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

[RigSatMe]

Hello!

Please advise what would be the best SSD NMVe (500gb-1tb) for an upgrade of MacBookAir6,2 which will have SMART support under macOS, won't have any issues with power sleeping under macOS, and won't have any issues with Windows installation via bootcamp?

Many Thanks!

 

[leviatemps]

Hello,

I want to upgrade my old macbook air in early 2014. I5 8go 128gb.

I admit to being a bit lost with these >400 pages of thread! With the issue of loss of autonomy, lack of hibernation, slowdown....

Anyone have a good SSD with an adapter to recommend? and what are the concessions I should make with it?

By the way if anyone also has a good replacement battery to recommend! I was thinking of getting a generic one on aliexpresss ± 40$ !


Thanks

I specify that I wish a ssd of >256gb or 512 to make a dual boot macos/windows!

and that my mac model is the A1466!

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Hello!

Please advise what would be the best SSD NMVe (500gb-1tb) for an upgrade of MacBookAir6,2 which will have SMART support under macOS, won't have any issues with power sleeping under macOS, and won't have any issues with Windows installation via bootcamp?

Many Thanks!

I specify that I wish a ssd of >256gb or 512 to make a dual boot macos/windows!

and that my mac model is the A1466!

Quoting many other users here who recently updated their SSD:

SK Hynix Gold P31

Moreover, the SX 8200, SP A80, WD 550/570, etc. had been successfully used by other members as well. These are listed and discussed on pages 440-452.

If you are running the latest macOS compatible with your machine, there are no hibernation issues, and BootCamp should work.

 

[NAFAN]

Hi everybody,

Finally I've upgraded my MacBook Pro 13" early 2015 (model A1502) by WD Blue SN570 1TB. Everything went smoothly using installation USB stick with Monterey OS. I used cheap adapter from M.2 NVMe (didn't find Sintech), but it wasn't a problem.

I've changed hibernate mode from 3 to 25, as WD SN570 has drained my battery during the night in sleep state. Except that everything is great.

I've chosen WD SN570 as far as I didn't want to increase battery usage and temperature inside the laptop. Also the maximum speed for MacBook Pro 13" early 2015 (model 1502) is 2GB/s, as it has PCIe 2.0 x4. So there is no need to choose faster ssd.

The speed tests have shown similar read and write speed as Apple's ssd (256GB), maybe a bit faster, but not for a long tests (WD Blue SN570 doesn't have cache, that's why).
On old system: 1265 MB/s Read speed, 686 MB/s Write speed.
On new system: 1299 MB/s Read speed, 1254 MB/s Write speed.
On WD SN570: 1441 MB/s Read speed, 1323 MB/s Write speed.

Temperature is the almost the same, which is great: 70°C on Apple's ssd vs 67°C on WD SN570.

For more details check the video:

Thank you for all the replies here, I used it a lot.

 

[otosan]

Just a heads up for everyone who thinking about getting a Silicon Power A60 to replace their SSD with a low budget,

apparently they just following a bad practice from ADATA, replacing their controller without informing customer,

so now they shuffle between the one that come during initial launch (SM2263XT) and v2 that using E13T controller,

E13T is supposed to work with macOS as well, it can boot and used normally,

but, either it's the firmware or stability issue, i already had several customers that replaced their ssd at other place, come to my place saying that their ssd stop working, their mac can't boot or other similar symptoms that simply pointing out it's the SSD problem.

Upon opening their unit, all have similarities : Silicon Power P34A60 with Phison Controller. All dead.

I used to vouch for A60 years ago as well for budget user, since it's cheap and run stable with it SM2263XT,

but now i have to inform any potential buyer out there :

Shall you decide to go with Silicon Power A60, then proceed with caution. And grab the one with SM2263XT if possible.

If you gonna get it from a store and they can't make sure what controller is used, then just grab another budget SSD that been tested in this thread.

 

[xboxbml]

Just a heads up for everyone who thinking about getting a Silicon Power A60 to replace their SSD with a low budget,

apparently they just following a bad practice from ADATA, replacing their controller without informing customer,

so now they shuffle between the one that come during initial launch (SM2263XT) and v2 that using E13T controller,

E13T is supposed to work with macOS as well, it can boot and used normally,

but, either it's the firmware or stability issue, i already had several customers that replaced their ssd at other place, come to my place saying that their ssd stop working, their mac can't boot or other similar symptoms that simply pointing out it's the SSD problem.

Upon opening their unit, all have similarities : Silicon Power P34A60 with Phison Controller. All dead.

