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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Hi guys, just wanna share an update, sleep wake issue happened again when the battery was below 15%, despite that, the computer will shut down randomly as well, and I cannot power it on unless it is connected to a power adaptor.

Everything works fine when you have a high battery level, but nightmare will start when it runs low.
 
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Hello everybody.
I have recently purchased a Sintech Adapter and a 2TB WD SN750 M.2 NVME SSD to upgrade my 2014 15" MBP.
While I managed to install MacOS onto the new SSD and got everything to work more or less I noticed, that the SSD was rather slow. We're talking much slower than the original SSD.
I have no idea what might have caused these low Reading and Write-speeds.
If anyone has any ideas I'd highly appreciate any input on this subject matter.

IMG_2132 copy.jpeg
 
Herrer said:
Hi guys, just wanna share an update, sleep wake issue happened again when the battery was below 15%, despite that, the computer will shut down randomly as well, and I cannot power it on unless it is connected to a power adaptor.

Everything works fine when you have a high battery level, but nightmare will start when it runs low.
Click to expand...
Thanks for reporting back. Looks like Apple hasn't completely fixed the issues associated with NMVe drives in non-2015 MacBooks.
PapaAntonio said:
Hello everybody.
I have recently purchased a Sintech Adapter and a 2TB WD SN750 M.2 NVME SSD to upgrade my 2014 15" MBP.
While I managed to install MacOS onto the new SSD and got everything to work more or less I noticed, that the SSD was rather slow. We're talking much slower than the original SSD.
I have no idea what might have caused these low Reading and Write-speeds.
If anyone has any ideas I'd highly appreciate any input on this subject matter.
Click to expand...
Try re-seating the adapter and drive.

I assume the Snitch adapter is the latest model that doesn't need kapton tape.
 
PapaAntonio said:
Hello everybody.
I have recently purchased a Sintech Adapter and a 2TB WD SN750 M.2 NVME SSD to upgrade my 2014 15" MBP.
While I managed to install MacOS onto the new SSD and got everything to work more or less I noticed, that the SSD was rather slow. We're talking much slower than the original SSD.
I have no idea what might have caused these low Reading and Write-speeds.
If anyone has any ideas I'd highly appreciate any input on this subject matter.

View attachment 936650
Click to expand...
post your link speed, similar to this, 2014 15" MBP supports PCI 2.0 x 4 lanes, got latest bootrom? like Audit13 said some folks needed Kapton tape during the early days with this mod.

2014.pngt
 
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Audit13 said:
Have you tried manually putting your machine to sleep and waking it? I did a drive swap in a mid-2014 13" and it would panic if the machine was left with the lid closed for a few hours.
Click to expand...
Like from the Apple dropdown? I've never put my laptop to sleep manually ever. Why would I do that if I can just close the lid?
Anyway, this week is still going well, close it at night, open in the morning. No issues at all.

Has anyone else tried the adapter or M2 stick I did? Is it possible it has some "accidental" secret sauce?
 
macsound1 said:
Like from the Apple dropdown? I've never put my laptop to sleep manually ever. Why would I do that if I can just close the lid?
Anyway, this week is still going well, close it at night, open in the morning. No issues at all.

Has anyone else tried the adapter or M2 stick I did? Is it possible it has some "accidental" secret sauce?
Click to expand...
I don't know if it makes a difference but I know that hibernate mode 25 and safe sleep cause a panic for me.
 
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I installed MacOS Big Sure Developer Beta 3 on my 15" Late 2013 MacBook Pro with the Sabrent 2TB+Sintech adapter. The upgrade overwrote my modded 160.0.0.0 bootrom to 162.0.0.0. I can confirm that this bootrom still leads to the sleep wake failure issues, so most likely Apple hasn't included NVMe drivers in the new bootrom :(

Those of us on developer betas should submit bugs to Apple. Much more likely that Apple will listen to these bugs submissions than anything else.
 
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cybazaar said:
I installed MacOS Big Sure Developer Beta 3 on my 15" Late 2013 MacBook Pro with the Sabrent 2TB+Sintech adapter. The upgrade overwrote my modded 160.0.0.0 bootrom to 162.0.0.0. I can confirm that this bootrom still leads to the sleep wake failure issues, so most likely Apple hasn't included NVMe drivers in the new bootrom :(

Those of us on developer betas should submit bugs to Apple. Much more likely that Apple will listen to these bugs submissions than anything else.
Click to expand...
Can't update from beta 2 here on 15" mid 2014, stuck on flashing folder with question mark shortly after reboot, did you install full (12GB) or incremental (4GB) update? Did you use bootable USB?

Same modded bootrom version v160 and Sabrent 2TB btw
 
desperex said:
Can't update from beta 2 here on 15" mid 2014, stuck on flashing folder with question mark shortly after reboot, did you install full (12GB) or incremental (4GB) update? Did you use bootable USB?

