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

[BaneDark]

I’m looking for some recommendations for low power consumption 1tb nvme m.2 ssd for my late 2013 15” MacBook Pro (integrated gpu 2.0ghz version) I still love the machine, it still works as brand new and does everything I need it to do, it’s literally just the 256gb storage that’s the issue, I’m about to replace the battery with brand new genuine Apple one and it would be ideal if new nvme ssd would be less power hungry so I could still get decent battery life when on the go.

The current ssd models that I’m debating are:

• WD SN550
• Adata XPG SX8200 Pro
• Intel 660p

I will be using sintech adapter.

Any recommendations for this particular MBP?

 

[xboxbml]

I’m looking for some recommendations for low power consumption 1tb nvme m.2 ssd for my late 2013 15” MacBook Pro (integrated gpu 2.0ghz version) I still love the machine, it still works as brand new and does everything I need it to do, it’s literally just the 256gb storage that’s the issue, I’m about to replace the battery with brand new genuine Apple one and it would be ideal if new nvme ssd would be less power hungry so I could still get decent battery life when on the go.

The current ssd models that I’m debating are:

• WD SN550
• Adata XPG SX8200 Pro
• Intel 660p

I will be using sintech adapter.

Any recommendations for this particular MBP?

See sig and previous entry.. ADATA uses more power than others but I get good performance and lots of space with this 2TB... Go for more if you can afford it.. I always go for more storage no matter what..and this 2015 MBA only has 2 lanes, so I bought more speed than this can do.. oh well.. I got 2tb and good performance...

 

[Ektachrome]

Amérique : zéro point
Amerika: Nul punten
America: Zero punti
America: Zero points

😂

From now on, let’s everyone score SSDs Eurovision style. Considerably more fun.

I’m about to take the plunge on a Corsair MP510 2TB. Judging by the tables in post #1 it seems to have a decent balance of speed vs efficiency.

Anyone had any good results, or issues, with one of these?

Never personally tested one of these before, is there an established procedure for those tests to give meaningful comparative data?

 

[Ektachrome]

I’m looking for some recommendations for low power consumption 1tb nvme m.2 ssd for my late 2013 15” MacBook Pro (integrated gpu 2.0ghz version) I still love the machine, it still works as brand new and does everything I need it to do, it’s literally just the 256gb storage that’s the issue, I’m about to replace the battery with brand new genuine Apple one and it would be ideal if new nvme ssd would be less power hungry so I could still get decent battery life when on the go.

The current ssd models that I’m debating are:

• WD SN550
• Adata XPG SX8200 Pro
• Intel 660p

I will be using sintech adapter.

Any recommendations for this particular MBP?

I’m in the same position with the same model (although mine is 2.3GHz dual graphics, from memory).

As above, I’m about to try the Corsair MP510 series - charts in first post show it having a good balance of speed/efficiency. I notice Corsair themselves still state it’s based on TLC, unlike Crucial P2.

 

[Ektachrome]

See sig and previous entry.. ADATA uses more power than others but I get good performance and lots of space with this 2TB... Go for more if you can afford it.. I always go for more storage no matter what..and this 2015 MBA only has 2 lanes, so I bought more speed than this can do.. oh well.. I got 2tb and good performance...

Can you explain the number of lanes vs SSD speed please? Do I not need to worry so much about speed in a Late 2013 MBP 15” dual graphics and should concentrate on efficiency instead...?

 

[Ektachrome]

have you ever serviced your Mac in 8 years?

Yes it’s been into Apple a couple of times.

This time it was the known issue on this generation of the power mosfets on the logic board which fail over time.

Sent it to a specialist company who replace these with newer variants without the underlying issues and it appears to be working OK so far. Plus only £80. 👍🏻

 

[BaneDark]

I’m in the same position with the same model (although mine is 2.3GHz dual graphics, from memory).

As above, I’m about to try the Corsair MP510 series - charts in first post show it having a good balance of speed/efficiency. I notice Corsair themselves still state it’s based on TLC, unlike Crucial P2.

sounds like a good option, as far as I know our late 2013 pros will still be limited only to 2 lanes so won’t take the full speed advantage of 4 lanes ssd, on the other hand it’s always better to get decent ssd so then u can repurpose it (as an external drive with enclosure). I’m still debating WD SN550 due to apparent low power consumption, to brand new genuine Apple battery ready to install so would be nice to get decent battery life on the go!