I used to vouch for A60 years ago as well for budget user, since it's cheap and run stable with it SM2263XT,

but now i have to inform any potential buyer out there :

Shall you decide to go with Silicon Power A60, then proceed with caution. And grab the one with SM2263XT if possible.

If you gonna get it from a store and they can't make sure what controller is used, then just grab another budget SSD that been tested in this thread.

Good catch! Maybe others have seen this without correlation. Good job as always!

 

[JZJJZJ123]

This thread is about upgrading MacBook Airs & Macbook Pros (2013-2015) with new high speed and/or high capacity NVMe SSDs.
This thread was one of the first to talk about MacBook Pro NVMe SSD upgrades on Macrumors, and was started by user "maxthackray", which we can thank and give tribute for having started this thread.
This post has now been converted by MacRumors administrators to the present wiki post you are reading.

There is a lot of interest in this topic and now over 5000 posts so we will try to summarise valuable information in this wiki post and keep it up to date.

0 - Why upgrading to NVMe ?
Background information​

Between 2013-2017, Apple shipped laptops equipped with proprietary, AHCI "blade" SSDs with a proprietary "gumstick connector" (12+16 pins).
They had either 2x PCIe 2.0 Lanes (2013) or 4x PCIe lanes, and were made by Toshiba or Samsung (SSUAX or SSUBX)

For many years the only possible replacements or upgrades for those SSD were to :

1. replace with expensive used SSDs pulled from Apple laptops
2. replace with expensive SSDs from OWC (Aura Pro, Aura Pro 2) or Transcend (820, 850)
3. go the DIY solutions buying a M.2 AHCI SSD with an adapter e.g. Samsung 941 or Samsung 950 SSDs.

PCIe M.2 AHCI SSD are no longer made : you can't buy new ones, and used ones are expensive with low capacity and no warranty.

At the same time, NVMe "blades" M.2 SSD are going more on more mainstream on the PC market, and there are literally dozens of brand new, cheap, super fast and reliable NVMe SSD on the market, with enormous capacities up to 4TB.

So why not go NVMe ?

To gain full NVMe support you need two things :

• support at the BootRom (firmware) level
• support at the OS level

Thankfully, in 2017, macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) came out and it was discovered that it not only supported any tiers NVMe SSD but it also brought BootRom upgrades which enabled booting with NVMe SSD...
Yay!

(Note: macOS 10.14 Mojave is also good)

So, now we can upgrade many 2013-2017 MacBook laptops with brand new, cheap NVMe SSDs carrying 3 to 5-years warranty, instead of expensive, used, out of warranty, AHCI SSDs.

This guide is all about installing those new NVMe SSD replacements.
NVMe drives are the future compared to AHCI PCIe drives which are no longer made.

As of 2020 NVMe drives gives you unbeatable capacities, speed, and low prices.
And also, upgrading an old computer with a NVMe drive is always better for you and the planet than buying a new one... and it is a lot cheaper.

1 - Which Mac laptops can be upgraded with a NVMe SSD ? ​

• all MacBook Air models from Mid 2013 to 2017 (MacBookAir6,1 to MacBookAir7,1)
• all MacBook Pro models from Late 2013 to Mid 2015 (MacBookPro11,1 to MacBookPro12,1)

In details :

1-1 MacBook Air

The 2013-2014 MacBook Air models originally shipped with 2x lanes PCIe 2.0 AHCI SSD (speed ~700MB/s).
They support up to 4TB NVMe SSDs if their BootRom is at least MBA61.0103.B00, and will make them run at PCIe 2.0 speed with up to 4x lanes.
They don't support natively hibernation on NVMe SSD, but workarounds exist.

• MacBook Air 11" Mid 2013 (MacBookAir6,1)
• MacBook Air 13" Mid 2013 (MacBookAir6,2)
• MacBook Air 11" early 2014 (MacBookAir6,1)
• MacBook Air 13" early 2014 (MacBookAir6,2)

The 2015-2017 MBA models either shipped with 2x or 4x lanes PCIe 2.0 AHCI SSD (speed ~700 to ~1500MB/s).
They support up to 4TB NVMe SSD if their BootRom is at least MBA71.0171.B00 and will make them run at PCIe 2.0 speed with up to 4x lanes.
They do support natively hibernation on NVMe SSD :

• MacBook Air 13" early 2015 (MacBookAir7,1)
• MacBook Air 13" 2017 (MacBookAir7,2)

1-2 MacBook Pro retina 13" and 15"

The 2013-2014 MacBookPro retina models originally shipped with 2x lanes PCIe 2.0 AHCI SSD (speed ~700MB/s).
They support up to 4TB NVMe SSDs if their BootRom is at least MBP111.0142.B00 (for 13" models) or MBP112.0142.B00 (for 15" models) and will make them run at PCIe 2.0 speed with up to 4x lanes.
They don't support natively hibernation on NVMe SSD, but workarounds exist.

