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

[atirox]

I can confirm that the Crucial P5 doesn’t play nearly as nicely as the first post indicates, as I too suffer from kernel panics caused by the NVMe driver. The drive was ordered a few days ago from Amazon, and the short Sintech adapter was also ordered. There were zero issues with installing macOS, and it boots just fine. It’s almost as if macOS puts the drive to sleep and it doesn’t wake up from sleep properly, as when I had FileVault turned on, the MacBook Pro (Early 2015, 13”) would indicate that it couldn’t find a suitable boot volume when you first turned on the machine. On the second power up it would kernel panic.

I too would love to see this revised. I don’t know if this is realistic though, due to the manpower required to retest the drives listed as well as the cost associated with this endeavour.

Maybe someone can update the first post to steer people away from the Crucial P5…

 

[FlorisVN]

I like my drive.. see sig. I've had it about a year and only 2 panics. I just had to reseat the Sintech. Other than that, no issues.

Thanks for your info again

So reseating your Sintech adapter fixed all the KP problems ?

I will buy a XPG ADATA SX8200 1TB.
Also seems like a good drive with TLC and a good TBW of 640TB

Thanks for the advice.

 

[FlorisVN]

I can confirm that the Crucial P5 doesn’t play nearly as nicely as the first post indicates, as I too suffer from kernel panics caused by the NVMe driver. The drive was ordered a few days ago from Amazon, and the short Sintech adapter was also ordered. There were zero issues with installing macOS, and it boots just fine. It’s almost as if macOS puts the drive to sleep and it doesn’t wake up from sleep properly, as when I had FileVault turned on, the MacBook Pro (Early 2015, 13”) would indicate that it couldn’t find a suitable boot volume when you first turned on the machine. On the second power up it would kernel panic.

I too would love to see this revised. I don’t know if this is realistic though, due to the manpower required to retest the drives listed as well as the cost associated with this endeavour.

Maybe someone can update the first post to steer people away from the Crucial P5…

Ok I see, a second user who than also confirms the P5 is not a good compatible drive.
I will return my P2 and P5 and get a XPG ADATA SX8200 now..

Thanks for this extra confirmation..

I btw also had lots of MacOS problems with my P2, perhaps also the P2 is not as compatible as it was in the past ?
Perhaps Big Sur changed this.. ?

 

[xboxbml]

Thanks for your info again

So reseating your Sintech adapter fixed all the KP problems ?

I will buy a XPG ADATA SX8200 1TB.
Also seems like a good drive with TLC and a good TBW of 640TB

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah the ADATA does consume a little more power on idle etc. and is a bit more money than the others.. But the 1116wr/1352r speeds are good for this machine, twice the original drive and I have the 2TB. It will be several years before I run out of storage. I have no issues with sleep/hibernation. Yeah the KP issues I had went away with Sintech/SSD reseat. Of course can't tell which fixed it, but like I said, other than 2 KP in a year, not bad.

 

[TOM1211]

Hi
MacBook Pro mid 2014 512gb upgrade to SK Gold P31 1TB
Before

After

Only had a Mac so updated SK gold p31 running a usb external copy of Windows .

 

[FlorisVN]

Yeah the ADATA does consume a little more power on idle etc. and is a bit more money than the others.. But the 1116wr/1352r speeds are good for this machine, twice the original drive and I have the 2TB. It will be several years before I run out of storage. I have no issues with sleep/hibernation. Yeah the KP issues I had went away with Sintech/SSD reseat. Of course can't tell which fixed it, but like I said, other than 2 KP in a year, not bad.

OK thanks for your message.
Good to hear that this drive is working great

I was wondering about the power consumption, do you notice this on your batter drain much ?
Battery life is still pretty good I presume/hope ?

Thanks in advance,

 

[kvic]

I can confirm that the Crucial P5 doesn’t play nearly as nicely as the first post indicates, as I too suffer from kernel panics caused by the NVMe driver. The drive was ordered a few days ago from Amazon, and the short Sintech adapter was also ordered. There were zero issues with installing macOS, and it boots just fine. It’s almost as if macOS puts the drive to sleep and it doesn’t wake up from sleep properly, as when I had FileVault turned on, the MacBook Pro (Early 2015, 13”) would indicate that it couldn’t find a suitable boot volume when you first turned on the machine. On the second power up it would kernel panic.

