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

[n0k0m3]

Upgraded MacBook Pro (Retina) 13 inch Mid 2014 (A1502 EMC2875) from 128GB Original SSD to 512GB Sabrent Rocket (updated to firmware v12.3).
Before:

After:

Used Sintech new long black adapter since mine is 1 sided m.2 (also didn't over tighten it). The new Sintech used plastic cover for the contact between the adapter and the contact point with the Apple SSD slot so technically no Kapton tape needed. However, I did it anyway.

As you see on the picture there's an EFI card attached to the board. Thanks @dpro111 for selling me this amazing product (cheaper than Matt Card or J6100, also provide the safety of not ***** up the board by SOIC8 clipping the chip + revert to original EFI by just removing the card). Sleep is working (maybe? idk how to test it properly) with hibernatemode 25 (best for NVMe SSD).

If anyone knows how to test sleep/hibernation properly please tell me

 

[kj510]

If you really need it, maybe I can make a few cards and try to sell them. The cost about $20~25/pcs plus shipping $14.
Note that only MBA6,2 MBP11,1 MBP11,2 MBP11,3 are currently available.

I am also very interested in your card. Do you still have one card left? My Macbook Pro Retina is 2014 Mid 15" MBP11,3.
Does it fix boot loader to recognize NVMe drive as an internal drive too?

 

[cjmartiny]

Hello all, Long time visitor, first time posting. I have a MBP 15 mid 14 that is having the sleep issues when closing the lid. I have tried the hibernate 25 setting and tried the NVRAM stuff and neither have worked. Every time on battery, when i close the lid and open it later on the machine restarts and shows the loading bar. I have tried to find the answer to fix this and maybe I'm over looking it but for now it escapes me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated Thank you for your time

 

[liberace]

what is approx maximum of speeds and real experience achieved on mbp13' 2015 which is pci-e 2.0x4?
I did an upgrade from 2014 to 2015 year model, now curios how high could be a difference between stock drive (128gb/700/1300) which is already twice faster than stock 2014 year same size ssd

 

[jackqueenking]

If you really need it, maybe I can make a few cards and try to sell them. The cost about $20~25/pcs plus shipping $14.
Note that only MBA6,2 MBP11,1 MBP11,2 MBP11,3 are currently available.

Yeah I would be interested too. Matt car for us canadians is 60 euros which is roughly 100$ canadian. What is your method of shipment and payment and how can we guarantee security?
[doublepost=1567086513][/doublepost]

If anyone knows how to test sleep/hibernation properly please tell me

Change your hibernate mode to 25 and your standby to 0 and then in the terminal write "pmset sleepnow" without quotes. Wait a few seconds after the screen goes black and then try to power on your Mac, if you see the loading bar its a success, if you hear the Macintosh start sound twice its a fail.

 

[n0k0m3]

what is approx maximum of speeds and real experience achieved on mbp13' 2015 which is pci-e 2.0x4?
I did an upgrade from 2014 to 2015 year model, now curios how high could be a difference between stock drive (128gb/700/1300) which is already twice faster than stock 2014 year same size ssd

1300/1300 since it is maximum bandwidth for PCIe 2.0x4 (which is literally the same as what can be gained with 2014 version). Although you won't get any problem with sleep/wake issue, the A1502 2015 model suffers from many issues as documented by Louis Rossmann (hence why I didn't bought the 2015 ver).

Real experience: Mine was from measly 128GB/150/410 so the performance gain was very much noticeable and "snappier". Since you are going from 128GB to non-Apple NVMe, the performance gain will be also as drastic since 128GB IOPS (R/W speed is not a good performance parameter) is not as high as 512GB SSD (for any SSD to be honest).

Hello all, Long time visitor, first time posting. I have a MBP 15 mid 14 that is having the sleep issues when closing the lid. I have tried the hibernate 25 setting and tried the NVRAM stuff and neither have worked. Every time on battery, when i close the lid and open it later on the machine restarts and shows the loading bar. I have tried to find the answer to fix this and maybe I'm over looking it but for now it escapes me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated Thank you for your time

Turn off standby and hibernation (mode 0) since you need proper EFI/Bootrom patching by desoldering the EFI chip or use J6100 to flash it. IDK what NVRAM stuff you tried since it definitely won't work since the problem lies in EFI.

