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

[AVK_boom]

Hi folks. Recently upgraded my MBP 15'' mid 2015 with new Samsung SSD 970 eve plus 1TB. In few words - all in order, no any panics, normal temperatures idle 39-40 deg C / under the stress max 49, hibernation and sleep working same as well. Only things I'm worry about it's apparently slow read/write speed. Tried with several adapters (noname and Sintec ) - result the same as per attached screenshot. With my configuration below expecting speed about write 2900mb/s read 2900mb/s. By the way bootcamp windows showing speed write 3000mb/s read 2500 mb/s. Very strange... Any ideas from community will be highly appreciated.

MacOS version: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H1026)
Mac: MacBookPro11,5
Processor: Quad-Core Intel Core i7 2.5GHz
Boot ROM Version: 427.0.0.0.0
SSD: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB (latest firmware version: 2B2QEXM7) + Sintec long adapter

 

[unmesh59]

If you get an Apple OEM Drive then you don't need to do anything special. If your wife's machine is backed up with Time Machine then you can simply use a bootable USB/SD card with MacOS on it to reinstall the OS, then restore her data from Time Machine.

That does seem straightforward.

Thanks!

 

[Eugene28]

I've done this because I've been having Kernel panics like once a week, so it is hard to tell yet, if it has helped. I've also cleaned the contact pins on the adapter and the drive using contact enhancement spray and isopropyl alcohol as suggested by some, so even if my freezes go away it would be non decisive, as I've attempted multiple things at the same time. Not scientific, but I wanted solution more like finding out the reason.
But anyway, I think the manufacturer felt there was a reason to release updated FW, so I want to make sure I'm not suffering from bugs or bottlenecks which may be fixed by the update, so after all I think it is just psychologically better to have updated SW once learned there was an update...

TL;DR: No meaningfull difference.

Can not believe people still cleaning contact pins because getting sleep related kernel panics. Stop doing this nonsense.

 

[Eugene28]

Hi folks. Recently upgraded my MBP 15'' mid 2015 with new Samsung SSD 970 eve plus 1TB. In few words - all in order, no any panics, normal temperatures idle 39-40 deg C / under the stress max 49, hibernation and sleep working same as well. Only things I'm worry about it's apparently slow read/write speed. Tried with several adapters (noname and Sintec ) - result the same as per attached screenshot. With my configuration below expecting speed about write 2900mb/s read 2900mb/s. By the way bootcamp windows showing speed write 3000mb/s read 2500 mb/s. Very strange... Any ideas from community will be highly appreciated.

MacOS version: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H1026)
Mac: MacBookPro11,5
Processor: Quad-Core Intel Core i7 2.5GHz
Boot ROM Version: 427.0.0.0.0
SSD: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB (latest firmware version: 2B2QEXM7) + Sintec long adapter

Good results. You could improve read speed by formating ssd with 4k sector size before restoring MacOS onto new drive.

 

[J@ffa]

Hi folks. Recently upgraded my MBP 15'' mid 2015 with new Samsung SSD 970 eve plus 1TB. In few words - all in order, no any panics, normal temperatures idle 39-40 deg C / under the stress max 49, hibernation and sleep working same as well. Only things I'm worry about it's apparently slow read/write speed. Tried with several adapters (noname and Sintec ) - result the same as per attached screenshot. With my configuration below expecting speed about write 2900mb/s read 2900mb/s. By the way bootcamp windows showing speed write 3000mb/s read 2500 mb/s. Very strange... Any ideas from community will be highly appreciated.

MacOS version: macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H1026)
Mac: MacBookPro11,5
Processor: Quad-Core Intel Core i7 2.5GHz
Boot ROM Version: 427.0.0.0.0
SSD: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB (latest firmware version: 2B2QEXM7) + Sintec long adapter

That looks pretty fast to me!

 

[AVK_boom]

Good results. You could improve read speed by formating ssd with 4k sector size before restoring MacOS onto new drive.

Yeah, good idea. Present sector size is 512 (see attached). But how to do it? Any special software available? As per many sources/forums I found sector size is an inherent characteristic of the drive and cannot be changed.

