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

[gilles_polysoft]

Hi all,

Late 2013 MBPR 13" owner here.
I previously posted about managing to flash the patched BootROM with success, v160.0.0.0.0.

Unfortunately the usual hibernation issues are back...
I discovered that my laptop was updated to BootROM v162.0.0.0.0, even with the 3rd party SSD (a Crucial P1, model CT1000P1SSD8).
I'll try to patch this version and flash the laptop again, but, did anyone else have the same issue?

With Mojave and Catalina, Apple did manage to upgrade the BootRom even with some models of tier NVMe SSDs, without sadly correcting the issue with the compressed NVMe DXE driver.
So, patch of the BootRom has to be re-done every time is has been updated.

If you're not happy with that, submit a feedback to Apple.

Do call them as a customer.

Do registrer yourself and let a feedback at :
https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/

The list of portable macs which have the issue with hibernation on NVMe drives is :

- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch Late 2013) = MacBook Pro 11,1 (EMC 2678)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) = MacBook Pro 11,1 (EMC 2875)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) = MacBook Pro 11,2 (EMC 2674 and 2745)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) = MacBook Pro 11,2 (EMC 2876 and 2881)
- MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013) = MacBook Air 6,1 (EMC 2631)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) = MacBook Air 6,2 (EMC 2632)
- MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2014) = MacBook Air 6,1 (EMC 2631)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014) = MacBook Air 6,2 (EMC 2632)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014) = MacBook Air 6,2 (EMC 2632)

Maybe Apple doesn't care of the problem because it occurs to us with a tiers NVMe drive inside the mac, which they don't support.

So I suggest you send feedback claiming that you encounter the hibernation issue while being booted on a Thunderbolt 2 enclosure with a NVMe drive inside..
Thunderbolt enclosure with NVMe are supported by Apple, and contrary to internal NVMe drives they sould have nothing to say about it.

Maybe if enough people on this thread do some feedback they will move their "bottom" one day.

 

[maorattias]

Is the link width x4 in system report?

My link wocth is x2.
It supposed to be x4?!?!😱

 

[fernandopinedo]

First of all, congratulations on this post, it is amazing and thanks for all the work!

I recently discovered that I can upgrade my 13" MBP ssd, so I went all in watching videos and reading info. My MBP model is 13" MacBookPro12,1 (early 2015), it has 2,7 Ghz, 8gb ram and 256gb memory. I do not use the MBP for hard working, just the regular apps and some times light video editing.

1) I just want to give my MBP a few more years of life. My idea is to upgrade the SSD to 1TB, so I am trying to decide which model to buy. Also, it is very important for me that the battery life is not reduced a lot! As I have seen, many of you recommend the Sabrent Rocket M.2 2280. Here's the problem: I live in Beijing, so I can not find that model. I have been able to find the following SSD's brands: Samsung, WD, Kingston, Intel, Lenovo, Toshiba, HP, Pioneer, etc.
Which one do you think is most recommendable for me? (Assuming I will not use the laptop for hard working).

2) My second problem is here: I can not buy the Sintech adapter from Beijing, but I have found an identical one on JD (the Amazon in China). Do you think I should give it a try? LINK

3) I have also been having some overheating problems, but I recently cleaned the inside of the MBP, so I think that the thermal paste must be the problem. Do you recommend replacing it? If so, any recommended brand in special?

That's it, if you need more info about my MBP just let me know.

Thanks in advance to all of you!!

 

[Audit13]

My link wocth is x2.
It supposed to be x4?!?!😱

Yes, x4.

 

[maorattias]

My link wocth is x2.
It supposed to be x4?!?!😱

How can i change it?

 

[Audit13]

How can i change it?

A properly installed and functioning adapter and NVMe drive will allow the MacBook to automatically set the lane width to x4.

Often, the MacBook sets the lane width to x2 when some part of the adapter or drive is making contact with another metal part of the logic board.

Did you try applying kapton tape to both sides of the adapter?

 

[maorattias]

I did

A properly installed and functioning adapter and NVMe drive will allow the MacBook to automatically set the lane width to x4.

Often, the MacBook sets the lane width to x2 when some part of the adapter or drive is making contact with another metal part of the logic board.

Did you try applying kapton tape to both sides of the adapter?

i did once only on one side. I taped only the side of the connection.
It didnt worked, it even slow down my computer.
Can you show me a picture how to do it properly?

 

[Audit13]

I did

i did once only on one side. I taped only the side of the connection.
It didnt worked, it even slow down my computer.
Can you show me a picture how to do it properly?

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture because I sold my Air that had a NVMe drive.