• MacBook Pro Retina 13" late 2013 (MacBookPro11,1)
• MacBook Pro Retina 15" late 2013 (MacBookPro11,2 & MacBookPro11,3)
• MacBook Pro Retina 13" mid 2014 (MacBookPro11,1)
• MacBook Pro Retina 15" mid 2014 (MacBookPro11,2 & 11,3)

The 2015 MacBookPro retina 13" and 15" models originally shipped with 4x lanes PCIe 2.0 AHCI SSDs. (speed ~1400MB/s).
They both supports up to 4TB NVMe SSD if their BootRom is at least MBP121.0171.B00 (for the 13" models) or MBP114.0177.B00 (for the 15" models).
The Retina 15" mid 2015 supports 4x lanes PCIe 3.0 speed eg. up to 3000MB/s. The early 2015 Retina 13" supports 4x lanes PCIe 2.0 speed.
They do both natively support hibernation on NVMe SSD

• MacBook Pro Retina 13" early 2015 (MacBookPro12,1)
• MacBook Pro Retina 15" mid 2015 (MacBookPro11,4-11,5)

2 - Which Mac laptops CANNOT be upgraded with NVMe SSDs?​

EARLY MODEL LAPTOPS BEFORE 2013

• all non retina MacBook models (MacBook1,1 to MacBook7,1)
• all non retina MacBook Pro (MacBookPro1,1 to MacBookPro9,2)

These models above come with a 2.5" SATA slot and interface. You can upgrade them with any standard cheap 2,5" SATA AHCI SSD

• MacBook Air from Late 2010 to Mid 2011 (MacBookAir 3,1 to MacBookAir4,2)
• MacBook Pro Retina from mid 2012 to early 2013 (MacBookPro10,1 to MacBookPro11,2)

These two models above come with a M.2 AHCI SATA SSD and use a SATA interface. They are definitely not compatible with M.2 PCIe SSD. The PCIe M.2 format looks very similar to the SATA M.2 format but it won't work.

Macbook Air 2012 (tried on 11 inch model) has a mixed connector which can use both SATA (stock one) and PCIe x2 (NVMe) drives, thus it is possible to gain 800+ MB/s (WD SN550) with an NVMe SSD and the right adapter for it. Hibernation has no issues so far on macOS 10.15.7, the external icon is easely fixed with Innie.kext.

You can upgrade the storage of those models with any SATA M.2 AHCI SSDs - e.g Crucial MX500 sata M.2 - and M.2 to Apple 6+12 adapters. Transcend and OWC also sell upgrades.

LATE MODEL LAPTOPS AFTER 2015

• all MacBook Air since the Retina 2018 (MacBookAir8,1)
• all MacBook 12" Retina since the early 2015 (MacBook8,1)
• all MacBook Pro 13" Retina 4 TB ports since 2016 (MacBookPro13,2)
• all MacBook Pro 15" Retina since 2016 (MacBookPro13,3)

If you have one of those late models, sorry their storage cannot be upgraded. Their storage is BGA NAND Flash soldered onto the logic board. You can as a customer give feedback to Apple regarding this situation.

An exception is the MacBook Pro 13" Retina without TouchBar aka 2 ThunderBolt ports (2016-2017) which has proprietary PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs. It might become possible at a future date to upgrade it with with adapters and small 2230/2242 M.2 blades like Sabrent/Toshiba/Koxia/Sandisk/WD (Sintech adapter is out).

3 - Which NVMe SSDs are known to work? ​

Basically all NVMe SSD work, except a few ones with incompatible firmwares.
The following models have been tested to work :

​

• Adata NVMe SSD : SX6000, SX7000, SX8200, SX8200 Pro etc.
• Corsair NVMe SSD : MP500, MP510
• Crucial NVMe SSD : P1, P2, X8
• HP NVMe SSD : ex900, ex920, ex950
• OCZ RD400
• Toshiba XG3, XG4, XG5, XG5p, XG6
• Intel NVMe SSD : 600p, 660p, 760p
• MyDigital NVMe SSDs : SBX - BPX
• Kingston NVMe SSD : A1000, A2000, KC1000
• Sabrent Rocket (Phison E12 and E16 based)
• Samsung NVMe SSD : 960 Evo, 960 Pro, 970 Evo, 970 Pro, 970 Evo plus (with latest firmware), 980
• WD Black NVMe SSD v1, v2 and v3, WD Blue SN550 (FW Update mandatory), SN750, SN750 SE
• Inland Premium (not Professional)

NVMe SSD known not to work on MacBook Pro / Air. DO NOT BUY:

• Samsung PM981
• Samsung 950 Pro
• WD Blue NvME SN570 (EDIT march 2023: many success stories with this one during 2022-2023, new ones seem to work)
• WD Black NvME SN770
• SK Hynix Gold P31

Compatibility issues with these models are due to a firmware issue.