 

[BoPl]

I’m in the same position with the same model (although mine is 2.3GHz dual graphics, from memory).

As above, I’m about to try the Corsair MP510 series - charts in first post show it having a good balance of speed/efficiency. I notice Corsair themselves still state it’s based on TLC, unlike Crucial P2.

I've tried 4 SSDs on my mid 2014 13" MBP:
WD SN55O 1TB, Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB, Corsair MP510 1TB and Crucial P2 1TB (TLC).
970 Evo Plus was wrong choice, was hot and power hangry.
Corsair MP510 1TB is ok in speed and power efficiency - Idle 0,16A and 0,11 with Lily&NVMe fix installed. Never had any panics with this SSD.
Crucial P2 1TB (TLC) I'm using now and it runs very well, didn't have any Kernel panics with all my SSDs.

My mid 2014 13" MBP is "unique" - I couldn't install the SsdPmEnable fix that why decided to buy P2.
970 Evo Plus and Corsair MP510 I'm using now in external enclosures.

 

[BaneDark]

I've tried 4 SSDs on my mid 2014 13" MBP:
WD SN55O 1TB, Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB, Corsair MP510 1TB and Crucial P2 1TB (TLC).
970 Evo Plus was wrong choice, was hot and power hangry.
Corsair MP510 1TB is ok in speed and power efficiency - Idle 0,16A and 0,11 with Lily&NVMe fix installed. Never had any panics with this SSD.
Crucial P2 1TB (TLC) I'm using now and it runs very well, didn't have any Kernel panics with all my SSDs.

My mid 2014 13" MBP is "unique" - I couldn't install the SsdPmEnable fix that why decided to buy P2.
970 Evo Plus and Corsair MP510 I'm using now in external enclosures.

What about WD SN550? Was it any good?

 

[Ektachrome]

I've tried 4 SSDs on my mid 2014 13" MBP:
WD SN55O 1TB, Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB, Corsair MP510 1TB and Crucial P2 1TB (TLC).
970 Evo Plus was wrong choice, was hot and power hangry.
Corsair MP510 1TB is ok in speed and power efficiency - Idle 0,16A and 0,11 with Lily&NVMe fix installed. Never had any panics with this SSD.
Crucial P2 1TB (TLC) I'm using now and it runs very well, didn't have any Kernel panics with all my SSDs.

My mid 2014 13" MBP is "unique" - I couldn't install the SsdPmEnable fix that why decided to buy P2.
970 Evo Plus and Corsair MP510 I'm using now in external enclosures.

Thanks. Yeah I was all set to install a P2, as it was a real no-brainer choice when they were on TLC.

Real pity they’ve moved over to QLC and I’m not really prepared to play roulette with whether or not I’ll get a TLC one or not (unless anyone knows where to definitely source a TLC at this point...?).

That really leaves me with the Corsair or the WD (Sabrent prices appear to have gone through the roof).

WD looks good on the charts apart from write speed - how did you find it in this regard...?

 

[Ektachrome]

I've tried 4 SSDs on my mid 2014 13" MBP:
WD SN55O 1TB, Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB, Corsair MP510 1TB and Crucial P2 1TB (TLC).
970 Evo Plus was wrong choice, was hot and power hangry.
Corsair MP510 1TB is ok in speed and power efficiency - Idle 0,16A and 0,11 with Lily&NVMe fix installed. Never had any panics with this SSD.
Crucial P2 1TB (TLC) I'm using now and it runs very well, didn't have any Kernel panics with all my SSDs.

My mid 2014 13" MBP is "unique" - I couldn't install the SsdPmEnable fix that why decided to buy P2.
970 Evo Plus and Corsair MP510 I'm using now in external enclosures.

BTW what is Lily and NVMefix??

 

[Ektachrome]

Out of interest, has anyone tested the Seagate Firecuda 510 series (2TB)?

Seems like a good price at the moment and the manufacturer quoted performance and TBW specs seem very impressive...

No idea what power consumption would be like, though...

 

[BoPl]

What about WD SN550? Was it any good?

Didn't test the WD SN550 properly, had issue with non-Sintech adapter swopped with Samsung 970 Evo Plus. But I know Kvic was using the WD SN550 and had good result with that SSD. Idle at 0,16A with SsdPmEnable kext installed.

 

[ramur]

Didn't test the WD SN550 properly, had issue with non-Sintech adapter swopped with Samsung 970 Evo Plus. But I know Kvic was using the WD SN550 and had good result with that SSD. Idle at 0,16A with SsdPmEnable kext installed.