 

[AVK_boom]

That looks pretty fast to me!

Same to me But expecting faster...

 

[Eugene28]

Yeah, good idea. Present sector size is 512 (see attached). But how to do it? Any special software available? As per many sources/forums I found sector size is an inherent characteristic of the drive and cannot be changed.

One for Windows from Sabrent https://www.sabrent.com/acronis/ssc/

 

[AVK_boom]

One for Windows from Sabrent https://www.sabrent.com/acronis/ssc/

I've got. Will consider it. Thanks!

 

[senseipro]

13" MBP Late 2013, fully updated to Big Sur. I bought this drive and adapter:

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (ASX8200PNP-1TT-C)​

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive R/W 3500/3000MB/s SSD (ASX8200PNP-1TT-C)

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive R/W 3500/3000MB/s SSD (ASX8200PNP-1TT-C)

www.amazon.com

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MacBook PRO(Late 2013-2015 Year)​

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MacBook PRO(Late 2013-2015 Year) (Black)

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MacBook PRO(Late 2013-2015 Year) (Black)

www.amazon.com

-Followed web guide for creating a bootable jump drive of Big Sur.
-Pressed power button and then held Option to get to boot menu. Selected to install Big Sur. Took me to new disk util.
-It recognized the M.2 drive. Formatted it. Installed. Poof. Done.

 

[Eugene28]

13" MBP Late 2013, fully updated to Big Sur. I bought this drive and adapter:

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (ASX8200PNP-1TT-C)​

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive R/W 3500/3000MB/s SSD (ASX8200PNP-1TT-C)

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 PCIe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive R/W 3500/3000MB/s SSD (ASX8200PNP-1TT-C)

www.amazon.com

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MacBook PRO(Late 2013-2015 Year)​

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MacBook PRO(Late 2013-2015 Year) (Black)

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MacBook PRO(Late 2013-2015 Year) (Black)

www.amazon.com

When I boot into Internet Recovery, and open up the disk utility, it does not see the drive.

Can anyone help me out? I'm not sure what's going on here.

Read 1st post. You can not use internet recovery. Bootable USB must be madr with MacOS High Sierra or newer.

 

[evoplus970]

The Big Sur 11.3 update seems to have broken NVMeFix for me on my MBP 2015 with Samsung Evo 970 Plus... I used to get idle 0.00 A with both SsdPmEnabler and NVMeFix/Lilu installed on 11.2 . After the update its idle at 0.28 A .

So I uninstalled all the kexts, then reinstalled SsdPmEnabler first, and it dropped my power consumption from 0.77 to 0.28 A, which is great news that it still works. But when I install NVMeFix/Lilu, it makes no difference

I remember on 11.2, if I install SsdPmEnabler first , it would do the same and drop to 0.28 A, and then after installing NVMeFix/Lilu it would drop it even further to 0.00 A.

 

[SBNC.eu]

My first kernel panic since the update. What can be the cause guys?
I'm on MBP 15 late 2013 Catalina, 430.0 bootrom, 512GB Crucial P2 with the firmware updated (kernel panic was before the update of the firmware)

Thanks!

The attached report is a bit hard to read in this format, but it looks generic. Tbh, I've been having kernel panics often before I did 4 things: updated FW on the SSD, reset NVRAM, reset SMC and cleaned the connectors with corrosion remover and isopropyl alcohol.
You have done the FW. Try the resets too!
Kernel extensions may cause issues as well, so check what you have in the panic reports that is not an Apple extension. Try removing/uninstalling them.
If still have issue, consider the cleaning maybe, if you are confident with electronics. You can buy Electrical Contact Cleaner spray and isopropyl alcohol. Some others were successful only using isopropyl, but they have different effects. The first removes oxidization, the alcohol removes oils and fat, so combined effect is the best. Start with the cleaner, than use the alcohol. Unplug the SSD and the adapter. Clean both plugs and sockets. Use a qtip to clean the plug surface and spray a bit into the connectors. Wait for the corrosion remover a minute to do it's work. Make sure to disconnect the battery first and let the liquids dry up completely before turning anything on again. It can take some time inside the connectors, so be patient! Use compressed air spray to flush out to speed up drying, but note you still have to wait at least 10m after that. If you have no air to dry it up, you may need to wait even few hours. Longer the safer.
But again, be careful and only do it if you are willing to risk damaging the machine.
All I know I have got no more kernel panics after these. But it may also be just temporary luck...

