it is the only option.
install windows to a bootcamp (free to try windows 10. get pro version just to make sure it is okay), install samsung magician and update firmware. feel free to get rid of bootcamp right after that.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Upgrading 2013-2015 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe
- Thread starter maxthackray
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
install windows to a bootcamp (free to try windows 10. get pro version just to make sure it is okay), install samsung magician and update firmware. feel free to get rid of bootcamp right after that.
I can confirm now that you do get a green adapter if you order ST-NGFF2013-B. I ordered one of each, ie ST-NGFF2013-B and ST-NGFF2013. And got one green and one black. But none had Kapton-tape.
I ordered the B model, but received the black version for information. I made a Paypal complain.
Few hours later : Sintech offered me to provide me with a ST-NGFF2013-C version, as compensation. Great support ; really fair relationship with their clients.
Last edited:
Hello Gilles,
thank for your reply, the table and your work. I will go this way.
@ all: I ordered a sintech ST-NGFF2013-B and asked (there is a field to write some notes during checkout) to put some kapton tape instead of screwdrivers and of course to send a green adaptor. I will post my results with this configuration.
Have a nice day
Andy
Hi guys, I have been following the thread with great interest.
By the way, pardon my nickname (for those who love Samsung, I really hated their TV, washing machine and printer but that is another stories for another time).
I have bought the green sintech adapter and if I read correctly, I should update my mid-2015 15" MBP bootrom first.
However, after countless installation (and re-installation of High Sierra), my bootrom still stays at: MBP114.0177.B00.
Any idea why it cannot be updated to MBP121? My 2015 13" MBP was able to update the bootrom to MBP121.
I've ordered for a Toshiba XG3 but the seller cannot confirmed he will be able to obtain it, he said it might be the SM961 instead. So, if it is really the SM961, will there be any problem using it with my current bootrom?
By the way, pardon my nickname (for those who love Samsung, I really hated their TV, washing machine and printer but that is another stories for another time).
I have bought the green sintech adapter and if I read correctly, I should update my mid-2015 15" MBP bootrom first.
However, after countless installation (and re-installation of High Sierra), my bootrom still stays at: MBP114.0177.B00.
Any idea why it cannot be updated to MBP121? My 2015 13" MBP was able to update the bootrom to MBP121.
I've ordered for a Toshiba XG3 but the seller cannot confirmed he will be able to obtain it, he said it might be the SM961 instead. So, if it is really the SM961, will there be any problem using it with my current bootrom?
What build version of Windows 10 are use using, and what firmware version is your KC1000? I'm in the same boat as you except with a 13" and Windows 10 has some issues running natively.
Hi,
to my surprise, I had same Windows 10 behaviour as you with the sintech green adapter... and with the black one all went well !
So :
- green adapter : ok with macOS not with windows
- black adapter : connexion lost at reboot with macOS ok with windows..
There´s a different behaviour here between windows and macOS NVMe driver....
[doublepost=1518348054][/doublepost]
Hi,
you have the correct updated BootRom version (so this will be OK with any NVMe drive). Every mac model has a model number (e.g MacBookPro 11,4 for the mid 2015 15" rMBP) and a different rom number.
I've manager to collect Bootrom versions in the following table :
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-5#post-25116144
Last edited:
Hi, Thanks for the info.
Actually, about 2 months ago, the battery in my 2015 15"MBP became bloated. Luckily it was still covered by AppleCare. At that time when I started following this thread, I checked and my bootrom was MBP121 (with High Sierra installed months ago). So I sent it in for repairs. Apple told me they replaced the battery, the top casing and the SSD(!) too. God knows why they replaced my SSD, it will working fine even with the bloated battery.
In any case, I was happy because it came back like a brand new MBP. However, when I booted up and checked, the bootrom was now MBP114, not MBP121. How did that happened? Did they change the logic board too? And try as many times as I did, I just couldn't update the bootrom back to MBP121.
Well, as along as I am able to put in the XG3, I'm a happy gopher!
I’ve been following and perusing this forum for the better part of 3 weeks now. I’m very impressed with the work being done, and am looking at upgrading my 2015 13” MBPr 128 gb hard drive.
I ordered Sintech adapters a black one and a green one (I hope), and also some Kapton tape.