I too would love to see this revised. I don’t know if this is realistic though, due to the manpower required to retest the drives listed as well as the cost associated with this endeavour.

Maybe someone can update the first post to steer people away from the Crucial P5…

'Wake from sleep' is one of the P5 issues mentioned in the Mac Pro thread that I linked int he previous page.

It also mentioned issue from 'warm boot'. By that I'm guessing people didn't experience issue from 'cold boot'.

Put all into perspective. P5 seems sporadically will be in a device state after wake up/warm boot that Apple's NVMe driver cannot cope with. When you cold boot your machine, however, the device state is initialized properly by itself and in a state that Apple's driver expects.

From here, we could work out a solution for unlucky folks owning Crucial P5 who face sporadic kernel panic issue: simply put your laptop into 'hibernatemode 25' which is equivalent to always cold boot.

 

[kraddock]

Hi guys!

I am trying to help my sister with her Mid-2015 MacBook Pro - A1398 (EMC 2910). Unfortunately, the original drive is toast and I would like to use a Samsung m.2 SSD I have lying around to replace it (using an adapter). The only problem is that the system was used as a Windows-only machine for a long time via Bootcamp (don't ask, she is a microbiologist, lol) and macOS was at 10.11.3 with Boot ROM version MPB114.0172.B07 when the drive died (I know this, because it was me who installed Windows for her few years ago and made a photo of the report screen, which I was able to dig out from my iCloud).
Is there a way to upgrade the ROM version without an original Apple AHCI drive? From a USB or a bootable external drive? And a follow-up question if this works - the email my sister used for her Apple registration belonged to her old university - she no longer has access to it and can't remember her Apple ID password - would I be able to do a fresh install on a blank drive with a new ID? Btw., we are not in the US, so going to an Apple store is not an option, unfortunately...

Thanks!

 

[kvic]

Empirical evidence from some folks shows that BootRom older than certain versions will fail to upgrade to NVMe-capable BootRom if you have a NVMe SSD inside the drive socket. Some folks happily found out if you have the original Apple SSD inside the socket, BootRom upgrade will proceed successfully. Nobody understands or explains the reason behind it. I think (take it with a grain of salt) v114.XXX.XXX BootRom falls into this category.

But I haven't seen people creative enough to try it without any SSDs inside the socket or even a dead Apple SSD in it.

SSDs are never completely dead unless you fry the chips. If you still have the 'dead' Apple SSD around, worth placing it inside the drive socket, then proceed to install latest High Sierra/Catalina/Big Sur in an external disk to upgrade the BootRom. To save time of a full OS install, there are instructions (by a handle 'CMD-Q' around post #7942 minus 0 to 50? pages) on how to extract BootRom from installation media and install just that.

Apple IDs are only important in the eyes of its beholders. Shouldn't stop people from OS installation.

 

[se7enPT]

Today I updated my MacBookAir6,1 with a Corsair MP510.
For now everything seems to be fine, Blackmagic reports speeds of ~1300MB/s (with the original I had around ~550MB/s).
The fans seems to kick more often but maybe it's because I'm still syncing stuff.

What's the recommended software to decrease the ssd consumption? SsdPmEnabler?

 

[xboxbml]

OK thanks for your message.
Good to hear that this drive is working great

I was wondering about the power consumption, do you notice this on your batter drain much ?
Battery life is still pretty good I presume/hope ?

