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

[herb2k]

I found a couple of Windows-based utilities that might help identify my chipset. I'll try and get bootcamp set up and running and let you know.

FWIW - I know Phison lets companies rebrand their chips with their own logos, but I never noticed the older reviews all had black ones vs silver (still with Seagate logos and part numbers - but different from the silver chip part numbers). So, it is quite possible I do have an E12S, but will post back.

I've run the Flash Identifier tool from: http://vlo.name:3000/tmph/phison_nvme_flash_id2.rar

I can confirm the silver chip Seagate is still an E12:

Driver  : W10(0:3)
Model   : Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD ZP500CM30001 
Fw      : STPSC014
Size    : 476940 MB
LBA Size: 512
F/W     : STPSC014 00
P/N     : 511-200505069   
Controller    : PS5012-E12 [PS5012AA]
CPU Clk       : 666
Bit Per Cell  : 3(TLC)
DRAM Size,MB  : 512
DRAM Clock,MHz: 1600
DRAM Type     : DDR4
PMIC Type     : PS6102/PS6106

 

[oryan_dunn]

I found a couple of Windows-based utilities that might help identify my chipset. I'll try and get bootcamp set up and running and let you know.

FWIW - I know Phison lets companies rebrand their chips with their own logos, but I never noticed the older reviews all had black ones vs silver (still with Seagate logos and part numbers - but different from the silver chip part numbers). So, it is quite possible I do have an E12S, but will post back.

Yeah, I had just looked at some reviews of the Firecuda 1TB which had a rebranded black chipset. My gut says that these silver chips are the E12s, and everyone likely switched to them because Phison revised the E12 and stopped making the original. Hopefully these new chips (and the boards as a whole) are just as good at power usage as the E12. The 510 I have uses the Toshiba 96L 3D TLC NAND, so I think it's still high quality memory. I'm not sure how power consumption differs from the older 64L TLC NAND used before.

I've run the Flash Identifier tool from: http://vlo.name:3000/tmph/phison_nvme_flash_id2.rar

I can confirm the silver chip Seagate is still an E12:

Driver  : W10(0:3)
Model   : Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD ZP500CM30001
Fw      : STPSC014
Size    : 476940 MB
LBA Size: 512
F/W     : STPSC014 00
P/N     : 511-200505069  
Controller    : PS5012-E12 [PS5012AA]
CPU Clk       : 666
Bit Per Cell  : 3(TLC)
DRAM Size,MB  : 512
DRAM Clock,MHz: 1600
DRAM Type     : DDR4
PMIC Type     : PS6102/PS6106

Interesting. Can you confirm the model code printed on your chip?

 

[MauriceG]

My suggestion is, try with Catalina 10.15.7 USB Stick or BigSur USB stick instead.

dont forget to plug your charger, the one fit the wattage. Thats the 1st pre-requisites.

Very curious, why would the wattage of the power adapter be relevant? Do you have some background information?

 

[Londo Mollari]

I have bitten the bullet and decided to upgrade the ssd in my late 2013 15” MacBook Pro. It currently has the 512GB SSD running Big Sur with 427 firmware. Has windows 10 running through bootcamp.

I have ordered the Sabrent Rocket 2TB and the sintech adapter off Amazon. The Rocket Q 2TB is £20 more but being PCie 4.0 not really necessary. Anything else I need to be worried about?

Yesterday I replaced the bulging battery with the ifixit kit as well as redoing the thermal paste.

 

[kvic]

I have bitten the bullet and decided to upgrade the ssd in my late 2013 15” MacBook Pro. It currently has the 512GB SSD running Big Sur with 427 firmware. Has windows 10 running through bootcamp.

I have ordered the Sabrent Rocket 2TB and the sintech adapter off Amazon. The Rocket Q 2TB is £20 more but being PCie 4.0 not really necessary. Anything else I need to be worried about?

Yesterday I replaced the bulging battery with the ifixit kit as well as redoing the thermal paste.

It's straight forward. Can't think of any pitfalls. Perhaps double check on contacts between SSD & adapter, then adapter and Logic Board's socket. Make sure no short circuit.

When done and you feel joyful, share with us a chart of the SSD current from iStat Menus and whatnot. There are a couple of examples in previous pages.

Personally I haven't run BootCamp. Is there iStat Menu equivalent to read Apple sensors in Windows 10? A chart or readings of SSD current similar to iStat Menu from Windows will be quite interesting to see.

 

[otosan]

Very curious, why would the wattage of the power adapter be relevant? Do you have some background information?

