I must have lucked out and gotten one with TLC (2TB P2 here). I got full speed over 10-15 iterations of the test, no problem. Performance dropping sooner means that the SLC cache size must be much smaller on the QLC models. The QLC performance on its own wouldn't be a huge deal if the SLC cache was large enough. Pretty sure most SSDs have a dynamic SLC cache too, so the performance when the drive isn't anywhere near full should be really good unless you're writing several 100s of gigs of data on a 2TB SSD. Definitely puzzling and it seems like Crucial must have gone pretty cheap on the QLC model.
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Upgrading 2013-2015 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe
- Thread starter maxthackray
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Has anyone had success with Silicon Power M.2 NVME SSDs with Late 2013 - 2015 MacBook Pro / MacBook Air? I have tested 2ea of the SP PCIe Gen3x4 P34A60 and 1 of the Gen3x4 34A80 on each of 2 2015 MacBook Air A1466, 3 2015 MacBook Pro 13" A1502 and 1 Late 2013 MacBook Pro 15" A1398. All have been updated to the most recent boot loader firmware using a standard Apple SSD (4XX.x.x.x.x). They all run perfectly with an Apple SSD.
Used 2x long Sintech NGFF adapters, 2 short versions and 2 knock-off short versions
I was finally able to get the Macs to recognize the SSDs over a couple of days of various experimenting and used a bootable Mojave and bootable Catalina USB installer to format and load them. They will boot after a hard reset (SMC reset, hold power button down 10+ seconds etc) and load Mojave, Catalina or Big Sur as configured.
However they all go to black screen after a Shutdown from the MacOS menu before or after user logout. The backlight is on but screen blacked out until another hard reset.
Tried disabling hibernation and sleep.
Tried NVMEFix also and SSDPmEnabler (which caused kernel faults)
Anyone have any success with SP? I have used their SATA III SSDs regularly and they work great. But these do not appear to reliably work for 2013-2015 Mac laptops. About to return them all and change to another brand (testing 4 different ones as they come in based on group recommendations here)
Used 2x long Sintech NGFF adapters, 2 short versions and 2 knock-off short versions
I was finally able to get the Macs to recognize the SSDs over a couple of days of various experimenting and used a bootable Mojave and bootable Catalina USB installer to format and load them. They will boot after a hard reset (SMC reset, hold power button down 10+ seconds etc) and load Mojave, Catalina or Big Sur as configured.
However they all go to black screen after a Shutdown from the MacOS menu before or after user logout. The backlight is on but screen blacked out until another hard reset.
Tried disabling hibernation and sleep.
Tried NVMEFix also and SSDPmEnabler (which caused kernel faults)
Anyone have any success with SP? I have used their SATA III SSDs regularly and they work great. But these do not appear to reliably work for 2013-2015 Mac laptops. About to return them all and change to another brand (testing 4 different ones as they come in based on group recommendations here)
Guys, how to remove NVMeFix & Lilu kexts ? Decide to remove them cuz I can’t see any difference with SsdPmEnabler. I’ve tried many options to remove them but still they are in a folder. Thanks )
I've been successfully using SP in an MBP 15" mid-2014 and MBA 13" early-2015.
Please, check my previous posts to read about my experience.
Thanks.
Thanks - I will take a look. Did you have to do anything special to get it to work? I have upgraded dozens of these vintage MacBooks with SSDs from Samsung or Crucial without problems. I wonder if there was a recent firmware change at SPCC since I ordered these three at the same time.
It's just a case of deleting the kexts from recovery mode. reboot and they will not show up if you run the command.
Code:
kextstat | egrep -e "Ssd|Lilu|NVMe"....
Try to update your BootROM - 117.0.0.0.0 is very old and has many know issues. You should be on 4xx.x.x.x
you will need to use an original apple SSD for a short time. see the first post about updgrading.
I had to boot from a USB with Catalina to have the MBP identify the NVMe when I first installed it. Only that.
If you are having issues with SP, I suspect it is caused by their new firmware. The SP I have both use ECFM22.6.
Agreed on likely firmware problem - the one I am looking at now is in a MacBook Air 13" A1466 (one of three identical units) - 2015 mode with 427.0.0.0.0 boot loader. SPCC Firmware is EDFM20.0. Contact cleaner used on all to assure good connection. I/O cables re-seated.
I was able to detect the SSD and install with either a Mojave or Catalina USB Installer and subsequently upgraded to Big Sur. Was then able to use Recovery mode to re-install Big Sur with or without re-formatting SSD.
The black screen problem is repeatable - SMC reset / hard power reset (press and hold ~+10 seconds) and it will boot normally. Select "Restart..." from the menu either logged in or logged out and it reboots normally.
Select "Shut Down..." from either logged in or logged out and it will get stuck in black screen (backlight on). Repeat the hard power off and SMC reset and it boots normally again.
