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

[fldmrshl]

To solve the issue, you need to flash a modded bootrom.

Can you give me a hint, where to find one? I googled, but no result

Oh, I see now, one have to own special programmer and even solder... that's not for me, I believe😅😅

 

[canhaz]

Can you give me a hint, where to find one? I googled, but no result

Oh, I see now, one have to own special programmer and even solder... that's not for me, I believe😅😅

With ya there buddy 🤣. Think I'm gonna swap the Intel for an OWC Aurora or something designed for macs. Def pricier, but the downtime is getting me in trouble with the mrs.

 

[Audit13]

With ya there buddy 🤣. Think I'm gonna swap the Intel for an OWC Aurora or something designed for macs. Def pricier, but the downtime is getting me in trouble with the mrs.

The OWC is basically a NVMe drive with the necessary Apple 12+16 connector built-in; therefore, it will have the same issues that other NVMe drives have with 2013 and 2014 MacBooks.

 

[GlockoTheClown]

If anyone is looking to upgrade their MacBook Pro, Late-2013 to Mid-2015; there is a seller on eBay right now selling pulled 2019.11 and 2019.10’s 1TB KPV1T0S’ (655-1961C) for $205. These are the Mac Pro model SSD’s with the heatsink. I paid $230 after taxes and the fastest shipping availible. I couldn’t find any info on getting the heatsink off aside from exactly 2 posts that barely even touched on the topic, but since these are new and the thermal adhesive pads haven’t seen any heat I was able to use an iFixit metal spudger to pry the ssd free from the heatsink. I went from 700MB/s write speed or so to around 1300MB/s write speed running on a link width of 4 instead of 2 from my stock SSD. No issues with hibernation. I am on Boot ROM 160.0.0.0.0. Mid-2014 MacBook Pro.

 

[canhaz]

The OWC is basically a NVMe drive with the necessary Apple 12+16 connector built-in; therefore, it will have the same issues that other NVMe drives have with 2013 and 2014 MacBooks.

Ahh dang. That's too bad

If anyone is looking to upgrade their MacBook Pro, Late-2013 to Mid-2015; there is a seller on eBay right now selling pulled 2019.11 and 2019.10’s 1TB KPV1T0S’ (655-1961C)

Wonder if these would work with a 2013 Macbook Air?

 

[canhaz]

The OWC is basically a NVMe drive with the necessary Apple 12+16 connector built-in; therefore, it will have the same issues that other NVMe drives have with 2013 and 2014 MacBooks.

Was thinking about this some more. Are you 100% sure or just guessing?

The reason I ask is OWC sell this as a genuine upgrade solution and there's no mention of weird hibernation issues. I cant imagine them promoting this if it was problematic, as it would generate a bunch of support and headaches for them.

OWC Aura Pro X2 2.0TB SSD for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air

Includes all tools needed for an easy and safe DIY upgrade plus an Envoy Pro external enclosure so you can reuse the factory SSD as an external drive.

eshop.macsales.com

Update:
OK looks like you're in fact right. I googled a bit more and seems OWC has an newish Knowledgebase Article about the NVME issue on 10.13+. They should really make the more prominent on the sales page imo, as it doesn't seem to be that obscure of an issue.

OWC Knowledge base

Upgrade the RAM and storage of nearly any Apple computer at MacSales.com. We also provide refurbished Macs, external storage, docks, accessories, and more!

eshop.macsales.com

Update2:
Going by their KB article, OWC seems to think this is a minor issue that can be fixed with sudo pmset -a standby 0 hmmm.. This seems to be at odds with the forumites talking about BootROM upgrades and whatnot... bit confused really if OWC suggested fix works? If so, why the need for messing with the BootROM?

 

[Audit13]

Was thinking about this some more. Are you 100% sure or just guessing?

The reason I ask is OWC sell this as a genuine upgrade solution and there's no mention of weird hibernation issues. I cant imagine them promoting this if it was problematic, as it would generate a bunch of support and headaches for them.

