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

[FF89]

Specs:

1. MacBook Pro 15 Late 2013
2. Boot ROM 430.0.0.0.0
3. Crucial P2 512GB SSD
4. Sintech short adapter bought directly from their site
5. macOS Catalina in his latest update version, installed from scratch without restoring any data
6. pmset -g give me these values (https://prnt.sc/10uupaa)

I think I finally installed correctly the 3 Klext SsdPmEnabler.kext, Lilu.kext and NVMeFix.kext. Can you confirm me watching the attachment please?

I'm all good now of I have to change some values in pmset config?

My speed test now --> https://prnt.sc/10v8hy2

Hi,

For me, I remove the lilu and NVMeFIX because no changes in SSD Current when I install them (I am using Crucial P2 1TB with NFHK N-491A short adapter on my 15" MBP Mid 2014, macOS Big Sur 11.2.3). With only SSDPmEnabler only, my SSD current already goes 0.00 - 0.01 A during idle. Lilu and NVMeFIX caused boot issue and need some modification to allow them on my MBP, which I do not prefer. Why bother using them if I managed to get good result with SSDPmEnabler, right? That is my opinion.

Regarding your Blackmagic Speed Test, i think it normal for your write speed for Crucial P2 500 GB. However, I am not sure about your read speed since the product claim it can go up to 2300 MB/s. At least, you may get around mine, since our MBP model only support PCIe 2.0 x4, which is should be around 1500 MB/s. For my MBP, it can go up to ~1253 MB/S and ~1379 MB/s for write and read, respectively.

 

[ViMan]

Hi, I buy a WD Blue SN550 1TB to my MacBook Air 13" Early 2015, I haven't installed it yet, how do I update the firmware?

Did you already upgraded your MBA? Please tell us about the perfomance (blackmagic speedtest) and what's about the battery life, do you notice some differences?
I am actually planing to upgrade my MBA 2015 too, but can't decide between P2 and SN550.

On the first site in the graphics i see different results (blackmagic) on SN550 than on youtube review.

 

[Eugene28]

Did you already upgraded your MBA? Please tell us about the perfomance (blackmagic speedtest) and what's about the battery life, do you notice some differences?
I am actually planing to upgrade my MBA 2015 too, but can't decide between P2 and SN550.

On the first site in the graphics i see different results (blackmagic) on SN550 than on youtube review.

For me decision in obvious from the 1st page. P2.

 

[ViMan]

For me decision in obvious from the 1st page. P2.

I'm not sure if I can trust the results from 1st page, thats why I'm asking for more benchmarks. There is a YT video where you can see the SN550 writes nearly as fast as it's reading on MBA 2015.

 

[shafez]

Hi
I successfully upgraded to Samsung Evo 970 Plus with Sintech adaptor and every thing works fine with Big Sur 11.2.3, I installed Windows 10 ok with bootcamp and everything also works well how ever because I used my Thunderbolt to Ethernet adaptor during the bootcamp installation now if I boot to windows 10 without the Ethernet adaptor attached I get a blue screen and windows reboots.
Please advise, your help is very much appreciated as I need Windows for work.
Regards

SOLVED

Problem was solved by disabling PCI Express Power Management as in attached image.

*Update: Moderate also works.

 

[Jedi82]

Hi,

For me, I remove the lilu and NVMeFIX because no changes in SSD Current when I install them (I am using Crucial P2 1TB with NFHK N-491A short adapter on my 15" MBP Mid 2014, macOS Big Sur 11.2.3). With only SSDPmEnabler only, my SSD current already goes 0.00 - 0.01 A during idle. Lilu and NVMeFIX caused boot issue and need some modification to allow them on my MBP, which I do not prefer. Why bother using them if I managed to get good result with SSDPmEnabler, right? That is my opinion.

Regarding your Blackmagic Speed Test, i think it normal for your write speed for Crucial P2 500 GB. However, I am not sure about your read speed since the product claim it can go up to 2300 MB/s. At least, you may get around mine, since our MBP model only support PCIe 2.0 x4, which is should be around 1500 MB/s. For my MBP, it can go up to ~1253 MB/S and ~1379 MB/s for write and read, respectively.

Thanks for your reply. I'm asking you and all of you expert what's wrong with my disk speed test...I really don't know why it's like this. I was on battery with ZERO opened program... Is it normal?

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[Shegiva]

SSD upgrade went slow. I upgraded my 2015 MacBook Air with WD blue NVMe ssd that should peak at 2400/1750 mb/s but it seems to be just 750/430 which is even slower than the original apple ssd (1300/450). What might be a problem? TRIM enabled btw.