 

[Stratus Fear]

The Big Sur 11.3 update seems to have broken NVMeFix for me on my MBP 2015 with Samsung Evo 970 Plus... I used to get idle 0.00 A with both SsdPmEnabler and NVMeFix/Lilu installed on 11.2 . After the update its idle at 0.28 A .

So I uninstalled all the kexts, then reinstalled SsdPmEnabler first, and it dropped my power consumption from 0.77 to 0.28 A, which is great news that it still works. But when I install NVMeFix/Lilu, it makes no difference

I remember on 11.2, if I install SsdPmEnabler first , it would do the same and drop to 0.28 A, and then after installing NVMeFix/Lilu it would drop it even further to 0.00 A.

I experienced this during the 11.3 beta period as well, using a 2TB SX8200 Pro. I needed more storage capacity on a desktop PC so I ended up moving that drive to that machine and putting a Crucial P2 in my MBP since that one seems to do well without NVMeFix.

 

[Pistiku]

I experienced this during the 11.3 beta period as well, using a 2TB SX8200 Pro. I needed more storage capacity on a desktop PC so I ended up moving that drive to that machine and putting a Crucial P2 in my MBP since that one seems to do well without NVMeFix.

I am planning to upgrade my mac pro 2015 early with a Crucial P2 500Gb. Is it running bugfree for you? First I was thinking about the same SX8200 but I read a lot of bad feedback from several type of brands. I am not sure now it is wort the upgrade if afterwards I have a crushy system, but if some of the ssd's running smoothly I will go for it. Any info is appreciated!

 

[Steve555]

Thank you for this very informative thread which helped guide me through the process of upgrading the SSD in my MacBook Pro. I wanted to add my experiences doing this to the thread, in case they are useful.

System:

MacOS version: Mojave 10.14.6 (18G8022)
Mac: MacBookPro11,3
Processor: Quad-Core Intel Core i7 2.3GHz
Boot ROM Version: 430.0.0.0.0
SSD: Crucial P2 2TB (updated to firmware version: P2CR033) + Sintech short adapter
and then
SSD: Sabrent Rocket 2TB (firmware version RKT303.4) + Sintech short adaptor

I initially installed the Crucial P2. However in testing copying of large sets of data, I observed very slow writes (down to about 69 Mb/s) after around 100 Gb of data had been copied. I did various experiments reading, writing and deleting files to understand the behaviour, and consistently saw drops down to this very slow speed, without observing any obvious temperature spikes or other potential causes for a slow down. This made me suspicious that the Crucial 2Tb SSD might now be using QLC memory rather than TLC. Searching the web I found this discussion which seems to confirm my suspicions (although I can't be absolutely sure). I knew QLC wouldn't fit the way I would use the disk, so I decided to replaced the Crucial with a Sabrent Rocket (easier to do straight away while I had all the backups, installation USBs etc availabe). The Sabrent is giving me good performance even with big transfers (around 1350 Mb/s SLC cached and 800 Mb/s uncached).

After installing the Sabrent I have also done the following:
1) Reduced idle power consumption on Sabrent:
Initially: Idle at around 0.18 Amps
With SSDPMEnabler: Idle at around 0.08 Amps
With SSDPMEnabler + NVMEFix: Idle at around 0.03 Amps

2) Installed the latest OS X Mojave security update which included an update to the boot ROM (431.0.0.0)
- boot ROM updated successfully with the Sabrent SSD installed
- kexts continued to work

3) Installed Bootcamp Windows 10 without needing to do the Shift + F10 regedit fix.
- did the inital install without networking, as suggested in a previous post, but can't be sure if that was needed.
- did the install on mains power
- modified PCI express power management settings in Windows to the 'moderate' setting
- No BSODs during or since install

So overall it's gone quite well. I'm very pleased to have the extra storage and improved performance compared to the original Apple SSD. The Crucial P2 is now in an external enclosure, and I'll use it for something else. I'd say the most difficult thing was choosing the right model of SSD, given that some manufacturers seem to varying the components they are using within products, so it can be a bit difficult to determine what you're actually going to get.

