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

[cwo]

Hi everyone,

I have one more question before I do the whole process on my Macbook Pro late 2013. I currently run Mojave 10.14.6 - would it be a good idea to update all the way to Catalina's latest update for BootROM's etc and then apply the new hard drive etc?

Thanks everyone for the advice!
Cheers,
cWo

 

[profcutter]

Hi everyone,

I have one more question before I do the whole process on my Macbook Pro late 2013. I currently run Mojave 10.14.6 - would it be a good idea to update all the way to Catalina's latest update for BootROM's etc and then apply the new hard drive etc?

Thanks everyone for the advice!
Cheers,
cWo

That would ensure you have the latest bootrom. If you don’t update, you’ll have to put the old ssd back in to get the newest firmware updates most likely. That said, you might want to copy your drive to the new ssd if you don’t want to be locked into Catalina. Save the original ssd for software updates, keep the new ssd at whatever software version you want.

 

[Audit13]

Given that I have a third party drive in MacBook Pro Retina 2015 and MacBook Air 2015, is it desirable for the boot rom to update? What are the effects of updating it vs not updating it as I install the latest MacOS update and security patches (for Mojave, Catalina, and High Sierra)?

The updates will automatically install bootrom updates if possible. I've never experienced a problem with bootrom updates and nvme drives.

 

[profcutter]

That's good that yours updates, but mine does not. 2tb Sabrent Drive, after the 10.15.3 update I remained on the older BootROM. I installed an apple SSD, and the update also updated the BootROM.

 

[aix2019]

So I thought I'd install the latest Mojave security update. This refuses to install into an HFS+ volume, requiring APFS.

I thought I'd bite the bullet and convert the volume to APFS. The way to do it seems to be to boot into Recovery Mode and use Disk Utility.

However, when I press Cmd-R on boot, my laptop goes straight into Internet Recovery (instead of the local recovery mode). When I open Disk Utility in Internet Recovery, it only shows the recovery disk image it downloaded, not my local (encrypted) SSD volume.

Any advice on how to proceed?

Late 2013 15" MBP (retina), 2TB Intel SSD, encrypted HFS+ boot volume.

 

[profcutter]

Hmm. The way I did it was to put the NVME in an external enclosure, then format the disk using disk utility. I then installed Catalina to that external drive, then transferred everything from a time machine backup to that drive. Then when I installed the drive internally in my computer, all was good, the data was there, and the machine was ready to go.
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Interestingly, the pauses my computer makes seem to be coming from Safari, and when I'm on macrumors! Doesn't seem to happen as much or at all if Safari is closed. Transfer speeds are still all over the map though.

 

[aix2019]

In case this is useful to someone... here is what happened when I tried to migrate my HFS-formatted Mojave volume to the latest security patch of either Mojave or Catalina.

• Both installers refused to install onto an HFS volume. Neither provided tools to convert the boot volume to APFS.
• The standard way to convert a boot volume to APFS is by booting into recovery mode and using Disk Utility. This didn't work for me:
  • Cmd-R at boot went straight into Internet Recovery (probably has something to do with my local recovery partition).
  • Internet Recovery's Disk Utility did not list my SSD at all.
• I then created a bootable Catalina installer on a USB stick and booted into that.
• The installer did have a Disk Utility, which listed my drive and offered an option to covert to APFS. I used that, but chose to no proceed to the install by cleanly exiting Disk Utility and cancelling the installation. This rendered my Mojave install unbootable (black screen with the international "computer says no" symbol in the middle).
• I then tried a full Catalina update from the USB stick. The "time remaining" estimate was all over the place, going up & down. Worryingly, at some point during the install the computer just powered down (I'm pretty sure this was not a power issue). I gave it a little while in case it was just rebooting (it wasn't) and powered it back up. After it booted up, the installation just carried on (much to my relief).
• The installation completed and I now have the latest Catalina on my laptop. The boot ROM did not update (still on 149.0.0.0.0).

A bit of a bumpy ride but all is well in the end. I then discovered that some of my key no-longer-updated apps refuse to start on Catalina, but that's a different story.

