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

[TokMok3]

My MacBook Pro 13” hovers around 64-65c (does get warmer with 1440p streaming ~70c or so) when I’m watching YouTube on one window and browsing on another according to the Fanny widget. Idle is around 54c. This is with the Adata SX8200Pro.

I didn’t check temperatures before the upgrade, but are these temperatures safe?

MacBook Pro mid 2015 with Samsung EVO 500GB was getting 55c to 65c when idle, then I decide to change the thermal paste. After 10 days the temperature drop to 42c to 52c when idle. This machine does not throttle even if temperatures are high at 94c to 98c. I used it for machine learning with Turicreate. I think the new termal paste has something to do, I also changed the battery and did a clean install of Mojave.

 

[liberace]

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 %.
View attachment 838375
Also, I did a speed test with AmorphousDiskMark to see if there was any difference. Here are the results:
View attachment 838377
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.?).

can you explain how you find power consumption in iStat Menus?

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...

Even this small test's from you, me and few more guys proves that its not like someone before said that CPU couldn't be more hot coz of highest speed of ssd
I guess that 2 generation of intel CPU that we have in 2013-2014 mbps couldn't lets say successfully "eat" this speeds without overheating comparing to usual CPU temps for example with stock or pci-e 2.0x2 ssd

 

[vladid]

I just swapped the SSD in my Mid 2014 MBP from the 1TB SSUAX Samsung drive to the Sabrent Rocket 1TB, using the Sintech adapter. This is on the 153.0.0.0.0 Boot ROM, running 10.14.5.



The install was superbly easy and I am happy with the tangible speed gains from the OEM drive. I find it curious that the proprietary Apple/Samsung SSD form factor was chosen to be big enough to accommodate M.2 2280 format SSDs with an adapter, especially since the PCB clearly has room to spare. Had it been smaller, we'd have to resort to smaller M.2 drives to upgrade.

I truly feel like Apple peaked in terms of design and usability with that last unibody gen before they went all slim jim emo and f'ed it up in the later '16+ gens.

I have another 1TB 970 Pro sitting around here, but didn't feel like I wanted to deal with the extra power draw and potential extra heat.

 

[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.

i have an answer from sintech-adapter :

we also noticed this problem,it is mainly happened for short black version. we are using new black tape,it is thinner and smoothy,then it will not be sliding off.
we produced slot backside before, but the screw will touch SSD board very tightly.

 

[itiot]

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

http://pcadapter.cn/index.php

 

[spacec0w]

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.

There still could be. It does seem that with moderate/heavy disk use (copying for 20 minutes from USB 3 SSD) the Adata will push CPU temps to around 100º (just saw this yesterday actually) and this may not be the case with the other drives. I may still revisit my tests this weekend with an additional heavy CPU test to see how high usage affects temperature.

It bears repeating though that 100º even for data transfer is extremely high and obviously long enough at that sort of temperature WILL damage your computer.

 

[liberace]

There still could be. It does seem that with moderate/heavy disk use (copying for 20 minutes from USB 3 SSD) the Adata will push CPU temps to around 100º (just saw this yesterday actually) and this may not be the case with the other drives. I may still revisit my tests this weekend with an additional heavy CPU test to see how high usage affects temperature.

It bears repeating though that 100º even for data transfer is extremely high and obviously long enough at that sort of temperature WILL damage your computer.

I am sure that this happens not because of sx8200pro because even Kingston a1000 that I put on the place of sx8200pro
has something similar but compared to sx8200pro its nothing, most of the time that I use mbp and cpu and ssd is cold and even sessions of some heavy loads doesn't pull it higher that 70
its for sure boil cpu depending from speed on old mbps like 2013-2014

 

[ReanimationLP]

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.

I've bought this same adapter and used an Intel 760p drive.

It works, but it threw errors during Apple Hardware Test.

Does anyone know if the Sintech adapters does the same, does AHT look for it to be an Apple SSD?

 

[Audit13]

I've bought this same adapter and used an Intel 760p drive.

It works, but it threw errors during Apple Hardware Test.

Does anyone know if the Sintech adapters does the same, does AHT look for it to be an Apple SSD?

I ran the diagnostics by holding down the "d" key during the boot process and received no errors with the short, black Sintech and Intel 600p.

 

[iaanda]

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?

Maybe its PCIe 2.0? correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[babymerce1]

Asking for help.

Short story. I have a MBP 15" mid 2015 and upgraded the stock ssd to Samsung 970 EVO 1TB with 2019 Sintech adapter. Everything was great using this for a few weeks with OS 10.14.4. No problems with sleep, or panics.

