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

[adalbertoma]

Ive seen a few install pics with it used, but also read a review on Amazon where a user had to remove it because they claimed temps were getting pretty high with it on. I might leave it off and see how performance goes. Was just seeing if anyone had tested it out already and could give some insight into what’s better for it.

Adata XPG SX8200 480GB SSD Working Perfectly on my 2015 MacBook Pro 15”

I have Plextor M9Pe with heatsink on installed on my 15" 2015 MBP. Heatsink on and no difference in temperature. Has been running just fine for around 6 months now.

Changing topics, with the above drive, my bootrom did not update automatically when I installed the latest updates. I am still running 194.0.0.0.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Hello, the P1 seems like a good choice. The Intel 760p and Intel 660p seem liked good choices too although I'm not sure that they are readily available.

If you want proper hibernation, you will have to flash your MacBook worth a modified bootrom.

People noted that their 2014 MacBooks accepted a bootrom update with a NVMe drive inside. Maybe these MacBooks now work with hibernation like the 2015 MacBooks?

I've just tested hibernation mode 25 and the MBP 2014 froze at the login screen. I had to hold the power button for a while to turn it off. After I turned it on again, I heard two bells before the login screen showed up. I believe after the first bell it tried to load the disk image and failed.

 

[Audit13]

I've just tested hibernation mode 25 and the MBP 2014 froze at the login screen. I had to hold the power button for a while to turn it off. After I turned it on again, I heard two bells before the login screen showed up. I believe after the first bell it tried to load the disk image and failed.

Thank you for trying this. I appreciate it because a friend of mine has a 128 GB Apple drive in a late 2013 13" retina. She wants a larger drive so I'll tell her she must shut down if she will not be using it for an extended period of time.

 

[Audit13]

Installed the 10.15.5 supplemental update on a mid-2014 13" Pro with an original Apple SSD and the bootrom did not change from 160.0.0.0.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Installed the 10.15.5 supplemental update on a mid-2014 13" Pro with an original Apple SSD and the bootrom did not change from 160.0.0.0.

I've learned that only T2 Macs received an update (BridgeOS firmware).

 

[Audit13]

I've learned that only T2 Macs received an update (BridgeOS firmware).

Thank you. I didn't to miss an update that others received.

 

[Waughy]

Installed the 10.15.5 supplemental update on a mid-2014 13" Pro with an original Apple SSD and the bootrom did not change from 160.0.0.0.

Just updated my mid 2014 MBP also, BootROM unchanged.

 

[illya-u]

Hi all, I'm really new here but I need your help. I recently upgraded to a 500 GB NVME ssd with an adapter. And now the system won't let me boot from it. So I was looking around and found this thread. Then I actually got myself an EFI programmer because I now know I need to update the EFI to get it to work. And Today I actually succeeded with desoldering the EFI chip from my MacBook air mid-2013 and flashing it with an EFI from somewhere online. But sadly that one is password locked for some reason. I still have a back up of the original and I can flash it back to the EFI but that won't let me use the SSD. Is there a place where I can find a newer EFI version for my MacBook or is there a guide on how to modify it so it will see my NVME SSD?

Thanks in advance!

 

[techinfant]

I stumbled upon this thread while researching SSD upgrades for a prospective MacBook Pro (13 or 15") of late-2013 to 2015 vintage. I'm new to this, so wanted to make sure that my understanding thus far is accurate, viz.

• The late-2013 through 2014 MBPs rival their 2015 counterparts in performance when outfitted with NVMe SSDs
• A Sintech adapter and a Sabrent Rocket or Adata SX8200 Pro SSD would be safe bets on performance

I also had two related questions:

• What are the best value NVMe SSD these days from a performance / reliability / capacity standpoint?
• Are there any MBP/MBA models that are particularly prone to overheating after this upgrade?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Audit13]

Hi all, I'm really new here but I need your help. I recently upgraded to a 500 GB NVME ssd with an adapter. And now the system won't let me boot from it. So I was looking around and found this thread. Then I actually got myself an EFI programmer because I now know I need to update the EFI to get it to work. And Today I actually succeeded with desoldering the EFI chip from my MacBook air mid-2013 and flashing it with an EFI from somewhere online. But sadly that one is password locked for some reason. I still have a back up of the original and I can flash it back to the EFI but that won't let me use the SSD. Is there a place where I can find a newer EFI version for my MacBook or is there a guide on how to modify it so it will see my NVME SSD?

Thanks in advance!

Was the MacBook running a High Sierra bootrom before you removed the chip?