 

[Txquadhunter]

I’ve got a Mid 2014 MBP 15” I’m looking to upgrade to a P2 1TB.
I’ve got the Adapter and p2 1TB already.

I’m wanting to Clarify a few things before I start upgrade.

I’m running Catalina 10.15.7

Boot rom 430.0.0.0.0

Should I stay with this OS or down/upgrade to another OS first? So that way I know which way to setup my USB drive to reinstall my OS

I just got this MBP, So I don’t have anything on the SSD to save. Plus I’m still learning the Functions of MBP vs pC.

Thanks.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

I’ve got a Mid 2014 MBP 15” I’m looking to upgrade to a P2 1TB.
I’ve got the Adapter and p2 1TB already.

I’m wanting to Clarify a few things before I start upgrade.

I’m running Catalina 10.15.7

Boot rom 430.0.0.0.0

Should I stay with this OS or down/upgrade to another OS first? So that way I know which way to setup my USB drive to reinstall my OS

I just got this MBP, So I don’t have anything on the SSD to save. Plus I’m still learning the Functions of MBP vs pC.

Thanks.

I comment on this subject some pages back.
You don't need to downgrade nor upgrade to a different version of macOS.

 

[CBW]

hi everyone,
i have mba 2017 (big sur 11.2.1) with 128gb apple ssd

which of the following should I buy

• crucial p2 1tb
• adata sx8200pro 512gb

I bought corsair mp510 480gb but i think it was broken (650read-1300write)

i searched but i cant see p2 1tb results on mba 2017
this ssd's are have same prices in my country
if adata sx8200pro performs better than p2 1tb, i gonna buy sx8200pro

can u help me
thanks now

I have a MBA 2017 with the crucial p2 1 tb with sintech adapter.
I did the upgrade yesterday mainly because of the reviews (charts for energy) and price.
So far, so good.
No errors, I can't notice too much battery drain, and the speeds are better than the original : ~1340 R/W

 

[Txquadhunter]

I comment on this subject some pages back.
You don't need to downgrade nor upgrade to a different version of macOS.

Thank you for the reply. I must have missed your post. Ive been reading this thread for about a week now. and easy to over look it.

 

[FF89]

Thanks for your reply. I'm asking you and all of you expert what's wrong with my disk speed test...I really don't know why it's like this. I was on battery with ZERO opened program... Is it normal?

Watch Registrazione schermo 2021-03-27 alle 16.38.30 | Streamable

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1) try running the disk speed test again while the MBP is connected to power supply. check if that improve the situation.

2) Check the Crucial P2 SSD firmware is up to date. If no, please update the SSD firmware. Latest update for 250GB and 500 GB is available on Crucial website.

 

[JCS_tech]

hey good day look for some help with installing a m.2 Nvme 500GB on my macbook pro A1502 2015 model for some reason the Drive takes the apple ios after it finish the laptop keeps booting form usb Os an not the 500GB need some help why im i getting that boot loop ...?

 

[Eugene28]

hey good day look for some help with installing a m.2 Nvme 500GB on my macbook pro A1502 2015 model for some reason the Drive takes the apple ios after it finish the laptop keeps booting form usb Os an not the 500GB need some help why im i getting that boot loop ...?

What have you done to make it boot from SSD?

 

[E__F__]

I'm upgrading storage for a Mid 2013 MBA 6,2. I will be getting the Sintech adapter and an external enclosure to clone my current drive. For the drive I'm a little torn. I'm looking at the adata xpg sx8200pro, wd black sn750, and the Samsung 970 evo (all in 1tb). The main thing I am looking for is low operating temp since its going in a MBA. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations on which drive to pick?

Thanks!

 

[Jedi82]

1) try running the disk speed test again while the MBP is connected to power supply. check if that improve the situation.

2) Check the Crucial P2 SSD firmware is up to date. If no, please update the SSD firmware. Latest update for 250GB and 500 GB is available on Crucial website.

That's right. When in charge, stats seems to be more stable and similar. So, do I have to set something more to let my MBP be powerful also when not charged? (https://prnt.sc/10yps8z)

Wow that's right, I have to update the firmware but I found that it's very hard directly on Mac. Can someone can provide here the new firmware so that we can update our Mac? Here is the page with the update: https://it.crucial.com/support/ssd-support/p2-support

 

[Srajan]

Hey! I'm planning on upgrading my macbook pro mid 2015 15 inch ssd from 256gb to 1TB,
Can anyone tell me which one will be the best bang for the buck ssd? And which one should I get for the speed compared to the stock 256gb.
The stock one is giving me 900 MB/s write and 1800 MB/s Read. (And honestly I'm happy with this speed also)

P.S- I am also gonna install windows using bootcamp and I have seen so many people complaining about the windows not working, is it true?