Thanks in advance,

It most likely drains battery a little more than others. I don't have any tweaks loaded like SSDPenabler or whatever it is or things like that. I've never really paid too much attention, as I usually have it plugged into power and my TB2 dock-monitor. When I have it unplugged, I know I can watch a few movies on a charge and do a lot of surfing and email etc, or have it in my bag for days and bring it up still with 100% charge or very near it. I don't do any heavy lifting with this other than watching movies/YouTube. I have my pics uploading to iCloud from phone and storing all pics/vids on the Air full size. Currently using 637gb of space on this drive and 1.41TB free. All my iTunes Movies-Music is stored locally on this, as well as all pics/vids library and email. I used to have iStat Menus loaded on this to watch power consumption but I removed it a long time ago as I don't need something else eating space and power on this. This Air still has the original battery in it. 294 cycles and 98% capacity. I reloaded iStat Menus and now I remember what I was seeing before. SSD consumes about .20 amps at idle.

 

[sunchitgeorge]

Dear All,I have been studying this topic for so long but cudnt find answers to my problem.I am certainly missing some points here to address my issue.I have a Macbook Pro Early 2013 A1398 which has 7+17 pins on the ssd slot.I purchased a Seagate FireCuda 520 1TB Performance Internal Solid State Drive SSD PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe 1.3 thinking a riser/adapter would solve my issue.However its has been a never ending search to find an adapter for it.If anyone can help me with a link for the adapter would be great.If this NVMe SSD is not compatible with my macbook early 2013 kindly help which all ssd's can be used directly without an adapter or with an adapter.

 

[kvic]

IIRC, the 7+17 socket inside MacBookPro10,1 is native SATA (not PCIe). You won't be able to hook up any NVMe SSDs. Electrically incompatible.

You may look for old mSATA SSD in 2nd hand markets, and perhaps an adaptor connecting mSATA to the proprietary Apple 7+17 socket. Not that I've seen such adapters but can't rule out enterprising sellers from China may have created one in the past. I won't hold my breath.

 

[RedTomato]

Dear All,I have been studying this topic for so long but cudnt find answers to my problem.I am certainly missing some points here to address my issue.I have a Macbook Pro Early 2013 A1398 which has 7+17 pins on the ssd slot.I purchased a Seagate FireCuda 520 1TB Performance Internal Solid State Drive SSD PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe 1.3 thinking a riser/adapter would solve my issue.However its has been a never ending search to find an adapter for it.If anyone can help me with a link for the adapter would be great.If this NVMe SSD is not compatible with my macbook early 2013 kindly help which all ssd's can be used directly without an adapter or with an adapter.

Read the WikiPost on the first page. It lists which MacBooks work with nvme SSDs. (Mostly mid-2013 onwards) Unfortunately yours (early-2013) does not. There is also some info in that post on finding a SSD that works with your MacBook.

If you cannot return your nvme SSD, I would seriously consider selling your MacBook and buying a later model that can take your SSD. It does make a huge difference.

 

[RedTomato]

Apparently the SK Hynix P31 is now available in the 2TB version. Quite reasonably priced too (but still more expensive than other 2TB SSDs).

I have updated the Wikipost on the first page.

Has anyone had any luck with buying one and installing it in their MacBook?

 

[ftaok]

I apologize if this has been covered before, but it's hard to track through 370+ pages of posts.

I'm looking for guidance on how best to upgrade my system. I have a 2013 MBA (Macbook Air 6,2) and the 256 SSD is really cramped.

I just ordered the Sintech adapter and the Crucial P2 500 GB drive.

Here's what I'm thinking the next high level steps would be.

1. Install Sintech adapter and SSD into the MBA.
2. Install a fresh copy of OS X (I'm currently on High Sierra) using a USB installer.
3. Use Time Machine to restore my latest back-up onto the new SSD.
4. Run the terminal command to fix the hibernation issue.

I also have SuperDuper and can make a bootable clone of my system right onto the SSD (or boot from the clone and restore it onto the new SSD while it's installed). Is this an easier method? What kind of enclosure should I look for to install the new SSD into temporarily?

Have I missed any other important steps?

Thanks all.

 

[icecruncher]

Finally installed the 2tb 970 EVO Plus with a 1.5mm copper graphene cooler. Barely fit, 2mm would not fit, but No issues or KP. I did not use any kapton tape as it was the newest short version I received directly from Sirtech.

