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

[Audit13]

thanks, supposing I did want to patch my Macbook, are there any step by step guides available? I looked at the main post and an alternative was to use a MattCard, but I am not sure how I can write the correct stuff to these

There is no way I know of to flash a patched bootrom except to use something like the Matt card or other EFI programmer. You would take the bootrom, add the NVMe drivers, and flash the bootrom. There are probably other modifications that need to be done too. I've never done this because I'm okay with the Apple 256 in my late 2013 Pro 13".

 

[Waughy]

Checked for the 2014 MBP on sleep issues.
Charged it yesterday evening, left it to sleep and this morning tapped the spacebar and it lit up straight away.

So no issues at all? I'm looking at doing my 2014 13" MBP, but unsure about it with the sleep issues and battery drain. Still deciding which NVMe I'd go with if doing it that way, or whether to play it safe and go with a used 512Gb or 1TB Apple SSD, Samsung branded one of course.

 

[Audit13]

So no issues at all? I'm looking at doing my 2014 13" MBP, but unsure about it with the sleep issues and battery drain. Still deciding which NVMe I'd go with if doing it that way, or whether to play it safe and go with a used 512Gb or 1TB Apple SSD, Samsung branded one of course.

The 2013 and 2014 Pros and Airs won't support hibernation mode 25. Other forms of sleep may be fine but these sleep modes will still drain the battery with a NVMe drive. Disabling sleep completely can cause kernel panics if the battery drains completely before the ram contents are saved to a page file.

 

[dcrosb123]

So I've read a good bit of the thread and the first post but I'm still unsure which NVMe SSD to buy. I have an early 2015 Retina 13" MBP (MacBookPro12,1). I'm running Catalina and boot rom 190.0.0.0.0. I'm most concerned about reliability and battery life, not the highest speed possible. Cost is also a factor.

I was looking at the Sabrent Rocket but those seem fairly expensive right now and there are potential thermal issues? Also looked at Transcend 110s but there were some reviews complaining about reliability.

Audit13 I see you seem to have quite a bit of experience replacing these. Any thoughts as to what you'd buy today given the factors I discussed? Any other thoughts? I'm looking for either ~500gb or 1tb drives FYI. Thanks in advance this thread has been really helpful.

 

[Audit13]

So I've read a good bit of the thread and the first post but I'm still unsure which NVMe SSD to buy. I have an early 2015 Retina 13" MBP (MacBookPro12,1). I'm running Catalina and boot rom 190.0.0.0.0. I'm most concerned about reliability and battery life, not the highest speed possible. Cost is also a factor.

I was looking at the Sabrent Rocket but those seem fairly expensive right now and there are potential thermal issues? Also looked at Transcend 110s but there were some reviews complaining about reliability.

Audit13 I see you seem to have quite a bit of experience replacing these. Any thoughts as to what you'd buy today given the factors I discussed? Any other thoughts? I'm looking for either ~500gb or 1tb drives FYI. Thanks in advance this thread has been really helpful.

The NVMe drives I installed were all low speed drives because they went into the MacBook Air which only has a PCIe 2.0 bus with 4 lanes.

Getting high speed drives for the 13" MacBooks will also have their speed limited by the 2.0 bus.

All this being said, I went for the cheapest drive I could find. All the drives I used were as fast or a bit faster than the Apple drives they replaced. They were fine in everyday use for email, surfing, and office apps. These MacBooks were not being used for larger file transfers, reads, or writes. They all experienced battery drain that was about 10% to 15% higher than the Apple drives but the savings compensated for the battery drop.

 

[Waughy]

The 2013 and 2014 Pros and Airs won't support hibernation mode 25. Other forms of sleep may be fine but these sleep modes will still drain the battery with a NVMe drive. Disabling sleep completely can cause kernel panics if the battery drains completely before the ram contents are saved to a page file.

So the advice from dinecko in the link below is no use to me? I set hibernate to 25 about a year ago after reading the post and it seemed to make a difference, whereas with it set to 3, it hammered my battery when sleeping. 3 is safe sleep, where the ram stays powered for fast wakeup, which I guess is where the battery drain is occurring. Or was it changing the delays to 60? Actually I need to check again and see if it's still 25 for hibernate, or if I put it back to 3, can't remember now and I won't be home for another 8 hrs. I've never really looked into this too deeply, so just thought changing to 25 didthe trick in reducing my battery drain. Guess it hasn't.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8553128?answerId=33954586022&page=6

I'm only really looking to increase storage so I can have my photos on my MBP in full res, so they're there, in iCloud, and in my TM and CCC backups, so if anything goes wrong with any of those, I'll still have my photos. 256Gb just isn't enough to allow that. Currently my MBP is set to optimise the photos, so the TM and CCC backups won't be saving the full res files, which only leaves iCloud. I do have another external drive where my photos are backed up, but it can be annoying making sure it's up to date when there's a few thousand pics/vids.