And I also wanna know about the battery backup difference compared to the stock ssd.

Thanks.

 

[herb2k]

Hey! I'm planning on upgrading my macbook pro mid 2015 15 inch ssd from 256gb to 1TB,
Can anyone tell me which one will be the best bang for the buck ssd? And which one should I get for the speed compared to the stock 256gb.
The stock one is giving me 900 MB/s write and 1800 MB/s Read. (And honestly I'm happy with this speed also)

P.S- I am also gonna install windows using bootcamp and I have seen so many people complaining about the windows not working, is it true?

And I also wanna know about the battery backup difference compared to the stock ssd.

Thanks.

Any of the modern NVMe SSDs will do and sustain the current speeds you have.

Crucial P2 from the first post seems to be the best bet, then any of the Phison E12S/E13 based units.

 

[evoplus970]

Hey guys Am very happy to confirm that I managed to get my Samsung Evo Plus to go down to 0.00-0.02 A in idle on my 13"MacBook Pro 2015 , on Big Sur I installed the SSD months ago and only now came across this thread and started guilt tripping because it seemed the Samsung Evo Plus is a bad choice due to its power consumption.

So I installed SsdPmEnabler first and my SSD went from 0.43-0.78 A to 0.27-0.48 A. Definitely an improvement but it wasn't until I installed NVMeFix that I got it to 0.00! And I know its legit because it would sometimes go from 0.00 to 0.02 or 0.05 and back, so it seems it staggers instead of jumping drastically.

Am pretty surprised considering everyone seems to be bashing the Samsung Evo Plus for being power hungry (which it definitely was before installing the fixes) but I bought it because Samsung is reliable and I got the SSD for a good deal.

ALSO, as a few others previously mentioned, if you are installing NVMeFix and Lilu on Big Sur don't forget to open terminal in recovery mode first and type: nvram boot-argS="keepsyms=1"

I was getting boot looped before doing this and that command fixed my problem.

@kvic Hope you can use this info to update the table on your GitHub page

Thank you all for this golden info! Wish I'd came across this thread way sooner lol.

 

[xboxbml]

SSD upgrade went slow. I upgraded my 2015 MacBook Air with WD blue NVMe ssd that should peak at 2400/1750 mb/s but it seems to be just 750/430 which is even slower than the original apple ssd (1300/450). What might be a problem? TRIM enabled btw.

See my sig. I have 2015 MBA with ADATA 2TB drive and I get 1116/1352 on it.. Perhaps you have a hardware issue.

 

[Shegiva]

See my sig. I have 2015 MBA with ADATA 2TB drive and I get 1116/1352 on it.. Perhaps you have a hardware issue.

I guess it’s the adapter because I used not Sintech. Ordered the proper one, now waiting for the delivery

 

[joe987]

Hi Everyone,

I have a sabrent 1tb ssd on a macbook pro 2015.

I updated to Big Sur and now my Macbook keeps freezing rendering it pretty much useless.

I want to downgrade to Catalina and have made a bootable Catalina drive but when I restart the macbook using CMD + R and try to erase the SSD it cannot find it but just shows 0Disk which says the capacity is much lower than the 1tb SSD and I do not know whether to wipe that.

Also if I try and boot from CMD + R and restore from time machine it can find my time machine attached but then cannot see where to install the back up and cannot see my HD/SSD.

Can anyone help please I am really worried I will be stuck with a useless Big Sur update and a broken mac.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Michaela_]

Hello! This is a long-overdue update (no. 3) on my previous postings. Long story short: it was the SSD drive all along! After ordering another Sintech short adapter and installing it without any progress I sent the original drive back as faulty, purchased another Crucial P2 1 TB from a different retailer, and voila I've been running smoothly since then. Even though the first drive wasn't entirely DOA since it was working seemingly fine on the desktop setup, in my Macbook it was completely unusable. So if you're having similar issues with your Crucial P2 SSD drive, it's likely faulty, and I'd advise trying getting another one before ordering another adapter that's half a world away 😀.
I'd like to thank once again all of you who came forward with insights and opinions❤️.

Previous posts below for the sake of newcomers reading through the older ones.

Hi. First-time poster, long-time lurker here. I really wanted this to be a post celebrating my success, nevertheless, this isn't one.