It does draw more power, heats up faster and I have seen Intel Power Gadget go above 50 watts on spikes. But temperatures have only turned on the fans when I crank the GPU and the CPU up to Max on Intel Power Gadget. Otherwise at full tilt either one or other it still never turns on the fans when checking iStats - they stay at 0%

I tested the battery and it is still decent for normal use- although I am plugged in most of time. I get 4-6 hours of normal use with Bluetooth off and normal browsing, sleep has been fine. My battery is rated currently 93% health with only 43 cycles.

One big question: previously on Intel Power Gadget the Frequency Max sat at 2.8 roughly. After the upgrade is ALWAYS sits at 3.7-4.0. Don;t know if this is a AHCI vs NVMe thing or something else. Any ideas. Idle temperatures are roughly at where I started before repasting (39-42C). But a few degrees above the temperature after repasting and dust out. Posts below of before and after on various programs.

BTW, 2 items -
1. This is MBPr mid 2015 w/2.8 and R9 M370 graphics. Battery replaced in the last year by apple computer under recall.

2. I went to battery power when posting and uploading pics for this comment. I have been at it for about an hour and battery is still showing 5:37 for time left to use.

 

[kvic]

One big question: previously on Intel Power Gadget the Frequency Max sat at 2.8 roughly. After the upgrade is ALWAYS sits at 3.7-4.0. Don;t know if this is a AHCI vs NVMe thing or something else. Any ideas.

You aren't the first one. I've seen folks discussing similar issue on Samsung and ways to mitigate it (somewhat unsuccessfully) 10 months ago. This is in addition to Samsung running hotter itself and draining more battery. I'm not sure if the effect on CPU is specific to Samsung or just that other models causing lesser observable effect.

I believe you'll also notice iGPU clock stuck at 500MHz (or a similar floor level) when idle, instead of clocking down further. So additional battery drain. With Apple SSD, iGPU will be hopping, say, between less than 100MHz and 500Mhz when idle. IIRC, ssdpmEnabler can restore the stock behaviour on iGPU. I can't remember if it helps CPU clock.

People shall stay away from "high performance" SSDs. Your laptops don't need it. Won't benefit from it. Worse, it'll byte you. One last time. Don't like repeat myself. It's also in the ssdpmEnabler FAQ.

 

[icecruncher]

You aren't the first one. I've seen folks discussing similar issue on Samsung and ways to mitigate it (somewhat unsuccessfully) 10 months ago. This is in addition to Samsung running hotter itself and draining more battery. I'm not sure if the effect on CPU is specific to Samsung or just that other models causing lesser observable effect.

I believe you'll also notice iGPU clock stuck at 500MHz (or a similar floor level) when idle, instead of clocking down further. So additional battery drain. With Apple SSD, iGPU will be hopping, say, between less than 100MHz and 500Mhz when idle. IIRC, ssdpmEnabler can restore the stock behaviour on iGPU. I can't remember if it helps CPU clock.

People shall stay away from "high performance" SSDs. Your laptops don't need it. Won't benefit from it. Worse, it'll byte you. One last time. Don't like repeat myself. It's also in the ssdpmEnabler FAQ.

I don't remember that issue specifically mentioned, so I will look back in the posts and see if I can find it. (Edit - read the thread section on the GPU freq. Honestly from what I've read about iStats I wonder how accurate it is on this value, btw mine is reading 750 solid, right now)

the thing is the power (wattage level) is the same with both - at least according to Intel Power Gadget and the results I posted. That is what is throwing me.

I've got a 3.03 watts with the old 500gb AHCI at 2.8 Freq max, at idle and
I've got a 2.68 watts with the new 2 tb 970 EVO Plus at 3.7 Freq max, at idle.

That all said, I forgot to check the SSD on old apple drive - however the current 970 is .28a at idle per iStats and max has been .82 that I've seen

However, the Core avg, min, req and gpx avg are all lower with the new Samsung NVMe in my tests. VERY CONFUSED

The Utilization is very similar as is the temperature for idle.
I am not using any tweaks on the SSD drive.
I realize it ramps up very quickly in power and heat with use.