 

[jackqueenking]

what is approx maximum of speeds and real experience achieved on mbp13' 2015 which is pci-e 2.0x4?
I did an upgrade from 2014 to 2015 year model, now curios how high could be a difference between stock drive (128gb/700/1300) which is already twice faster than stock 2014 year same size ssd

The 13 inch model of 2015 comes with a PCI-e 3.0 SSD drive which makes it slightly faster than the 2014 which had a 2.0 interface but their logic board interfaces are identical. The protocol still remains to be AHCI which is why you see an increase in speed but still not as fast as an NVME drive. With and NVME drive the Mac will still be capped at 1500 MB/s or around there because the interface on the logic board hasn't changed. Only people with 15 inch models from 2015 will be able to leverage the full speed because the interface on the logic board is PCI-e 3.0 x4.

 

[n0k0m3]

The 13 inch model of 2015 comes with a PCI-e 3.0 SSD drive which makes it slightly faster than the 2014 which had a 2.0 interface but their logic board interfaces are identical. The protocol still remains to be AHCI which is why you see an increase in speed but still not as fast as an NVME drive. With and NVME drive the Mac will still be capped at 1500 MB/s or around there because the interface on the logic board hasn't changed. Only people with 15 inch models from 2015 will be able to leverage the full speed because the interface on the logic board is PCI-e 3.0 x4.

This doesn't really answer the question for "real experience achieved" since the matter is not the sequential speed difference between AHCI vs NVMe but the random IOPS of each software interface can provide (of course most of the time NVMe dwarfs AHCI in terms of speed). NVMe boasts at minimum 3 times larger IOPS (100k vs 300k) comparing to AHCI, transferring to better random read/write (which what OSes do most of the time, not sequential).

 

[jackqueenking]

This doesn't really answer the question for "real experience achieved" since the matter is not the sequential speed difference between AHCI vs NVMe but the random IOPS of each software interface can provide (of course most of the time NVMe dwarfs AHCI in terms of speed). NVMe boasts at minimum 3 times larger IOPS (100k vs 300k) comparing to AHCI, transferring to better random read/write (which what OSes do most of the time, not sequential).

I can't say for sure if he wanted that much detail though I did forget to answer the real experience part but the fact remains that there is no difference in speed/experience when using an NVME drive on the 13 inch models of either year.

 

[dannytang]

Yeah I would be interested too. Matt car for us canadians is 60 euros which is roughly 100$ canadian. What is your method of shipment and payment and how can we guarantee security?

The cost has been one of the main reasons I've been avoiding the firmware hack to resolving the sleep issue. I did see a cheaper "matt card" and programmer on Taobao which I might go ahead and get one of these days to give it a go.

 

[markintosh13]

what is approx maximum of speeds and real experience achieved on mbp13' 2015 which is pci-e 2.0x4?
I did an upgrade from 2014 to 2015 year model, now curios how high could be a difference between stock drive (128gb/700/1300) which is already twice faster than stock 2014 year same size ssd

early 2015 13" MBP with Sabrent Rocket 2TB drive:

 

[gingerdude]

So I finally bit the bullet and did the upgrade to my 2014 15" MBP. I ended up getting the HP EX950 2TB and the short sintech. Everything fit and closes up fine. The new adapter is black and the SSD I got is black so it looks stock on first glance lol. Speeds in Blackmagic went from roughly 900 write / 950 read on the 1TB Apple SSD to 1250 write / 1500 read on the HP.

To solve the hibernate issue I grabbed a programmer and the chip clip and flashed the updated firmware directly to the board. No complications. It seems to have solved the issue with the slow boot times. Hibernate has not been tested yet, but I doubt it will be a problem. I didn't go the Matt card route because of the added cost.

I'm having issues installing Windows but they are unrelated to the issue listed in this forum. I will report back if that registry modification is still an issue with the modded BootRom when I figure out the other blocker.

Drive color is still orange in the boot menu *shrug*.

SMART is accessible via 3rd party tools (DriveDX in my case), but is not listed within the OS itself. TRIM support seems to be enabled automatically with the aftermarket drives, so that is good as well.