Update Aug 2021: SK Hynix P31 Gold is now known to work.
The old firmware did not allow you to boot into macOS, it would just kernel panic. The new firmware released by SK Hynix fixed the incompatibility. You should seriously consider using this drive if battery life is a priority. It is known to be one of the best possible drives for laptops.

See this post for install process: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ook-pro-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/post-30164983

Note: SK Hynix Gold P31 is widely available in 512GB and 1TB versions. A 2 TB version has just come out (September 2021) but stocks are still limited.

OTHER OPTIONS

Those AHCI options work, but are expensive / come with no warranty / are over-priced / have flaws :

• Apple SSUAX and SSUBX OEM blades (expensive, only available used, without warranty)
• OWC Aura SSD : 2x lanes only, RAID0 of 2x slow controllers, no TRIM, no SMART
• Transcend Jetdrive 820 : 2x lanes only, not cheap

NVMe upgrades which have the native Apple 12+16 "gumstick connector" :

• Apple "Polaris" NVMe SSDs : very fast but definitively not cheap
• OWC Aura Pro X : not cheap for a NVMe drive, not fast for a NVMe drive
• Transcend JetDrive 850/855 : not cheap for a NVMe drive, not fast for a NVMe drive

A last thing :

• all NVMe M.2 drives do work with TRIM enabled and supported natively, without any patch
• NVMe drives with 512b sectors don't work on macOS older than 10.13
• NVMe drives with 4K sector size (ex. : Sabrent Rocket) do work natively with macOS 10.12, of course you need to have your BootRom up to date before installation

(see table below for 4K compatiblity)

4 - The M.2 to Apple "gumstick" adapters - the good and the fake ​

Apple uses a proprietary "gumstick" 12+16 PCIe interface in its 2013-2017 MacBook Airs and Pro computers. The rest of the PC industry uses the "M.2" NGFF connector which is very common.

So, if you want to upgrade your Mac with a regular M.2 NVMe drive, you need an adapter.
Lot of adapters have been tested in this thread, but in one sentence :
always buy an Apple to M.2 adapter from Sintech

The "Chenyang" or "CableCC" adapters (and assimilates) are still sold today but they do not have the proper wiring letting NVMe SSD work well.. Using it will cause reboot issues, sleep issues.
DO NOT BUY THEM

Instead, buy the "Sintech" adapter. Previously, Sintech made 3 models (rev. A rev. B and rev. C).
There were problems with the rev. A adapters too, this was commented a lot in this thread.
But now, as of early 2019, I can confirm that every adapter shipped from Sintech have the proper wirings and works perfectly.

You can buy Sintech adapters on their Amazon shop :
https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2016-2013-2015/dp/B07FYY3H5F/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2016-2013-2015/dp/B07FYY3H5F/ (warning, long delivery time)

Or directly from their website :
http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html


View attachment 828142
View attachment 828143

A cheaper solution is a no-name but mostly identical adapter from Aliexpress available here - https://aliexpress.ru/item/33027201181.html. This exact one bought in early 2020 is proven to work on 2015 A1398, connection is full speed v3.0 4 lanes. 3$ only.
Beware seller may change the product without notice! We are not responsible for that.

Also, if you have an old Sintech adapter made in 2017-2018, you have to check that there is some tape insulation like in the following photo :

View attachment 828146


5 - Are you getting a battery swap / keyboard swap / major internal repair at an Apple Store or direct from Apple? You may want to put the old Apple stock SSD back in the laptop before you give it to Apple to repair.​

Some users have reported that Apple Stores have refused to do a battery swap on MacBooks with an upgraded NVMe SSD. One user said their MPB (sent in for a battery swap) was 'returned to me with unspecified “damage” due to the ssd' and 'a picture of it with the adapter' was included in the message from Apple. This was despite the Apple Genius being informed in advance and saying it would be fine.

It looks like some Apple technicians may be fine with it and others may not want to work inside a MacBook with a NVMe adaptor installed.

