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

[gilles_polysoft]

If there is any performance difference comparing WD580 and SK P31 that would be minimal and not perceptible because of the hardware limitations (PCIe with only 2 lanes) 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.

False, all MacBook Pro (and MacBook air) have 4x PCIe lanes.

The WD580 is dramless and goes down to 450MB/s once the SLC cache is filled. It's not slow, but it is 3x time slower than the P31 in a PCIe 2.0 Macbook Pro.

 

[StardustOne]

Quick update from the Fanxiang 512 GB SSD installed in a MBA 2013 with 4GB RAM. The original Apple 256 GB SSD had about 690 MB/s read and write speeds. I bought the SSD from the Fanxiang Aliexpress store for about 35 USD.

The new Fanxiang 512 GB SSD worked with the Internet Recovery because I had OCLP with MacOS Ventura running before. I installed Big Sur now using this method and the read/write speeds of the Fanxiang SSD is about 1.3 GB/s using the 2 PCIe lanes that are used in 2013-2014 MBAs.

Closing and opening the lid works fine.

 

[gilles_polysoft]

Quick update from the Fanxiang 512 GB SSD installed in a MBA 2013 with 4GB RAM. The original Apple 256 GB SSD had about 690 MB/s read and write speeds. I bought the SSD from the Fanxiang Aliexpress store for about 35 USD.

The new Fanxiang 512 GB SSD worked with the Internet Recovery because I had OCLP with MacOS Ventura running before. I installed Big Sur now using this method and the read/write speeds of the Fanxiang SSD is about 1.3 GB/s using the 2 PCIe lanes that are used in 2013-2014 MBAs.

4x lanes. I'm sorry but that is 4x PCIe 2.0 lanes.

All MacBook Pro Retina and Air from 2013 to 2017 with "gumstick" SSD connector have 4x PCIe lanes :

• MacBook Air 2013 to 2017 have 4x PCIe 2.0 lanes
• 13" MacBook Pro Retina from the Late 2013 MacBookPro11,1 up to the Early 2015 MacBookPro12,1, and 15" MacBook Pro Retina from the Late 2013 MacBookPro11,2 up to the Mid 2014 MacBook Pro 11,3 have also 4x PCIe 2.0 lanes.
• and the best of the best, the Mid 2015 15" MacBook Pro Retina ( MacBookPro11,4 with iGPU and MacBookPro11,5 with dGPU) has 4x PCIe 3.0 lanes and gets 2.8GB/s

The only Mac which had only 2x PCIe 2.0 lanes were :

• the 2014 Mac Mini 7,1
• all iMacs from late 2013 to late 2015

You can't get 1.3GB/s with 2x PCIe 2.0 lanes, period.

2013-2014 MacBook Pros and Air were equipped with "SSUAX" Toshiba or Samsung or Sandisk SSDs, which had only 2x PCIe 2.0 lanes, using only 2x of the 4x lanes available.
SSUBX SSDs where still AHCI but had 4x lanes.
Polaris SSDs where NVMe and had either 2x lanes (for the Fusion Drive 32-24GB) or 4x lanes.

 

[Flyview]

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.

Higher with the P31 compared to what? Most modern SSD drives including the SN580 I suggested will be faster than the original drives. Fast enough actually that you more than saturate the bandwidth available (~1300 - 1500mB/s) on 2014 MBPs and double that on 2015 MBPs that had double the channels. And so with modern drives in these old computers, the limiting factor is usually not the drive but the bandwidth to transmit it.

EDIT: Ahh looks like the previous poster explained that better than I did.

 

[Flyview]

False, all MacBook Pro (and MacBook air) have 4x PCIe lanes.

The WD580 is dramless and goes down to 450MB/s once the SLC cache is filled. It's not slow, but it is 3x time slower than the P31 in a PCIe 2.0 Macbook Pro.

Really? I have the SN580 and it seems to be able to sustain ~1300MB/s write and 1400MB/s read in my 2014 MBP using Black Magic Disk Speed test with a 5GB file. How can I saturate the SLC cache and test this?

 

[gilles_polysoft]

Really? I have the SN580 and it seems to be able to sustain ~1300MB/s write and 1400MB/s read in my 2014 MBP using Black Magic Disk Speed test with a 5GB file. How can I saturate the SLC cache and test this?

The SLC cache is usually 1/4 (QLC) or 1/3 of your free space.

You need to fill quickly that 1/3 of free space with data and then you will see speed drop.

You can do a command like "dd if=/dev/zero of=test.dmg bs=1024k" and let it run while monitoring disk write speed with "activity monitor", it will show you clearly the speed drop when SLC cache is filled.

