p.

Also should I get the short Sintech adapter for both?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Audit13]

Hi everyone. I have been following this thread for a while looking for purchasing advice, so I thought I would ask everyone's opinion. I would like to upgrade the SSDs on my 15" 2015 MBP (11,4) and my wife's 2017 Air (7,2)....

Also should I get the short Sintech adapter for both?

Thanks for any advice!

Get the short black adapter for both MacBooks as a 2 TB drive will have memory chips on both sides of the PCB.

I use a short green adapter in an early 2015 Air 13" and a short black adapter in a 2017 Air.

 

[cgibson190]

Hi everyone,
I’m pretty frustrated over here. I just upgraded by mid 2014 MacBook Pro with a 1tb Intel 660p using the Sintech long m.2 adapter card. Everything seemed to go smoothly until I attempted to restore my Time Machine Backup. It’s coming up corrupted and stopping about 20% of the way through every time.
Here’s my question, is there another way to get the contents of my old SSD on to the new one? I purchased an enclosure for the old one, and it can be connected via USB, but I can’t find a procedure for this.
Thanks!

 

[aakshey]

Does anybody know which SSDs work out of the box with MBA Early 2014 11"? Wthout any config or hiccups that is?

 

[lucaros]

Hi everyone,
I’m pretty frustrated over here. I just upgraded by mid 2014 MacBook Pro with a 1tb Intel 660p using the Sintech long m.2 adapter card. Everything seemed to go smoothly until I attempted to restore my Time Machine Backup. It’s coming up corrupted and stopping about 20% of the way through every time.
Here’s my question, is there another way to get the contents of my old SSD on to the new one? I purchased an enclosure for the old one, and it can be connected via USB, but I can’t find a procedure for this.
Thanks!

Hi, you can restore time machine backup directly or use the migration assistant to move the content of your backup.
Have You alredy tried both ways?

 

[liberace]

Hi everyone,
I’m pretty frustrated over here. I just upgraded by mid 2014 MacBook Pro with a 1tb Intel 660p using the Sintech long m.2 adapter card. Everything seemed to go smoothly until I attempted to restore my Time Machine Backup. It’s coming up corrupted and stopping about 20% of the way through every time.
Here’s my question, is there another way to get the contents of my old SSD on to the new one? I purchased an enclosure for the old one, and it can be connected via USB, but I can’t find a procedure for this.
Thanks!

Carbon Copy Cloner + external drive (hdd, ssd, usb) quit slow with usb, but I did, for example
1. clone your current macOS with all data to external drive
2. load from just cloned macOS
3. format your internal SSD with all data
4. clone current loaded macOS from external to just formatted internal SSD

 

[mbosse]

Hi everyone,
I’m pretty frustrated over here. I just upgraded by mid 2014 MacBook Pro with a 1tb Intel 660p using the Sintech long m.2 adapter card. Everything seemed to go smoothly until I attempted to restore my Time Machine Backup. It’s coming up corrupted and stopping about 20% of the way through every time.
Here’s my question, is there another way to get the contents of my old SSD on to the new one? I purchased an enclosure for the old one, and it can be connected via USB, but I can’t find a procedure for this.
Thanks!

You can use migration assistant to move your content from your old SSD using the USB enclosure.

 

[itiot]

Hi. i just had a couple of macbooks returning to my shop after the conversion- crashing and not being able to boot. i looked at the cintech adaptor and saw that the pins covered in tape actually touches the metal on the SSD plug on the macbook. see picture. i wrote cintech to let them know. the solution is not to push the adaptor alle the way in when mounting it and push it towards the screw end of the adaptor.

EDIT - it might not be the pins i took a picture off - it seems that it is further down the plug that is shorting out.

 

[spidertnt]

I'm testing some of these adapters also...don't want to recommend until it actually works well.

My adapter is China clone / SSD is XPG SX8200 Pro

The caps located on the back of the SSD touch the adapters pins. I placed some tape over them.