15" late 2013 MPB (retina) with Intel SSDPEKKW020T8 SSD.

 

[XMfreak]

Good day everyone!

I'm thinking of upgrading my ssd to a bigger capacity early 2015 rMBP 13".

Which is better in terms of power consumption/speed, Sabrent rocket or Intel 660p?

 

[cmwebdev]

I then discovered that some of my key no-longer-updated apps refuse to start on Catalina, but that's a different story.

15" late 2013 MPB (retina) with Intel SSDPEKKW020T8 SSD.

Ya that’s because the 32-bit apps no longer work.

 

[Earl Urley]

Good day everyone!

I'm thinking of upgrading my ssd to a bigger capacity early 2015 rMBP 13".

Which is better in terms of power consumption/speed, Sabrent rocket or Intel 660p?

The Power Consumption chart and the Performance chart on post #1 will let you decide for yourself

 

[nicobar]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this thread and in macrumors community.
I was wondering if anyone succeeded with Sabrent Rocket 1tb with Sintech Adapter (the one in the first page of this thread) with a Macbook pro retina 13" early 2015.
I use my macbook for work so I need to be sure everything works like hibernation, software updates, running windows in bootcamp (I saw there are some problems with workarounds) and Linux with reFind. Thank you guys

 

[nn88]

What is the best configuration of SSD and adapter and external enclosure for a Late 2013 MacBookPro11,1 ?

 

[nn88]

No problem but keep in mind I’m no expert on this.
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This brings me to a question I have. If you have your old drive in OWC’s Envoy Pro SSD Enclosure can you update the bootrom by booting from that and updating your system or will it only work with the OEM drive installed internally?

And on a related note, does Sintech or any other company make a an adapter that’s the reverse of the ones discussed in this thread? So it would allow you to install an Apple OEM SSD to a normal M.2 connector. Just curious if there’s a cheaper way than the Envoy Pro enclosure to make an external drive out of your OEM SSD.

Did you ever get an update as it if this boot rom bypass worked if you keep the original hard drive ???

 

[cwo]

Hi everyone,

I have one more question before I do the whole process on my Macbook Pro late 2013. I currently run Mojave 10.14.6 - would it be a good idea to update all the way to Catalina's latest update for BootROM's etc and then apply the new hard drive etc?

Thanks everyone for the advice!
Cheers,
cWo

Update - I've done the Catalina OS updates and reverted back to Mojave on my original SSD.
I was shocked how hot my Macbook Pro was running under Catalina - enough to have concerns of my computer overheating. This is something Apple needs to fix ASAP.....

But luckily was able to revert back to the old OS. The BootROM is now 158.0.0.0.0. I was trying to find a guide to the latest BootROM version with no luck. Just want this to confirm the updates are done.

Thanks!

 

[Aetles]

Update - I've done the Catalina OS updates and reverted back to Mojave on my original SSD.
I was shocked how hot my Macbook Pro was running under Catalina - enough to have concerns of my computer overheating. This is something Apple needs to fix ASAP.....

But luckily was able to revert back to the old OS. The BootROM is now 158.0.0.0.0. I was trying to find a guide to the latest BootROM version with no luck. Just want this to confirm the updates are done.

As someone else here already said; it seems like the security updates also updates Boot ROM without the need to upgrade the entire OS. I'm still on High Sierra on my late 2013 MacBook Pro 13" and I also have Boot ROM 158.0.0.0.0.

 

[gabording]

Hello everybody

I have a MacBook Air mid-2013 A1466. I want to upgrade the ssd to 512gb. I found a M2 NVME 512GB for 52€ in Aliexpress brand= KingSpec (see photo) Would that be compatible? I am aware of buying the "Sintech M.2 NVMe to 12+16 pin MacBook SSD Adapter". The listed NVME compatible (or tested) in the first post in this thread are a bit expensive for me. If the one (attached) is not compatible, do I have to be limited to the tested ones? are there more cheaper options?

Thanks a lot!!