Well, macbook is quite picky in term of charger you know. Thats why it give you warning and error notice in Diagnostic Mode if you've been using wrong charger on your macbook. In some cases it mess SMC configuration, causing wrong fan speed and temp detection.

First requirement of firmware update process is that the unit plugged to designed wall charger, because it's one of safety net, preventing powerloss during process which might resulting in catastrophe . And believe me, your macbook know exactly which charger being plugged.

 

[Londo Mollari]

It's straight forward. Can't think of any pitfalls. Perhaps double check on contacts between SSD & adapter, then adapter and Logic Board's socket. Make sure no short circuit.

When done and you feel joyful, share with us a chart of the SSD current from iStat Menus and whatnot. There are a couple of examples in previous pages.

Personally I haven't run BootCamp. Is there iStat Menu equivalent to read Apple sensors in Windows 10? A chart or readings of SSD current similar to iStat Menu from Windows will be quite interesting to see.

I’m using something called Macs Fan Control Pro. Gives me temp sensor readings. The Pro version can be used on Windows and Mac. On Mac I use TG Pro instead.

 

[panomitrius]

I've been running into problems with my Macbook Pro 2015. I bought it used after reading this guide. It had Big Sur installed, I erased the hard drive and put a fresh Catalina install on it. I then bought this sintech adapter and a Sabrent Rocket 2TB SSD drive. I installed the hardware and used SuperDuper! to clone and restore the data. It works fine, but my Macbook now randomly powers off (seems like a power brake, it just suddenly dies). It seems to be happening when I've been physically moving the computer. Any ideas what could cause this and how to fix it?

Edit: I actually saw when I had written this post that I was suppose to apply a (supplied) foam pad on the back of the adapter, which I have now done. I'll update this post again about how it goes.

Edit2: I still encounter the random power offs. Could it be the battery cable? It seemed to be a little damaged when I opened up the computer. It's strange though since it worked well before the SSD-upgrade.

 

[otosan]

I've been running into problems with my Macbook Pro 2015. I bought it used after reading this guide. It had Big Sur installed, I erased the hard drive and put a fresh Catalina install on it. I then bought this sintech adapter and a Sabrent Rocket 2TB SSD drive. I installed the hardware and used SuperDuper! to clone and restore the data. It works fine, but my Macbook now randomly powers off (seems like a power brake, it just suddenly dies). It seems to be happening when I've been physically moving the computer. Any ideas what could cause this and how to fix it?

Edit: I actually saw when I had written this post that I was suppose to apply a (supplied) foam pad on the back of the adapter, which I have now done. I'll update this post again about how it goes.

View attachment 1693008

Double check your battery connector as well. Pro model battery connector tend to have that "click" feel when pushed, while sometimes it still partially going in, thus havent fully secured in place.

 

[panomitrius]

Double check your battery connector as well. Pro model battery connector tend to have that "click" feel when pushed, while sometimes it still partially going in, thus havent fully secured in place.

I've done that now, battery seems to be well connected. I also found this discussion about MBPs 2013-2015 randomly powering off, and tried the solution involving renaming AppleThunderboltNHI.kext. That didn't solve it. I've also had an issue after the SSD upgrade that when I plug in my charger I have to fiddle with it a bit before the computer responds to it (before it starts to charge the battery). And when I unplug the charger the computer just dies even though the battery is around 90%. I'm now trying a script, also referenced in the above mentioned discussion above that generates a low level voltage to keep the Macbook from powering off. I'll see how that goes and will post in a little while again.

Edit: I undid the AppleThunderboltNHI.kext-thing but I'm now left with the charger not working much at all. I can't wiggle it around to start charging at the moment (but no shut downs).

Edit2: I tried with a different charger. It's my charger that's dead. Works fine with the other one. It seems a bit odd that it just stopped working once I changed the SSD though, but perhaps just coincidence.

 

[PKDE]

I've done that now, battery seems to be well connected. I also found this discussion about MBPs 2013-2015 randomly powering off, and tried the solution involving renaming AppleThunderboltNHI.kext. That didn't solve it. I've also had an issue after the SSD upgrade that when I plug in my charger I have to fiddle with it a bit before the computer responds to it (before it starts to charge the battery). And when I unplug the charger the computer just dies even though the battery is around 90%. I'm now trying a script, also referenced in the above mentioned discussion above that generates a low level voltage to keep the Macbook from powering off. I'll see how that goes and will post in a little while again.