Applying the tape should not slow down the MacBook at all.

Exactly which adapter did you get?

I used no-name adapters from eBay and they worked at x4 without tape.

 

[maorattias]

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture because I sold my Air that had a NVMe drive.

Applying the tape should not slow down the MacBook at all.

Exactly which adapter did you get?

I used no-name adapters from eBay and they worked at x4 without tape.

I bought 4 different adapter. Sintech/and other ones from ebay and Aliexpress. All doing the same problem, i get only 1400/1500 read right speed

 

[Audit13]

I bought 4 different adapter. Sintech/and other ones from ebay and Aliexpress. All doing the same problem, i get only 1400/1500 read right speed

Which MacBook do you have? For a 13" Pro, those read/write speeds are good. For a 15", they seem a bit low.

 

[Seekerxbx]

With safe sleep, macOS writes the ram contents to a page file and powers off. This will happen when the battery level gets too low or when using hibernate mode 25.

When you press the power button, macOS loads the page file and brings the computer back to the way it was just before it powered off. For the 2013 and 2014 Macbooks without a modded ROM and a NVMe drive, the page file is not properly saved and causes a kernel panic.

So how do we recover from this state? Do we reinstall the whole thing again? Thanks in advance.

With Mojave and Catalina, Apple did manage to upgrade the BootRom even with some models of tier NVMe SSDs, without sadly correcting the issue with the compressed NVMe DXE driver.
So, patch of the BootRom has to be re-done every time is has been updated.

If you're not happy with that, submit a feedback to Apple.

Do call them as a customer.

Do registrer yourself and let a feedback at :
https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/

The list of portable macs which have the issue with hibernation on NVMe drives is :

- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch Late 2013) = MacBook Pro 11,1 (EMC 2678)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) = MacBook Pro 11,1 (EMC 2875)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) = MacBook Pro 11,2 (EMC 2674 and 2745)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) = MacBook Pro 11,2 (EMC 2876 and 2881)
- MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013) = MacBook Air 6,1 (EMC 2631)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) = MacBook Air 6,2 (EMC 2632)
- MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2014) = MacBook Air 6,1 (EMC 2631)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014) = MacBook Air 6,2 (EMC 2632)
- MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014) = MacBook Air 6,2 (EMC 2632)

Maybe Apple doesn't care of the problem because it occurs to us with a tiers NVMe drive inside the mac, which they don't support.

So I suggest you send feedback claiming that you encounter the hibernation issue while being booted on a Thunderbolt 2 enclosure with a NVMe drive inside..
Thunderbolt enclosure with NVMe are supported by Apple, and contrary to internal NVMe drives they sould have nothing to say about it.

Maybe if enough people on this thread do some feedback they will move their "bottom" one day.

Thanks, I have submitted the feedback. I mentioned it as follows (Please pardon me for being a layman):-

Basic Information

Please provide a descriptive title for your feedback:
Support for booting with Thunderbolt 2 enclosure with a Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVMe drive

Which area are you seeing an issue with?
System Crashes/Unexpected Reboot

What type of issue are you reporting?
Incorrect/Unexpected Behavior


Details

How long does it take for the issue to occur?
It varies

What kind of System Crash did you experience?
Something else not on this list

Description

Please describe the issue and what steps we can take to reproduce it:

Hi Team Apple Wishing Good Health, Safety and Convenience to you and your loved ones during these times.

I am having kernel panics and encountering hibernation issue while being booted on a Thunderbolt 2 enclosure with a Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVMe drive inside.
Model: MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch Late 2013) = MacBook Pro 11,1 (EMC 2678)
I believe it could be addressed by running a patch on the BootROM which I am not keen on undertaking myself.

I would request you to update this Thunderbolt 2 enclosure with Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVMe drive issue in Mac OS Big Sur.

Regards Take care and Stay safe!



I'm not sure if it helps. Lets hope!

 

[Bassmingo]

OK, I bit the bullet and ordered a Sabrent 2T SSD and the Sintech adaptor. It is AMAZING! I had the OWC 1T which I paid $400 and it had the various known sleep issues even though I am running on a mid 2015 MacBook retina. So far with no changes, the Sabrent is sleep fine and the writes are 3x the speed according to Black Magic Disk tester. I highly recommend this setup. My MacBook is so fast now with the Big Sur beta!
Thanks for the help from this forum!

Could you possibly tell me the model of both the SSD and adaptor please? I'd like to buy the 1tb version for mine. (Or the 2tb if it's in my budget)

Thanks.

 

[Audit13]

So how do we recover from this state? Do we reinstall the whole thing again? Thanks in advance.