Same behavior with just standard MacOS or with Lilu / NVMeFix with or without SsdPmEnabler. Disabled sleep and hibernation even though they should just work at this boot loader level - no change.
Same exact behavior on (2 different) 2015 MacBook Pro A1502 13" AND a Late 2013 MacBook Pro A1398 15"
Same behavior with Sintech long(2 tested) NGFF or short (2 tested) or generic short adapter
No response from SPCC support and just requested an RMA for all three of these SSDs.
I have ordered 5 other SSDs to try this weekend - in a pinch since I now have a backlog of 8 Retina units and 6 MBA units to upgrade...lol.
-Crucial CT500P2SSD8
-Crucial CT500P5SSD8
-WD WDS500G2B0C
-Inland Pro 512
-Inland Premium 512
I could not reproduce the bug in my MBA 13" early-2015 with Silicon Power 512 Gb and ECFM22.6 firmware.
After the SMC reset/hard power reset, restart, and shutdown the backlight is off.
Hi guys,
I have recently upgraded my MacBook Pro 13" early 2015 SSD to a P2 1 TB. I am using the sintech adapter. I did not use any of the SSD performance improvements methods described in this mega-thread.
I have some concerns with the overall performance of my machine. I have noticed that sometimes it struggles to even playback YouTube videos in 1440p. The building performance seems to have degraded as well.
I am attaching my SSD speed test results. I have noticed that initially the r/w stays at ~900 MB/s. It increments to 1100 MB/s after a few iterations, but also drops down the write to 30 MB/s and read to 300 MB/s in some iterations (this happens after 5-8 r/w iterations).
Is it normal? If it's not normal, how should I diagnose it?
Reading through the mega-thread I have noticed several other people are reporting the inconsistent r/w speeds. Is it enough to affect the overall performance of my machine?
I have recently upgraded my MacBook Pro 13" early 2015 SSD to a P2 1 TB. I am using the sintech adapter. I did not use any of the SSD performance improvements methods described in this mega-thread.
I have some concerns with the overall performance of my machine. I have noticed that sometimes it struggles to even playback YouTube videos in 1440p. The building performance seems to have degraded as well.
I am attaching my SSD speed test results. I have noticed that initially the r/w stays at ~900 MB/s. It increments to 1100 MB/s after a few iterations, but also drops down the write to 30 MB/s and read to 300 MB/s in some iterations (this happens after 5-8 r/w iterations).
Is it normal? If it's not normal, how should I diagnose it?
Reading through the mega-thread I have noticed several other people are reporting the inconsistent r/w speeds. Is it enough to affect the overall performance of my machine?
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I think that Crucial, among other companies, is having issues with the chip shortages which is happening worldwide due to the pandemic.
They are using cheaper chips (but available) to replace the more expensive ones their SSDs used to ship with.
Examples are TLC being switched to QLC and, IMO, the reduction of the internal memory in the SSDs shipped.
Just a few thoughts about the P2 issues above!
Check out my post #8,751 that is the explanation.
In addition, the new P2 with QLC memory has no DRAM. The old P2 with TLC had 1GB of DRAM.
You have two options to see if your P2 has QLC memory.
1. Install Windows on Boot camp and run this program. You can look it up there (see picture below).
Or 2. You look at your P2 for the second 5 characters (see picture below) and enter them here on this page (FBGA Code). There you will get a part number. Just search for this part number and you will know whether you have installed QLC or TLC.
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Hello everyone!
Massive thread here and perhaps my question have been answered before, but I still hope that you can answer it again for me
I am planning to upgrade my MB Pro, late 2013, A1398 and are wondering if I can use and get full function of a Nvme SSD with PCIe 4.0 ? With adapter. If so, feel free to recommend one, or tell me what I can buy if not PCIe 4.0
Massive thread here and perhaps my question have been answered before, but I still hope that you can answer it again for me
I am planning to upgrade my MB Pro, late 2013, A1398 and are wondering if I can use and get full function of a Nvme SSD with PCIe 4.0 ? With adapter. If so, feel free to recommend one, or tell me what I can buy if not PCIe 4.0
According to this site, my MB supports four channel PCIe: https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades#hdr-14 so I guess I can buy the latest:
WD Black SN850 1TB M.2 SSD
It means that regardless of the NVMe you buy, you will get around 1300 read/write, not more because of the PCIe 2.0.
My kernel panics were not sleep related on one hand, on the other hand I've tried 4 things at the same time, including the cleaning and now my machine is stable, so whatever you think, I've just shared what helped me, and that's it. No harm was intended. Actually the contact pins looked quite corroded in my case. Also I know for fact old HDDs used to have apparent bad sectors due to corrosion between the logic board and the connector of the head which could be solved by applying non-corrosive coating on the copper pins. We used to do it and restore thrown out disks to fully functional, so keep your arrogance to your loved ones please!
So, then what is this post for then with 350+ pages when all you can achieve with modern NVMe SSD only will give you 3-400 more of speed?
sounds like a giant topic for little.. 🙄