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Upgrading 2013-2015 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe
- Thread starter maxthackray
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Sintech does have a DE/EU and a CZ based storefront, so you should be able to mail order them from them directly.
However, most generic adapters should be compatible by now, so you should be able to save if necessary..
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Just upgrade my Mac book air (2017) to 2tb using MSI SPATIUM M461 it works fine but have a problem when sleep/wake,it will kernel crash,i tried the pmset command but it`s not working,really appriciate if anyone can help me solve this problem thank you!
Under what OS are you experiencing the crash? (is this a native install/OCLP patched install, etc?)
Did you update your EFI before installing the NVME? (need to update to at least 12.x)
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so i just bought this macbook 1 week ago and it's already have a cheap knock off samsung ssd inside it and it's so laggy and always crashing so i replace it with my SSD and install macos high Sierra from command+r then update it to Monterey 12.7.1
i'm sorry i'm new to macbook so i dont understand how to update my EFI.
thank you for replying!
The process is done automatically on an OS install (first time if not done automatically)
Check the number in System Information and see what version you have (if it doesn’t start with 489 we will have to do something about that)
What OS was on the machine when you received it? (as it appears you did not receive it with the original Apple SSD there are a lot of unknowns here)
Have you checked fitment of the drive? (ensure it is not loose or contacting bottom of case, if the cheap adapter has exposed pins you may want to buy some Kapton tape and cover those to prevent shorting)
Tried an OCLP install? (it includes NVMEFix and can have SSDPMEnabler included as well; if this is related to E21 support/performance it may help)
If all of these fail I would probably buy a native Apple SSD (doesn’t matter how big or small), do the installs again and then see what else happens..)
Sorry for the late reply tried everything and didn't work so i bought samsung 970 evo plus because this forum said it's compatible and it dose!
there are no crash anymore、i guess the msi ssd not compatible with macbook, anyway thank you for helping me!
I wanted to report back what NVMe SSD worked for me and what didn't.
I have a 2015 MacBook Pro (15" display, 16 GB RAM, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 chip).
What didn't work -- Crucial P3 Plus (gen 4) 500 GB drive, connected with a Micro Connectors adapter (Micro Center store brand). The Crucial drive didn't even show up in Disk Utility. Nothing at all.
What did work -- SK Hynix Gold P31 500 GB drive, connected with the Micro Connectors adapter. The drive showed up in Disk Utility, I did a quick erase/format right in Disk Utility (no need for an external drive enclosure to pre-format the drive with a separate MacBook), and I was able to do a complete Internet Restore without a hitch. As a bonus, the drive was on sale at Micro Center!
As a side note, I was also able to do a complete restore of my entire User folder through my online backup service (CrashPlan -- I recommend it), which also restored my Firefox bookmarks, preferences, and extensions, so a couple days later it's like I didn't miss a beat.
FWIW, when I talked to the guy at the Apple Store earlier this week to confirm that my old drive was toast, for a moment he had a look of panic on his face (a feeling I know well from the past). But I simply said, "I have a backup" and he exhaled with a look of relief -- he was more worried than I was, lol. For anyone still on the fence, I highly recommend using an automated online backup service for your entire User folder. I never once had that feeling of panic thinking that everything was lost (just a twinge of frustration that I had to fix it). The years of paying a monthly fee paid off yesterday, and it was totally worth it.
Good luck!
I have a 2015 MacBook Pro (15" display, 16 GB RAM, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 chip).
What didn't work -- Crucial P3 Plus (gen 4) 500 GB drive, connected with a Micro Connectors adapter (Micro Center store brand). The Crucial drive didn't even show up in Disk Utility. Nothing at all.
What did work -- SK Hynix Gold P31 500 GB drive, connected with the Micro Connectors adapter. The drive showed up in Disk Utility, I did a quick erase/format right in Disk Utility (no need for an external drive enclosure to pre-format the drive with a separate MacBook), and I was able to do a complete Internet Restore without a hitch. As a bonus, the drive was on sale at Micro Center!
As a side note, I was also able to do a complete restore of my entire User folder through my online backup service (CrashPlan -- I recommend it), which also restored my Firefox bookmarks, preferences, and extensions, so a couple days later it's like I didn't miss a beat.
FWIW, when I talked to the guy at the Apple Store earlier this week to confirm that my old drive was toast, for a moment he had a look of panic on his face (a feeling I know well from the past). But I simply said, "I have a backup" and he exhaled with a look of relief -- he was more worried than I was, lol. For anyone still on the fence, I highly recommend using an automated online backup service for your entire User folder. I never once had that feeling of panic thinking that everything was lost (just a twinge of frustration that I had to fix it). The years of paying a monthly fee paid off yesterday, and it was totally worth it.
Good luck!
hi,
New to the forum and was wondering if anyone tried to use an Samsung 990 pro ssd on an early 2015 retina MacBook Pro. I noticed that there's no info on this specifically ssd and I want to now if its possible to get this setup working.