All you can do is reboot the MacBook which means you'll lost any unsaved data.

 

[maorattias]

Which MacBook do you have? For a 13" Pro, those read/write speeds are good. For a 15", they seem a bit low.

I got 15 mid2015 macbook pro.
When i first intalled the ssd with sintech adapter (no kapton tape) i got around 2500/2600 read write.
I always played with the ssd right and left out/in with it connected to the slot, and the speed sometimes went up so high, and sometimes really down.
so what sre you says should i do?

 

[Audit13]

I got 15 mid2015 macbook pro.
When i first intalled the ssd with sintech adapter (no kapton tape) i got around 2500/2600 read write.
I always played with the ssd right and left out/in with it connected to the slot, and the speed sometimes went up so high, and sometimes really down.
so what sre you says should i do?

Try using a larger file size to test read and write speed and run it a few times and always under the same conditions.

Read write speed will fluctuate but you want it to read x4 for lane width.

 

[fernandopinedo]

I replaced my 13" early 2015 macbook pro's ssd with Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB. It drain battery about 3.5-4 hours.There is no other issues. Performance is great. 2 years ago, I used OWC Aura SSD, it had same battery issue and also it was very slow. Now I want to change my ssd again. I spent lots of money until today. I read most of posts here. But I can't decide anyway. As i understand there is no hibernate problem on early 2015 models for Sabrent Rocket ssd. Should I choose Sabrent Rocket 512GB? Is it final solution? I don't need very high speeds i need longer battery life.

What model did you end up buying? Can you share your experience please? Thanks

 

[fernandopinedo]

I think my experiment with an NVMe drive is ending in tears. Sabrent Rocket 1TB on a 2015 retina MBP 13" with the good adapter.
At first everything was easy but the powerdrain was always there. Now over the last two weeks twice I had to restore from timemachine waking up to a black screen, boot drive no longer recognised.

Is that the 'hibernate' problem? I didn't think my model MBP should have that problem if it is. Hibernatemode 25.

But between that and the powerdrain I think I'll go back to my old harddrive. Not sure I can return the drive . I cant be 100% sure whether its a fault or just incompatibility.

What did you end up doing? Have you tried any other SSD model? Thanks

 

[herb2k]

I think my experiment with an NVMe drive is ending in tears. Sabrent Rocket 1TB on a 2015 retina MBP 13" with the good adapter.
At first everything was easy but the powerdrain was always there. Now over the last two weeks twice I had to restore from timemachine waking up to a black screen, boot drive no longer recognised.

Is that the 'hibernate' problem? I didn't think my model MBP should have that problem if it is. Hibernatemode 25.

But between that and the powerdrain I think I'll go back to my old harddrive. Not sure I can return the drive . I cant be 100% sure whether its a fault or just incompatibility.

I have 2015 MBPr 13" as well, with Intel 660p and Sabrent Adapters - actually I tried 3, green and black Sabrent and 1 RIVO from Amazon.

Some things I tried that helped...

Changing standbydelay to 1hr when above 50% and 30 mins when below 50%. You don't need to use hibernatemode=25, the default of "3" for our device works fine.

sudo pmset -b standbydelaylow 3600
sudo pmset -b standbydelaylow 1800

Installing NVMeFix to forcibly enable APST (Not 100% sure if it helps with my drive - but idle temperatures for the SSD go from 42-46C to 35-37C).

I will get 5-7hrs on battery depending on brightness and what I am doing, and adjusting standbydelay means 2-5% drain overnight.

 

[bohred]

I think it's from when the screen capture was taken.

I did another take paused at a different point
View attachment 943152
[automerge]1597157005[/automerge]
Still i'm concerned about the power consumption...

I put the original Apple Samsung SSD in, albeit, it's booted in Mojave 10.14.6 rather than Catalina 10.15.4. Boot Rom is still 198.0.0.0.0.

Here's the Disk Speed Test below.

Not sure why the performance seems to be better than the Sabrent Rocket.

Also SSD current draw from iStat menus is showing 0.01A compared to the 0.18A-0.22A I was getting with the Sabrent on Catalina 10.15.4 from earlier.

Any thoughts/suggestions ladies and gentlemen?

 

[herb2k]

I put the original Apple Samsung SSD in, albeit, it's booted in Mojave 10.14.6 rather than Catalina 10.15.4. Boot Rom is still 198.0.0.0.0.

Here's the Disk Speed Test below.

Not sure why the performance seems to be better than the Sabrent Rocket.

Also SSD current draw from iStat menus is showing 0.01A compared to the 0.18A-0.22A I was getting with the Sabrent on Catalina 10.15.4 from earlier.