Third party Apple repair services should be happy to proceed with any work even with a NVMe SSD installed.

6 - Hibernation issues on 2013-2014 laptops ​

Starting with macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, Apple has released Root ROM or system firmware for 2013-2014 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models that allows these models to be upgraded with NVMe drives and prevent deep sleep issues without further system modifications.

* Late 2013 MacBook Pro 13” with Retina Display (MacBookPro11,1): Boot ROM 427.0.0.0 and higher
* Mid-2013 MacBook Air 11”: Boot ROM 4xx.0.0.0 and higher

Updating to those 4xx.0.0.0 versions of Boot ROM or system firmware will make any additional modifications to prevent unexpected system restarts unnecessary; however, it has been noted that the hibernation and autopoweroff behavior of those MacBooks models has been changed and that the battery discharge is higher than with the original PCIe SSD.

macOS release prior to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 ship with a Boot ROM or system firmware for 2013/2014 MacBook Pro (13”, 15”) and 2013/2014 MacBook Air (11”, 13”) that included a DXE NVMe driver which is incompleted or compressed. This caused 2013 and 2014 MacBook models to not wake up from hibernation and restart. This problem existed with every NVMe SSD (Apple NVMe SSDs that shipped with 2015 MacBook Pro models, third-party drives like the OWC Aura Pro 2, Transcend 850 NVMe SSD).

To prevend this problem you had two options:

1. Disable hibernation or deep sleep by disabling hibernation via Terminal: "sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 standby 0 autopoweroff 0", or
2. Patch the Boot ROM or system firmware with an NVMe driver from 2015 MacBook model equivalents.

Disabling hibernation had the drawback that your MacBook would consume more power when sleeping for a longer time compared to proper hibernation (suspend to disk) with the default settings. Your battery would lose ~10% overnight.

The process of patching the Boot ROM or system allowed hibernation to work but required additional hardware. See
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-65#post-26224320 for a guide that walked through the required steps.

Other options included a ”Matt Card” from CMI zapper.

7 - Troubleshooting steps for kernel panics, crashes or instability
​

A small number of members have reported issues around stability and kernel panics after upgrading to an aftermarket SSD. These issues are quite rare, so don't panic! We have a 10 step plan.

If you are experiencing crashes or kernel panics especially around sleep/wake, try the following steps:

1. Make sure the machine's boot ROM is the latest version. Check your version in "About This Mac" / "System Report" under Boot ROM Version.​
   • The latest available boot ROM updates (in Big Sur) for various machines is here: https://eclecticlight.co/2020/11/16/which-firmware-should-your-mac-be-using-version-5/ .​
   • On a very old boot ROM (<400.0.0.0) use an empty/formatted original Apple SSD get the lastest ROM. Do a temporary fresh install of MacOS from USB, the install should get you to the latest ROM.​
   • After 400.0.0.0 systems with aftermarket SSDs can get boot ROM updates.​
   • With the latest boot ROM, any previously installed or old version of MacOS should work (some prefer older OSes)​
2. Install the latest firmware for your SSD, if there is one. Some SSD update utils install firmware using Windows so use a PC or BootCamp. Some SSD updater utils blank the drive, so make a backup of the drive.​
3. Clean the contacts of the SSD, motherboard and the sintech adapter using isopropyl alcohol and a qtip/cotton bud.​
4. Ensure the sintech adapter and SSD are fully seated and centred. Even a slight skew or unseated drive can cause crashes and reboot issues. Touching the contacts during install can also lead to instability.​
5. Ensure there is no corrosion on the contacts of the SSD, sintech adaptor or motherboard. You may need to scrape this off if there is any.​
6. Track the temperature of your SSD using a utility like istat menu. Normal temps vary from drive to drive and work load but e.g. for the Rocket it should be 0c-35c. If temperature gets higher than say ~50c for a sustained time you may need to mitigate the heat by setting the fans to alway on in istat menu, or using a heatsink, copper shims or heat pads.​
7. Post your sleep settings "pmset -g" and most recent kernel .panic file from /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports. Use pastebin.com and share a link on this thread.​
8. Disable sleep and hibernate (see above for command). Reset sleep to default settings pmset restoredefaults​
9. Try the Kexts (Ssdpmenabler.kext and/or NVMEfix.kext - search the thread for info).​
10. Try a different aftermarket SSD and/or adapter.

