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

[gymboy]

@majonex I'm on a early 2015 MBA. I've read that people have successfully installed Samsung 960 Evo on MBA 13" Early 2015 and have got 1300/1300 with the right sintech adapter as well.

 

[majonex]

@majonex I'm on a early 2015 MBA. I've read that people have successfully installed Samsung 960 Evo on MBA 13" Early 2015 and have got 1300/1300 with the right sintech adapter as well.

@gymboy you are perfectly correct and my short term ram is getting bad! I posted even my results on my MacBook Air where i got almost max out of Intel 600p (600 and 1200 MB/s). Once I get the tape thing right I almost maxed out most drives. But the WD Black did not play good for some reason. Still there are differences in the controller. On the same drive I got 100 MB/s read, from late-2013 to 2014 MBP 15". Gotta get my hands on a 960 EVO and test in a 2015 MBP!

As for the MB Air 2013 it seems 1300 MB/s is the limit since I got 1200 with the Intel 600p.

 

[gymboy]

@gymboy you are perfectly correct and my short term ram is getting bad! I posted even my results on my MacBook Air where i got almost max out of Intel 600p (600 and 1200 MB/s). Once I get the tape thing right I almost maxed out most drives. But the WD Black did not play good for some reason. Still there are differences in the controller. On the same drive I got 100 MB/s read, from late-2013 to 2014 MBP 15". Gotta get my hands on a 960 EVO and test in a 2015 MBP!

As for the MB Air 2013 it seems 1300 MB/s is the limit since I got 1200 with the Intel 600p.

Yeah probably not going to go the route of the WD drive although I've seen some people using WD for their MBA, saw some sellers on ebay selling the WD Black with adapters as well - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/512GB-SS...965389?hash=item3d523143cd:g:2xgAAOSwFSxaKQV4

I think either I'm going for 1tb Intel P600 or the 500gb Samsung 960 Evo most probably for my 2015 MBA

 

[ykchau]

Where did you buy this adapter? You have no sleep issues at all? Not even wake from deep sleep? No pmset extras?

Hi, I bought the chenyang adapter directly from China, however, it should be the same thing as on amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/16pin-Macbook-M-Key-Convert-A1493/dp/B073F9LDD5 ) , I haven't set anything, I don't even partition to 4K, just use 512 byte sector, it works fine for me (I used it everyday), you can check my videos on this post before

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-20#post-25541555

 

[gilles_polysoft]

I am so confused. My main problem is still wake from deep sleep. The only I solved this was to lock the sleepimage file so that is is not writeable. No matter what I do this file gets created to when I lock it it works.

Hi,
I see you had lots of issue which could have been avoid if you had from the begining followed the recommandations of puting insulation tape at the back of the adapter and setting standby mode to 0...

Some problems already have been treated, you may read post post #122 which presents a table of compatibility, post #508 which tries to resume things as of today.

On your MacBook air 6,1 the BootRom doesn't allow the Mac to read the sleepimage from a NVMe drive at wake from standby mode.
So you have to disable hibernation : your standbymode has to be set to 0. Just type the following command :
sudo pmset -g standby 0
This setting stays even after a SMC reset.

Samsung EVO is overkill for your machine. If you tape correctly the top of the Sintech adapter you will get 4-Lane and almost 700 MB/s write, 1200 MB/s read. You will not get more from an expensive Samsung EVO. For a 2015 MBP I would invest in the EVO.

Samsung SSD may be overkill, the biggest problem is they still present issues : kernel panics on huge file transfers.

Every single NVMe SSD drive which have been tested here all work (except SM981 maybe a firmware too young...)
All NVMe drives offer decent speed and have 4x lanes (all 2013 and up Macs have PCIe 4x lanes connexion, except mac mini Late 2014 and iMac 14,4).

I think the need of SSD upgrade in Apple Laptop is not a problem of not having enough speed... it's more often having not enough capacity so those NVMe upgrades are a good thing in terms of price.

As for speed, you can see post #295 with comparaison of speed of different models on a rMBP 2015

At the present, every of the following SSD can be recommended with a properly insulated Sintech adapter :
- Intel P600 (fast enough, cheap, only 512B so only 10.13)
- WD Black (fast enough, cheap, can be formated in 512B or 4K for Sierra compatibility)
- Toshiba XG3/XG4 (fast, affordable, can be formated in 512B or 4K for Sierra compatibility)
- Kingston KC1000 (fast, a little expensive, can be formated in 512B or 4K for Sierra compatibility)

As for the Samsung 960 Evo / Pro, I would still not recommend them until a macOS update make they work without repeated kernel panics

I think the deep sleep crash comes from either not being able to read from the deepsleep image or OS X not being able to write correctly to it. So for now the only option that works is to write-lock the deepsleep file. I have no better luck with hibernatemode 25 so I set it back to 0. Maybe this has to do with Intel 600p. Don't have a Samsung EVO at the moment but I had to solve it the same way with a Samsung SM961. I am waiting for an adapter so I can upgrade the 600p to see if it makes any difference.