 

[Olev]

Has anyone tried the latest security update that updates MacBookPro11,1 from 157.0.0.0.0 to 158.0.0.0.0?
Doing a check on the EFI update images one can see that in 158 there is a new GUID present DF8B8023-B6F7-4E2F-B672-051BF2CF183C. And that GUID contains strings:
NVMeCommandErrorQueue
NVMeCommandErrorOpcode

They changed "something" with NVMe, but what exacly I don't have the hardware to test.

Could it be they finally fixed hilbernation support?

 

[cmwebdev]

My system:
Mid 2015 MBP 15" with 512gb stock SSD

I just got the Sabrent Rocket 1TB from Amazon and it has 512 byte sector size. I plan on doing a clean install of Mojave to the drive and then migrating the user account to the new drive. I'm choosing not to clone it because when I switched from HFS to APFS my boot time was noticeably slower, and from what I read one of the only ways to fix it would be to do a clean install so I'm using this upgrade as my opportunity for this.

So my question is, since I'm doing a clean install and not cloning, is there any reason or advantages for me to convert the drive sector size from 512b to 4kb prior to the install?

Did you ever get an update as it if this boot rom bypass worked if you keep the original hard drive ???

I did not, sorry.

 

[07151129]

Has anyone tried the latest security update that updates MacBookPro11,1 from 157.0.0.0.0 to 158.0.0.0.0?
Doing a check on the EFI update images one can see that in 158 there is a new GUID present DF8B8023-B6F7-4E2F-B672-051BF2CF183C. And that GUID contains strings:
NVMeCommandErrorQueue
NVMeCommandErrorOpcode

They changed "something" with NVMe, but what exacly I don't have the hardware to test.

Could it be they finally fixed hilbernation support?

It looks like they recompiled all the drivers as TE instead of PE32, and the drivers are unchanged, but I don't know why the GUIDs are different now. It's much easier to test it in practice than try to understand what the code does.

 

[rolandopr]

Hey ! My internal ssd of my macbook pro retina mid 2014 (A1502) juste broke so I decided to buy a Samsung EVO 970. I did some researches and the only conclusion I've got at the moment is to update BootROM (mine is still on Yosemite) to High Sierra or later. But it seems that I can only do it from my original Apple ssd which is broken. Any idea how I can make my new Samsung ssd usable? Every answer is much appreciated. Cheers!

Someone on this MR forums posted that you can flash the boot rom firmware under Mavericks via terminal.

 

[07151129]

Someone on this MR forums posted that you can flash the boot rom firmware under Mavericks via terminal.

You can't flash the ROM because the flasher DXE reads it via EFI firmware volume protocol, which does not get installed properly for the firmware capsule stored on NVMe. It doesn't matter what OS is used.

 

[Earl Urley]

Has to be an AHCI SSD, as the original Apple OEM SSDs are for BootROM updates to work, if you can't get an original Apple OEM SSD, a Samsung SM951 AHCI will work.

 

[Carioquinha]

Hello everyone,
interesting situation:
I did the latest Catalina update on my nvme-adata installed on the mbpro 12,1 (early 2015). Worked quite good; no issues meanwhile or afterwards.
Positive effect: Booting the macbook (time until the apple appears) was significantly faster than before.
Afterwards I changed the harddrive back to the original apple ssd in order to update Boot-Rom - als without any issues.
Negative effect: Current Boot-Rom, current Catalina version - Booting takes more time again.

In general that does not bother me much - but is there an explanation for?
Thanks in adance!

 

[turbineseaplane]

I've got a Sabrent Rocket 2TB with a Sintech short in a 2015 15" right here (typing on it).

I'm curious - what apps and/or tests do you guys recommend I run to check out "how it's doing" in terms of power & performance so I can share with the group here?

Thx

 

[profcutter]

I've got a Sabrent Rocket 2TB with a Sintech short in a 2015 15" right here (typing on it).

I'm curious - what apps and/or tests do you guys recommend I run to check out "how it's doing" in terms of power & performance so I can share with the group here?

Thx

I’d run black magic speed test. Let it run several times and see if it continues at a high speed or starts to slow down after a few minutes. Are you running FileVault?