When posting for help or if you have a sucess story to share, use the following format (mostly info from "About This Mac"/"System Report"):

MacOS version: Mojave 10.14.6 (18G7016)
Mac: MacBookAir7,2
Processor: Intel Core i5 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 426.0.0.0.0
SSD: Sabrent Rocket 1TB (firmware version: ECFM12.3) + Sintec short adapter
link to pmset -g output on pastebin.com
link to .panic file(s) on pastebin.com
SSD speeds in BlackMagic benchmark screenshot
SSD temperatures from istat menu screenshot
Any steps you have tried already

8 - BootCamp installation issues ​

Make sure you have a full backup with something OTHER than Time Machine. SuperDuper! is free and recommended. Making a disk clone in SuperDuper! is also much faster than Time Machine.

-----

During installation of Windows 10 via BootCamp, a blue screen may occur.
This was resolved by user ohnggni in post #1685, thanks to him.

Here are the two recommendations to Install BootComp with success on a MacBook Air / Pro with a NVMe SSD :

• leave the MagSafe charger plugged in during the whole installation process (don't run on battery)
• When you see the error pop-up, "The Computer restarted unexpectedly....", please do the following :

1. Press Shift + F10 keys.​

2. Launch "regedit".​

3. Find this directory, "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\ChildCompletion"​

4. Once you can see "setup.exe" in the right section, double-click it and modify the value to 3.​

5. Close the regedit.​

6. Reboot​

​

-----​

​

How to fix various other issues that may occur with Boot Camp Assistant:​

​

Tips from https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...ling-windows-through-boot-camp-in-high-sierra​

​

- Disable File Vault (will take a few hours / overnight to fully decrypt your drive)​

- Turn off Time Machine and un-associate any Time Machine drives​

- Purge local Time Machine snapshots:​

​

Terminal> "tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 9999999999999999"

- Repair partitioning:

Terminal> "diskutil repairDisk disk0"
It will say "Repairing the partition map might erase disk0s1, proceed? (y/N)"
Press "y"

-----

If you get "An error occurred while partitioning the disk" in Mojave Boot Camp Assistant, this is a problem with disk overallocation. To fix:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Start and hold Cmd-S to boot into single user mode.
3. Type: "fsck_apfs -oy /dev/disk0s2"
4. It will ask you to confirm, type in y and press Enter.
5. When finished (up to 3 minutes) type reboot and press Enter.

(Technically, /dev/disk0s2 may not be the correct disk, but OSX will run fsck_apfs on all internal drives anyway.)

If there was a problem with overallocation, you may see this line in the output: "Overallocation detected on Main device" And then another line may appear: "Fix overallocation"

Tip from: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...rtition-w-boot-camp-assistant-on-macos-mojave

9 - Comparison of tested NVME SSD models ​

Here you can find some excel charts which try to give you comparison of tested models - Speed - Power consumption - NAND types (MLC, TLC, QLC).
As a comparison, Apple original AHCI models and Transcend models were also included in the chards.
The recommended models are will depends on your need, but the SX8200 Pro and Sabrent Rocket clearly tops nearly all the charts...

Average power Consumption (= battery life) chart

Power Efficiency chart

Performance by Price chart :

Charts are courtesy of @gilles_polysoft

10 - Other useful posts in this thread​

Discussion of modifying the boot ROM
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...sd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/page-118#post-26977161

Behind the scenes of this topic:

I want to say that with NVMe drive in 2013-2014 mbp models for sure you will pay with some amount of your 'on battery' time
It is mostly connected with NVMe connection realizing on this years models processors so with the amazing speed you will get a bit of extra degrees on your CPU (more on 13' models that 15' but still on both)
With 2015 models situation is a bit better because they have next generation of CPU that is more friendly with NVMe connections but still

Higher speeds on a different from 'factory' (AHCI -> NVMe) protocol connection will trigger your mbp fans more often (because of extra degree on CPU) than usual AHCI connected ssd drive so this will eat more power from battery in all cases with all SSDs
As well different ssd have different idle/read/write power draw but its secondary

We have tried some NVMe drives that have less idle/read/write power draw than some Apple AHCI SSDs but in total they still gives bigger power draw by the reason explained before

It is not critical at all, its just ~10-15 degree difference in action that will trigger fans more often
All subsequent I mean size of this behavior mostly connected with your daily usage

• This is generalized information that you have to keep in your mind, always its connected with exactly model that you decide to use

MacBook Pro Retina 15" mid 2014 (MacBookPro11,2 & 11,3)

Does it support 8t hard drives, such as mp600
I am currently 4t and want to upgrade to a larger hard drive

 

[Cicciokun]

Hello,

I want to upgrade my old macbook air in early 2014. I5 8go 128gb.

I admit to being a bit lost with these >400 pages of thread! With the issue of loss of autonomy, lack of hibernation, slowdown....