OWC Aura Pro X2 2.0TB SSD for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air

Includes all tools needed for an easy and safe DIY upgrade plus an Envoy Pro external enclosure so you can reuse the factory SSD as an external drive.

eshop.macsales.com

Update:
OK looks like you're in fact right. I googled a bit more and seems OWC has an newish Knowledgebase Article about the NVME issue on 10.13+. They should really make the more prominent on the sales page imo, as it doesn't seem to be that obscure of an issue.

OWC Knowledge base

Upgrade the RAM and storage of nearly any Apple computer at MacSales.com. We also provide refurbished Macs, external storage, docks, accessories, and more!

eshop.macsales.com

Update2:
Going by their KB article, OWC seems to think this is a minor issue that can be fixed with sudo pmset -a standby 0 hmmm.. This seems to be at odds with the forumites talking about BootROM upgrades and whatnot... bit confused really if OWC suggested fix works? If so, why the need for messing with the BootROM?

Running the terminal command suggested by OWC disables hibernation so the MacBook never goes into deep sleep and will cause more battery drain. You would run the same terminal command with any NVMe drive suggested in this thread when using a 2013 and 2014 MacBook.

 

[GlockoTheClown]

Ahh dang. That's too bad



Wonder if these would work with a 2013 Macbook Air?

I remember reading something about the 1Tb not fitting due to being double the width of a regular Apple SSD. You could certainly try, though. The performance is okay, but coupled with double the storage is the only thing that made this SSD a worthwhile upgrade over my factory installed one. You could try the 512Gb Polaris SSUBX.

 

[Birkan]

Hey everyone, I'm watching this thread over two years now and I finally decided to buy the adapter that is mentioned through AliExpress since it was just around 3 Euro with shipping. The main problem I have is that my old Macbook Air's original SSD died on me couple of years ago (around 2017) and I'm currently on a bootrom (MBA61.0099.B51) that is older than what I need according to the first page of this post. I'm currently using an external USB drive with Mojave installed that is created using my up-to-date Macbook Pro. Is there any chance that my Macbook Air will see my NVMe SSD with this adapter even though the bootrom is old? What will be the expected behaviour in this scenario in your opinion?

As a side note, in case my Macbook Air doesn't see the NVMe SSD with old bootrom, I'll probably ask another friend to lend me his original Apple SSD to do bootrom upgrade to solve this issue but I would prefer if it just worked without asking my friend.

 

[herb2k]

As a side note, in case my Macbook Air doesn't see the NVMe SSD with old bootrom, I'll probably ask another friend to lend me his original Apple SSD to do bootrom upgrade to solve this issue but I would prefer if it just worked without asking my friend.

It might, my MBA did something similar, but when you start up off a Catalina Installer the disk utility in that version will see it (Internet Recovery does not).

 

[J.F. Muela]

Hi, I have macOS Mojave, today arrive the ssd and the adaptor, I have the notification to the update to Catalina, update or not that's the question??

 

[Audit13]

Hi, I have macOS Mojave, today arrive the ssd and the adaptor, I have the notification to the update to Catalina, update or not that's the question??

I have Catalina on an early 2015 Air with a NVMe drive with no issues.

 

[Birkan]

It might, my MBA did something similar, but when you start up off a Catalina Installer the disk utility in that version will see it (Internet Recovery does not).

Hopefully it will. I'll post my experience once I get the adapter. Cheers!

 

[J.F. Muela]

Ok, and for a usb install will be no problem? Or internet recovery when I'll change the disk?

 

[Audit13]

Ok, and for a usb install will be no problem? Or internet recovery when I'll change the disk?

Installing the os from a usb would be faster and not have to rely on you're Internet speed. If you have fast download speed, internet recovery is pretty fast.

 

[cybazaar]

For whatever it's worth, an upgrade to MacOS Big Sur Developer Beta (MacOS 11) didn't update my bootrom from 160.0.0.0 for my 15" Late 2013 MBP Pro Retina with the modded bootrom (with the patched NVMe drivers).

