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

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Installed the Adata SX8200 pro 512GB in my Early Macbook Pro 2015 13 inch. Was easy. Sintech did not send a screw, so I just used the one that was there on the motherboard.
Anyway, not noticing speed increase in file transfers or loading apps. Not a big deal. My goal was to increase storage space.

But it got me thinking: How much does Filevault slow things down? Mounting dmg files is still as slow as before, and copying to apps to applications folder is not much faster.
 
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Chilorio said:
Hi.

Please Help Me.

I have a MBP early 2015. The SSD crashed and could not fix it (had Yosemite). To replaced I purchased a 970 EVO with a Syntech large adapter. Because the original SSD doesn't work I couldn't upgrade the OS. I made a usb with Catalina and Mojave, if I format the SSD to APFS I does not let me install the OS because of a firmware error, if I format the drive to MacOS Journaled the installation starts but before it finishes the MBP restarts and I'm not able to finish. It happens with both OS.

What else can I do?


Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Any ideas?
 
Hi at all,
while waiting for the short sintech adapter - which hopefully will be solving the "bulge-issue" - I was thinking about the ssd itself. I was wondering, if the adata 8200pro is also a good choice with regard to temperature and follwing fan activities.

So far and with my typical usage of my 13" Macbook pro retine (early 2015), I cannot recognize any fan activities at all. In addition, changing the ssd follows the need for more capacity (Apple SSD came with 256 GB) - not necessarly more speed - but - as far as possible - not significant more power consumption - and not significant more waste heat.

Can I suppose that those ssd models with small power consumption also produce less waste heat?
Following the Corsair (does anybody have this ssd in use?) and the sabrent are one of the ssds with small waste heat? Is there any other analysis/ recomandation than the ones on the first page?

Thanks in advance,
Carioquinha
 
quaresma said:
Installed the Adata SX8200 pro 512GB in my Early Macbook Pro 2015 13 inch. Was easy. Sintech did not send a screw, so I just used the one that was there on the motherboard.
Anyway, not noticing speed increase in file transfers or loading apps. Not a big deal. My goal was to increase storage space.

But it got me thinking: How much does Filevault slow things down? Mounting dmg files is still as slow as before, and copying to apps to applications folder is not much faster.
Click to expand...

Well, the answer to my question is here:
https://macmyths.com/do-i-really-need-filevault/

Filevault DOES affect performance. I knew that, but I didn’t know read speeds could be up to 48% slower! and write speeds up to 22% slower.

do you guys enable FileVault with the nvme ssds?
 
quaresma said:
Well, the answer to my question is here:
https://macmyths.com/do-i-really-need-filevault/

Filevault DOES affect performance. I knew that, but I didn’t know read speeds could be up to 48% slower! and write speeds up to 22% slower.

do you guys enable FileVault with the nvme ssds?
Click to expand...
I never have enabled fire vault or any other kind of encryption in my personal computers as they are always with me, on the other hand if it is a business computer you may want to enable fire vault for security purposes.
 
Chilorio said:
Hi.

Please Help Me.

I have a MBP early 2015. The SSD crashed and could not fix it (had Yosemite). To replaced I purchased a 970 EVO with a Syntech large adapter. Because the original SSD doesn't work I couldn't upgrade the OS. I made a usb with Catalina and Mojave, if I format the SSD to APFS I does not let me install the OS because of a firmware error, if I format the drive to MacOS Journaled the installation starts but before it finishes the MBP restarts and I'm not able to finish. It happens with both OS.

What else can I do?

OT: Without realizing The SSD that came with the MPB became full and crashed. When I started the MBP gave me the folder with a ? error (can't find OS) I tried to fix the drive with disk utilities it can't be donde because it doesn't have enough free space (8 MB), i't can't be erased or formatted either. Do you know a solution?

Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...
Walee said:
.



Find someone who can lend you their original apple ssd for upgrade purposes. You can always try to install macos on an external drive to see what happens, but it's unlikely this will do the job.
No harm in tying though ;)
Click to expand...

I have MacOS installed on an external HD, the latest OS that I can install is Sierra, I failed with High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina. Thank You for your answer, I keep looking if somebody let me use their original SSD.
 
Chilorio said:
I have MacOS installed on an external HD, the latest OS that I can install is Sierra, I failed with High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina. Thank You for your answer, I keep looking if somebody let me use their original SSD.
Click to expand...
eBay is your best bet, buy original apple ssd, return it if you're not satisfied with the product.
 