I have two questions I’m not finding answers to, or maybe overlooked. (1) I saw Gilles comparison and usability chart for different SSD’s. What I don’t know is how those speeds compare to the SSD in my particular MBPr. If I were to get, say, a Samsung Evo 500gb is that going to provide faster speeds. (2) A recent post suggested that if there is a bump there may be connection issues. What is the best way to make sure this is secure? I rarely actually work from my office and it would be a disaster if I arrived to where I was going and suddenly couldn’t get my computer on.
(3) Bonus question: If not the EVO, which SSD would be best recommended? Aside from normal usage, I do a fair amount of audio, graphic, and video editing. I do work with quite large video files. Thank you all.
I ordered Sintech adapters a black one and a green one (I hope), and also some Kapton tape.
I have two questions I’m not finding answers to, or maybe overlooked. (1) I saw Gilles comparison and usability chart for different SSD’s. What I don’t know is how those speeds compare to the SSD in my particular MBPr. If I were to get, say, a Samsung Evo 500gb is that going to provide faster speeds. (2) A recent post suggested that if there is a bump there may be connection issues. What is the best way to make sure this is secure? I rarely actually work from my office and it would be a disaster if I arrived to where I was going and suddenly couldn’t get my computer on.
(3) Bonus question: If not the EVO, which SSD would be best recommended? Aside from normal usage, I do a fair amount of audio, graphic, and video editing. I do work with quite large video files. Thank you all.
Last edited:
Hi Audit13,
On 2015 macs and with green adapter, hibernation works perfectly without any particular setting.
If I let my rMBP 2015 on sleep for 2 days (48 hours), battery goes from 100% to 92%...
On 2013 macs to my knowledge we can't have standby mode with NVMe drives thought, so battery drain is higher.
[doublepost=1518376308][/doublepost]
Hi Ericopp,
(1) speeds are, as specified, for a mid 2015 15" rMBP which has PCIe 3.0.
Thus, with every other macs which have PCIe 2.0, speed will be limited to ~1400MB/s read or write (which is already a great number)..
For example a 512 GB 960 Evo which does 2250 MB/s read 1300 MB/s write in a mid 2015 rMBP 15" will do 1400 MB/s read and 1300 MB/s write in a 13".
(2) for that issue you can put a sort of 3mm thick pad under the adapter.
(3) no SSD is bad here... every NVMe SSD are fast, even with the slowest (WD Black) nobody could say it is slow...
Of course MLC SSDs have better consistant write speeds...
You may choose your SSD according to your needs : speed, price, MLC vs TLC memory, ability to be formatted in 4K (to run previous system like Sierra), but no choice is bad here...
Attachments
Ok, this all makes sense. Thanks for your help. I was getting ready to grab an OEM Apple Drive off eBay until I found this thread. It’s saving me some serious change!
Thank you for the guidance! Samsung does not offer ISO download for the latest 960 pro firmware yet.
[doublepost=1518415486][/doublepost]
Thanks a lot! Installing Win 10 on bootcamp partition did it. Updated firmware to 4 for 960 PRO hoping that the latency to boot into Mac would be reduced. It sure did but only for 2-3 seconds. It now takes about 9 secs for an apple to show up vs.12s prior to firmware updated. Do I need to try another black sintech? Someone stated that the new firmware for 960 pro fixed a random booting into an "empty folder?" Not the case here.
Thank you for this, it's been very helpful. For those who have experimented with this, I have a question (for pre-2015 MBAs), what is the failure mode? I haven't entirely understood this point in the posts in this thread (but may have missed something).
1) If you don't disable the standby, what happens? Does the laptop crash, requiring reboot?
2) Since if you disable the standby mode, battery consumption in sleep is higher, what happens when the battery runs out? In my MBA now, if the laptop is put into sleep/standby with a low battery, it eventually goes into a state that requires reboot (as not enough power to support standby mode), but the reboot seems to (usually) bring up the system from it's pre-shutdown state - i.e. no work is lost and applications/windows reopen. (I say usually because I've occasionally had problems on reboot, mainly just reboot from scratch). I believe/understand this is the system going into hibernation but may have the terminology wrong.
If after disabling standby it works as I described in 2), then won't change much in my real-world use.