 

[Birkan]

For whatever it's worth, an upgrade to MacOS Big Sur Developer Beta (MacOS 11) didn't update my bootrom from 160.0.0.0 for my 15" Late 2013 MBP Pro Retina with the modded bootrom (with the patched NVMe drivers).

Just to give some context to others, my 2017 nTB rMBP did not upgrade its bootrom with default Apple SSD so maybe there wasn't any new bootrom coupled with the DP1 update.

 

[tchellao]

Hello guys,

I have a Mac Pro A1502, early 2015, I am considering a SX6000 Lite 256gb or Corsair MP510.

I have searched and found someone asking about SX6000 Lite compatibility but it seems we had no aswer. Has anyone tested with the "Lite" version?

Comparing ADATA SX6000 Lite and Corsair, should I consider Corsair MP510? Price diference in my country is around 20% more for Corsair. I appreciate if corsair / adata owners can share details here.

Thanks.

 

[Agtronic]

Hi guys,

First, thanks to everyone who has contributed such valuable and in depth information in this thread. It's truly generous and impressive.

I updated my mid-2013 MacBook Air from the stock 128gb to a Crucial P1 CT500P1SSD8 500gb using a Rivo NGFF M.2 nVME adaptor. It worked exactly as expected and I only had to deal with the hibernation issue. However, after approximately 10 months, I started to experience random crashes. I'd be editing a video and I'd get the colour wheel and a crash. It started with once in a blue moon, and progressed to now being unable to use the computer for more than 30 seconds without it crashing. It's completely unusable now.

Today, I thought I'd tackle the problem and try to figure out what is causing the issue. I noticed that usually when I turn on the computer, it'll crash right on the login screen after I type the password, and usually 3-4 times with a full boot and login sequence. After that, it seems to get a bit better.

So after it crashed 4-5 times, it seemed to be stable with just the desktop showing and nothing running. I was able to take in an update to Catalina. It seems to be running much more stable now, however it did crash after about an hour of use.

The crash is always the same... Kernel Panic related to IONVMEController...

Then I found this:

SOLVED: Mac NVME error year after upgrade - MacBook Air 13" Early 2017

Sadly your SSD solution is the issue here. Using these adapters with a M.2 SSD often encounter this after a good year of use. The clue in the crash report is crashing process IONVMeController as you can see here [document: IONVMeController] You’ll need to replace both the adapter and the SSD...

www.ifixit.com

Does anyone have any more information regarding this? Do SSDs slowly get corrupted if using an adaptor? It sounds pretty far fetched to me but with what you guys know about this stuff, I realize I don't know or understand 1% of it. Root blocks? Ok...

Food for thought.

I'm at the point where I'm going to put the stock 128GB back in because I enjoyed the rock solid reliability more than I enjoy having more room for video editing.

Good day to all!

 

[herb2k]

Does anyone have any more information regarding this? Do SSDs slowly get corrupted if using an adaptor? It sounds pretty far fetched to me but with what you guys know about this stuff, I realize I don't know or understand 1% of it. Root blocks? Ok...

Food for thought.

I'm at the point where I'm going to put the stock 128GB back in because I enjoyed the rock solid reliability more than I enjoy having more room for video editing.

Good day to all!

I haven't seen too many posts about long term issues, after reading through all of the pages in this thread. It's possible the adapters are not straight through and contain components like capacitors that may wear out. Would be a good test if you replaced your adapter with a new one, and then see if the problems persist?

 

[vince22]

Hi guys,

First, thanks to everyone who has contributed such valuable and in depth information in this thread. It's truly generous and impressive.

I updated my mid-2013 MacBook Air from the stock 128gb to a Crucial P1 CT500P1SSD8 500gb using a Rivo NGFF M.2 nVME adaptor. It worked exactly as expected and I only had to deal with the hibernation issue. However, after approximately 10 months, I started to experience random crashes. I'd be editing a video and I'd get the colour wheel and a crash. It started with once in a blue moon, and progressed to now being unable to use the computer for more than 30 seconds without it crashing. It's completely unusable now.