I'm using WD SN550, 1 TB version in my MB Pro, early 2015. Firmware of SSD is not up to date (is on 211070WD) since update is only possible under Windows systems. I'm using the SSD now for approx. 4 months, without any issues. Power consumption is low (after installation of SsdPmEnabler, NVMeFix and Lili.kext)

 

[BaneDark]

I'm using WD SN550, 1 TB version in my MB Pro, early 2015. Firmware of SSD is not up to date (is on 211070WD) since update is only possible under Windows systems. I'm using the SSD now for approx. 4 months, without any issues. Power consumption is low (after installation of SsdPmEnabler, NVMeFix and Lili.kext)

That’s great! Thanks for help! I think this is what I’m gonna get for my late 2013, is firmware update a necessary thing? Will it work straight out of the box just fine without the firmware update? Have you notice much/any battery decrease comparing to apples oem ssd you had previously? Also are you using sintech adapter? If so, is it the short one or long one? Thank you!

 

[Ektachrome]

I'm using WD SN550, 1 TB version in my MB Pro, early 2015. Firmware of SSD is not up to date (is on 211070WD) since update is only possible under Windows systems. I'm using the SSD now for approx. 4 months, without any issues. Power consumption is low (after installation of SsdPmEnabler, NVMeFix and Lili.kext)

How DO you upgrade the FW on those, even with a Windows PC (I have an old one)?

 

[ramur]

How DO you upgrade the FW on those, even with a Windows PC (I have an old one)?

I'm thinking about an adapter NVMe to USB Adapter, M.2 SSD to USB 3.1 and doing the update under a windows based system. I remember one user was successful installing bootcamp with windows on a macbook and could update the ssd, but ssd was not a WD550 but a different manufacturer. On the other hand: as long as the ssd works without any issues with the current FW, is there really a need?

 

[ramur]

That’s great! Thanks for help! I think this is what I’m gonna get for my late 2013, is firmware update a necessary thing? Will it work straight out of the box just fine without the firmware update? Have you notice much/any battery decrease comparing to apples oem ssd you had previously? Also are you using sintech adapter? If so, is it the short one or long one? Thank you!

Are you talking about the FW of the SSD? for me the ssd worked with the FW as is (the one which was installed when I bought it). Runtime with the new ssd is slightly better than with the old apple ssd, but this heavily depends on the apps which are in use, on the content, on the activity, etc.

Regarding adapter: I strictly followed the recommendations on page 1 of this thread, bought the "Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MacBook PRO(Late 2013-2015 Year)".

I hope this helps.

 

[Aurora112]

I'm getting stuck with what I see and what I get...remembering the times of wordperfect in the 90's

MacBook Pro 13 (11.1, 431.0.0.0.0
Crucial P2 1TB (Phison, Firmware 033)

As I got bad results after the 3rd Iteration in Blackmagic 5GB decided to get the Silicon Power P34A80 1TB

Crucial P2, QLC, single sided, 2 memory chips

Silicon Power P34A80 (different settings available, customer needs to play jeopardy)
TLC, SLC, DRAM Cache (Nanya - oh my gosh, what are they doing...)
this one has a Phison E12S Controller, Organisation _double_sided, 4 memory chips

Blackmagic 5GB of Silicon Power

1st 1300 write / 1300 read
2st 700 write / 1000 read
3st 400 write / 500 read

checked twice, got different results...

I don't have an explanation for this behaviour, so did a real life test with both drives:

copy test of 70GB Musikfiles (round about 9000 mp3):

crucial 13min, temperature up to 46°C, 430mA
silicon power 13 min, temperature up to 70°C, 1400mA

This was the time when I left the desk to move the muscles and to keep the blood flow up *hehe*
Crazy...

With the Silicon Power the Macbook is much hotter, idle at 0.4-0.5A , 60-70°C,
Crucial idles between 0.09A - 0.16A, Mac is between 46-50°C.

Less memory chips results in less power consumption.
Guessing Crucial uses 96Layer Chips compared to Silicon Power 64Layer.

I assume that could be the reason why crucial shows a much better power consumption picture.

The question is how Blackmagic works with different types of controllers, having some issues to thrust the way of testing at all.