Anyone have a good SSD with an adapter to recommend? and what are the concessions I should make with it?

By the way if anyone also has a good replacement battery to recommend! I was thinking of getting a generic one on aliexpresss ± 40$ !


Thanks

Don't buy cheap batteries (Aliexpress/Amazon), you throw money/time and put yourself and others in real danger. In my experience the only good battery I found was sold by Duracell (MBP 11,3 Late 2013 in my case). This should be the one for your Air: https://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/la...rly-2014-emc2632-battery-adapter-charger.html

Avoid also iFixit batteries, many had problems with those as well: I changed 3 before giving up (assistance is good, got all money refunded...but not the time of course).

 

[ftaok]

I've been away from this thread for quite some time. My 2013 MBA is again feeling contrained as the 480GB SSD that I put in 2 years ago is filling up quite rapidly since we got a new Canon R10. The videos are nice, but boy are the files big.

Anyways, it sounds like the consensus is that the SK Hynix P31 is a good unit for a good price. My MBA is quite old anyway, so it'll be the bottleneck on performance way before the SSD is.

I'm running 10.14 Mojave and I'm wondering if there are any Firmware or BootROM things that I should be looking out for. My plan is to do a TimeMachine backup, swap out the SSD, Install Mojave onto the new SSD, Run the updates, then restore from the TimeMachine backup.

Any flaws to this plan? Thanks.

 

[otosan]

I've been away from this thread for quite some time. My 2013 MBA is again feeling contrained as the 480GB SSD that I put in 2 years ago is filling up quite rapidly since we got a new Canon R10. The videos are nice, but boy are the files big.

Anyways, it sounds like the consensus is that the SK Hynix P31 is a good unit for a good price. My MBA is quite old anyway, so it'll be the bottleneck on performance way before the SSD is.

I'm running 10.14 Mojave and I'm wondering if there are any Firmware or BootROM things that I should be looking out for. My plan is to do a TimeMachine backup, swap out the SSD, Install Mojave onto the new SSD, Run the updates, then restore from the TimeMachine backup.

Any flaws to this plan? Thanks.

I suggest you to update to BigSur first using original SSD so that you can bump up your BootRom to 4xx version, it fixed sleep and hibernation issue. Will do wonder for long term use.

After that, you can go with your plan

 

[Earl Urley]

That seems strange about the Phison E13 being crappy on Macs. I still have an older Inland Premium 1 TB NVMe running in a 2013 rMBP with the E12 controller and it's never given me any problems, but I can see where it's possible that they changed programming teams that wound up writing worse Mac compatibility into the firmware..

 

[otosan]

That seems strange about the Phison E13 being crappy on Macs. I still have an older Inland Premium 1 TB NVMe running in a 2013 rMBP with the E12 controller and it's never given me any problems, but I can see where it's possible that they changed programming teams that wound up writing worse Mac compatibility into the firmware..

Oh, E12 is great, i can second you that as well,

after all, most of my favourite SSD from Kioxia are using Phison controller as well (although custom programmed by Kioxia/Toshiba)

that's why i found it surprising that E13 in the A60 turned out a lemon

 

[ItsHal]

Hello family been A while for me.
Time for me to upgrade my ADATA SX8200PNP 256GB .
Fair amount of 1TB drives around £40/50 at the min on Amazon.Got few vouchers to so looking for A new drive.
MacBook pro mind 2014 so Pcie 2.0 from what I understand
Know all the drives will be over kill. Could anyone recommend me witch one to get?
WD_BLACK 1TB SN770
Crucial P3 1TB
Crucial P3 Plus 1TB
Kioxia EXCERIA NVMe SSD 1TB has Dram on board
Lexar NM620 1TB
Integral 1TB (1024GB)

 

[RigSatMe]

Hello family been A while for me.
Time for me to upgrade my ADATA SX8200PNP 256GB .
Fair amount of 1TB drives around £40/50 at the min on Amazon.Got few vouchers to so looking for A new drive.
MacBook pro mind 2014 so Pcie 2.0 from what I understand
Know all the drives will be over kill. Could anyone recommend me witch one to get?
WD_BLACK 1TB SN770
Crucial P3 1TB
Crucial P3 Plus 1TB
Kioxia EXCERIA NVMe SSD 1TB has Dram on board
Lexar NM620 1TB
Integral 1TB (1024GB)

Just get WD SN570. Know point to overpay for the speed, 'cause MBP mid 2014 limitations!

 

[ItsHal]

Just get WD SN570. Know point to overpay for the speed, 'cause MBP mid 2014 limitations!