Same modded bootrom version v160 and Sabrent 2TB btw
Click to expand...

I chose the full install (12GB). During the upgrade, my Mac rebooted into Bootcamp Windows, so I had shut it down, and did an Option+Power to choose the boot disk, and then chose the one saying Install MacOS. That went through fine.
 
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For those who want to extract bootrom firmware from Big Sur Beta 3 media, the path is: Install macOS BigSur Beta.app/Contents/SharedSupport/SharedSupport.dmg/com_apple_MobileAsset_MacSoftwareUpdate/9783141537bad8929a1fd7b91151ed3d94ceebd9.zip/boot/EFI/EFIPayloads/
 
I can confirm that the 162.0.0.0.0 (2014 MacBook Pro 15") bootrom has the compressed NVMe driver and needs to be patched to avoid hibernation issues.
 
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Everyone on the Big Sur Developer Beta on the affected MacBooks, please, please submit a bug using the official Apple Feedback tool. It doesn't seem like a big fix to make if enough people submit the same bug.
 
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Hi everybody :)

I want to change the 256GB SSD of my 2014 13" MBP by a 500GB or 1TB.

Currently, what is the best choice ? I'm not looking for a ultra speed SSD, I'm looking for something that is power efficient and with a low temperature . Don't want to turn my MBP into a hot plate with 2 battery hours :D

Thanks !
 
Trying to upgrade a 2014 15" MBP here.

Bought the following:
Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LGF54XR
Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYY3H5F

Created a bootable USB and fired up the computer. Went to format the new SSD but it just wasn't showing up...at all. What gives? Pretty sure I bought the right adapter as described on the first page of this thread.

Any ideas....?
 
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ThaQuest said:
Trying to upgrade a 2014 15" MBP here.

Bought the following:
Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LGF54XR
Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYY3H5F

Created a bootable USB and fired up the computer. Went to format the new SSD but it just wasn't showing up...at all. What gives? Pretty sure I bought the right adapter as described on the first page of this thread.

Any ideas....?
Click to expand...
MacBook is running a High Sierra bootrom? Usb has which os?
 
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Audit13 said:
MacBook is running a High Sierra bootrom? Usb has which os?
Click to expand...


Boot ROM Version: 158.0.0.0.0

...the USB was running High Sierra but now i switched it over to Mojave so hopefully that might help.

and now "The Disk is locked" when I try to install on the USB...tried two different USBs, (using Disk Drill to load the installer onto the USB)...what gives?
 
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ThaQuest said:
Boot ROM Version: 158.0.0.0.0

...the USB was running High Sierra but now i switched it over to Mojave so hopefully that might help.

and now "The Disk is locked" when I try to install on the USB...tried two different USBs, (using Disk Drill to load the installer onto the USB)...what gives?
Click to expand...
I'm not familiar with Disk Drill.

Are you using another Mac to create the USB installer?
 
jamesvdm said:
Just posting my experience for others.

MacBook Pro 15" Mid-2015
Sintech adapter
WD SN750 1TB
Catalina 10.15.6

Stability is poor. The computer is crashing roughly every 24 hours.
Click to expand...

I honestly wonder if I got a golden combination.

I didn't buy the Sintech adapter and I didn't buy a recommended SSD and I have flawless performance in macOS and Windows.
 
macsound1 said:
I honestly wonder if I got a golden combination.

I didn't buy the Sintech adapter and I didn't buy a recommended SSD and I have flawless performance in macOS and Windows.
Click to expand...

Congrats！The only thing I'm not sure from your above posts is that did you put your MBR into deep sleep (aka hibernation) after drain your battery to 50% or below? I'll call it success if that passed. Do you have means to check if your bootrom has full or partial nvme driver? TIA!
 
Thomas Kuang said:
Congrats！The only thing I'm not sure from your above posts is that did you put your MBR into deep sleep (aka hibernation) after drain your battery to 50% or below? I'll call it success if that passed. Do you have means to check if your bootrom has full or partial nvme driver? TIA!
Click to expand...
I'll make sure I let it sleep overnight at less than 50% battery. It's slept many times overnight, unplugged, but I can't recall the battery %.
Also, I see people's screenshots of the bootrom, but what command do I use to show the result?
 
macsound1 said:
I'll make sure I let it sleep overnight at less than 50% battery. It's slept many times overnight, unplugged, but I can't recall the battery %.
Also, I see people's screenshots of the bootrom, but what command do I use to show the result?
Click to expand...
Check system report. You can then use Shift+Command+4 to copy a the portion of the screen with the info and save it to a PNG file.
 
Hello guys! What an amazing thread! Thanks to all of you I discovered tons of helpful informations but still don't understand if there is a perfect setup for my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013).
I ordered yesterday a Sintec adaptor and when I will receive it I would like to buy a Samsung 970 EVO Plus PCIe NVMe M.2 but will it worth it?
 
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