I still think your problem is not the new SSD but the common problem of blackscreens on some 2013-2015 macbooks. I have this problem with my macbook pro late 2013 and it was fixed by the method you described. I think you mentioned you're on Big Sur. Did you try the correct method for this macos as it seems to differ from version to version. This is what should work for Big Sur to disable AppleThunderboltNHI.kext:

- Disable File Vault
- Reboot into Recovery Mode
- csrutil disable
- csrutil authenticated-root disable
- mount -uw /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive
- cd /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive/System/Library/Extensions
- mv AllThunderboltKexts.kext AllThunderboltKexts.kext.bak (Except IOThunderboltFamily.kext)
- kmutil install -u --force --volume-root /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive
- bless --folder /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot
- reboot

This information is taken from https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/433516/MacBook+Pro+Shuts+down+randomly

Check the comments section at the bottom of the page for the info about Big Sur.

Note that I have not tried this with Big Sur myself as I'm still on Mojave. But at least on my system disabling TB ethernet by removing the kext instantly made my macbook rock solid.

 

[Londo Mollari]

Have completed my ssd replacement. Was surprised at how much the sintech adapter needed to be pushed in before it would click into place.

First time I switched on it didn’t work. Without it being switched on it was accessing the usb drive I had plugged in. Rechecked and refitted the battery connector. This time it worked and found my big sur usb stick. Found the new ssd in disk utility no problem. Erased but only only partitioned it for the original 512GB of the Apple drive. The remaining 1.5tb I erased and partitioned as ms-dos for installing windows.

Installing Big Sur was a breeze. No issues

I haven’t used bootcamp to install windows, just used a windows 10 usb stick to install from. When it asks which partition to use just formatted my ms-dos portion and off it went. One thing I have found is when you power on with the alt button pressed down, and you get the choice of what to boot from you need to choose EFI boot to boot from the windows usb.

Windows installed fine and so did the bootcamp drivers.

boot camp control panel cannot see the big sur partition. I have got the paragon AFPS installed and the new Paragon NTFS installed on the Big Sur partition (this new version works on Big Sur)

When run I the Apple software update on windows it find updates for bootcamp. Once installed and laptop rebooted the bootcamp control panel now sees the Mac OS partition. Does anyone know if this bootcamp update is to allow it to see the Mac Partition?

 

[MauriceG]

I just gonna say this again,

any Samsung NVME is not really a wise choice for anything except 15 inch Mid 2015 model (A1398)

a lot of people choose this ssd because most of video guide and early information related to this upgrade mostly use it as an example,

sure it has speed advantage in paper (which only applicable if you are on newer windows notebook, or on A1398 2015 model) and has 5 years warranty,

but during my experience of installing NVME to macbook, i never fan of those samsung ssds, and i never encourage my customer (especially macbook air users) to get one even when they asked me to do so,

i rather give them extra personal warranty and use other SSD with silicon motion or phison controller, rather than doing a later troubleshooting for glitch and issue happen with the evo series.

as for your case,

100° is terrible. You might want to check your fan or thermal paste as well.

but if you really into an experimentation, i suggest you to try another SSD available out there.

970 can be easily shipped off again to a PC or windows user. So you wont be at much lost there.

100 degrees Fahrenheid? Or Celcius?

 

[dhull]

I recently upgraded my Late 2013 MacBook Pro's original 1 TB SSD based on information from this topic and I wanted to share my experience.

I bought a Sabrent SB-ROCKET-2TB (the version with the dark blue label that has TLC RAM) and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter.

The SSD module is covered by a label/heat-spreader that I did not remove, but it appears to be the same as the photo in post #7,853, meaning it has a Phison E12S controller. The module is populated on both sides. I believe the block size is 4K (diskutil says "Device Block Size: 4096 Bytes").

I am running macOS Catalina 10.15.7, but I ran the Big Sur installer on an external drive to upgrade my Mac's Boot ROM firmware to 427.0.0.0.0 before installing the new SSD.

After upgrading, the System Information NVMExpress Device Tree shows:

Generic SSD Controller:

  Sabrent:

    Capacity:           2.05 TB (2,048,408,248,320 bytes)
    TRIM Support:       Yes
    Model:              Sabrent
    Revision:           RKT303.3
    Serial Number:      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Link Width:         x4
    Link Speed:         5.0 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:       2.05 TB (2,048,198,492,160 bytes)
        BSD Name:       disk0s2
        Content:        Apple_APFS

The idle power use appears to vary between 0.13A and 0.20A. I did not (and don't plan to) install the NVMeFix kext.