 

[planteater]

I'm jumping into the game. Thanks for much for this informative thread.

I ordered the Sabrent 2T Rocket, Sintech NGFF for my mid 2015 MBP. I'm so tired of living with 256 GB and external drives. Hope I don't experience lower battery life, but if I do it's a good trade off.

 

[Waughy]

I'm jumping into the game. Thanks for much for this informative thread.

I ordered the Sabrent 2T Rocket, Sintech NGFF for my mid 2015 MBP. I'm so tired of living with 256 GB and external drives. Hope I don't experience lower battery life, but if I do it's a good trade off.

Lower battery life is pretty much guaranteed, but with your MBP being a 2015 model, hibernate will work as advertised, which will help reduce the effect the NVMe will have on the battery between charges.

 

[JabaWaki]

Hi, guys.

I want to upgrade my Macbook Pro mid-2014 from 128 SSD to Micron 2200V 512GB M.2 NVMe Gen 3 x4. (MTFHDBA512TCK).
I tried everything but can't figure it out how to make it work.
First - I have installed High Sierra on the new SSD via USB adapter and that made possible to see the SSD into the Option when I boot as internal, BUT keeps rebooting on startup.

I can't see the new SSD in Disk Utility.

1. I have a M.2 NGFF M-Key adapter + a M.2 PCIe NVMe adapter
2. Also, crsutil is Disable.

Can someone advise me on this, please?

 

[Audit13]

Hi, guys.

I want to upgrade my Macbook Pro mid-2014 from 128 SSD to Micron 2200V 512GB M.2 NVMe Gen 3 x4. (MTFHDBA512TCK).
I tried everything but can't figure it out how to make it work.
First - I have installed High Sierra on the new SSD via USB adapter and that made possible to see the SSD into the Option when I boot as internal, BUT keeps rebooting on startup.

I can't see the new SSD in Disk Utility.

1. I have a M.2 NGFF M-Key adapter + a M.2 PCIe NVMe adapter
2. Also, crsutil is Disable.

Can someone advise me on this, please?

Looks like your MacBook is running a 157.0.0.0 bootrom which should work with a NVMe drive.

Did you put the drive inside the MacBook, boot using Internet recovery, go into disk utlity, view all devices, and partition the drive?

 

[JabaWaki]

Looks like your MacBook is running a 157.0.0.0 bootrom which should work with a NVMe drive.

Did you put the drive inside the MacBook, boot using Internet recovery, go into disk utlity, view all devices, and partition the drive?

With the SSD inside, I can't find it in the Disk Utility, the same result with Time Machine restore, Terminal diskutil list or Internet recovery - all the same, can't find the SSD.

I can only see it on restart > Options key, but keeps on booting and getting the error message "something went wrong press any key. ..."

Also, I have no partition, Do I have to make a partition?

 

[Audit13]

With the SSD inside, I can't find it in the Disk Utility, the same result with Time Machine restore, Terminal diskutil list or Internet recovery - all the same, can't find the SSD.

I can only see it on restart > Options key, but keeps on booting and getting the error message "something went wrong press any key. ..."

Also, I have no partition, Do I have to make a partition?

Did you try disk utility from a Catalina installer with the Micron inside?

Did you try deleting creating partitions on a Windows or Linux machine?

 

[JabaWaki]

Did you try disk utility from a Catalina installer with the Micron inside?

I did boot on a USB hard drive and tried disk utility, but still can't see the SSD.
I can only see the SSD when start with boot option key but it boots halfway through, gives me error "something went wrong..." and restarts doing the same in a loop.

If I can see the SSD in the boot option would that mean my M.2 NVMe converter is working properly?

Did you try deleting creating partitions on a Windows or Linux machine?

I first formatted the SSD externally via USB on a Mac as Mac OS Extended. Do I need to do APFS format?

Also I've been trying the SSD externally and I installed and upgraded the macOS from Mavericks and went all the way to Sierra - Couldn't install High Sierra because I got the error "You may not install to this volume because the computer is missing a firmware partition. Does that mean something?

 

[Audit13]

I did boot on a USB hard drive and tried disk utility, but still can't see the SSD.
I can only see the SSD when start with boot option key but it boots halfway through, gives me error "something went wrong..." and restarts doing the same in a loop.

If I can see the SSD in the boot option would that mean my M.2 NVMe converter is working properly?

I first formatted the SSD externally via USB on a Mac as Mac OS Extended. Do I need to do APFS format?