 

[cgibson190]

Thanks for the tips everyone, I will try Migration Assistant tonight.

 

[Audit13]

Hi. i just had a couple of macbooks returning to my shop after the conversion- crashing and not being able to boot. i looked at the cintech adaptor and saw that the pins covered in tape actually touches the metal on the SSD plug on the macbook. see picture. i wrote cintech to let them know. the solution is not to push the adaptor alle the way in when mounting it and push it towards the screw end of the adaptor.

EDIT - it might not be the pins i took a picture off - it seems that it is further down the plug that is shorting out.

The exposed pins were included in the original Sintech version and subsequently corrected in later versions. I have both the original short, green adapter and revised short, black adapter.

People, like myself, who purchased the original version applied Kapton tape to prevent pin-to-metal contact.

If it's not the pin-to-metal contact causing the problem, there was a problem with the pin with some adapters which Sintech corrected after the fact.

From the post # 1 of this thread:

The "Chenyang" or "CableCC" adapters (and assimilates) are still sold today but they do not have the proper wiring letting NVMe SSD work well.. Using it will cause reboot issues, sleep issues.
DO NOT BUY THEM

Instead, buy the "Sintech" adapter. Previously, Sintech made 3 models (rev. A rev. B and rev. C).
There were problems with the rev. A adapters too, this was commented a lot in this thread.
But now, as of early 2019, I can confirm that every adapter shipped from Sintech have the proper wirings and works perfectly.

 

[Ovaq]

Instead, buy the "Sintech" adapter. Previously, Sintech made 3 models (rev. A rev. B and rev. C).
There were problems with the rev. A adapters too, this was commented a lot in this thread.
But now, as of early 2019, I can confirm that every adapter shipped from Sintech have the proper wirings and works perfectly.

What is the benefit of rev. C if this is the case?
Aren't there any problems with the less expensive rev. A?

 

[itiot]

The exposed pins were included in the original Sintech version and subsequently corrected in later versions. I have both the original short, green adapter and revised short, black adapter.

People, like myself, who purchased the original version applied Kapton tape to prevent pin-to-metal contact.

If it's not the pin-to-metal contact causing the problem, there was a problem with the pin with some adapters which Sintech corrected after the fact.

From the post # 1 of this thread:

The "Chenyang" or "CableCC" adapters (and assimilates) are still sold today but they do not have the proper wiring letting NVMe SSD work well.. Using it will cause reboot issues, sleep issues.
DO NOT BUY THEM

Instead, buy the "Sintech" adapter. Previously, Sintech made 3 models (rev. A rev. B and rev. C).
There were problems with the rev. A adapters too, this was commented a lot in this thread.
But now, as of early 2019, I can confirm that every adapter shipped from Sintech have the proper wirings and works perfectly.

the adaptors i have used is rev c. all bought this year. long version

 

[Audit13]

What is the benefit of rev. C if this is the case?
Aren't there any problems with the less expensive rev. A?

I don't think the revision A adapters are currently for sale and all adapters from Sintech will be revision C.

the adaptors i have used is rev c. all bought this year. long version

I only use the short adapters as they seem to be easier to use with nvme drives with memory chips on both sides of the PCB.

 

[fellowes]

Upgrade my 15" Macbook Pro Late 2013 (11,3) from stock Apple 512GB SSD to Samsung NVMe 970 EVO 1TB with Sintech (latest long M.2 converter).

BootROM version is: 151.0.0.0.0
MacOS: Mojave 10.14.5
Link Width: 2x

The new 970 SSD speed only read and write at max of 740mbps, any expert know why?

 

[spacec0w]

OK as a follow up from my posts the other day, I ordered some new drives (thanks Amazon!), the top 4 or so in terms of performance, and did some rather simple tests. In a MacBook Air 13" 2015, installing 10.14.5 as a fresh install, I waited a couple minutes (activity monitor was clear of indexing and whatever) then I loaded the same 720p video on YouTube and waited 3-4 minutes until the temperatures more or less stabilized. Then I closed the everything and waited until they stabilized again.