Looks like the Adata XPG SX8200 might be worth a look. 512Gb or 1TB for $AU165/$AU289 respectively, as opposed to an Apple used SSD 512Gb SSUAX for $AU300 or SSUBX for $AU339. The Sintech adaptor is about $AU25.

 

[Luki1979]

Bootroom on 11,1 is now 160.0.0.0.0
Not sure if it's affects anything as I have Apple SSD again.

 

[Audit13]

So the advice from dinecko in the link below is no use to me? I set hibernate to 25 about a year ago after reading the post and it seemed to make a difference, whereas with it set to 3, it hammered my battery when sleeping. 3 is safe sleep, where the ram stays powered for fast wakeup, which I guess is where the battery drain is occurring. Or was it changing the delays to 60? Actually I need to check again and see if it's still 25 for hibernate, or if I put it back to 3, can't remember now and I won't be home for another 8 hrs. I've never really looked into this too deeply, so just thought changing to 25 didthe trick in reducing my battery drain. Guess it hasn't.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8553128?answerId=33954586022&page=6

I'm only really looking to increase storage so I can have my photos on my MBP in full res, so they're there, in iCloud, and in my TM and CCC backups, so if anything goes wrong with any of those, I'll still have my photos. 256Gb just isn't enough to allow that. Currently my MBP is set to optimise the photos, so the TM and CCC backups won't be saving the full res files, which only leaves iCloud. I do have another external drive where my photos are backed up, but it can be annoying making sure it's up to date when there's a few thousand pics/vids.

Looks like the Adata XPG SX8200 might be worth a look. 512Gb or 1TB for $AU165/$AU289 respectively, as opposed to an Apple used SSD 512Gb SSUAX for $AU300 or SSUBX for $AU339. The Sintech adaptor is about $AU25.

Hibernate mode 25 only works with 2013 and 2014 MacBook Pro and Air if the MacBook is using a original Apple SSD.

If you use hibernate mode 25 with a 2013 or 2014 Pro or Air using a NVMe drive, you will experience kernel panics when the MacBook wakes from sleep.

Hibernate mode 25 writes the ram contents to a page file on the SSD. When you wake the MacBook, the contents are restored from the SSD's page file. With a NVMe drive, the page file will not restore properly, cause a kernel panic, and require a cold boot.

When using a NVMe drive and you have finished using the drive, shut it down. This will necessitate and cold boot but it's better than having constant kernel panics.

If you are looking at the Data 8200, look for the 8200Pro if it's not much more. I believe the 8200Pro replaced the 8200.

You could also look at cheaper drives like I did. I have used the Intel 600p, HP ex900, Lexar nm610, and Intel 760p. These are cheap and do the job. They aren't the fastest but they felt no slower than the original 128 GB Apple SSD and battery drain is not too bad. I used these in 2015 Airs so hibernate mode 25 was not a problem.

 

[Earl Urley]

I updated my 2014 rMBP with the Security Update 2020-003 from Apple with Inland Premium 1 TB and Sintech adapter installed, and it updated my BootROM to 160.0.0.0.

This happened last update, but I thought that was a fluke because normally non-Apple NVMe drives won't update the BootROM..

 

[Audit13]

I updated my 2014 rMBP with the Security Update 2020-003 from Apple with Inland Premium 1 TB and Sintech adapter installed, and it updated my BootROM to 160.0.0.0.

This happened last update, but I thought that was a fluke because normally non-Apple NVMe drives won't update the BootROM..

This is great news. Thanks for sharing. Was your MBP a 13" or 15"?

 

[Earl Urley]

15", think it's the entry level model 2014, no discrete GPU

No editing or funny tricks, but it's still on ECFM 12.2 firmware.. no update since I don't want to jinx it and it's never been publicized what the 'fixes' are between 12.2 and current 12.3 other than some sporadic reports of increased speed.