This is not related to any brand /model of SSD here, this is related with reading the hibernation file on a NVMe drive.
No 2013-2014 mac is able to read the hibernation file from any NVMe SSD at wake up, even a genuine NVMe Apple drive. The same models of Mac with same Sintech adapter and AHCI SSD don't have this issue and can resume from standby (hibernation).
[doublepost=1515110416][/doublepost]

Update: MBA 201


MBA 2014: works with kapton tape on the sintech adapter (i'll post pic of my taped SSD now) but after a deep sleep it reboots. Now I try to disable the option to shut off the drive in the energy saving settings pane.
MBP 2013: I will try another time with kapton tape.

Where do you put the tape layers? Under the adapter? I also read in this thread that some people have added some sort of foam UNDER the adapter. Which type of material is that?
This one is the new version, with black PCB. I have more than 30pcs of that:

http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

In the back of the PCB is written: M2 NGFF as 2013-207 macbook SSD.

Hi monofase,

It's weird Sintech send you those new adapters. I'll order one to see if I have same problems as you.
In the mean time as you're in italy, I can send you from france a known to work sintech "v2" green adapter so that we can make cross tests.

The tape needs to insulate the pins on the back of the sintech adapter from the shield of the femelle MLB connector.

Also, have you check your BootRom versions ? reset the SMC ?
Again, the 960Evo is not at present the best choice, as of 10.13.2 there are still issues.

Hi,
I have been reading this thread for almost the whole day today with the hope I can find a solution to the problem I am experiencing, Samsung EVO 960 250GB SSD showing PCIe x2 (Link Width) instead of x4 in my mostly successful upgrade of Early 2015 13" MacBook Air. Apparently I found no one having the same problem. I know for fact that the Apple SSD I replaced had 4 lane storage interface. So it cannot be right this EVO 960 becomes 2 lane... View attachment 744520 View attachment 744521

BTW I have the sintech adapter that most people on this thread use.

@gilles_polysoft, I appreciate all the helpful info you posted. But I seem to be an odd man with the low disk read/write speed. Any idea of what I did wrong or didn't do? I am still waiting for the Kapton tape for one.

I appreciate others' tip / suggestion as well. Happy New Year!

Hello diginside
thanks for your greetings

The first thing you have to do is to put insulation tape at the back of the adapter, being it kapton tape or any insulation tape... having 2x lanes instead of 4x is a clear sign of a problem of insulation to my knowledge.
We have many users on this thread, having reported that insulation tape resolved the 2x lanes problem.
The key is to have a little thickness, so that the pins of the sintech adapter don't touch the shield and even stay far from it..

Also, I'm sorry but you have a 960 Evo which still has issues of kernel panics, reboots, as of today...
In top of that, your 960 Evo has a firmware revision 3 (revision 3B7QCXE7) which is knowns to have bugs...
Samsung hasn't yet published the expected "4B7QCXE7" firmware and you can't step back to 2B7QCXE7

 

[monofase]

Hi,

Hi monofase,

It's weird Sintech send you those new adapters. I'll order one to see if I have same problems as you.
In the mean time as you're in italy, I can send you from france a known to work sintech "v2" green adapter so that we can make cross tests.

The tape needs to insulate the pins on the back of the sintech adapter from the shield of the femelle MLB connector.

Also, have you check your BootRom versions ? reset the SMC ?
Again, the 960Evo is not at present the best choice, as of 10.13.2 there are still issues.

Hi gilles_polysoft, for me it's fine so we can cross test the adapters. I PM you my office address.
I put the tape in the right way, because I always see 4 lanes under NVME settings.

SMC always reset!
Versione Boot ROM: MBP121.0171.B00

Tomorrow I will get my hands on a similar machine, and an Intel 600p 1TB drive and post here the results.

In the meanwhile the machine with 960 Evo is behaving very well. No kernel panics, no sleep problems. Closed the lid for a full day and the Mac woke up correctly.

Thanks!

 

[No_Good]

In the meanwhile the machine with 960 Evo is behaving very well. No kernel panics, no sleep problems. Closed the lid for a full day and the Mac woke up correctly.

I use the new adapter 3 weeks:
- there is no blinking folder after sleep;
- sometimes, after a deep sleep, I hear two startup tone. And long boot time.

 

[monofase]

I use the new adapter 3 weeks:
- there is no blinking folder after sleep;
- sometimes, after a deep sleep, I hear two startup tone. And long boot time.

New adapter with black PCB?
Which SSD?
I have sometimes the blinking folder when I restart the machine. But the boot time is very FAST!

 

[No_Good]

New adapter with black PCB?
Which SSD?

1) Green (right):

2) Samsung EVO 960:

"blinking folder" - Very often it happened with the old adapter.

 

[gymboy]

Hi @gilles_polysoft

Many thanks for your input on which drives are usable and recommended at the moment.

I'm on a Early 2015 MBA. Do you think that a Toshiba XG5 would be feasible?