Temperature



AmorphousDiskMark shows that the read and write speeds are around 1500 MB/s.



I also ran Blackmagic Disk Speed, and with its default settings it shows an initial read and write speeds of around 1300 MB/s, but interestingly after a minute or so the read and write speeds sometimes slow down for some runs, usually the read more than the write. I wonder if this is due to the module getting hot and throttling itself. (This is also the only speed test I ran on the Apple SSD before I replaced it.)

	Apple SSD		Sabrent Rocket
idle		0.1A		0.12A
write	842 MB/s	1.6A	1320/1200 MB/s	1.5A
read	800 MB/s	1.1A	1360/840 MB/s	1.4A

I did the upgrade a week ago. Overall I'm happy; my SSD is now twice as large as the original, is around twice as fast (for smaller reads and writes, anyway), and uses about the same amount of power.

 

[fhturner]

Hey Everyone—

I'm sorry to certainly be duplicating a question here, but scouring so many posts over such a long thread can be a bit of a challenge... can someone direct me to which post(s) have definitive information about sleep/battery changes w/ the latest Big Sur 11.0.1 firmware 4xx.0.0.0.0? I have an Adata 8200 Pro in a MBP13 2015 and am noticing a drop of 5-6% battery per hour when sleeping.

Thx,
Fred

 

[herb2k]

Hey Everyone—

I'm sorry to certainly be duplicating a question here, but scouring so many posts over such a long thread can be a bit of a challenge... can someone direct me to which post(s) have definitive information about sleep/battery changes w/ the latest Big Sur 11.0.1 firmware 4xx.0.0.0.0? I have an Adata 8200 Pro in a MBP13 2015 and am noticing a drop of 5-6% battery per hour when sleeping.

Thx,
Fred

It's normal for that drive and device combo (also, check for running apps in the background when you let your machine sleep, that was the cause of most of my overnight battery drain... still drains 6%-9% overnight though, even in Big Sur with 427 firmware).

You can type in terminal:

sudo pmset -b standbydelayhigh 3600 standbydelaylow 1800

This will make your machine enter hibernate after 1hr (3600 seconds) when battery charge is >50%, and after 30 mins (1800 seconds) when <50% and will help limit your drain. You can choose reduce the times in the command to make your machine hibernate sooner.

 

[herb2k]

Yeah, I had just looked at some reviews of the Firecuda 1TB which had a rebranded black chipset. My gut says that these silver chips are the E12s, and everyone likely switched to them because Phison revised the E12 and stopped making the original. Hopefully these new chips (and the boards as a whole) are just as good at power usage as the E12. The 510 I have uses the Toshiba 96L 3D TLC NAND, so I think it's still high quality memory. I'm not sure how power consumption differs from the older 64L TLC NAND used before.



Interesting. Can you confirm the model code printed on your chip?

Same main part number as your post above:
STXYP0119088

 

[panomitrius]

I still think your problem is not the new SSD but the common problem of blackscreens on some 2013-2015 macbooks. I have this problem with my macbook pro late 2013 and it was fixed by the method you described. I think you mentioned you're on Big Sur. Did you try the correct method for this macos as it seems to differ from version to version. This is what should work for Big Sur to disable AppleThunderboltNHI.kext:

- Disable File Vault
- Reboot into Recovery Mode
- csrutil disable
- csrutil authenticated-root disable
- mount -uw /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive
- cd /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive/System/Library/Extensions
- mv AllThunderboltKexts.kext AllThunderboltKexts.kext.bak (Except IOThunderboltFamily.kext)
- kmutil install -u --force --volume-root /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive
- bless --folder /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot
- reboot

This information is taken from https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/433516/MacBook+Pro+Shuts+down+randomly

Check the comments section at the bottom of the page for the info about Big Sur.

Note that I have not tried this with Big Sur myself as I'm still on Mojave. But at least on my system disabling TB ethernet by removing the kext instantly made my macbook rock solid.

I'm actually on Catalina, I mentioned that the computer came with Big Sur installed, but I downgraded to Catalina before the SSD upgrade. Thank you, it seems like different sollutions works for different Macbooks. The python script seems to do it for mine. However the battery drain is huge. I'm estimating that the battery is used up 2-3x as fast as when I was on the original drive, even though I chose the Sabrent Rocket for that not to happen.

 

[panomitrius]

I recently upgraded my Late 2013 MacBook Pro's original 1 TB SSD based on information from this topic and I wanted to share my experience.

I bought a Sabrent SB-ROCKET-2TB (the version with the dark blue label that has TLC RAM) and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter.

The SSD module is covered by a label/heat-spreader that I did not remove, but it appears to be the same as the photo in post #7,853, meaning it has a Phison E12S controller. The module is populated on both sides. I believe the block size is 4K (diskutil says "Device Block Size: 4096 Bytes").

I am running macOS Catalina 10.15.7, but I ran the Big Sur installer on an external drive to upgrade my Mac's Boot ROM firmware to 427.0.0.0.0 before installing the new SSD.

After upgrading, the System Information NVMExpress Device Tree shows:

Generic SSD Controller:

  Sabrent:

    Capacity:           2.05 TB (2,048,408,248,320 bytes)
    TRIM Support:       Yes
    Model:              Sabrent
    Revision:           RKT303.3
    Serial Number:      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Link Width:         x4
    Link Speed:         5.0 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:       2.05 TB (2,048,198,492,160 bytes)
        BSD Name:       disk0s2
        Content:        Apple_APFS

The idle power use appears to vary between 0.13A and 0.20A. I did not (and don't plan to) install the NVMeFix kext.

View attachment 1693354

Temperature

View attachment 1693357

AmorphousDiskMark shows that the read and write speeds are around 1500 MB/s.

View attachment 1693358

I also ran Blackmagic Disk Speed, and with its default settings it shows an initial read and write speeds of around 1300 MB/s, but interestingly after a minute or so the read and write speeds sometimes slow down for some runs, usually the read more than the write. I wonder if this is due to the module getting hot and throttling itself. (This is also the only speed test I ran on the Apple SSD before I replaced it.)

	Apple SSD		Sabrent Rocket
idle		0.1A		0.12A
write	842 MB/s	1.6A	1320/1200 MB/s	1.5A
read	800 MB/s	1.1A	1360/840 MB/s	1.4A

View attachment 1693360View attachment 1693362

I did the upgrade a week ago. Overall I'm happy; my SSD is now twice as large as the original, is around twice as fast (for smaller reads and writes, anyway), and uses about the same amount of power.

I have the exact same setup regarding drives and adapter. Sabrent Rocket 2TB with the Sintech adapter. However I'm on a MBP 2015 13" (Catalina but have been running Big Sur). However, mine drains huge amount of battery, I find that it's using the battery 2-3x as fast as with the old drive. Any ideas about what that could be about?

 

[tareumlaneuchie]

Long time lurker here, and with the Big Sur update which resolved all the problems on my MacBook Pro mid-2014, I took the plunge during Black Friday and bought a 1 To Western Digital Blue (WD-SN550). I knew performance would be meh but I figure I needed space more than hypothetic performance on a 6+ years old machine with 2 PCIe lanes (this is the adapter I bought).

I did not want to upgrade to BigSur, but just wanted the bootrom upgrade. Upon reading on forums and blogs, people were saying that dual booting BigSur was not a good idea, so I figured that I could be in for the long run + perhaps numerous problems and opted to keep my internal SSD untouched throughout the process. This is what I used:

1. Large USB Stick
2. Large External USB Hard Drive
3. External USB NVME Enclosure
4. Super Duper
5. Big Sur OS Installation (from App Store).
6. Catalina OS Installation (from App Store).

Process:

1. Quit e-Mail, Suspend OneDrive etc... on the original OS.
2. Let BlackMagic run on my new SSD to ensure it is working, until the NVME Enclosure was uncomfortably warm to the touch.
3. Clone internal SSD with SuperDuper (I can no longer trust TimeMachine on Catalina, unfortunately) on the USB HD. This was my safe backup.
4. Created bootable USB stick for BigSur.
5. Shutdown.
6. Opened up the Macbook and swapped the original Apple SSD with NVME Drive + adapter.
7. Booted from USB stick and installed BigSur on the new NVME Drive.
8. Booted into BigSur (USB Stick), double checked the BootRom version, just to be sure and test hibernate and deep sleep.
9. Opened up the Macbook and swapped the NVME Drive + adapter with the original Apple SSD.
10. Booted into Catalina (on original Apple SSD), created a bootable USB stick for Catalina.
11. Remove APFS Partitions from NVME Drive (in USB Enclosure) with Disk Utility (Hint: click in '-' in upper left corner on toolbar in Disk Utility, above 'Volume').
12. Clone internal SSD to new NVME Drive (in USB Enclosure) with SuperDuper.
13. Shutdown.
14. Opened up the Macbook and swapped the original Apple SSD with NVME Drive + adapter one last time.
15. Boot into Catalina on the clone, I ran Onyx just in case to refresh caches etc...