128GB Apple SSD 2015: 59º / 57º
256GB Adata XPG SX8200 Pro: 63º / 55º
512GB HP EX920: 68º / 60º
250GB WD Black V3: 69º / 55º
256GB Intel 760p: 61º / 55º

And here are their Blackmagic disk scores:

128GB Apple SSD 2015: 615 / 1400
256GB Adata XPG SX8200 Pro: 1063 / 1483
512GB HP EX920: 1393 / 1491
250GB WD Black V3: 612 / 1435
256GB Intel 760p: 330 / 1500

My conclusions:
1. I should probably have had a third, heavier use benchmark as well. Oops.
2. The Intel performed suprisingly poorly in write performance, and unfortunately it also runs the coolest
3. 7-10º C is a lot. Keep in mind this is the CPU and not the drive itself overheating, while streaming video or a complete idle, so little or no disk usage. I think this should be a larger topic in this thread as I don't think it really has much to do with "greater performance equals more heat". Although perhaps this is an issue with NVMe drives in general? I wouldn't know, and no PCs around here to test.


I hope this helps someone. I'll have these drives sitting around if anyone suggests some other test I should do I will consider it...

 

[Intenditore]

The "Chenyang" or "CableCC" adapters (and assimilates) are still sold today but they do not have the proper wiring letting NVMe SSD work well.. Using it will cause reboot issues, sleep issues.
DO NOT BUY THEM

Couln't you provide some links to the known to work adapters on Aliexpress? For 15" late 13 in particular. I'm willing to buy them there, I have no retailers having something from Sintech, shipping from amazon to Europe is ludicrous.
Choosing the right one from all the option on Ali is tricky

 

[Audit13]

Couln't you provide some links to the known to work adapters on Aliexpress? For 15" late 13 in particular. I'm willing to buy them there, I have no retailers having something from Sintech, shipping from amazon to Europe is ludicrous.
Choosing the right one from all the option on Ali is tricky

I have only used Sintech short adapters.

I ordered this adapter from AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32982940719.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.7f9c1a1dyr2svX to test in a 2017 Air. It was ordered March 29 but it still hasn't arrived.

 

[Colin0317]

OK as a follow up from my posts the other day, I ordered some new drives (thanks Amazon!), the top 4 or so in terms of performance, and did some rather simple tests. In a MacBook Air 13" 2015, installing 10.14.5 as a fresh install, I waited a couple minutes (activity monitor was clear of indexing and whatever) then I loaded the same 720p video on YouTube and waited 3-4 minutes until the temperatures more or less stabilized. Then I closed the everything and waited until they stabilized again.

128GB Apple SSD 2015: 59º / 57º
256GB Adata XPG SX8200 Pro: 63º / 55º
512GB HP EX920: 68º / 60º
250GB WD Black V3: 69º / 55º
256GB Intel 760p: 61º / 55º

And here are their Blackmagic disk scores:

128GB Apple SSD 2015: 615 / 1400
256GB Adata XPG SX8200 Pro: 1063 / 1483
512GB HP EX920: 1393 / 1491
250GB WD Black V3: 612 / 1435
256GB Intel 760p: 330 / 1500

My conclusions:
1. I should probably have had a third, heavier use benchmark as well. Oops.
2. The Intel performed suprisingly poorly in write performance, and unfortunately it also runs the coolest
3. 7-10º C is a lot. Keep in mind this is the CPU and not the drive itself overheating, while streaming video or a complete idle, so little or no disk usage. I think this should be a larger topic in this thread as I don't think it really has much to do with "greater performance equals more heat". Although perhaps this is an issue with NVMe drives in general? I wouldn't know, and no PCs around here to test.


I hope this helps someone. I'll have these drives sitting around if anyone suggests some other test I should do I will consider it...

I was going to exchange my SX8200Pro for the intel 760p because I wanted to avoid heat issues but it doesn’t seem like much of a difference between the two. Maybe I’ll just keep the SX8200Pro.