Anyway, waiting on delivery of the adapter and the kingston ssd. Seems like it not have (hopefully) the firmware update issue that I don't want to deal with on the samsung (particularly since I wouldn't benefit from any higher speed on PCIe 2, and at any rate will be fast enough for me). Decided to go with 500g - mainly in case it doesn't work, I"ll be out less money.
Very interesting !
I'll install bootcamp and try windows 10 on a green v2 adapter on my MBPro 2015 13"
By any chance, has anyone tried to re-use apple AHCI SSD with a PCIe HHHL adapter in a desktop PC to mac a hackintosh ? I would be interested to know which Sintech adapter would be best for a dual boot (bootcamp on a desktop hackintosh).
@gilles_polysoft or anyone else, would you happen to have more information about the battery drain issue on 2013/2014 macs? Is it really the same issue as this model not supporting standby mode with NVMe drives?
For example, if I left the computer closed for 2 days, instead of going down to 92% on your 2015 Macbook, would it be more like 50%? Completely dead? Not sure if you have the numbers or estimates.
I have a 2013 13" Retina Macbook Pro updated to High Sierra, already using APFS. I am fairly confident I can get my hands on a green sintech adapter, but I was hoping to put either a 1TB Samsung EVO, or 2TB Samsung PRO to replace my OEM drive.
PS. I want to thank everyone on this thread for the very useful feedback. I'd love to post my results once I get everything set up.
Last edited:
Thanks for the info, could you tell me what is the brand and model number of the adapter? I have a similar machine and I would like to upgrade the SSD drive.
Hi - just an update from me again,
I have just bought a mid 2015 15" 2.8Ghz MBP in order to get the last and fastest og the macbooks before they started solderering the SSD on the Logic Board.
And I have moved the EVO 960 1TB SSD to this machine. I get Reads of approx 2300 and writes of 2000 in black magic speed test (now using PCIe 3.0)
Damn this computer needed a cleaning - it was full of dust and "hybelkaniner" inside and in the fans.
I still see Kernel panics when I boot from powered off and because of this I am now using a new "trick" in order to boot without problems.
When I hear the "Chime" I press CMD-V in order to turn on verbose mode.
This seems to give the boot process some "air" and I seem to be able to boot nicely each time.
So far very happy with the performance of the EVO 960 on the 11,5 MBP 15"
BR Flemming
I have just bought a mid 2015 15" 2.8Ghz MBP in order to get the last and fastest og the macbooks before they started solderering the SSD on the Logic Board.
And I have moved the EVO 960 1TB SSD to this machine. I get Reads of approx 2300 and writes of 2000 in black magic speed test (now using PCIe 3.0)
Damn this computer needed a cleaning - it was full of dust and "hybelkaniner" inside and in the fans.
I still see Kernel panics when I boot from powered off and because of this I am now using a new "trick" in order to boot without problems.
When I hear the "Chime" I press CMD-V in order to turn on verbose mode.
This seems to give the boot process some "air" and I seem to be able to boot nicely each time.
So far very happy with the performance of the EVO 960 on the 11,5 MBP 15"
BR Flemming
Here's something to try: you could set the system to boot into verbose mode every time and see if that removes the need to hold the keys down.
I wonder if there are any other boot arguments that would give the boot process enough 'air' (without otherwise changing the operation of the system).
Simple instructions here:
http://osxdaily.com/2007/03/25/always-boot-mac-os-x-in-verbose-mode/
Just a quick update: I ordered directly from Sintech from these links and got exactly what was pictured. 1 Big greenie with screwdrivers and 1 smaller black. Ordered them February 4 and I had them in hand here in Michigan, United States on February 14. Not Bad!
Also, unless I'm missing something, it looks like they both had Kapton tape applied already.
Now just waiting for the post to arrive with my SSD.
Also, unless I'm missing something, it looks like they both had Kapton tape applied already.
Now just waiting for the post to arrive with my SSD.
Attachments
hi
I have a MacBook Air mid 2013 and adapter Large green v2. I didn't problem with sleep, hibernate itd. I have problem with install Windows 10 on Bootcamp. When I format disk(960Pro) and install OSX, later install W10, install driver. Windows 10 it works. When install update and reboot, W10 freezes in login window. If I can reinstall W10, W10 didn't see SSD(in Instaler W10). If I reinstall W10, I must format SSD, install OSX and install W10. Reset SMC and NVRAM I do.
ps. When install W10 and don't see disk, I press F10+Shift(CMD) and I see c:/.
ps2. I Cut track on the adapter(DAS/DSS - SMC_OOB1) because DAS is active signal(LED) and SMC_.. is communication line. I think it could problem with kernel panic in Large green adapter (black is don't link original with two point.