Thanks they WDSN570 is the same sort of prices as the ones I listed and it's out of stock from being sold by Amazon.

 

[otosan]

Hello family been A while for me.
Time for me to upgrade my ADATA SX8200PNP 256GB .
Fair amount of 1TB drives around £40/50 at the min on Amazon.Got few vouchers to so looking for A new drive.
MacBook pro mind 2014 so Pcie 2.0 from what I understand
Know all the drives will be over kill. Could anyone recommend me witch one to get?
WD_BLACK 1TB SN770
Crucial P3 1TB
Crucial P3 Plus 1TB
Kioxia EXCERIA NVMe SSD 1TB has Dram on board
Lexar NM620 1TB
Integral 1TB (1024GB)

So far Exceria never fail me. It has the right bandwith for older macbook (2013-2017 exc 15" 2015) and DRAM is nice addition

 

[ftaok]

I suggest you to update to BigSur first using original SSD so that you can bump up your BootRom to 4xx version, it fixed sleep and hibernation issue. Will do wonder for long term use.

After that, you can go with your plan

I’ll have to double check whether I did that last time whee when I installed my Corsair SSD. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ItsHal]

So far Exceria never fail me. It has the right bandwith for older macbook (2013-2017 exc 15" 2015) and DRAM is nice addition

Thanks for the input i can get the Exceria not the G2 version for £19 so may just go for that.

 

[xboxbml]

I suggest you to update to BigSur first using original SSD so that you can bump up your BootRom to 4xx version, it fixed sleep and hibernation issue. Will do wonder for long term use.

After that, you can go with your plan

I forget. In which models/years did that sleep/hibernation issue occur? I know if affected mine but I forget how far back/forward it went... I thought it started with the 2015?.

 

[otosan]

I forget. In which models/years did that sleep/hibernation issue occur? I know if affected mine but I forget how far back/forward it went... I thought it started with the 2015?.

2013-2014 model have sleep/hibernation issue. If i recall correctly, it's due to the file needed to do the job was actually left compressed in the EFI,

and amazingly enough, it took apple 7 years to actually fix it.

2015 and newer model doesn't have issue. But on some older firmware of 2015 A1465 and A1466 the issue was reported as well.

older model that run on SATA (Air 2010-2012 & Pro 2013 - early 2013) doesnt have any issue as well, since SATA platform was already matured at that point of time.

 

[xboxbml]

2013-2014 model have sleep/hibernation issue. If i recall correctly, it's due to the file needed to do the job was actually left compressed in the EFI,

and amazingly enough, it took apple 7 years to actually fix it.

2015 and newer model doesn't have issue. But on some older firmware of 2015 A1465 and A1466 the issue was reported as well.

older model that run on SATA (Air 2010-2012 & Pro 2013 - early 2013) doesnt have any issue as well, since SATA platform was already matured at that point of time.

That's right now I remember.. thanks for the refresher..

 

[ItsHal]

Don't buy cheap batteries (Aliexpress/Amazon), you throw money/time and put yourself and others in real danger. In my experience the only good battery I found was sold by Duracell (MBP 11,3 Late 2013 in my case). This should be the one for your Air: https://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/la...rly-2014-emc2632-battery-adapter-charger.html

Avoid also iFixit batteries, many had problems with those as well: I changed 3 before giving up (assistance is good, got all money refunded...but not the time of course).

Thank you for this was thinking who to buy new battery from.

 

[drguru]

Hello Everyone,
I am planning to upgrade my MacBook Pro Retina mid 2014 (11,2) with
Crucial P3 Plus 1TB
WDSN570
I chose the above as they r cheaper than SK Hynix Gold P31

please recommend
Thank you
GSB

 

[swealpha]

Hello guys!

I have a Macbook pro mid 2014 15" (MacBookPro11,2) with 256GB stock SSD.

I want to upgrade this SSD to at least 1TB.

What SSD do you guys recommend that is compatible, trustworthy plug and play ?

I have only found this:

SSD Upgrades for 2013, 2014, and 2015 MacBook Pro

Upgrade the SSD of any 2013-2015 MacBook Pro for up to 16x the capacity of the original factory drive. Kit includes all tools needed for DIY installation.

eshop.macsales.com

Thank you!!

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Hello Everyone,
I am planning to upgrade my MacBook Pro Retina mid 2014 (11,2) with
Crucial P3 Plus 1TB
WDSN570
I chose the above as they r cheaper than SK Hynix Gold P31

please recommend
Thank you
GSB

Get the WDSN570.
Someone reported problems with the P3 in this thread.