As the normal workload isn't pushing GB of data every day I would go for the green route.
Less heat is much better for my beloved MacBook, and how great it is after 7 seven years

 

[se7enPT]

Damm, I was going to buy the Crucial P2 this week and now all these reports about them being QLC.
Any recommendations for a nice alternative in the 400-500GB range for my MacBookAir6,1 ?

 

[Ektachrome]

I'm getting stuck with what I see and what I get...remembering the times of wordperfect in the 90's

MacBook Pro 13 (11.1, 431.0.0.0.0
Crucial P2 1TB (Phison, Firmware 033)

As I got bad results after the 3rd Iteration in Blackmagic 5GB decided to get the Silicon Power P34A80 1TB

Crucial P2, QLC, single sided, 2 memory chips

Silicon Power P34A80 (different settings available, customer needs to play jeopardy)
TLC, SLC, DRAM Cache (Nanya - oh my gosh, what are they doing...)
this one has a Phison E12S Controller, Organisation _double_sided, 4 memory chips

Blackmagic 5GB of Silicon Power

1st 1300 write / 1300 read
2st 700 write / 1000 read
3st 400 write / 500 read

checked twice, got different results...

I don't have an explanation for this behaviour, so did a real life test with both drives:

copy test of 70GB Musikfiles (round about 9000 mp3):

crucial 13min, temperature up to 46°C, 430mA
silicon power 13 min, temperature up to 70°C, 1400mA

This was the time when I left the desk to move the muscles and to keep the blood flow up *hehe*
Crazy...

With the Silicon Power the Macbook is much hotter, idle at 0.4-0.5A , 60-70°C,
Crucial idles between 0.09A - 0.16A, Mac is between 46-50°C.

Less memory chips results in less power consumption.
Guessing Crucial uses 96Layer Chips compared to Silicon Power 64Layer.

I assume that could be the reason why crucial shows a much better power consumption picture.

The question is how Blackmagic works with different types of controllers, having some issues to thrust the way of testing at all.

As the normal workload isn't pushing GB of data every day I would go for the green route.
Less heat is much better for my beloved MacBook, and how great it is after 7 seven years

Less heat is definitely better!

Just ordered a Corsair MP510 2TB today with the short Sintech adapter. Power figures looked good on the charts so I hope they bear up in real life.

I’ll report back if the installation goes well...

 

[rvanassche]

Hello guys,

I have a Macbook air 6,2 (11p model EMC 2631) from 2014. It's internal SSD is full dead.

I did buy from amazon :
A QNINE Adaptateur convertisseur M.2 NVME SSD
A SSD KINGSTON A2000 250Go M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe (SA2000M8/250G)


MacOS Mojave installer from USB sees the SSD but refuses to format it to APFS (lack of firmware). I format the SSD with the Mac OS extended format. The Installer copies files to the new HDD ... first reboot : NO SSD , only the USB installer is here, the new SSD is not bootable ?
same with Catalina Installer...


What did i Wrong ? (Internet recovery is not an option on this Model Apple offers me the Mac OS/X Lion installer)


when I boot the installer use terminal, and mount /dev/disk0s1 (EFI partition) : it's empty , no EFI/APPLE/... I think this is the cause of my problem.

 

[Ektachrome]

Hello guys,

I have a Macbook air 6,2 (11p model EMC 2631) from 2014. It's internal SSD is full dead.

I did buy from amazon :
A QNINE Adaptateur convertisseur M.2 NVME SSD
A SSD KINGSTON A2000 250Go M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe (SA2000M8/250G)


MacOS Mojave installer from USB sees the SSD but refuses to format it to APFS (lack of firmware). I format the SSD with the Mac OS extended format. The Installer copies files to the new HDD ... first reboot : NO SSD , only the USB installer is here, the new SSD is not bootable ?
same with Catalina Installer...


What did i Wrong ? (Internet recovery is not an option on this Model Apple offers me the Mac OS/X Lion installer)


when I boot the installer use terminal, and mount /dev/disk0s1 (EFI partition) : it's empty , no EFI/APPLE/... I think this is the cause of my problem.

Don’t know if that adapter is good. The one which works for definite is the Sintech. See post #1 of this thread for details.

 

[Ektachrome]

Also, as you’re not on Big Sur, check your Boot Rom and update if necessary.

 

[rvanassche]

Also, as you’re not on Big Sur, check your Boot Rom and update if necessary.

I can not check my "boot rom " : the original SSD is dead, unreadable.. maybe via command line in the limited terminal (installation mode) ?