Then I upgraded to OS 10.14.5. Now I've had multiple kernel panics. Not too bad, but I had NONE previously with 10.14.4.

Looking at System Reports in Console, each of the panics has this similarity:

*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7f84f8cc0c): nvme: "Fatal error occurred. CSTS=0x3 US[1]=0x0 US[0]=0x1 VID/DID=0xa808144d
. FW Revision=2B2QEXE7\n"@/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/IONVMeFamily/IONVMeFamily-387.260.15/IONVMeController.cpp:5334

Since the start of the kernel panics (after upgrading to 10.14.5), I have turned off hibernation. (still kernel panics)
I have also used the built in diagnose which returns no errors (except that I need to replace my battery)

Any similar experiences? Any help or suggestions?

 

[BTopbas]

Hi friends;

I use Sabrent-Rocket-512GB and Black Short adapter from sintech. My device is Macbook Air Mid 2013 (10.14.5). When i run diagnostics gives me VDH002 error. But i still use my mac without any problem. Is this important thing? Can i need to check connector and ssd?

 

[Colin0317]

Does anyone know if the sabrent Rocket 512 would be much cooler than my SX8200Pro and a better choice? I only have until today to exchange it. They are the same price on amazon.

I’m getting around 70-75c with my SX8200Pro browsing while on YouTube HD. Are these temperatures normal/safe?

I never checked the temperatures before the upgrade, so I don’t know what I was getting beforehand. When I bought my SX8200Pro I thought I was buying the non pro version.

 

[Ovaq]

Do you have any measures for fever?
For example, a heat sink or silicon pad...

I have MBA2013mid 11inch.
I ordered SiliconPower P34A80 1TB.
(and the short, black Sintech.)

This is a type that has a tip on both sides, what kind of heat protection products should I use?

 

[geeebeee72]

Is it usual to get a chime and black screen delay before getting the white apple logo after upgrading the SSD?

 

[nicho]

I've led myself to this thread as a way of avoiding buying a windows laptop for my wife (for the purposes of using internet explorer for her stupid work systems...)

A bit more info: Currently have a late 2013 "ultimate" config with 512GB SSD that I use pretty much exclusively attached to an external monitor and wall power - 142 battery cycles after 5 years. shortly after I bought it, my wife's previous windows laptop she'd had since uni died and without much thought I bought her the entry-level mid-2014 MBP. for our uses, there's not really much between them (slightly slower processor in hers, but identical RAM) - except for the sticking point of the 128GB SSD which is too small (i'm looking to have each of our icloud photo libraries fully synced to one computer, but mine is in the region of 100GB by now and hers triple that thanks to videos of the kids... she recently got a non-ios phone so adding photos into icloud photo library will be a manual job i'm hoping to make easy as possible for her or, inevitably, me). she's recently gotten a new job, and actually needs access to a computer at home from time to time. I can either buy her a windows laptop, or upgrade the storage in the barely-touched laptop to 500GB+ and restrict windows to boot camp or even better, parallels.

we're currently living in china which makes some things easier and some things harder.

I'm interested in adding more storage, but I'm not bothered a jot about performance gains. increased storage and maintained performance and stability would make me happy.

option 1 was the new OWC Aura Pro X2 which from the marketing blurb appears to be the best solution but I gather from the thread/Q&A about it on here may not be. i'm not sure about customs charges into china, and starting at $280 for 1TB it risks starting expensive and becoming more so.

option 2 is that I've found what appears to be OEM 512GB SSDs like my own MBP has in them, for roughly the same $280 (without any taxes etc added on top and probably here within the week). I'm happy enough paying that price since we saved twice that at the time - of course, had I known how little use our second computer would get over the last 4½ years I could have just not bought it... and putting the money saved at the time together with the money i'm about to spend on extra storage I could be getting myself the tricked out new mac mini I've been lusting over, but anyway - if this is the best and most compatible option i'll just go for that.

option 3 would be to buy the sintech adaptor and either a 512GB/1TB SSD. this is why i'm here - can I match the performance and stability of the original 512GB Apple SSD and save money/get more storage for the same money compared to the OWC option? which models should I be looking at to avoid heat issues (176 pages of this thread are a bit scary for someone who stopped tinkering with computers when he got the first MBA 11 years ago and left the PC world behind)

 

[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

Hello

I finally received everything, I even order the soic clip
on the other hand I still do not understand where to find the 2015 efi rom that corespond to my macbook Pro (Retina, 15 pouces, mi-2014)