Thanks!

 

[monofase]

Hi there,
MBP 13" 2015, Intel 600p 1TB, Black sintech adapter. Works OUT OF THE BOX! Just put some Kapton tape and NO PROBLEMS.
Reboot OK,
Sleep OK.

SMD reset OK
Now trying deep sleep.

Speed test: write 600 mb/s read 1200 mb/s
Samsung doubles the write speed but the boot process il slower. I will attach here a video comparison.
[doublepost=1515271109][/doublepost]

 

[Tiberiu S]

Hi. I have a MBA early 2015. My internal ssd broke and I bought an Samsung 960 Evo and the adapter. I have an external HDD with High Sierra installed and when I boot from it, I can see the internal hdd (960 Evo). With an usb stick with High Sierra, I copied the image on the 960 Evo, but it doesn't boot from it. Also I tried to copy from time machine, but it's not booting from 960 Evo. I don't have any firmware update to it. Does anybody know what is wrong? Thank you!

 

[Audit13]

@Tiberiu S , my early 2015 Macbook Air's bootrom version is MBA71.0171.B00. Did you install High Sierra onto your Air with the original SSD inside before installing the Samsung?

 

[Tiberiu S]

@Tiberiu S , my early 2015 Macbook Air's bootrom version is MBA71.0171.B00. Did you install High Sierra onto your Air with the original SSD inside before installing the Samsung?

No, I didn't. Is any chance to upgrade the bootroom from an external HDD? I don't have an working internal SSD

 

[gymboy]

@Tiberiu S I think you'd have to update it prior with your existing SSD previously to be able to use a NVMe drive

 

[Audit13]

No, I didn't. Is any chance to upgrade the bootroom from an external HDD? I don't have an working internal SSD

I'm not sure if you can update it using some other method.

A drive that can be formatted with 4k instead of 512 will work with Sierra and High Sierra. The Samsung 960 evo will only work in High Sierra.

 

[Tiberiu S]

I'm not sure if you can update it using some other method.

A drive that can be formatted with 4k instead of 512 will work with Sierra and High Sierra. The Samsung 960 evo will only work in High Sierra.

It is formated, I can see it from High Sierra if I boot from external HDD. But I don't have an original working ssd, that's why I can't do the bootroom update from it. So is it any chance to update the bootroom from an external HDD?

 

[monofase]

It is formated, I can see it from High Sierra if I boot from external HDD. But I don't have an original working ssd, that's why I can't do the bootroom update from it. So is it any chance to update the bootroom from an external HDD?

I think is not possible. You need to update first to High Sierra using the original Apple SSD.
At the moment there's no way to manually update the Boot Rom

 

[Tiberiu S]

I think is not possible. You need to update first to High Sierra using the original Apple SSD.
At the moment there's no way to manually update the Boot Rom

ok. Thank you. I will try to find an Apple SSD for update.

 

[tensevensun]

Just wanting to confirm if I've read everything correct up until now and understand the procedure.

1. Get sintech adapter
2. buy samsung 960 evo
3. update late 2013 pro retina to the latest high sierra version
4. install new internal ssd

What I'm planning on doing is to replace the old internal with a 1tb 960 evo and do a clean install and splitting the drive in half, high sierra and bootcamp (windows10).

Am I on the right track?

Thanks

 

[Earl Urley]

Just wanted to mention that Kapton tape is engineered for remaining stable over a wide temperature range, it is used in space-going electronics and is uniquely suited for electronics shielding.

I would trust Kapton over some unknown no-name tape material that might melt if the temp gets too high (and my 960 EVO does get hot especially with large file transfers) or become brittle if exposed to low temps.

 

[Audit13]

@tensevensun, the steps you outlined are correct and are the same steps I followed to install an Intel 600p into an early 2015 MBA. I also recommend applying Kapton tape on adapter.

Some users are having issues with the 960 EVO on their MBP and MBA such as kernel panics and sleep issues.

 

[monofase]

Just wanting to confirm if I've read everything correct up until now and understand the procedure.

1. Get sintech adapter
2. buy samsung 960 evo
3. update late 2013 pro retina to the latest high sierra version
4. install new internal ssd

What I'm planning on doing is to replace the old internal with a 1tb 960 evo and do a clean install and splitting the drive in half, high sierra and bootcamp (windows10).

Am I on the right track?

Thanks

Samsung 960 evo actually works, but, in my case I have some reboot issues (blinking folder upon reboot) so I would recommend to buy Intel 600p 1TB that I tested for 2 days on a client's machine and it WORKS, obviovsly with proper kapton tape.

 

[gymboy]

Samsung 960 evo actually works, but, in my case I have some reboot issues (blinking folder upon reboot) so I would recommend to buy Intel 600p 1TB that I tested for 2 days on a client's machine and it WORKS, obviovsly with proper kapton tape.

Do u have a picture of how we are supposed to do the taping?

 

[idntknw]

Please forgive the lame question but what is the advantage going this route as opposed to replacing the drive with a standard SSD?