Any thoughts/suggestions ladies and gentlemen?
View attachment 944170

What does System Report say under NVMExpress Devices for Link Width and Link Speed with your Sabrent? Seems like it's not running at full speed...

 

[bohred]

What does System Report say under NVMExpress Devices for Link Width and Link Speed with your Sabrent? Seems like it's not running at full speed...

View attachment 944239

Generic SSD Controller:

Sabrent:


Capacity: 1.02 TB (1,024,209,543,168 bytes)


TRIM Support: Yes


Model: Sabrent


Revision: RKT303.3


Link Width: x4


Link Speed: 8.0 GT/s


Detachable Drive: No


BSD Name: disk0


Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)


Removable Media: No


S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified


Volumes:


EFI:


Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)


File System: MS-DOS FAT32


BSD Name: disk0s1


Content: EFI


Volume UUID: 0E239BC6-F960-3107-89CF-1C97F78BB46B


disk0s2:


Capacity: 1.02 TB (1,023,999,787,008 bytes)


BSD Name: disk0s2


Content: Apple_APFS

 

[macsound1]

Of course. IOREG displays information from IOKit which is the kernel driver framework of macOS. The first command displays the Information of PCI device with name SSD0. The next is information forthe NVME driver controller class and the last is the same for the storage.

The I/O Registry

The basics of developing device drivers. Includes descriptions of I/O Kit families.

developer.apple.com

ioreg(8) [osx man page]

ioreg displays the I/O Kit registry. It shows the heirarchical registry structure as an inverted tree. The provider-client relationships among those objects is shown as follows: +-o provider | +-o client By default, object propert

www.unix.com

 

[herb2k]

Link Width: x4


Link Speed: 8.0 GT/s

Looks like your adapter is working just fine, PCIe 3.0 x4.

Your OS might be indexing for a while if you did a clean install, does the speed improve after letting it idle overnight?

In terms of the power draw, it's normal that the NVMe drives continuously draw more power than the original Apple SSDs. 0.18A-0.22A seems normal for these (my Intel 660p is 0.16A at idle).

Edit: I noticed the RKT303.3 is the "Rocket Q" - that is the QLC version of the Sabrent Rocket (same type of flash as my Intel 660p) - it's normal for the speed to decline as the drive fills up... the faster cache gets consumed as free space decreases, you'll also notice this behaviour if you run consecutive Disk Speed Tests with larger test sizes - each run gets a bit slower.

 

[bmuellerleile]

MacBook Pro 11,1 13in Mid 2014
8gb
500gb WD Black SSD
Sintech short adapter

I was having the wake from sleep/hibernate issue for a while now. Not sure if anyone has tried this but here is what I did. Boot from Catalina USB drive. Once in recovery go to utilities and pick terminal. Type without quotations. "diskutil unmountdisk disk0" then hit return. Type "gpt destroy /dev/disk0" hit return. then go back to recovery. Go to Disk Utility and choose your SSD and erase and reformat to APFS. Once done go to reinstall Catalina. Once done my SSD shows as internal and have not had any issues waking for a few nights now. For the slow restart issue, press option after the startup chime. Once you see your drive hold control down until you see in indicator under the drive change. keep holding control and click on the indicator to start up. Should restart fast now.

 

[bohred]

Looks like your adapter is working just fine, PCIe 3.0 x4.

Your OS might be indexing for a while if you did a clean install, does the speed improve after letting it idle overnight?

In terms of the power draw, it's normal that the NVMe drives continuously draw more power than the original Apple SSDs. 0.18A-0.22A seems normal for these (my Intel 660p is 0.16A at idle).

Edit: I noticed the RKT303.3 is the "Rocket Q" - that is the QLC version of the Sabrent Rocket (same type of flash as my Intel 660p) - it's normal for the speed to decline as the drive fills up... the faster cache gets consumed as free space decreases, you'll also notice this behaviour if you run consecutive Disk Speed Tests with larger test sizes - each run gets a bit slower.

----------------------------
Thanks for replying.

Is there a way to know if indexing is happening?

Note:I migrated the contents of my drive from a Time Machine backup from a different Mac.

RE: Q vs non Q
Wow, that's strange that 303.3 is Rocket Q...i ordered this from Amazon and it's not supposed to be the QLC version! The item from Amazon says:
Sabrent 1TB ROCKET NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-1TB)
ASIN: B07LGF54XR

The item I received looks like the one pictured on Amazon and not the labelled Q version below on Amazon is: Sabrent Rocket Q 1TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive R/W 3200/2000MB/s (SB-RKTQ-1TB)

I'm really confused if the item I have is a Q. Any ideas?