Nom du modèle : MacBook Pro

Identifiant du modèle : MacBookPro11,2

Nom du processeur : Intel Core i7

Vitesse du processeur : 2,2 GHz

Nombre de processeurs : 1

Nombre total de cœurs : 4

Cache de niveau 2 (par cœur) : 256 Ko

Cache de niveau 3 : 6 Mo

Mémoire : 16 Go

Version de la ROM de démarrage : 151.0.0.0.0


and my English is bad, I have trouble understanding
I would like a simple explanation to know how to extract the rom and patch it with the rom custom
a shame that Gilles AUREJAC @gilles_polysoft
do not answer on twitter because it would be easier for me being French too ^^


thank you for your explanation and your help

 

[Audit13]

Hi friends;

I use Sabrent-Rocket-512GB and Black Short adapter from sintech. My device is Macbook Air Mid 2013 (10.14.5). When i run diagnostics gives me VDH002 error. But i still use my mac without any problem. Is this important thing? Can i need to check connector and ssd?

According to the code, VDH002 indicates that "There may be an issue with a storage device. "

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203747

Is it usual to get a chime and black screen delay before getting the white apple logo after upgrading the SSD?

I have a nvme drive in a early 2015 Mac Air and the chime happens right after pressing the power button and white Apple logo appears a second or two after the chime.

Asking for help.

Short story. I have a MBP 15" mid 2015 and upgraded the stock ssd to Samsung 970 EVO 1TB with 2019 Sintech adapter. Everything was great using this for a few weeks with OS 10.14.4. No problems with sleep, or panics.

Then I upgraded to OS 10.14.5. Now I've had multiple kernel panics. Not too bad, but I had NONE previously with 10.14.4.

Looking at System Reports in Console, each of the panics has this similarity:

*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7f84f8cc0c): nvme: "Fatal error occurred. CSTS=0x3 US[1]=0x0 US[0]=0x1 VID/DID=0xa808144d
. FW Revision=2B2QEXE7\n"@/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/IONVMeFamily/IONVMeFamily-387.260.15/IONVMeController.cpp:5334

Since the start of the kernel panics (after upgrading to 10.14.5), I have turned off hibernation. (still kernel panics)
I have also used the built in diagnose which returns no errors (except that I need to replace my battery)

Any similar experiences? Any help or suggestions?

Did upgrading to 10.14.5 upgrade the bootrom too?

 

[jackqueenking]

Hi friends;

I use Sabrent-Rocket-512GB and Black Short adapter from sintech. My device is Macbook Air Mid 2013 (10.14.5). When i run diagnostics gives me VDH002 error. But i still use my mac without any problem. Is this important thing? Can i need to check connector and ssd?

I have the same issue with an Intel 760p on a mid 2014 MBP Retina. I think given the fact that all 2015 models don't report this error has something to do with the incompatible bootrom in the pre 2015 models. To get a clear answer, someone who has modified the bootrom on a 2013 or 2014 should run a diagnostics test to see if they also get the VDH002 error. Nevertheless I am having no problems with the 760p.

 

[geeebeee72]

According to the code, VDH002 indicates that "There may be an issue with a storage device. "

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203747

I have a nvme drive in a early 2015 Mac Air and the chime happens right after pressing the power button and white Apple logo appears a second or two after the chime.


Did upgrading to 10.14.5 upgrade the bootrom too?

Any idea why I may be getting a 20-30 black screen before I get the apple logo?

 

[hjdddzaahjdddzaa]

I've led myself to this thread as a way of avoiding buying a windows laptop for my wife (for the purposes of using internet explorer for her stupid work systems...)

A bit more info: Currently have a late 2013 "ultimate" config with 512GB SSD that I use pretty much exclusively attached to an external monitor and wall power - 142 battery cycles after 5 years. shortly after I bought it, my wife's previous windows laptop she'd had since uni died and without much thought I bought her the entry-level mid-2014 MBP. for our uses, there's not really much between them (slightly slower processor in hers, but identical RAM) - except for the sticking point of the 128GB SSD which is too small (i'm looking to have each of our icloud photo libraries fully synced to one computer, but mine is in the region of 100GB by now and hers triple that thanks to videos of the kids... she recently got a non-ios phone so adding photos into icloud photo library will be a manual job i'm hoping to make easy as possible for her or, inevitably, me). she's recently gotten a new job, and actually needs access to a computer at home from time to time. I can either buy her a windows laptop, or upgrade the storage in the barely-touched laptop to 500GB+ and restrict windows to boot camp or even better, parallels.

we're currently living in china which makes some things easier and some things harder.