(using gigabase m.2 adapter)
should I try NVMeFIX or Lila?
thx in advance
New to the forum and was wondering if anyone tried to use an Samsung 990 pro ssd on an early 2015 retina MacBook Pro. I noticed that there's no info on this specifically ssd and I want to now if its possible to get this setup working.
(using gigabase m.2 adapter)
should I try NVMeFIX or Lila?
thx in advance
Successful SSD Replacement on MacBook Pro 13" Early 2015
I successfully replaced the SSD on my MacBook Pro 13" Early 2015! 🚀 I used an SZSintech adapter for the NVMe M.2 SSD and installed a Crucial P2 500GB SSD.
Initially, I faced a challenge where the new SSD wasn’t recognized because my Mac kept booting into recovery mode with the original OS. To resolve this, I created a bootable USB drive with macOS Catalina. This allowed me to read the Crucial P2 SSD and format it properly.
Once the SSD was formatted, I restored my files from a Time Machine backup using an external hard drive.
At the moment, I haven't noticed any significant improvement compared to the original 125GB Apple SSD, and I'm trying to determine if there has been an increase in power consumption.
Crucial P2 500GB
I successfully replaced the SSD on my MacBook Pro 13" Early 2015! 🚀 I used an SZSintech adapter for the NVMe M.2 SSD and installed a Crucial P2 500GB SSD.
Initially, I faced a challenge where the new SSD wasn’t recognized because my Mac kept booting into recovery mode with the original OS. To resolve this, I created a bootable USB drive with macOS Catalina. This allowed me to read the Crucial P2 SSD and format it properly.
Once the SSD was formatted, I restored my files from a Time Machine backup using an external hard drive.
At the moment, I haven't noticed any significant improvement compared to the original 125GB Apple SSD, and I'm trying to determine if there has been an increase in power consumption.
Crucial P2 500GB
Good work. Time Machine that comes in MacOS works great for backup, and is free..I wanted to report back what NVMe SSD worked for me and what didn't.
I have a 2015 MacBook Pro (15" display, 16 GB RAM, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 chip).
What didn't work -- Crucial P3 Plus (gen 4) 500 GB drive, connected with a Micro Connectors adapter (Micro Center store brand). The Crucial drive didn't even show up in Disk Utility. Nothing at all.
What did work -- SK Hynix Gold P31 500 GB drive, connected with the Micro Connectors adapter. The drive showed up in Disk Utility, I did a quick erase/format right in Disk Utility (no need for an external drive enclosure to pre-format the drive with a separate MacBook), and I was able to do a complete Internet Restore without a hitch. As a bonus, the drive was on sale at Micro Center!
As a side note, I was also able to do a complete restore of my entire User folder through my online backup service (CrashPlan -- I recommend it), which also restored my Firefox bookmarks, preferences, and extensions, so a couple days later it's like I didn't miss a beat.
FWIW, when I talked to the guy at the Apple Store earlier this week to confirm that my old drive was toast, for a moment he had a look of panic on his face (a feeling I know well from the past). But I simply said, "I have a backup" and he exhaled with a look of relief -- he was more worried than I was, lol. For anyone still on the fence, I highly recommend using an automated online backup service for your entire User folder. I never once had that feeling of panic thinking that everything was lost (just a twinge of frustration that I had to fix it). The years of paying a monthly fee paid off yesterday, and it was totally worth it.
Good luck!
I use the short one on my MBP11,2. No difference between them in terms of functionality. The only issue people reported here with the long version was the ensemble SSD+adapter forcing towards the bottom pane of the laptop and in some situations, even bending the SSD a little bit.
On my other MBA7,1 I use the short adapter too, but had some nasty capacitive effects causing kernel panics. Then, I had to put Kapton tape between the SSD and the bottom pane of the laptop.
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Me too I would like to know if WD SN580 performs better than SK Hynix Gold P31 (my current SSD) on a mid 2014 mbp
If there is any performance difference comparing WD580 and SK P31 that would be minimal and not perceptible because of the hardware limitations on the MBP11,2. It is like driving a Ferrari Testarossa on a 100Km/h highway during rush hour. You are happy if you can reach 70Km/h average speeds.
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Friendly reminder for all who are shopping for a new SSD, check the Total Bytes Written (TBW) information on the manufacturer website or check the SSD PDF documentation.
A Crucial P2 500 GB SSD is a really suboptimal choice for an SSD, this model has a TBW of only 150 TB and this is a real joke for a 500 GB drive.
The P2 came originally with TLC memory but Crucial swapped the TLC with lesser quality QLC memory.
www.tomshardware.com
I would advise to look elsewhere and avoid any P2 or other SSDs that come with QLC, verify that you get TLC and high TBW values.
The also mentioned WD580 at 500 GB has at least a TBW rating of 300 TB (double the value than a Crucial P2). So it is in any way a better deal.
What many do not have on the radar, these 5 year warranty values, if you hit the TBW before the 5 years, there is no warranty. Either 5 years or the promised TBW value meaning if your SSD dies after a year and you had reached the TBW value, there is no warranty at all and this needs to be considered before buying.