Today, I thought I'd tackle the problem and try to figure out what is causing the issue. I noticed that usually when I turn on the computer, it'll crash right on the login screen after I type the password, and usually 3-4 times with a full boot and login sequence. After that, it seems to get a bit better.

So after it crashed 4-5 times, it seemed to be stable with just the desktop showing and nothing running. I was able to take in an update to Catalina. It seems to be running much more stable now, however it did crash after about an hour of use.

The crash is always the same... Kernel Panic related to IONVMEController...

Then I found this:

SOLVED: Mac NVME error year after upgrade - MacBook Air 13" Early 2017

Sadly your SSD solution is the issue here. Using these adapters with a M.2 SSD often encounter this after a good year of use. The clue in the crash report is crashing process IONVMeController as you can see here [document: IONVMeController] You’ll need to replace both the adapter and the SSD...

www.ifixit.com

Does anyone have any more information regarding this? Do SSDs slowly get corrupted if using an adaptor? It sounds pretty far fetched to me but with what you guys know about this stuff, I realize I don't know or understand 1% of it. Root blocks? Ok...

Food for thought.

I'm at the point where I'm going to put the stock 128GB back in because I enjoyed the rock solid reliability more than I enjoy having more room for video editing.

Good day to all!

its only been 10 months ago since i joined this thread and replaced my early 2015 13" MBP with sabrent rocket 1TB, WDsn750 1TB, sintech short adapter and have nothing but excellent reliability so far, at least 7-8hrs of battery life of my daily usage, with 5yrs warranty i'll take a chance.

 

[Agtronic]

I haven't seen too many posts about long term issues, after reading through all of the pages in this thread. It's possible the adapters are not straight through and contain components like capacitors that may wear out. Would be a good test if you replaced your adapter with a new one, and then see if the problems persist?

That's a good idea, one that I hadn't even thought about it. Thanks for your post.

 

[J.F. Muela]

Hi, I have done the update. I can't believe I have not any problem, only the screwdrivers.

I have change the thermal grease for the cooler with brilliant results (I have use an artic mark), I have change the battery (I think that its ok, I have done today, too soon to know if anything is wrong), and last the SSD to a new Sabrent 512 gb. With this one I have test for 800/1000 write and 1200 read, with the old one I have 300 write and 400 read. Really cool for a MacBook Pro mid 2014

I have absolutely happy right now, I have to give you a few days to test.

I suppose I have to do now the terminal command for the hibernation issue? And read the faq to install windows in a bootcamp partition.

Thanks all of you for your support.

 

[gugy]

Hi,
I have a Mid 2015 MBP 15” that I need to update for more storage. Which nvme would you guys recommend in terms or value and speed? Or just speed if I want to pay more. I need at least 1tb.
I am only able to find OWC but wondering with Samsung or Sabrent would be better options. I also believe, I can only use generation 3 nvme and need an adapter for some brands to fit the MBP.
Thanks for any feedback.

 

[gugy]

its only been 10 months ago since i joined this thread and replaced my early 2015 13" MBP with sabrent rocket 1TB, WDsn750 1TB, sintech short adapter and have nothing but excellent reliability so far, at least 7-8hrs of battery life of my daily usage, with 5yrs warranty i'll take a chance.

Are these the one's you are talking about? I have a 2015 MBP 15”.

SABRENT 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-1TB)

www.amazon.com

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade 2013-2015 Year Macs(Not Fit Early 2013 MacBook Pro)

NOTICE:because too many customers can use it,I suggest you to try it again if your MAC can't detect nVME SSD. Pls notice to insert card fully into SSD slot and you must prepare bootable USB disk(see third point) with High Sierra to format M.2 SSD first, it can't support recover from internet. mai...

www.amazon.com