Also, what is being used to test the iGPU? I am running gfxCardStatus v2.5, but I don't see any info relavant to this. Overall I've been very happy so far, decent speed, battery and zero issues. next step is bootcamp install (first time ever)

Finally for any who are interested in it, I got a OWC Envoy enclosure for the old Apple AHCI. (I got a super discount deal on it via PayPal and B&Hphoto, so it was worth it.) It appears to be a billet piece of Aluminum, custom machined for their board. Seems like the money is for the machining of the case. Below are the numbers on the 500gb, nothing impressive, but still much faster than an SD card.

 

[seagullwithmacintosh]

Hello people, I want to upgrade my Macbook Pro 13" Early 2015. It's currently 128 GB and obviously it is not enough anymore. I found HP EX900 500 GB on Amazon for a reasonable price in my country. Is this drive any good? It's shown as compatible in the original post but I want to make sure it doesn't have any hiccups that I should be aware of. I found its specs on HP's site and it says 3,8W while active and 0,68W while idle. Are these power consumption levels are good? Any help is appreciated. It will be first time that I will be tinkering with my Mac so I'm a little nervous. Thanks!

 

[gavilomon]

Hello people, I want to upgrade my Macbook Pro 13" Early 2015. It's currently 128 GB and obviously it is not enough anymore. I found HP EX900 500 GB on Amazon for a reasonable price in my country. Is this drive any good? It's shown as compatible in the original post but I want to make sure it doesn't have any hiccups that I should be aware of. I found its specs on HP's site and it says 3,8W while active and 0,68W while idle. Are these power consumption levels are good? Any help is appreciated. It will be first time that I will be tinkering with my Mac so I'm a little nervous. Thanks!

Hey! I am in the same situation as you. After asking here and looking at the compatible models here (in our case MacbookPro12,1) I'm trying to decide which model would be best for me taking into account that in addition to Big Sur I also use a partition with Win10 and somewhat demanding programs. Just like you, I want to be 100% sure before I take the step as this is the first time I do it.

 

[seagullwithmacintosh]

Hey! I am in the same situation as you. After asking here and looking at the compatible models here (in our case MacbookPro12,1) I'm trying to decide which model would be best for me taking into account that in addition to Big Sur I also use a partition with Win10 and somewhat demanding programs. Just like you, I want to be 100% sure before I take the step as this is the first time I do it.

Hey there, it's good not to be alone! After looking at the charts in the original post, Crucial P2 was easily the winner so I decided to go with it even it was slightly expensive than the HP EX900. If you can be patient for a few days, I will happily take the risk for both of us. If you want I can update you about my upgrade journey.

 

[gavilomon]

Hey there, it's good not to be alone! After looking at the charts in the original post, Crucial P2 was easily the winner so I decided to go with it even it was slightly expensive than the HP EX900. If you can be patient for a few days, I will happily take the risk for both of us. If you want I can update you about my upgrade journey.

I'm not in a hurry at the moment so that would be tremendously helpful! Thank you! And if anyone else has experience with a Win10 partition and the SSDs listed here for MacBookPro12,1 (which have already been tested with MacOS) it would be great to hear how they are running.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Hey there, it's good not to be alone! After looking at the charts in the original post, Crucial P2 was easily the winner so I decided to go with it even it was slightly expensive than the HP EX900. If you can be patient for a few days, I will happily take the risk for both of us. If you want I can update you about my upgrade journey.

Hi,

Ensure you read all the info about the Crucial P2 in this thread before moving forward. As you may know, the "new" Crucial P2 is different from the one in the spreadsheets in post #1.

 

[seagullwithmacintosh]

I'm not in a hurry at the moment so that would be tremendously helpful! Thank you! And if anyone else has experience with a Win10 partition and the SSDs listed here for MacBookPro12,1 (which have already been tested with MacOS) it would be great to hear how they are running.

No problem!

Hi,

Ensure you read all the info about the Crucial P2 in this thread before moving forward. As you may know, the "new" Crucial P2 is different from the one in the spreadsheets in post #1.

Thanks for the heads-up. I've already checked the manufacturer ref. before buying and it is identical with the original post spreadsheet. Have to wait 3 days for the parcel though...