Fair warning, it's one of the 'original' Phison E12 SSDs with the big chunk (1 GB) of DRAM and double-sided NANDs. If memory serves, the current selling ones are single sided but the DRAM has been pared down to only 512 MB? I have this feeling the newer E12e based SSDs won't do the update.

It's annoying that a Samsung 860 EVO NVMe with ST adapter installed in an Early 2015 11-inch MacBook Air refuses to run the BootROM update; at present to get the BootROM updated on that machine, I have to switch in an old AHCI Samsung SM 951 to get it done.

 

[Waughy]

Hibernate mode 25 only works with 2013 and 2014 MacBook Pro and Air if the MacBook is using a original Apple SSD.

If you use hibernate mode 25 with a 2013 or 2014 Pro or Air using a NVMe drive, you will experience kernel panics when the MacBook wakes from sleep.

Hibernate mode 25 writes the ram contents to a page file on the SSD. When you wake the MacBook, the contents are restored from the SSD's page file. With a NVMe drive, the page file will not restore properly, cause a kernel panic, and require a cold boot.

When using a NVMe drive and you have finished using the drive, shut it down. This will necessitate and cold boot but it's better than having constant kernel panics.

If you are looking at the Data 8200, look for the 8200Pro if it's not much more. I believe the 8200Pro replaced the 8200.

You could also look at cheaper drives like I did. I have used the Intel 600p, HP ex900, Lexar nm610, and Intel 760p. These are cheap and do the job. They aren't the fastest but they felt no slower than the original 128 GB Apple SSD and battery drain is not too bad. I used these in 2015 Airs so hibernate mode 25 was not a problem.

Thanks for all that info, it makes more sense now.

The 8200 I'm looking at is the pro. I was erring on the side of caution with the sleep/battery drain, but I don't use the laptop a lot, and not every day, so shutting it down probably isn't a bad idea. The other option would be to set hibernate to 3, but I'm sure that'll chew the battery, so not worth doing. I'll give it some more thought, and have another look at different drives. I may even just go the 512Gb and save some money over the 1TB. While I need more than 256Gb, I don't think I'll need more than 512 for a while. I'll probably be looking at upgrading the MBP by then.

 

[sanfip]

hi, I installed sintech adapter with Adata SX8200Pro 2TB on my Macbook Pro 15" Mid 2014 512 SSD, with Mojave installed.

When the system first starts, it often booting itself after more than 1/2 hour of sleep. but after reading this forum and I changed sudo pm set 0,
sudo pm autopoweroff 0,
sudo pm set hibernate to 3,
it looks like the change succeeded in making my system stable.

Only the drive selection for the first time is still orange, not gray. I Installed windows 10 and run well.
maybe my experience can be referenced everyone in this forum.

 

[Berlinsky]

FYI: So I updated my MacBook Pro 11,4 (15/2015) with the latest Mojave Security Update 2020-03 and for the first time my firmware got updated to 198 too! So no more exchanging the SSD for this needed.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

I updated my MBP 15 mid-2014 with a 1TB Silicon Power drive + short Sintech adaptor a couple of weeks ago.

Today, I installed Catalina 10.15.5 update and it did update the BootRom to 160.0.0.0

 

[paultman]

FYI: So I updated my MacBook Pro 11,4 (15/2015) with the latest Mojave Security Update 2020-03 and for the first time my firmware got updated to 198 too! So no more exchanging the SSD for this needed.

Does not appear to be the case in Catalina. I did the latest upgrade, and although some setting seem to be upgraded, the EFI is still at 197. I tried rebooting, still the same. Not sure if a prom or smc reset will help. Weird that apple would upgrade non apple drives on Mojave but not Catalina.

Anyone else do the latest upgrade who is using a non-apple ssd? what's your EFI version?

Btw, I'm using a Sabrent Rocket 1tb ssd, and as you can see from the screenshot, 2015 15" 2.2ghz

 

[Audit13]

FYI: So I updated my MacBook Pro 11,4 (15/2015) with the latest Mojave Security Update 2020-03 and for the first time my firmware got updated to 198 too! So no more exchanging the SSD for this needed.

Thanks for the information.

My 2015 MacBook Airs started taking bootrom updates starting with the second or third release of Mojave. I think other members reported the same thing in this thread with their 2015 Pro. It's always good to have confirmation from other members.

