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

[BaneDark]

If reliability is more important than speed, and it is for you, maybe just keep your macbook as it is? What's the problem you're trying to fix?

Personally, I have replaced 3x SSDs in 3 macbooks with new 1TB NVME versions. 2 were for my own (MBP and MBA) and have been 100% reliable for my work. The third one was for my young daughter's MBA, and she complained about freezing and crashing. So I reverted it to the stock 128gb SSD and eventually replaced it with another Apple stock 512GB, and it's been fine since.

Your choices are:

- keep it as it is
- go for the 512GB apple SSD for £50, which will be a SATA SSD and a bit slower than NVME, but more likely to be faultless (because it's Apple stock not because it's SATA)
- as above and pay for a third party Apple repair store to install it for you.
- get a new, guaranteed 100% working SSD from a third party store (very expensive)
- sell your system and put the money towards buying a M1 macbook.

If you use it for making money, I'd look at buying a M1 macbook, maybe a used one if the new ones are unafforadable.

If you don't make money with it, then sure go for a 1tb nvme SSD or the 512gb Apple one, especially if you're happy poking around in the innards of your macbook. If it freezes in the middle of a gig they can't complain if they're not paying you.

Thank you for the advice! My main issue is the storage capacity, current 256gb is not enough, 512gb would be much better!
I’m confident with installing it myself, I know that “beast” (lol) inside out as I’ve worked nearly three years at Apple repair centre before, already replaced the screen on my late 2013 (old one got damaged during DJing in the club) recently replaced entire palmrest/keyboard/battery and trackpad.
I think going for genuine Apple 512gb for £50 is what I’m gonna do, it’s 2015 SSUBX PCIe/NVMe version so technically should be a bit faster than my current PCIe/AHCI, only downside is that I won’t be able to repurpose it in future as I’ve searched everywhere and seriously can’t find any dedicated USB enclosures for these ssd (that is if I ever moved to M1)

Thanks again!

 

[liminalsunset]

Hi all,

I have a Early 2015 13" MacBook Pro.

Based on the recommendations here, I have purchased and replaced internal SSD with a Crucial P2 500GB.

The machine is working fine, and sleep mode is functioning, however, the SSD is consuming a lot of power and draining the battery when the system is in sleep mode. Overnight, it drains about 60% of the battery, which is not so desirable. I opened the back cover of the computer in sleep mode, and found the SSD controller is heating up and getting warm, even though the CPU is cold.

When I wake the computer up, the SSD controller will stop getting warm.

I have SSDPmEnabler installed, and the power consumption of the SSD is normal while the computer is on.

Is the sleep mode power consumption issue a known issue?

Thanks!

 

[olfo]

Hi all,

I have a Early 2015 13" MacBook Pro.

Based on the recommendations here, I have purchased and replaced internal SSD with a Crucial P2 500GB.

The machine is working fine, and sleep mode is functioning, however, the SSD is consuming a lot of power and draining the battery when the system is in sleep mode. Overnight, it drains about 60% of the battery, which is not so desirable. I opened the back cover of the computer in sleep mode, and found the SSD controller is heating up and getting warm, even though the CPU is cold.

When I wake the computer up, the SSD controller will stop getting warm.

I have SSDPmEnabler installed, and the power consumption of the SSD is normal while the computer is on.

Is the sleep mode power consumption issue a known issue?

Thanks!

In general, you should make sure that you have the latest bootrom on your Mac, which you will get by installing the latest MacOS updates for Mojave, Catalina or Big Sur. This helps with sleep and hibernation issues. If your MacOS is older, you can install one of the newer versions on an external disk to get the update.

Then you could also change some settings in Terminal.
This article explains that. It is not the shortest, but the most thorough one:

Power Management in detail: using pmset

A command line tool with extensive abilities. It is not actually that hard to use.

eclecticlight.co

 

[le9508]

FYI, Big Sur 11.4 broke Lilu, NVMeFix. Waiting for the fixes.