But even that is sometimes too optimistic because this command write "zeros" which are compressible data and some SSD compress writen data so results here would not be reliable.


Good benchmark test are done with random or pseudo random data which is uncompressible.
I don't know for blackmagic disk speed test but Amorphous disk mark uses uncompressible data, but test can only do 10GB.

TechPowerUp seem to have develop their own benchmarks and are doing good reviews of SSD :

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/wd-blue-sn580-1-tb/6.html

 

[StardustOne]

Please keep in mind all the testing and by doing this to the extreme: filling up your new SSDs is affecting the lifetime, not my much, but I think it is unnecessary to verify whether a certain drive drops in speed for writing if it is going to get filled. My motto is to not even fill up an drive at all, so it is best practice to get what is way beyond the capacity you may need or use and just do not bother about speed at all.

Anything you buy that is not original Apple will be faster and in the long run, you will not actually notice the speed difference anyways, but it is of course great that a speed bump is possible by exchanging the SSD that the system originally came with.

I would also advise not to try and sell original Apple pulled drives, keep them in case of an emergency, so that you can quickly swap the original drive in and you immediately can re-use your system. This is what I plan to do with all of my upgrades.

Enjoy the larger capacity, but relax a bit regarding speed ratings .

 

[gilles_polysoft]

Please keep in mind all the testing and by doing this to the extreme: filling up your new SSDs is affecting the lifetime, not my much, but I think it is unnecessary to verify whether a certain drive drops in speed for writing if it is going to get filled. My motto is to not even fill up an drive at all, so it is best practice to get what is way beyond the capacity you may need or use and just do not bother about speed at all.

Nobody asks people to fill their drives... but the point is, that everyone does fill their drive to some extent.

In this thread, verifying write speed let people know what the real speed of drives will be.

Anything you buy that is not original Apple will be faster and in the long run, you will not actually notice the speed difference anyways, but it is of course great that a speed bump is possible by exchanging the SSD that the system originally came with.

That's no true at all..
To say such a thing you may never have tested a slow QLC, dramless, NVMe drives like the Crucial P1, the Intel 600p or even the Crucial P3 / P3 Plus that is sold today.
This last drive announces itself as being able to do 5000MB/s read, 4000MB/s write...

Yeah, sure, but this is only true inside the SLC cache and on PCIe4.0 machines
Such drives slows down to 100MB/s once SLC cache is filled.

SSUBX and Polaris Apple drives were MLC drives with RAM cache,
On machines without PCIe 3.0, they had nearly unbeatable constant read speed of 1400MB/s and write speed of 900MB/s for low consumption.

I would also advise not to try and sell original Apple pulled drives, keep them in case of an emergency, so that you can quickly swap the original drive in and you immediately can re-use your system. This is what I plan to do with all of my upgrades.

Enjoy the larger capacity, but relax a bit regarding speed ratings .

I'd agree with that last sentence, but, sorry, I'm not very relax with a 100MB/s NVMe write speed

The point is not to get worked up fighting over a few MB/s difference..
But when you swap an Apple MLC SSD capable of writing comfortably in all cases, even when full, at 900MB/s, for a QLC drive that has no RAM, has a write speed 10 times slower than Apple drives, and makes the system totally unresponsive when Dropbox, Google Drive or Synology Drive synchronize files, you have to wonder...

Hynix disks have no such shortcomings, and cost very little.

All you need to do is buy the right capacity and speed hard drives at the right price.

 

[gilles_polysoft]

Hello everyone,



I hadn't updated the first post for long, but I just did add a lot of updated informations including :

• removing obsolete information
• cleaning a litlle
• updating latest BootRom versions
• adding links to way to update the BootRom without an Apple original SSD
• adding recommandations for NVMe power management

Hope you will find those informations helpfull.

I've not updated my SSD comparison tables because lack of time, I'm on an other project regarding Mac Studio upgrades but I could eventually get the time to add Hynix P31 and Kioxia Exceria 3, please ask if you want me to add another model


Also, it seems I'm not allowed to upload images anymore by MacRumors administrator
Please anyone can anyone add the following image to the end of chapter 3.2 of the first post :

 

[natus.w]

Hello everyone,



I hadn't updated the first post for long, but I just did add a lot of updated informations including :

• removing obsolete information
• cleaning a litlle
• updating latest BootRom versions
• adding links to way to update the BootRom without an Apple original SSD
• adding recommandations for NVMe power management

Hope you will find those informations helpfull.