Finally, I grabbed the latest BootRom from Apple and opened it up. The latest BootRom does not update the NVMe drivers on the 2014 and below models. :-(

 

[ThorinO]

I just bought a late 2013 MacBook Pro off eBay which should arrive soon. I have almost maxed out a 1TB drive on my current PC, most of the data is pictures/videos. Ideally I would keep it all on the disk so ideally I would get a 2TB drive to grow but I am trying to do this on a budget. The Intel 660p 2TB drive is only $184, ones with better performance are much more expensive.

Linus did a good video on the drive and I have mixed feelings about it but I don't want to spend more for a better drive.

So would you go with the 2TB 660p or get a better 1TB and figure out how to deal with space. Any ideas how the 660p would compare to the stock hard drive?

 

[gingerdude]

I was able to install Windows without needing the registry modification with the modified BootRom.

 

[a-maxime]

I have the same question...

I haven't done the firmware patch myself, but from what I understand, you extract it from the mac OS installer.

Note: you could still need a second mac to inject the code into your MacBook.

Yes I'll have a second MacBook Pro using my girlfriend's but it's a 13" 2018, so I still can't have the installer and can't find any answer :/

 

[cjmartiny]

1300/1300 since it is maximum bandwidth for PCIe 2.0x4 (which is literally the same as what can be gained with 2014 version). Although you won't get any problem with sleep/wake issue, the A1502 2015 model suffers from many issues as documented by Louis Rossmann (hence why I didn't bought the 2015 ver).

Real experience: Mine was from measly 128GB/150/410 so the performance gain was very much noticeable and "snappier". Since you are going from 128GB to non-Apple NVMe, the performance gain will be also as drastic since 128GB IOPS (R/W speed is not a good performance parameter) is not as high as 512GB SSD (for any SSD to be honest).


Turn off standby and hibernation (mode 0) since you need proper EFI/Bootrom patching by desoldering the EFI chip or use J6100 to flash it. IDK what NVRAM stuff you tried since it definitely won't work since the problem lies in EFI.

Alright thanks, I guess Ill look into that J6100 thing and see what it entails. I appreciate the insight.

 

[jackqueenking]

New macOS 10.14.6 supplemental update release 5 days ago stating:

• Resolves an issue that may cause certain Mac notebooks to shut down during sleep

Anyone replace the original SSD to check for an update to the bootrom on 2013/2014 models to see if it resolves any issues with NVME drives?

 

[a-maxime]

I was able to install Windows without needing the registry modification with the modified BootRom.

What have you changed to avoid issues you mentionner earlier on this thread ?

New macOS 10.14.6 supplemental update release 5 days ago stating:

• Resolves an issue that may cause certain Mac notebooks to shut down during sleep

Anyone replace the original SSD to check for an update to the bootrom on 2013/2014 models to see if it resolves any issues with NVME drives?

I think that @gingerdude looked into it and didn’t notice any significant change sadly

 

[splekertz]

Hi, is Sabrent Rocket the best NVME replacement for MBA 2015? I installed Adata sx8200 pro and it is working fine without kernel panic. However this ssd drains my macbook like 20% quicker than the original. I would like to try Sabrent since it's way cheaper than sx8200 but will this solve my battery drain?

 

[n0k0m3]

Hi, is Sabrent Rocket the best NVME replacement for MBA 2015? I installed Adata sx8200 pro and it is working fine without kernel panic. However this ssd drains my macbook like 20% quicker than the original. I would like to try Sabrent since it's way cheaper than sx8200 but will this solve my battery drain?

The problem is not the SSD (since ADATA sx8200 and Sabrent Rocket used the same micro controller - Phison E12, which is very power efficient) but the hibernation mode you use. If you followed the tutorial from the front page (which you should not since you have a 2015+ version), you should not use the sleep mode/lid down since the MacBook will be still draining power (to keep data in RAM alive due to hibernation mode 0). Even if you didn't followed the tutorial, the original hibernation mode is 3, which keeps both data alive on SSD and RAM, which consumes more power since it has to keep the NVMe drive idle. Since you are using NVMe SSD, you should use hibernation mode 25.