Updating Lilu and NVMeFix to the latest versions fixed this issue for me. Now I'm getting more or less the same power draw as on 11.3.1

 

[sup123a]

OK. I have a workaround already.

After researching and testing for weeks.
I confirmed that A1708 will never get battery saving when entering standby.
Neither SsdPmEnable nor NVMeFix helps it. Changing Adaptor also does not help. the cause is MacBook has specific driver for only its genuine SSD.

So I disable standby completely and use traditional hibernate instead, the same hibernate mode as in Windows OS.

Here is what I made to pmset.

autopoweroff 0
standby 0
hibernatemode 25
displaysleep 2
sleep 10

When my MacBook is in on Battery.
If close the lid, MacBook will wait for a while and enter hibernate.
Or if leave MacBook idle for 2 minutes, Macbook will turn of display and wait for another 8 minutes and enter hibernate.

In hibernate mode, to wakeup MacBook, I have to press power button or open the lid.
And have to wait for about 5- 10 seconds for system to be ready.
That is the trade off but it is very acceptable.

Also in this hibernate mode, it does not consume battery at all. So I am now satisfied.

 

[liminalsunset]

I installed the latest Big Sur clean install on the original 128GB SSD the computer came with.

It looks like the 2015 MacBook Pro is unable to put the SSD into power save before putting the system to sleep, so I have to use hibernate. I used pmset to put hibernatemode to 25.

Now the system only hibernates when it goes to sleep, and the SSD does not consume power.

is this a known issue? Is there any way to keep sleep mode working normally with a third party NVMe?

Thanks!

 

[jknechtl]

Hi all,

last 30 days I spent hours reading through this post and convincing myself to do the "swap" for nvme on my Late 13" Retina Macbook Pro (11.1) on latest BigSur 11.4. I did not want to upgrade my storage but I felt my old SSD was giving me goodbye - sudden restarts, slow when working with lots of files in folder. I wanted to buy Crucial P2, but did not want to step into TLC x QLC game, so ended up getting the most power efficient and cheapest 500GB+ SSD here - Kingston A2000 - just because it so old Mac, has non-genuine battery already, but still working.

I ordered Sintech Adapter https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2015-MacBook/dp/B01CWWAENG/ took about 3 weeks to come, bought Kingston A2000 512GB ~ 70$.

Created bootup media on SDXC UHS-II card (its the fastest external drive I have) and did fresh install with no data recovery (Chrome settings in cloud, important data in cloud / Dropbox, Photoshop in cloud).

Everything was set up during 1:30h including installation. No kext or sleep / hibernation edited - everything in MacOS default state. No issues with sleep / recovery / hibernation. During 12hrs of closed lid I lost about 6 % of battery.

Kingston made my IO operation neraly 3x faster - I was getting about 300MB/s on old drive so super happy with result.

Idle power consumtion seems ~.17A, I tried install SSDpmenabler (following instructions) to get more out of battery life, but could not even boot. But I am not 100% sure if I did everything as I should (but 99% am that I did). But - mac is connected to AC most of the time, so no big deal right now.

This post is just to let others know, that no every installation need special treatment - just buy proper adapter and supported SSD

 

[_penguinman_]

Hm, I think I might learn to live with slightly higher power consumption rather than disable SIP -

What is SIP and when is it safe to turn it off?

System Integrity Protection can get in your way, and may be recommended to solve compatibility problems. It’s also changing again in Catalina.

eclecticlight.co

Its actually not as bad as it sounds. SIP when On just means your file system is on read only mode. No Apps can have root access. When you turn it off it means Apps can have access and modify your system files, BUT only if you give the app permission (a pop up to insert password and toggle to "allow access". Its basically just root access request for apps.)

In layman's terms, SIP is just like a landlord. He automatically rejects every request for modifying your room. When you turn it off, he vanishes, and the request is automatically forwarded to you. Its still up to you whether you grant permission or not.