I fully understand that buying a direct replacement SSD sounds scary too, no test results available, barely any reviews, although, it is a hit and miss with combining adapters and SSDs too.
Companies such as OSCOO, Fanxiang and KingSpec are not as well known and OWC may be too expensive. But they all offer adapter-free replacement SSDs, I can't tell how good this is as a solution but I am waiting for a few Fanxiang SSDs to give it a try.
A Crucial P2 500 GB SSD is a really suboptimal choice for an SSD, this model has a TBW of only 150 TB and this is a real joke for a 500 GB drive.
The P2 came originally with TLC memory but Crucial swapped the TLC with lesser quality QLC memory.
Unsavory Flash Swap: Re-Testing Crucial’s P2 SSD After QLC Downgrade
Crucial’s P2 now ships with QLC flash, making it a poor performer and an even worse value.
I would advise to look elsewhere and avoid any P2 or other SSDs that come with QLC, verify that you get TLC and high TBW values.
The also mentioned WD580 at 500 GB has at least a TBW rating of 300 TB (double the value than a Crucial P2). So it is in any way a better deal.
What many do not have on the radar, these 5 year warranty values, if you hit the TBW before the 5 years, there is no warranty. Either 5 years or the promised TBW value meaning if your SSD dies after a year and you had reached the TBW value, there is no warranty at all and this needs to be considered before buying.
I fully understand that buying a direct replacement SSD sounds scary too, no test results available, barely any reviews, although, it is a hit and miss with combining adapters and SSDs too.
Companies such as OSCOO, Fanxiang and KingSpec are not as well known and OWC may be too expensive. But they all offer adapter-free replacement SSDs, I can't tell how good this is as a solution but I am waiting for a few Fanxiang SSDs to give it a try
.
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Lilu is required as a dependency of NVMEFix (which you should be able to install both through OCLP)
SSDPMEnabler may also be of some assistance but it may or may not
As for the drive, you could give it
TBW only affects how many blocks can be written to the drive (usually if you exceed that number it may not fail immediately; it is not indicative of any ‘death’ point..
I strongly doubt you’ll use up that much data within 5 years, provided you keep backups..
This seems to be not Correct.
The Original TBW of the 500GB was 300 the TBW for the 250GB First Version is 150 and the Later Versions with 1TB and 2TB have an TBW of 450 and 600:
My friends (i do not any Service since 10 Years but they are still nocking my Door) have them up and running sometimes since 2020 24/7 but it could well be these where the earlier Versions.
The last i have bought in 2022 from Amazon for a 2014 MacMini. This is also still running (24/7).
They all have automated TM Backups and to change one in the Mini 2014 or even an MBP or MBA from this Times is a 10 Minute Job.
I had never a failing NVME / SSD btw.
But many HD´s.
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Hi everyone,
I have just been given a Mid 2015, MacBook Pro 15" with Dual Graphics.
Reading the many pages in this thread, I can see that a lot of people have gone with the SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB with the Sintech adapter.
Luckily I already have few of these adapters from when I upgraded a friends MacBook Air, so I only need to decide on which SSD would be the best for me.
I am currently looking at the SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB for £82 or I have the option of purchasing an Apple 1TB SSPOLARIS drive for £85.
Can anyone please recommend which is the better drive out of the two (or any other drives, possibly 2TB) in terms of speed and battery performance?
I know if I were to go with the Apple OEM drive I would have less issues, but just wanted to know if there are any other drives I should be looking at in 2014.
Thanks
I have just been given a Mid 2015, MacBook Pro 15" with Dual Graphics.
Reading the many pages in this thread, I can see that a lot of people have gone with the SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB with the Sintech adapter.
Luckily I already have few of these adapters from when I upgraded a friends MacBook Air, so I only need to decide on which SSD would be the best for me.
I am currently looking at the SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB for £82 or I have the option of purchasing an Apple 1TB SSPOLARIS drive for £85.
Can anyone please recommend which is the better drive out of the two (or any other drives, possibly 2TB) in terms of speed and battery performance?
I know if I were to go with the Apple OEM drive I would have less issues, but just wanted to know if there are any other drives I should be looking at in 2014.
Thanks
In 2014? lol. I have had great results with a 1TB WD SN580 and so have others in this thread. Make sure to run ssdpmenabler or OCLP with the NVMeFix applied for least power consumption.
P31 would be your best bet out of the 2 (given Apple is no longer making those drives I would be concerned about longevity and quality of the parts; I’m certain most of those will be refurbished/or pulls)
But at that price you’re nearly at the margin for 2TB options (cheap ones are running around £85-90, it seems that around £100-110 is enough for a decent unit..)
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I would definitely go with the P31. Although it is branded Apple, I remember reading somewhere in this thread that these Polaris SSDs are different than the ones shipped with the laptops from 2013-2015.
Including the fact that people who purchased the Polaris back then could not use it to update the laptop's firmware (in the past, to be able to update the laptop's firmware, an original apple SSD was required.) Moreover, like pointed out by @natus.w , these Polaris SSDs are old.
Because you have a mid 2015 MBP 15" you can benefit from a higher read/write speeds with the P31.