 

[foxfoobar]

Ok, so i updated to 10.13.6 on my Late 2013 15" and the firmware got updated from 159.0.0.0 to 160.0.0.0 w/o apple SSD (was a .scap file). After it rebooted it took a few seconds to boot from SSD which already showed that the firmware needed repatching/reflashing, which i did and everything's fine so far. So, still no love from apple regarding sleep/hibernation issue.

 

[Earl Urley]

One more confirmation.. a Late 2013 13-inch rMBP with Sintech adapter and Samsung 960 EVO 500 GB NVMe, successfully updated to BootROM 160.0.0.0 with macOS 10.15.5 update obtained via Software Update.

Makes you wonder if it wasn't legions of users with third party SSD drives constantly complaining to Apple that they weren't able to get their BootROMs updated that made them throw in the towel. Nahhhhhh....

It really is such a petty restriction when you think about it, well you didn't buy our super overpriced upgrade so no updated BootROM for you..

 

[desperex]

This is great news. Thanks for sharing. Was your MBP a 13" or 15"?

Don't see great news here, Apple updates ROM with a version without NVME support.
Besides, Gatekeeper and MRT were not updated, don't know if it's related to patched ROM.

 

[Audit13]

Don't see great news here, Apple updates ROM with a version without NVME support.
Besides, Gatekeeper and MRT were not updated, don't know if it's related to patched ROM.

Not having to install the original Apple SSD to get a bootrom update is great news in my book. Are you running a MacBook with a NVMe drive?

Gatekeeper and MRT would be updated if a MacBook was not running a patched rom and original Apple SSD?

I'm asking because I don't know the answer.

I'm not surprised that Apple hasn't updated their bootrom to support NVMe drives. If they did and problems arose due to NMVe-related problems, they might be inundated with repair requests.

It's not uncommon in my experience that some Apple techs will not work on a machine that isn't 100% original.

 

[Earl Urley]

Right after the update was applied and I booted into the new system, I ran SilentKnight and used it to update Gatekeeper, MRT, and XProtect to the latest versions.

SilentKnight can be found on this page:

SilentKnight, Skint, silnite, LockRattler, SystHist & Scrub

Skint – a watchful eye on security settings Updated! Checks key security settings and features including SIP, SSV, Gatekeeper, XProtect, XProtect Remediator and macOS security updates. Runs a…

eclecticlight.co

I dunno what you're trying to say, that all three won't update with a non Apple SSD? Cause that's a patently false statement considering I did just that with SilentKnight.

SilentKnight also checks your BootROM revision against a published list that's updated right after new BootROMs are pushed out.

 

[paultman]

Right after the update was applied and I booted into the new system, I ran SilentKnight and used it to update Gatekeeper, MRT, and XProtect to the latest versions.

SilentKnight can be found on this page:

SilentKnight, Skint, silnite, LockRattler, SystHist & Scrub

Skint – a watchful eye on security settings Updated! Checks key security settings and features including SIP, SSV, Gatekeeper, XProtect, XProtect Remediator and macOS security updates. Runs a…

eclecticlight.co

I dunno what you're trying to say, that all three won't update with a non Apple SSD? Cause that's a patently false statement considering I did just that with SilentKnight.

SilentKnight also checks your BootROM revision against a published list that's updated right after new BootROMs are pushed out.

In my case, 2015 15" mbp, Sabrent nvme, catalina 15.5.5, the efi/bootrom was not updated. I'm still on 197. Has anyone on catalina 15.5.5 and a non-apple ssd had their bootrom automatically upgraded?

 

[Waughy]

512Gb Adata SX8200 Pro ordered. Also got an adaptor that looks identical to the Sintech, so hopefully it works as well. Was the only local option without waiting 2-3 weeks for the Sintech. Going into a 2014 MBP 13" with the Core i7 3.0GHz CPU and 16Gb RAM, so hopefully a nice little performance boost to go with the extra storage.

Saved $AU140 over the cheapest Apple 512Gb SSD available (SSUBX model), so should help me cope with the extra battery drain during use. I'll test it with hibernate set to 3 but will most likely just shut it down after each use. A shame Apple never looked into a solution for the 2013-14 units.

Anyone that has fitted the Adata NVMe, did you use the heat sink that comes with it as well?

 

[Earl Urley]

So far across the Internet, I have seen the following SSDs update their BootROM with either the 2020-003 Security Update or 10.15.5..

- 1 TB OWC Aura Pro (ugh)
- 500 GB Samsung EVO Plus
- 1 TB Silicon Power

add those to the 1 TB Inland Premium and 500 GB 960 EVO..