What for you might ask? well, for example a Finder alternative app (like xtrafinder) might need to modify system files to show you additional features the default finder app doesnt have. (like double panes)

I always disable SIP. I need apps that modify my system (e.g., Volta for undervolting, finder alternatives)

Its not a big deal. (like, I bought my own house, why do i need a landlord? I want to change my curtains.)

 

[se7enPT]

I've received my Sintech Adapter today so now I need to order the NVME drive.

WD SN550 or Corsair MP510?

 

[olfo]

I have done the AmorphousDiskMark on the 2 TB Crucial P2 SSD.
The tests were run at the default setting.
So here it is, the CT2000P2SSD8 in the 15" MacBookPro11,3 :

Edit: I found the program can also measure IOPS. I have added that screenshot.

The benchmark can be downloaded for free from here:

AmorphousDiskMark for macOS - measures storage read/write performance

AmorphousDiskMark measures storage read/write performance in MB/s and IOPS.

www.katsurashareware.com

Interestingly, the screenshots on that website are showing benchmarks of my “old” Apple SSD.
So I can easily see that the Crucial P2 is a big improvement.
However, when compared to the numbers of CrystalDiskMark screenshots on the PC side, my Mac looks quite slow.

The FAQs to AmorphousDiskMark may help in understanding what is tested:

FAQ - katsurashareware.com forum

What are YOUR results?

 

[VictorS]

well, my results are pretty similar.
But if I try to copy 100GB of big files (video files or virtual machines), then after a while the speed drops bellow 30MB/s = inacceptable for me.
I returned the Crucial P2 (QLC).
If you don't work with (many) big files, all is good.

 

[olfo]

Hm, I haven't seen such a slowdown on the 2TB P2. I have copied 60 GB from a USB HDD with steady 218 MB/s.
Also, when I set the file size in AJA system test to 64 GB, the drive behaves the same as with 4 GB size.

 

[VictorS]

maybe you were lucky and got a P2 with 3D-TLC NAND.
Unfortunatelly, mine is 3D-QLC - according to "phison_nvme_flash_id2.exe"

 

[Aurora112]

I've received my Sintech Adapter today so now I need to order the NVME drive.

WD SN550 or Corsair MP510?

save money and have a nice dinner with friends...
go for the cheapest.

 

[mad cow disease]

This is a bit OT but has anybody has experiences getting Apple to do battery swaps on MBPs with the 3rd party ssd installed? I am getting mine returned to me with unspecified “damage” due to the ssd and a picture of it with the adapter. That’s all the information that Apple’s “depot” repair monkeys could provide and support was of no more help. Apple “genius” said it wasn’t a problem, but that’s the last time I trust those idiots.

 

[mdgm]

Does anyone know what's changed in the 431.0.0.1 Boot ROM versus 427.0.0.1 for the MacBookPro 11,3?

 

[olfo]

This is a bit OT but has anybody has experiences getting Apple to do battery swaps on MBPs with the 3rd party ssd installed? I am getting mine returned to me with unspecified “damage” due to the ssd and a picture of it with the adapter. That’s all the information that Apple’s “depot” repair monkeys could provide and support was of no more help. Apple “genius” said it wasn’t a problem, but that’s the last time I trust those idiots.

Good to know that you can still get genuine Apple batteries for these Macs, and one more reason for me to keep the old SSD for a while.
I would simply go to another repairshop. A few years ago, I had an SSD replaced by an Apple service provider and they didn't care that it was a Samsung.

good to know! Thank you!

maybe the following will help you out - didn’t have the need to try because of sabrents tool which provides 4k formatting :

https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?p=1070606

PS: i think you are running on 4k cluster size

Hey, yeah! I think the Crucial P2 indeed has 4K block size. AmorphousDiskMark is showing this info.
Also, when I run
diskutil info / | grep "Block Size"
in Terminal, I get:
Device Block Size: 4096 Bytes
Allocation Block Size: 4096 Bytes

 

[olfo]

Some interesting comparisons of replacement SSDs in the Macbook Pro 11,3 model that I have found on the UserBenchmark website. Although the tests were done in Windows, they may be helpful for understanding what can be improved in that specific Mac model. Based on the motherboard, it is always the late 2013/2014 15" Macbook Pro.