I wonder when DVLSLP(Apple) didn't connect to DVLSLP(SSD)
I have a MacBook Air mid 2013 and adapter Large green v2. I didn't problem with sleep, hibernate itd. I have problem with install Windows 10 on Bootcamp. When I format disk(960Pro) and install OSX, later install W10, install driver. Windows 10 it works. When install update and reboot, W10 freezes in login window. If I can reinstall W10, W10 didn't see SSD(in Instaler W10). If I reinstall W10, I must format SSD, install OSX and install W10. Reset SMC and NVRAM I do.
ps. When install W10 and don't see disk, I press F10+Shift(CMD) and I see c:/.
ps2. I Cut track on the adapter(DAS/DSS - SMC_OOB1) because DAS is active signal(LED) and SMC_.. is communication line. I think it could problem with kernel panic in Large green adapter (black is don't link original with two point.
I wonder when DVLSLP(Apple) didn't connect to DVLSLP(SSD)
I want to thank everyone here for their info (and inspiration!)
I upgraded my 13" retina Macbook Pro (A1502, late 2013) with the green Sintech adaptor (ordered through Amazon) - it came remarkably quickly, and was free of any Kapton tape (it did come with 2 screwdrivers, tho'), so I ordered that, too, despite never having heard of Kapton tape.
I got a 500Gb Toshiba XG4 (THNSF5512GPUK) from Ebay. This was to replace the 250Gb Apple SSD that came with my Macbook, and - bizarrely - it seems that when I eventually put that 250Gb Apple SSD on ebay I'm likely to make more $$ than it cost me to do this upgrade. Go figure.
Anyway, I taped the adapter as per instructions on this forum, installed it, formatted it (ext4) using a LINUX mint boot USB, then rebooted with my High Sierra boot USB and installed High Sierra in minutes. No issues. So far, the upgrade works perfectly and seems very stable (I should mention that I had previously upgraded my old system to High Sierra, which I think is important for some OS installs).
I'm very happy with this upgrade and really it's down to the intrepid efforts of many on this forum that it was possible at all - and it's good to know that, should I need it, I could install 1Tb or larger in the future.
Thanks!
I upgraded my 13" retina Macbook Pro (A1502, late 2013) with the green Sintech adaptor (ordered through Amazon) - it came remarkably quickly, and was free of any Kapton tape (it did come with 2 screwdrivers, tho'), so I ordered that, too, despite never having heard of Kapton tape.
I got a 500Gb Toshiba XG4 (THNSF5512GPUK) from Ebay. This was to replace the 250Gb Apple SSD that came with my Macbook, and - bizarrely - it seems that when I eventually put that 250Gb Apple SSD on ebay I'm likely to make more $$ than it cost me to do this upgrade. Go figure.
Anyway, I taped the adapter as per instructions on this forum, installed it, formatted it (ext4) using a LINUX mint boot USB, then rebooted with my High Sierra boot USB and installed High Sierra in minutes. No issues. So far, the upgrade works perfectly and seems very stable (I should mention that I had previously upgraded my old system to High Sierra, which I think is important for some OS installs).
I'm very happy with this upgrade and really it's down to the intrepid efforts of many on this forum that it was possible at all - and it's good to know that, should I need it, I could install 1Tb or larger in the future.
Thanks!
Hello
I received MB Pro 15 2013 late without original Apple disk and I have a question. If I install High Sierra on an external SSD connected via USB, the boot rom will also update and I will be able to mount ssd nvme to my MacBook?
I received MB Pro 15 2013 late without original Apple disk and I have a question. If I install High Sierra on an external SSD connected via USB, the boot rom will also update and I will be able to mount ssd nvme to my MacBook?
No
If you can update boot rom, you will must install high sierra on orginal apple ssd or AHCI(no nvme)
I tried instal on USB and SD card(system see sd as internal drive)
I tried manual upgrade BootRom, becouse i find way. Program of upgrade must go from ssd on pcie:-(