But on the other hand, yes NVMe should drains more battery than official spec'ed SSD that comes along with the MacBook since NVMe drains more juice than AHCI (protocol comes with original SSD, much slower than NVMe)

 

[jackqueenking]

The problem is not the SSD (since ADATA sx8200 and Sabrent Rocket used the same micro controller - Phison E12, which is very power efficient) but the hibernation mode you use. If you followed the tutorial from the front page (which you should not since you have a 2015+ version), you should not use the sleep mode/lid down since the MacBook will be still draining power (to keep data in RAM alive due to hibernation mode 0). Even if you didn't followed the tutorial, the original hibernation mode is 3, which keeps both data alive on SSD and RAM, which consumes more power since it has to keep the NVMe drive idle. Since you are using NVMe SSD, you should use hibernation mode 25.

But on the other hand, yes NVMe should drains more battery than official spec'ed SSD that comes along with the MacBook since NVMe drains more juice than AHCI (protocol comes with original SSD, much slower than NVMe)

I haven't experimented with this myself but based on the technical documentation available online, mode 3 is safe sleep and does indeed turn off the NVME drive only the RAM is left powered on which allows for faster wake ups but also it is safe in the event that the battery dies, an image was first copied to the SSD. Mode 25 is just a derivative of this in which the ram is also powered off so that means longer wake up times. Its more of a problem with the pmset settings standbydelaylow and standbydelayhigh where the default value is 86400 seconds which is 24 hours. When standby = 1 the standbydelaylow and standbydelayhigh settings play an important role to decide after how many seconds the mac should go into hibernate mode once the lid is closed based on your battery level. If wake up latency is important to you then changing standbydelaylow and standby delay high to something like 600 seconds = 10 minutes and you leave hibernate mode = 3 you will get exactly the same results as mode 25 with minimal battery drain when the lid is closed.

 

[xuzhimin1993]

I saw people using WD sn700 in their photos. I don't know if WD sn750 black nvme can be used in macbook pro early 2015.

 

[ST-NGFF2013-C]

Update: solved it by using the short Sintech adapter (20190914). Details and more pictures here.

• Short adapter: 2.9mm thick
• Long adapter: 4.0mm thick (4.1mm with tape)

I'm having trouble installing the Sintech adapter in a rMBP 13" early 2015 (MacBookPro12,1): the Sintech adapter is too big and doesn't fit!

Does anyone have an idea what's going on? I had success installing an SSD in a rMBP 15" late 2013 (MacBookPro11,3), and other people seem to have more success with the same model.

Specs:

• rMBP 13" early 2015 (MacBookPro12,1), 16 GB RAM, 3.1 GHz CPU
• Sintech long black adapter with blue isolation tape on top (thickness: 4.0mm, 4.1mm with tape)
• No SSD (adapter itself already doesn't fit)

Long adapter does not fit:


Comparison of adapters:

 

[wawon]

I'm having trouble installing the Sintech adapter in a rMBP 13" early 2015 (MacBookPro12,1): the Sintech adapter is too big and doesn't fit!

Does anyone have an idea what's going on? I had success installing an SSD in a rMBP 15" late 2013 (MacBookPro11,3), and other people seem to have more success with the same model.

Specs:

• rMBP 13" early 2015 (MacBookPro12,1), 16 GB RAM, 3.1 GHz CPU
• Sintech long black adapter
• No SSD (adapter itself already doesn't fit)

View attachment 855629 View attachment 855625 View attachment 855626 View attachment 855627

I bought ST-NGFF2013-C (Black long) twice in the past, but it didn't have a blue cover. Please refer to the pictures on the sintech order page (http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1229.html) There is no such thing as a blue cover. Maybe that blue cover is removable. If it can be removed, it will fit properly. This type of adapter may not be able to secure sufficient insulation of the conversion connector part, so such a blue cover might have been attached. If that blue cover is removed, the insulation will be insufficient and the performance may drop to Link x2 (originally Link x4). In that case you need to strengthen the insulation separately.

 

[ST-NGFF2013-C]

I bought ST-NGFF2013-C (Black long) twice in the past, but it didn't have a blue cover. Please refer to the pictures on the sintech order page (http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1229.html) There is no such thing as a blue cover. Maybe that blue cover is removable. If it can be removed, it will fit properly. This type of adapter may not be able to secure sufficient insulation of the conversion connector part, so such a blue cover might have been attached. If that blue cover is removed, the insulation will be insufficient and the performance may drop to Link x2 (originally Link x4). In that case you need to strengthen the insulation separately.

Thanks for the suggestion. The blue cover is tape I put on, it's quite thin and not the reason the adapter doesn't fit I'm afraid.