Apple SM0512G PCIe 500GB (seems to come from the 2015 Macbook Pro originally)

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

OWC Aura Pro X2 960GB

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

ADATA SX8200PNP 1TB

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

Crucial P1 3D NVMe PCIe M.2 500GB

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

Compare these with the original Apple SM0512F 500GB

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

It may also be interesting to compare the 4k write speeds (4k is not a video resolution here).
I must say that I am not very familiar with that. But I have done some internet search.

Understanding SSD Advertised Performance and Its Purchase Implications – An SSD Primer - The SSD Review

Understanding SSDs Performance and Implications Today's SSD close up is going to teach us the most v

www.thessdreview.com

And when comparing numbers of course they always have to be taken with a grain of salt, because we don't know how the UserBenchmark tests have been done (look at system “uptime”, for example). There can be some variance.
What do you think?
(P.S.: I have cleaned up my posts from today, sorry for the hastiness.)

 

[Stratus Fear]

This is a bit OT but has anybody has experiences getting Apple to do battery swaps on MBPs with the 3rd party ssd installed? I am getting mine returned to me with unspecified “damage” due to the ssd and a picture of it with the adapter. That’s all the information that Apple’s “depot” repair monkeys could provide and support was of no more help. Apple “genius” said it wasn’t a problem, but that’s the last time I trust those idiots.

Which model is your MBP? When I contacted Apple last year about getting the battery replaced in my 2013 15", they told me they no longer offered it on that model. I'd contacted them twice and also an AASP and got the same response. Ended up replacing it myself.

 

[Nimpoc]

Thanks for the info, chiming in with my experience:

Mid-15 MBP, 2.5ghz i7, 16/512 original config running a fully updated MacOS 11.4 before install.
Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,5
System Firmware Version: 427.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.30f2

5/8/21 Purchased:
$130 - Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 (SB-ROCKET-1TB) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LGF54XR/
$15 - Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYY3H5F/
$27 - Sabrent USB 3.2 Type-C Tool-Free Enclosure (EC-SNVE) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RVC6F9Y/

Process:
1. Dropped the Rocket in the enclosure, and formatted with Disk Util -> APFS, GUID, one big volume.

2. Used SuperDuper! 3.5 beta 2 to clone my internal disk to the Sabrent in the external enclosure. Noticed SD! 3.5b3 just came out and did a Smart Update, but it didn't seem to solve the issue with the Data volume not mounting without [Finder -> Go -> Go to folder -> '/Volumes/']. It'd be nice if would automount.

3. Downloaded a fresh copy of the MacOS installer (11.4 for me) here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Ran it from the internal drive and installed on the external. It required a couple reboots, and eventually booted to the external disk. This took less than an hour, and in the end, was a seemingly perfect clone with all settings, networks, extensions, etc.

4. Install the NVMe into the laptop. I ordered a NinjaBatt replacement to go along with the disk install, and it conveniently came with the tools needed. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088DSJG2P/

5. Reboot... and (almost) everything seems fine.

Issues:
The following System Preferences have issues when selected:
- Desktop & Screensaver (endless hang)
- Security & Privacy (pops Preferences Error dialogue)
- Date & Time (pops Preferences Error dialogue)

Looking at the Get Info pages from Disk Utility, I can't tell if Filevault is turned on as nothing is indicated as encrypted, and since I can't get into the Pref Pane, I can't check there. Do these info pages look similar to anyone else?