 

[93770]

I initially installed the Crucial P2. However in testing copying of large sets of data, I observed very slow writes (down to about 69 Mb/s) after around 100 Gb of data had been copied. I did various experiments reading, writing and deleting files to understand the behaviour, and consistently saw drops down to this very slow speed, without observing any obvious temperature spikes or other potential causes for a slow down. This made me suspicious that the Crucial 2Tb SSD might now be using QLC memory rather than TLC. Searching the web I found this discussion which seems to confirm my suspicions (although I can't be absolutely sure). I knew QLC wouldn't fit the way I would use the disk, so I decided to replaced the Crucial with a Sabrent Rocket (easier to do straight away while I had all the backups, installation USBs etc availabe). The Sabrent is giving me good performance even with big transfers (around 1350 Mb/s SLC cached and 800 Mb/s uncached).

I can confirm that. I have two Crucial P2 in two different MacBookAir7,2. Both have QLC memory (tested with the program from this discussion) and have really bad read / write performance. The Disk Speed test looks exactly like that. I think I'll replace both with other SSDs. Which would be recommended?

 

[xboxbml]

If you get an Apple OEM Drive then you don't need to do anything special. If your wife's machine is backed up with Time Machine then you can simply use a bootable USB/SD card with MacOS on it to reinstall the OS, then restore her data from Time Machine.

Actually, I believe you can boot off the Time Machine drive directly and do everything from there, correct?

 

[Stratus Fear]

I am planning to upgrade my mac pro 2015 early with a Crucial P2 500Gb. Is it running bugfree for you? First I was thinking about the same SX8200 but I read a lot of bad feedback from several type of brands. I am not sure now it is wort the upgrade if afterwards I have a crushy system, but if some of the ssd's running smoothly I will go for it. Any info is appreciated!

I've had no issues at all with the P2. I'm using it on a 2013/2014 15" model. The SX8200 also largely ran fine; I had no crashing issues, just higher power consumption. You'd probably have slightly better performance with the SX8200 rather than the P2 since you have a 2015 machine.

 

[mork4]

The Big Sur 11.3 update seems to have broken NVMeFix for me on my MBP 2015 with Samsung Evo 970 Plus... I used to get idle 0.00 A with both SsdPmEnabler and NVMeFix/Lilu installed on 11.2 . After the update its idle at 0.28 A .

So I uninstalled all the kexts, then reinstalled SsdPmEnabler first, and it dropped my power consumption from 0.77 to 0.28 A, which is great news that it still works. But when I install NVMeFix/Lilu, it makes no difference

I remember on 11.2, if I install SsdPmEnabler first , it would do the same and drop to 0.28 A, and then after installing NVMeFix/Lilu it would drop it even further to 0.00 A.

Are NVMeFix/Lilu kexts properly loaded ? Try: kextstat | grep -v com.apple

 

[herb2k]

The Big Sur 11.3 update seems to have broken NVMeFix for me on my MBP 2015 with Samsung Evo 970 Plus... I used to get idle 0.00 A with both SsdPmEnabler and NVMeFix/Lilu installed on 11.2 . After the update its idle at 0.28 A .

So I uninstalled all the kexts, then reinstalled SsdPmEnabler first, and it dropped my power consumption from 0.77 to 0.28 A, which is great news that it still works. But when I install NVMeFix/Lilu, it makes no difference

I remember on 11.2, if I install SsdPmEnabler first , it would do the same and drop to 0.28 A, and then after installing NVMeFix/Lilu it would drop it even further to 0.00 A.

Check that the kexts are loaded properly and that Spotlight isn't still indexing after the upgrade:

kextstat | egrep -e "Ssd|Lilu|NVMe"

EDIT: Just checked NVMeFix on Github - looks like there was an Apple NVMe driver update with 11.3, so there will be a new build coming.