Speed is much, much, much better than I was expecting. Writes drops around 800 Mb/s after a couple iterations but even then still much better than what I was expecting.

Seems like I lost temperature sensors on SSD within iStat, but I can live with that.

PS: Somehow, SuperDuper messed up the backup of offline files on OneDrive, or there is something that OneDrive did not like because there was about 800 or so file that were trashed when I (re)started OneDrive Synchronisation. Very Strange. Coworkers were iffy.

 

[Londo Mollari]

It's straight forward. Can't think of any pitfalls. Perhaps double check on contacts between SSD & adapter, then adapter and Logic Board's socket. Make sure no short circuit.

When done and you feel joyful, share with us a chart of the SSD current from iStat Menus and whatnot. There are a couple of examples in previous pages.

Personally I haven't run BootCamp. Is there iStat Menu equivalent to read Apple sensors in Windows 10? A chart or readings of SSD current similar to iStat Menu from Windows will be quite interesting to see.

Here are the sensor readings I got using Istat menus on Big Sur

 

[mlol]

I have the exact same setup regarding drives and adapter. Sabrent Rocket 2TB with the Sintech adapter. However I'm on a MBP 2015 13" (Catalina but have been running Big Sur). However, mine drains huge amount of battery, I find that it's using the battery 2-3x as fast as with the old drive. Any ideas about what that could be about?

the description of your problems indicates that the adapter is shorted to ground, possibly through a screw at the end. Or you don't have kapton tape at the connector. Analyze these possibilities, I saw similar symptoms on one of the adapters

 

[hopefulPA62]

Hey everyone! This is an awesome forum and first wanted to thank everyone for contributing to it. I'm looking into upgraded my 128 gb SSD on my early 2015 13" mac book pro to a 500GB SSD and was wondering if there is a general consensus on what a good upgrade that doesn't run too hot. I was initially going to buy a Samsung 970 EVO but after reading through several pages here, ive seen that they tend to run much hotter than other alternatives. I'm going into graduate school and will mainly be using my laptop for class room notetaking, internet surfing and other non-intensive applications.

I know the general consensus is to use the sintech short black adapter --> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FYY3H5F?tag=mrforums-20#customerReviews&dtb=1

And I was considering either this WD Blue SN550 (500GB) --> https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-blue-sn550-nvme-500gb/p/N82E16820250134

Or this XPG SX8200 (512 GB) --> https://www.newegg.com/xpg-sx8200-p...ate disk-_-xpg-_-9SIAJNU95S3647&source=region

I was wondering if anyone else had any other suggestions or if their is a consensus between these two SSD's. Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[kvic]

Here are the sensor readings I got using Istat menus on Big Sur

Thank you. I take it as your Sabrent Rocket 2T hovering around 0.15A at idle in BigSur. Would be interesting to check out the idle current in Windows 10 in future when you can.

Speed is much, much, much better than I was expecting. Writes drops around 800 Mb/s after a couple iterations but even then still much better than what I was expecting.

SN550 1TB's worse sequential write throughput is pretty consistent, between 800-900 MB/s across the entire capacity until the last bits filled. It's almost like some of the premium desktop SSDs.

I have an Adata 8200 Pro in a MBP13 2015 and am noticing a drop of 5-6% battery per hour when sleeping.

Something is wrong with your MBP's setup. Like many other threads on battery drain, it would be a daunting task to hunt down the cause.

5-6% per hour cannot be caused by a SSD. Our 2015 13-inch MBP + SN550 1TB drains about 2% per hour if it is _sleeping_, ~0% if it's in _hibernation_.

	Apple SSD		Sabrent Rocket
idle		0.1A		0.12A
write	842 MB/s	1.6A	1320/1200 MB/s	1.5A
read	800 MB/s	1.1A	1360/840 MB/s	1.4A

Surprised to learn Apple SSD idling at 0.1A for the 1TB model.

Thanks for sharing the detailed write up. I'm not in the market to buy another SSD for MBP anytime soon (perhaps never) but it's always interesting to read about them.

 

[quaresma]

BigSur 11.1 is here. Any bootrom updates? I’m on Mojave so I won’t be upgrading, but if the bootrom is upgraded, I might pop in the Apple SSD just to get that.