Looking for any advice from others who may have had the same issues, and found a resolution.

Performance:
- Seems very good, if not the best I've seen here. I didn't have enough space to test the Apple 512GB disk I removed, so no before data, but that should be pretty well standardized.
- iStat menus isn't working for me. I had a license in the past, and it won't seem to give me another 14-days.

Hope this helps someone. Seems the Sabrent Rocket is working well and is a fast option. I'm guessing I'll just have to reinstall MacOS with the NVMe internal to the machine to overcome the Pref Pane issues. I will note, I've not done a truly 'Clean Install' maybe since 2003? There are some wicked old skeletons in the system directories. For all the issues others have, MacOS has been a remarkably reliable system for me.

 

[olfo]

Cool!

As for the OS install: I have cloned to a USB drive, then did a fresh install on the new SSD, then migrated the old system. For unknown reasons this has worked best for me. Plus I have a bootable clone on a USB drive just in case.
I have no idea though about that encryption problem.

I like the not too low downward peaks in the AJA test. Is this a screenshot from a one-time test?
It gets worse usually after a few minutes, when you put the AJA test to “Run continous”.

What temperature on the SSD do you get? Macs Fan Control can show that too.
What firmware version has the SSD?

You can use the demo version of SMARTreporter to get various infos, also the firmware version.
It works very well with my SSD.

Mac SMARTReporter - protect your data with disk failure prediction

mac app to monitor hard disk drive health

www.corecode.io

 

[Nimpoc]

@olfo
1. Yes, AJA was running continuously for a while. The data rate is stable there.
2. Thanks for the suggestion about Macs Fan Control. Ran it with AJA running continuously and stabilized at 59C at an ambient around 22C. After stopping the test, the drive sank back to 34c under general use with a 58GB copy operation in the background to a uSD disk in the adapter slot.
3. Can't determine the FW rev on the disk. DL'd the Sabrent tool and it won't even open in VMware Win10Pro. The archive just extracts and drops some DLL's in the App dir. When trying to open, it just flashes, and disappears. Don't have access to a PC right now to do more work. System Profiler gives some sort of versioning at RKT343.4. Not sure if that means anything.

As good as the performance is, I just stumbled across this site (https://www.ryadel.com/en/sabrent-ssd-review-rocket-nvme-pcie-m2-2280/) which is making me consider returning the disk to Amazon and getting something else. I don't really want to go through the PITA of the disk dying in a month or three.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Thanks for the info, chiming in with my experience:

Mid-15 MBP, 2.5ghz i7, 16/512 original config running a fully updated MacOS 11.4 before install.
Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,5
System Firmware Version: 427.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.30f2

5/8/21 Purchased:
$130 - Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 (SB-ROCKET-1TB) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LGF54XR/
$15 - Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYY3H5F/
$27 - Sabrent USB 3.2 Type-C Tool-Free Enclosure (EC-SNVE) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RVC6F9Y/

Process:
1. Dropped the Rocket in the enclosure, and formatted with Disk Util -> APFS, GUID, one big volume.

2. Used SuperDuper! 3.5 beta 2 to clone my internal disk to the Sabrent in the external enclosure. Noticed SD! 3.5b3 just came out and did a Smart Update, but it didn't seem to solve the issue with the Data volume not mounting without [Finder -> Go -> Go to folder -> '/Volumes/']. It'd be nice if would automount.

3. Downloaded a fresh copy of the MacOS installer (11.4 for me) here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Ran it from the internal drive and installed on the external. It required a couple reboots, and eventually booted to the external disk. This took less than an hour, and in the end, was a seemingly perfect clone with all settings, networks, extensions, etc.