Also I've been trying the SSD externally and I installed and upgraded the macOS from Mavericks and went all the way to Sierra - Couldn't install High Sierra because I got the error "You may not install to this volume because the computer is missing a firmware partition. Does that mean something?

I'm inclined to agree that the adapter is working since you can see it as a boot option. No need to format as APFS before installing the OS. I installed High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina to NVMe drives and always formatted them as OS journaled.

The firmware partition is needed to install the OS which is why you get the error. Normally, there is a small portion of the drive that is used handle this.

Is it possible that the drive needs a firmware update?

Is it possible to try the drive in different or newer Mac?

 

[macpro_mid2014]

I did boot on a USB hard drive and tried disk utility, but still can't see the SSD.
I can only see the SSD when start with boot option key but it boots halfway through, gives me error "something went wrong..." and restarts doing the same in a loop.

If I can see the SSD in the boot option would that mean my M.2 NVMe converter is working properly?

I first formatted the SSD externally via USB on a Mac as Mac OS Extended. Do I need to do APFS format?

Also I've been trying the SSD externally and I installed and upgraded the macOS from Mavericks and went all the way to Sierra - Couldn't install High Sierra because I got the error "You may not install to this volume because the computer is missing a firmware partition. Does that mean something?

The first time you formated the disk, did you format the NVMe as GUID Partition Map, Master Boot Record, or Apple Partition Map? If I am not mistaken, it has to be GUID Partition Map.
Which version of MacOS did you use to format the NVMe?
I also agree that the adapter should be working.

 

[selamet]

Today I have an opportunity to reinstall the drive. Hope it will fix the issue.

a week has passed. I never had an Kernel panic after reinstall drive. I think somehow the drive got loose.
Thanks for support.

@Audit13

 

[JabaWaki]

I'm inclined to agree that the adapter is working since you can see it as a boot option. No need to format as APFS before installing the OS. I installed High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina to NVMe drives and always formatted them as OS journaled.

The firmware partition is needed to install the OS which is why you get the error. Normally, there is a small portion of the drive that is used handle this.

Is it possible that the drive needs a firmware update?

Is it possible to try the drive in different or newer Mac?

I haven't tried the SSD on another Mac machine. I don't have.

I was only able to install or make a copy of any macOS via USB without any drive inside or with my original SSD.

Weird thing: once the SSD is inside I can't boot from anything, not even a USB drive, nothing.
It goes halfway and reboots continuously. So, there must be something related to the SSD converters?

How do I do firmware update for my driver?

 

[Audit13]

I haven't tried the SSD on another Mac machine. I don't have.

I was only able to install or make a copy of any macOS via USB without any drive inside or with my original SSD.

Weird thing: once the SSD is inside I can't boot from anything, not even a USB drive, nothing.
It goes halfway and reboots continuously. So, there must be something related to the SSD converters?

How do I do firmware update for my driver?

I'm not sure there the converters are the problem. They look fine to me. I assume you have tried both with the NVMe. I have used the short, green Sintech and short, green no-name adapters and both have been fine.

It's possible that the NVMe drive needs a firmware update. The Samsung 970 Evo Plus needed a firmware update before it would work properly in a MacBook.

 

[JabaWaki]

I'm not sure there the converters are the problem. They look fine to me. I assume you have tried both with the NVMe. I have used the short, green Sintech and short, green no-name adapters and both have been fine.

It's possible that the NVMe drive needs a firmware update. The Samsung 970 Evo Plus needed a firmware update before it would work properly in a MacBook.

SO, if I upgrade via USB from Mojave to Catalina theoretically the firmware will automatically upgrade too?

 

[Audit13]

SO, if I upgrade via USB from Mojave to Catalina theoretically the firmware will automatically upgrade too?

In order for the firmware to upgrade, there must be a working drive inside the MacBook.

To upgrade the firmware, you can do a clean install of Mojave or Catalina from an external drive to the internal drive.

If the internal drive is running an older OS, you can run software updates from the existing OS.

 

[JabaWaki]

In order for the firmware to upgrade, there must be a working drive inside the MacBook.

To upgrade the firmware, you can do a clean install of Mojave or Catalina from an external drive to the internal drive.

If the internal drive is running an older OS, you can run software updates from the existing OS.

Yeah, I haven't got to the point of the SSD being recognized yet.

WHAT IF? - I will try to install windows on the Mac with this new SSD, maybe there is a way? Does anyone know if it's possible?
AND - Once I have windows I make a virtual machine with macOS Mojave and upgrade that virtual to Catalina. Will that update my SSD firmware? Did anyone done this before? Is it doable?