TL;DR: My Sintech adapter was faulty and it took me quite some time to figure out so I'm just letting you know that this is possible and it can happen.

I wanted to upgrade my MacBook Pro Retina 13" mid 2014 (11,1) with a Crucial P2 1TB drive using Sintech short adapter. Since I'm based in Europe and Amazon is poorly stocked here, I chose to order directly from Sintech. It took about 2 weeks for it to arrive, noting the tracking info got stuck as soon as it landed in the UK, then a week passed and it suddenly showed up in the mail, while the tracking still stated "Heathrow". Anyway, it was packed nicely, so far all good. Then I got into a perilous process of backing up everything important, which took forever since my hard drives are virtually ancient (and tiny).
Fun fact: my bootable USB died mid-process, so I had to get a new one, which proved to be one of the "2.4GHz WiFi signal killers" and it's annoying.
Not so fun fact: the Sintech adapter died as well. It worked for an hour or so, then after a restart, I've got the infamous "question mark folder" screen and my MacBook wasn't able to recognize the SSD anymore. After some lengthy troubleshooting, the adapter proved to be the culprit. I contacted Sintech for their opinion on this and will update this post as soon as I get a response from them. Until then I wish y'all better luck❤️.

Takeaways are: get disks that are big enough, fast enough, and properly shielded and when ordering from the other end of the world, order a spare.

So, update number 2 (original poste here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ook-pro-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/post-29635732). I honestly have no idea what went wrong or how to proceed further. Everything I put into my MPBr 13" mid-2014, which is not the original drive, is not recognized by the computer. Firstly I thought it was a faulty adapter (since it has worked for a while), then I thought it's the NVMe drive. I've got another adapter, I've checked the NVMe drive on my desktop, I've tried a completely different NVMe drive, it still does not work. I'm honestly desperate because I can't think of any other option here or thing to try. The strangest thing about this whole issue is during the original attempt to swap the drive, I seemingly succeeded. NVMe was recognized, the system was installed, backup restored, I successfully booted into the system, did some tests, and whatnot. At this point, I felt confident enough to screw in all the screws of the bottom lid (I did only 3 or 4 of them because there was a possibility that I would need to reopen the lid). I turned off the computer, tightened all the screws, turned the computer on, and since then the only thing I get is the question mark folder screen. Is there by any chance anyone who had/has such an issue?

Sys info:
View attachment 1738444

I'd be very thankful for any advice.
Thanks.

P.S. Yes, I've tried PRAM/NVRAM resets, Kapton taping almost everything, screwing the NVMe in tight/loose, fiddling around with the angles...

Hi. Thanks for a quick reaction. It's hella worrying!

The NVMe got recognized by Linux (Ubuntu) without any issue. Plugged into the motherboard via M.2 port.

Yes, I said it was faulty but now I'm not really sure it was the adapter. It was (at the time) the easiest possible explanation, but since I've tried another new adapter, I'm starting to doubt it because what are the odds I've got two faulty adapters from two different resellers in a row... Yes, they both are Sintech short adapters.

I'm running the latest Mojave, 10.14.6. Updated to the latest security patch right before I did the first try.

I honestly have 0 ideas about what went wrong.

Thanks.

 

[xboxbml]

I guess it’s the adapter because I used not Sintech. Ordered the proper one, now waiting for the delivery

Yes, that would be my first action as well.. The small Sintech brand adapter is best. I had gotten the long adapter the first time around and found although it did work, it was pressing on the bottom case so that it would have eventually caused a failure. Got the small adapter and no issues, 6 months now.

 

[Saili]

Hi Everyone,

I have a sabrent 1tb ssd on a macbook pro 2015.

I updated to Big Sur and now my Macbook keeps freezing rendering it pretty much useless.

I want to downgrade to Catalina and have made a bootable Catalina drive but when I restart the macbook using CMD + R and try to erase the SSD it cannot find it but just shows 0Disk which says the capacity is much lower than the 1tb SSD and I do not know whether to wipe that.

Also if I try and boot from CMD + R and restore from time machine it can find my time machine attached but then cannot see where to install the back up and cannot see my HD/SSD.

Can anyone help please I am really worried I will be stuck with a useless Big Sur update and a broken mac.

Thanks,

Joe

I have the same problem. I am trying to format and make a clean install because of some bugs after last beta Big Sur update, but using all 3 different recovery start ups, ends only in internet recovery mode and no hard disk found on disk utility and no hard disk found on any other option in recovery mode.