Last edited:
Can the bootrom install file be extracted somehow? I'm on Mojave 10.14.6 with the latest security updates but my bootrom is till 186.0.0.0.0. The latest bootrom for my Early 2015 MBP on Catalina is 188.0.0.0.0?

But... if nothing important has changed I don't need it?
 
quaresma said:
Can the bootrom install file be extracted somehow? I'm on Mojave 10.14.6 with the latest security updates but my bootrom is till 186.0.0.0.0. The latest bootrom for my Early 2015 MBP on Catalina is 188.0.0.0.0?

But... if nothing important has changed I don't need it?
Click to expand...
I'm a little confused, the info I am seeing for your MBP running Mojave is...
MacBookPro12,1 186.0.0.0.0
...and as Dimentium states, running Catalina...
MacBookPro12,1 187.0.0.0.0
Am I missing something?
 
damaltor said:
I'm a little confused, the info I am seeing for your MBP running Mojave is...
MacBookPro12,1 186.0.0.0.0
...and as Dimentium states, running Catalina...
MacBookPro12,1 187.0.0.0.0
Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
It’s up to 188.0.0.0.0 on the latest Catalina beta. I’d like to know if bootrom update can be done without upgrading to Catalina?
 
guys how you don't understand that bootrom version bring you nothing
we will never receive update that will fix this because "the key of apple" is completely opposite in every product they made
 
Last edited:
Has anyone ever experienced good read speeds but low write speeds after upgrading to Sabrent Rocket Ssd?

its an MBA 2017, Upgrade was flawless. Trim is enabled. x4 Pcie is showing on system info.

I`m getting 1500mb/s read and 800mb/s write.

Does indexing effect this result? I've done a clean OS install to Catalina from Catalina.

Also there seems to be 2 disks on Disk Utility like in the attached picture?
 

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teffers said:
I'd definitely go the adapter upgrade route rather than OWC. That way you can determine the quality of the NVME drive yourself ;-)
Click to expand...

Well yes I can choose from various drive options though I don't really know which one is the best one. Just seems that the OWC drives would be easier in that I don't need to fuss with an adapter. Plus their prices seem decent now although I think SSD prices are still way too high compared to "traditional" HDD with the same capacity.
 
bugra101 said:
Has anyone ever experienced good read speeds but low write speeds after upgrading to Sabrent Rocket Ssd?

its an MBA 2017, Upgrade was flawless. Trim is enabled. x4 Pcie is showing on system info.

I`m getting 1500mb/s read and 800mb/s write.

Does indexing effect this result? I've done a clean OS install to Catalina from Catalina.

Also there seems to be 2 disks on Disk Utility like in the attached picture?
Click to expand...
how is your battery life now?
I guess yes after indexing it should go close to 1200 on write
 
liberace said:
how is your battery life now?
I guess yes after indexing it should go close to 1200 on write
Click to expand...

I’ve not actually measured the battery yet, need to download coconut battery.

I havent actually left the mac running more than an hour since the upgrade. Might still be indexing. Will try again after a while.
 
I’ve now used the Adata SX8200 pro 512GB on my early 2015 MBP, for 5 days.

Battery: Definitely a hit on battery, when just surfing and listening to music. I guess I have to live with it.

Speed: I was surprised to see mixed results. Sometimes r/w speeds are better and sometimes worse than the original drive. I don’t get nowhere near the 4k random speeds as you guys. Might have something to do with FileVault being enabled? Pretty disappointing. I don’t feel the faster speeds in the OS in general (loading apps, opening dmg files and so on).

Overall it was a really easy upgrade, I used the iFixit Essential Toolkit and was done in 5 minutes. I used the short Sintech adapter.

As for storage: Well what can I say, double the space! Went from 256 -> 512! I can now transfer most of my Raw files from the external drive.

Speed is still disappointing though... Makes me wonder why people say “you won’t notice Filevault, Apple is so smart blah blah”
 
Has anyone tried the 2 tb Sabrent version? Works normal? Would it work in the mbpr mid 2014?
 
bigpoppamac31 said:
Well yes I can choose from various drive options though I don't really know which one is the best one. Just seems that the OWC drives would be easier in that I don't need to fuss with an adapter. Plus their prices seem decent now although I think SSD prices are still way too high compared to "traditional" HDD with the same capacity.
Click to expand...

Ok, to put it another way, some people don't trust the quality of the OWC drives.
There's a reason this massive thread exists filled with people choosing the adapter route rather than the alternative 'easier' option.
 
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