I'm interested in adding more storage, but I'm not bothered a jot about performance gains. increased storage and maintained performance and stability would make me happy.

option 1 was the new OWC Aura Pro X2 which from the marketing blurb appears to be the best solution but I gather from the thread/Q&A about it on here may not be. i'm not sure about customs charges into china, and starting at $280 for 1TB it risks starting expensive and becoming more so.

option 2 is that I've found what appears to be OEM 512GB SSDs like my own MBP has in them, for roughly the same $280 (without any taxes etc added on top and probably here within the week). I'm happy enough paying that price since we saved twice that at the time - of course, had I known how little use our second computer would get over the last 4½ years I could have just not bought it... and putting the money saved at the time together with the money i'm about to spend on extra storage I could be getting myself the tricked out new mac mini I've been lusting over, but anyway - if this is the best and most compatible option i'll just go for that.

option 3 would be to buy the sintech adaptor and either a 512GB/1TB SSD. this is why i'm here - can I match the performance and stability of the original 512GB Apple SSD and save money/get more storage for the same money compared to the OWC option? which models should I be looking at to avoid heat issues (176 pages of this thread are a bit scary for someone who stopped tinkering with computers when he got the first MBA 11 years ago and left the PC world behind)

I think the option1 and option3 is the same since they can't fix the hibernation issue（the top of the thread said"The problem exists with every NVMe SSD"）.

If you want save some money and don't care about the hibernation, try option 3. Since you live in China, option3 would cost you less than 200$ to get a 2tb intel 660p ssd from JD and around 5$ to get a adaptor from taobao as the 618 shopping day's comming.

As far as I know, some people choose to upgrade their macbook with m2 ssd and adaptor don't show the hibernation issue anyway.(see https://yalv.me/mbp-2014-ssd/ if you can read Chinese). I also asked the seller on taobao and got some different answer, one seller told me that the adaptor they sell has no hibernation issue and another one said it depends on the year of macbook(same as this thread).

I also have a mid-2014 MacBook pro, I'm considering changing a nvme SSD recently, if I success, I can give you some experence or a fair price 512g orginal apple ssd .Feel free to contect me on wechat. My wechat id is the same as my id here.

 

[Audit13]

Any idea why I may be getting a 20-30 black screen before I get the apple logo?

Exactly which SSD, MacBook, OS, and adapter are you using?

MacBook is running the latest bootrom?

Start up disk is correctly selected in Preferences?

 

[nicho]

I think the option1 and option3 is the same since they can't fix the hibernation issue（the top of the thread said"The problem exists with every NVMe SSD"）.

If you want save some money and don't care about the hibernation, try option 3. Since you live in China, option3 would cost you less than 200$ to get a 2tb intel 660p ssd from JD and around 5$ to get a adaptor from taobao as the 618 shopping day's comming.

As far as I know, some people choose to upgrade their macbook with m2 ssd and adaptor don't show the hibernation issue anyway.(see https://yalv.me/mbp-2014-ssd/ if you can read Chinese). I also asked the seller on taobao and got some different answer, one seller told me that the adaptor they sell has no hibernation issue and another one said it depends on the year of macbook(same as this thread).

I also have a mid-2014 MacBook pro, I'm considering changing a nvme SSD recently, if I success, I can give you some experence or a fair price 512g orginal apple ssd .Feel free to contect me on wechat. My wechat id is the same as my id here.

The main difference between 1 and 3 - or at least, according to the marketing for number 1 - is the risk of getting a "great" SSD performance wise that runs super hot.

According to the chart on the first page, the intel 660p has horrible write speeds?

 

[Macbookproa1502]

I have upgraded my Macbook pro 13" Early 2015 with Sabrent rocket 512gb ssd and Long black sintech adapter. All the installation process seems ok.

1. No Sleep or Wake up issues.
2. No Battery drain issues.
3. No SSD nor CPU temperature raising issues.
4. Only one issue the write speed of the ssd is 590MB/s and write 1300MB/s, i am aware of my model has Pcie 2.0 bottleneck x4 lanes and 5GT/s speed. but write speed seems to be bit worrying. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[hjdddzaahjdddzaa]

The main difference between 1 and 3 - or at least, according to the marketing for number 1 - is the risk of getting a "great" SSD performance wise that runs super hot.

According to the chart on the first page, the intel 660p has horrible write speeds?

First, 760p is better than 660p. But 660p is far cheaper than 760P.If you have any question about the performance of 660p, I recommend you to watch Linus tech tip (here is the link https://www.bilibili.com/video/av35908680). 660p or 760p or any other nvme ssd are better than the original one in speed ,And I think 660p is enough for me.

I believe 760P is better than 660p dealing with the hot issue according to the Intel advertisement.