 

[jrssman]

Hi Guys!

thanks to this thread I was able to successfully use my MBA 2013 (FW 117.0.0.0.0) with the 128GB WD PC SN520 NVMe SSD. However just few days ago I've upgraded it to Cruicial P2 500GB, and that is when my problems started.

With the WD drive I had Lilu, NVMeFix and SsdPmEnabler installed so standby worked fine, and the power-usage was satisfactory. I had Windows 10 installed with BootCamp with no issues. But the speeds were ~ W: 300MB/s R: 700MB/s.

With the P2 I cannot use SsdPmEnabler - it freezes whole system and causes kernel panic (I tried it only with Lilu and NVMeFix installed - alone those work just quite fine). My speeds are ~W:1000MB/s, R:1200MB/s. But it looks like the battery is draining bit faster.

I also encountered problems with installing Windows. Finally I managed to do so, and I would like to share with you my experience.
So, it failed with first few attempts, I was getting BSODs, and then the window about fail to install because of restart, and when I tried to edit registry to adjust the 'Child' value I was getting another BSOD before even finding the right key in registry to edit. I was pretty sure that the new SSD was the reason so I deleted the 'AppleSsd' folder from installation USB - then again BSOD and error, but now I was able to edit registry with no problems and from that point the installation went smoothly. Everything looked fine until I decided to unplug the MagSafe - Windows froze, and I got another BSOD, then again it worked fine on MagSafe. I guessed it had to be power saving issue - and I was right. I ended up editing 'advanced power saving options while on battery' for the PCIE - from high power saving to medium. Now Windows works fine also on the battery.

The only thing left is the SsdPmEnabler - for me it looks like after installing it the SSD does not get enough power and that causes the freezes and panic. It is like I cannot even put my password to login, OS freezes and then restarts. Any advice? Is it possible to somehow adjust the values in SsdPmEnabler?

Thanks a lot for this thread.
Best!

 

[evoplus970]

Are NVMeFix/Lilu kexts properly loaded ? Try: kextstat | grep -v com.apple

Hi, I tried your code and got this:

Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded
No variant specified, falling back to release
Index Refs Address Size Wired Name (Version) UUID <Linked Against>
130 0 0xffffff7f9b47d000 0x1000 0x1000 com.ZLab.SsdPmEnabler (0.1.1) D54B8413-BEBE-310E-A320-2D413544D234 <14 5 3>
150 1 0xffffff7f9b414000 0x1e000 0x1e000 as.vit9696.Lilu (1.5.2) 4D9E4A84-BAB0-3E27-B4BD-548956E709C0 <8 6 5 3 2 1>
151 0 0xffffff7f9b438000 0x4000 0x4000 org.acidanthera.NVMeFix (1.0.7) 0280C0BF-9BBE-3EF7-B508-8632C2F6197B <150 8 6 5 3 2 1

Does that look normal?

 

[jonlizzo]

I can confirm that. I have two Crucial P2 in two different MacBookAir7,2. Both have QLC memory (tested with the program from this discussion) and have really bad read / write performance. The Disk Speed test looks exactly like that. I think I'll replace both with other SSDs. Which would be recommended?

I just installed a Crucial P2 2TB for a macbook pro 11,5 and I'm getting similar write and read speeds (80 mb/s, 1000 mb/s) after the first two iterations...it does look good for the first couple iterations of the speed test. I'm wondering which tests people post online?

 

[93770]

I just installed a Crucial P2 2TB for a macbook pro 11,5 and I'm getting similar write and read speeds (80 mb/s, 1000 mb/s) after the first two iterations...it does look good for the first couple iterations of the speed test. I'm wondering which tests people post online?

Probably people post speed tests with the old P2 (with TLC memory). It seems that Crucial has recently started using QLC memory, which would explain the poor write and read speed after the first two iterations. My two P2 definitely have QLC memory.
I still have a one year old Sabrent Rocket 1TB, it has TLC memory, with which the speed test looks normal (1300 mb/s, 1300 mb/s). Therefore I think that the reason for the bad speed test can't be the Sintech adapter.