4. Install the NVMe into the laptop. I ordered a NinjaBatt replacement to go along with the disk install, and it conveniently came with the tools needed. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088DSJG2P/

5. Reboot... and (almost) everything seems fine.

View attachment 1786408

Issues:
The following System Preferences have issues when selected:
- Desktop & Screensaver (endless hang)
- Security & Privacy (pops Preferences Error dialogue)
- Date & Time (pops Preferences Error dialogue)

View attachment 1786385

Looking at the Get Info pages from Disk Utility, I can't tell if Filevault is turned on as nothing is indicated as encrypted, and since I can't get into the Pref Pane, I can't check there. Do these info pages look similar to anyone else?

View attachment 1786404

View attachment 1786412

View attachment 1786413

View attachment 1786414


Looking for any advice from others who may have had the same issues, and found a resolution.

Performance:
- Seems very good, if not the best I've seen here. I didn't have enough space to test the Apple 512GB disk I removed, so no before data, but that should be pretty well standardized.
- iStat menus isn't working for me. I had a license in the past, and it won't seem to give me another 14-days.

View attachment 1786416

View attachment 1786423

View attachment 1786424

View attachment 1786425

Hope this helps someone. Seems the Sabrent Rocket is working well and is a fast option. I'm guessing I'll just have to reinstall MacOS with the NVMe internal to the machine to overcome the Pref Pane issues. I will note, I've not done a truly 'Clean Install' maybe since 2003? There are some wicked old skeletons in the system directories. For all the issues others have, MacOS has been a remarkably reliable system for me.

View attachment 1786442

Did you reset NVRAM and SMC? This might help with your problems.

 

[mad cow disease]

Which model is your MBP? When I contacted Apple last year about getting the battery replaced in my 2013 15", they told me they no longer offered it on that model. I'd contacted them twice and also an AASP and got the same response. Ended up replacing it myself.

2015. They sold them until around ~2017/2018 so they will service the battery for another year or so. I think it‘s 5 years since last sale before they’re considered obsolete. I am going to replace it myself, I think. I am tired of dealing with the idiots at Apple’s “genius” bar.

 

[mike351]

Hoping for some advice. I installed a Samsung 980 1TB in to my MacBook Air (6,2 13-inch Mid 2013) using one of the Sintech long adapters, and then installed MacOS Big Sur from a bootable USB. The install went well and completed without error. At this point I was pretty happy, the Macbook Air was working perfectly and I now had 1TB of size, woohoo! Prior to the upgrade the I was running the standard apple 512gb ssd and had upgraded to Big Sur, so bootrom is up to date.

First issue I found was performance. Still better than the original Apple SSD, but from what I have read in the forum I figured it should be better.

The next thing is Windows. I create a bootcamp USB, got through the windows install only for it to BSOD at the last moment. I followed some instructions early on in this thread and used the shift + F10 method to alter a registry key.
After rebooting i was able to log in to win10, install the bootcamp drivers and then windows BSOD again. After booting back in to windows to change the pcie power settings, which i did, it worked for a while and then another BSOD.
So Windows is not usable, its too unstable and BSOD's randomly.

Here's the system info from my air:

Hardware:
Model Name: MacBook Air
Model Identifier: MacBookAir6,2
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 1.7 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 4 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 8 GB
System Firmware Version: 431.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.13f15
Serial Number (system): C02LG21AFLCG


Generic SSD Controller:
Samsung SSD 980 1TB:
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)
TRIM Support: Yes
Model: Samsung SSD 980 1TB
Revision: 1B4QFXO7
Serial Number: S649NJ0R344493X
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


Storage
BigSur:
Free: 363.53 GB (363,525,165,056 bytes)
Capacity: 394 GB (393,999,998,976 bytes)
Mount Point: /
File System: APFS
Writable: No
Ignore Ownership: No
BSD Name: disk1s5s1
Volume UUID: 19D56539-794A-4CE1-9712-98E70DC29C2E
Physical Drive:
Device Name: Samsung SSD 980 1TB
Media Name: AppleAPFSMedia
Medium Type: SSD
Protocol: PCI-Express
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: Unknown
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified