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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
teffers said:
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.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. Just not sure which adapter to use. Anyways I’ll figure it out.
 
I have the Sabrent 2GB in my late 2013 15". It seems to max out around 1300 mB/s. I got it because my original SSD was failing, and I needed the additional space. I can't say it seems much faster, but with the old drive so full, anything is an improvement.
 
bigpoppamac31 said:
Like this one?
https://www.amazon.ca/QNINE-Convert...adapter&qid=1575915490&sprefix=sintech&sr=8-5
Click to expand...

This is the Sintech one:

https://www.amazon.ca/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2016-2013-2015/dp/B07FYY3H5F/ref=sr_1_3?crid=SBY5EVWPK8S0&keywords=sintech+ngff+m.2&qid=1575925408&sprefix=sintech+ngff+,aps,231&sr=8-3

Cheaper alternatives may work just as well, but I went for the one recommended by a few people on here and it's been perfect on my 13 " A1502 / Silicon Power 512GB.
 
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teffers said:
This is the Sintech one:

https://www.amazon.ca/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2016-2013-2015/dp/B07FYY3H5F/ref=sr_1_3?crid=SBY5EVWPK8S0&keywords=sintech+ngff+m.2&qid=1575925408&sprefix=sintech+ngff+,aps,231&sr=8-3

Cheaper alternatives may work just as well, but I went for the one recommended by a few people on here and it's been perfect on my 13 " A1502 / Silicon Power 512GB.
Click to expand...
This is the one I picked up too, actual Sintech. Worked perfectly with my MBP mid2015 & Sabrent 1tb SSD.
 
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Hello,

I have been trying to change my SSD because it has been showing the flashing question mark recently.
However, I have been encountering some issues.
I am using the Sintech long adapter , and a drive i got off Amazon.
I have a bootable Mojave USB.
I can see the drive in the disk utility, and i formatted it as well as installed mojave, but when it asks me to choose the drive to boot from ( after closing utilities), the new drive isn't there anymore.
I also tried to do a TIme machine backup restore, and it WILL show the drive to boot from, but it doesn't actually boot from the SSD. It simply takes me back to the Recovery utility screen.
Finally, if I don't use the bootable Mojave USB, the hard drive is not detected at all.

Anybody know what could be going wrong??
I'm not sure if it's the Adapter's or Drive issue as the SSD DOES show up in the disk utility.
It;s just that without Mojave USB inserted, the drive is not detected.

Thanks for the help
 
I just installed the security update for Mojave which was released today, alongside Catalina 10.15.2. No bootrom update for me, I’m still on 186.0.0.0.0.

Either there was no bootrom update or my Early 2015 is not accepting updates on the Adata SX8200 pro.

Or maybe I’m overthinking the bootrom thing😀 I don’t have any issues with my newly installed NVMe (other than not seeing speed improvements), so what can a bootrom update bring? Nothing?
 
quaresma said:
so what can a bootrom update bring? Nothing?
Click to expand...
exactly
256gb that you had before is a bit faster than stock 128 so that's why you don't see a big difference
previously I had 13' 2014 and replaced stock128 with sx8200pro, much hotter before I start using Volt (to undervolt and disable turboboost so that's how I get same temperature on CPU) with really no noticeable difference in perfomance as well this gives me extra 30-40 on battery time from stock 5-6 hours watching videos this ssd drops me 1st (before undervolting) to near 4 hours and after this trick I get close to 5 hours (4-30/40) in mine the same usage
but with my 2014 model was terrible that I couldn't live it in sleep and find it with the same charge on battery so I replace this mbp to next 2015 and now thinking of Sabrent 512
p.s. speed was much faster (twice on papers something about 1200 from 700 on reads) and noticeable real usage difference even in apps opening etc
 
profcutter said:
I have the Sabrent 2GB in my late 2013 15". It seems to max out around 1300 mB/s. I got it because my original SSD was failing, and I needed the additional space. I can't say it seems much faster, but with the old drive so full, anything is an improvement.
Click to expand...
2013-2014 macbooks will only be able to use PCI-E v2.0 x4 lanes as opposed to PCI-E v3.0 with 2015 models, which means it cannot max out the Sabrent SSD. Explains not getting as much speed as advertised.

lueej said:
Hi everyone, thanks for all the info posted here.

I'm about to upgrade my Late 2013 MBPr "15 (MacBookPro 11,3). I'm on Mojave 10.14.6, bootrom 156.0.0.0.0

From what I've read, my MacBook will only support PCI-E v2.0 x4 lane speeds. I'm going to purchase a short Sintech adapter, and I am debating between an Intel or Sabrent SSD at 2TB. My heaviest uses are most of the Adobe Creative Suite and some Final Cut Pro.

I see the Sabrent Rocket 2TB is rated for speeds up to 3,400Mbps, and the Intel 660p is rated up to 1,800Mbps. Since these ratings are using PCI-E v3.0 x4 lanes I know I cannot get 3,400Mbps with the Sabrent, and see others have gotten around ~1,200-2,000Mbps with it.

My question is: If I choose the Intel 660p, will I still be able to achieve 1,800Mbps (realistically less), or will I get even slower r/w speeds than with the Sabrent? Sorry if this doesn't make sense.

Thank you all.
Click to expand...

Update:

I'm on day 3 with a Pioneer 2TB SSD installed (model APS-SE20G-2T, purchased on Amazon). Used short Sintech adapter and added tape. Stock SSD moved into an OWC Envoy Pro. On the Pioneer I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting a normal Phison E12 setup with Toshiba chips, but it has moved to a different layout with a Phison E12S controller and 1/2 DRAM. Didn't think I would notice, anyways, so I installed it. So far, so good. Battery has taken a slight hit when using Adobe CS apps or other heavy editing, but under light use it is not as noticeable. Fans seem to spike sooner, but the fans also seem to run for a shorter duration of time. It's a double sided SSD and I notice a little more heat than before.

Specs:
Late 2013 MBPr "15 (MacBook Pro 11,3) with 2.6Ghz i7 16GB ram and dual graphics. Did a clean install of Mojave 10.14.6 and bootrom is 156.0.0.0.0. Speeds for r/w are between 900Mbps and 1350Mbps, when testing.

No sleep issues yet, overnight losing 2-5% of battery percentage when off charger. System boots/wakes quicker than normal, and no more kernel panic (an issue I had with the stock hardware) so far.
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
standbydelaylow 10800
standby 1
womp 1
halfdim 1
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
powernap 0
gpuswitch 2
networkoversleep 0
disksleep 0
standbydelayhigh 86400
sleep 0
autopoweroffdelay 28800
hibernatemode 0
autopoweroff 0
ttyskeepawake 1
displaysleep 3
highstandbythreshold 50
acwake 0
lidwake 1
 
profcutter said:
I have the Sabrent 2GB in my late 2013 15". It seems to max out around 1300 mB/s. I got it because my original SSD was failing, and I needed the additional space. I can't say it seems much faster, but with the old drive so full, anything is an improvement.
Click to expand...
You mean 2 Tb?
So i guess it would be okay for me to get for my mid 2014 13 inch right?
 
bigpoppamac31 said:
Oh okay. I figured there was a difference but I didn't know that one would not work. In any case it seems like these adapters are not just "plug and play". Seems like users have to do various things to get them to work properly.
Click to expand...

In terms of the adapter itself, mine was plug and play. From what I've read some of the earlier revision adapters / drives may need some kapton tape to protect the contacts - like I said I never had that issue.

The whole process of replacing the SSD and getting it to work isn't just plug and play, but it's relatively straight-forward and definitely worth it for me.
 
efra said:
You mean 2 Tb?
So i guess it would be okay for me to get for my mid 2014 13 inch right?
Click to expand...
Haha yeah, exactly. I was typing too fast. Yeah, the only thing I’m debating is trying to do the firmware fix. The machine really does not like spending multiple days away from a charger, and when it runs out of juice entirely, the computer is not so happy. All in all, should keep my machine going for another year or so, I hope to find a refurb
2020 16” to replace it, so it will be a while. Overall, a satisfactory upgrade.
 
My current SSD (the one shipped with my Mac) gets around 600-700 MB/s read and write speed. Would my 2014 13" MBP recognizes speeds much faster than that?
 
profcutter said:
Haha yeah, exactly. I was typing too fast. Yeah, the only thing I’m debating is trying to do the firmware fix. The machine really does not like spending multiple days away from a charger, and when it runs out of juice entirely, the computer is not so happy. All in all, should keep my machine going for another year or so, I hope to find a refurb
2020 16” to replace it, so it will be a while. Overall, a satisfactory upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your asnswer :)
 
efra said:
Thanks for your asnswer :)
Click to expand...
No problem. One more point, I’m getting those speeds using FileVault, which slows everything down. I use FileVault on everything for security, so your speeds may be faster if you opt for no encryption.
 
Cmd+Q said:
I have put together a write-up as RTFD in TextEdit to summarize the state of upgrading 2013-2014 MacBooks with NVMe drives thus far. The pictures are from an upgrade of the girlfriend's MacBook Air last week.

Have a look in case you are new to this thread - or a regular. :)

Happy to make changes in case there is something incorrect or misrepresented.
Click to expand...
Hi, i'm having a problem when i try to connect the ch341a to my secondary mac... it doesn't recognize the chip and i don't know where to find drivers of it, how can i ask you some questions about it?
Thanks
 
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