I've not updated my SSD comparison tables because lack of time, I'm on an other project regarding Mac Studio upgrades but I could eventually get the time to add Hynix P31 and Kioxia Exceria 3, please ask if you want me to add another model


Also, it seems I'm not allowed to upload images anymore by MacRumors administrator
Please anyone can anyone add the following image to the end of chapter 3.2 of the first post :

View attachment 2439688

I cannot add images either, this seems to be a permissions issue (ask staff/mods). I have cleaned up the article somewhat in the meantime.

 

[EugW]

Hi there. A friend of a friend has a 13" 2015 MacBook Air with a dead SSD. Apparently the Apple Store tech said the drive can't be detected. I don't know how much RAM, and I don't know what OS she was running, but possibly pre-Big Sur, so possibly no bootrom firmware update.

I have an old 128 GB SSUBX MZ-JPV1280/0A4 OEM Apple/Samsung SSD (manufactured 2016-03, harvested from a 2015 MacBook Pro) that I could give her. I'm thinking a drive swap could fix the machine.

However, the drive already has a clean install of Monterey 12.0.1 on it. That should work even if there hasn't been a firmware update, right? Also, if we wanted to upgrade her firmware, would installing that drive with Monterey on it automatically do that? Or would we have to downgrade to Sierra or something and then upgrade again?

BTW, I also have a 128 GB SSUBX MZ-JPVS/0A2 OEM Apple/Samsung SSD (manufactured 2018, harvested from a 2017 MacBook Air), if that makes any difference. That one also has Monterey on it.

P.S. Anyone run Monterey on 4 GB RAM? If so, how was it on those MBAs? I tried 4 GB in High Sierra on a 2009 13" 2.26 GHz C2D MacBook Pro and it was usable, but not ideal.

 

[natus.w]

Hi there. A friend of a friend has a 13" 2015 MacBook Air with a dead SSD. Apparently the Apple Store tech said the drive can't be detected. I don't know how much RAM, and I don't know what OS she was running, but possibly pre-Big Sur, so possibly no bootrom firmware update.

I have an old 128 GB SSUBX MZ-JPV1280/0A4 OEM Apple/Samsung SSD (manufactured 2016-03, harvested from a 2015 MacBook Pro) that I could give her. I'm thinking a drive swap could fix the machine.

However, the drive already has a clean install of Monterey 12.0.1 on it. That should work even if there hasn't been a firmware update, right? Also, if we wanted to upgrade her firmware, would installing that drive with Monterey on it automatically do that? Or would we have to downgrade to Sierra or something and then upgrade again?

Install it and see what happens; it should tell you if the computer needs a firmware update or not; worst case you should just be able to erase the whole disk and reinstall from a bootable key (that should do everything all at once)

Both of the drives are the same so no differences there.

P.S. Anyone run Monterey on 4 GB RAM? If so, how was it on those MBAs? I tried 4 GB in High Sierra on a 2009 13" 2.26 GHz C2D MacBook Pro and it was usable, but not ideal.

Might not be ideal, but it should at least be somewhat functional (the disks are fairly quick so swap should easily be able to kick in if needed)

Linux may also be another option if you find that MacOS version too heavy..

 

[gilles_polysoft]

However, the drive already has a clean install of Monterey 12.0.1 on it. That should work even if there hasn't been a firmware update, right?

SSUBX disks are AHCI and don't need BootRom firmware updates to boot on them.
Only if the MacBook air 2015 has never had macOS higher than El Capitan will it be unable to boot onto APFS-formatted volumes.

P.S. Anyone run Monterey on 4 GB RAM? If so, how was it on those MBAs? I tried 4 GB in High Sierra on a 2009 13" 2.26 GHz C2D MacBook Pro and it was usable, but not ideal.

on computers with Intel HD graphics, macOS uses dynamically up to 1.5GB for video ram...
so, yes, it is not ideal.
From my experience on 4GB 2015 MBA, Monterey stays usable and is no slower than BigSur, so you can go for it.
As for older core2duo machines, I leave them in el capitan while installing Chromium Legacy.

 

[EugW]

Thanks guys. The Monterey 12.0.1 was a completely clean install complete so after my friend installed the drive, it booted right to the Welcome screen. They were very pleased, even though it's only an 128 GB drive.

Fortunately, it did actually have 8 GB RAM, so all is good.

However, does this mean the machine might NOT have gotten a BootROM update for NVMe support, even though it's now running Monterey? I'm not sure of the previous OS, but the friend doing the drive swap thinks it was a pretty old version. (He couldn't check because the drive was completely dead and not even detectable, and the woman who actually owned the machine had no idea what OS it was running.)

 

[natus.w]

However, does this mean the machine might NOT have gotten a BootROM update for NVMe support, even though it's now running Monterey? I'm not sure of the previous OS, but the friend doing the drive swap thinks it was a pretty old version. (He couldn't check because the drive was completely dead and not even detectable, and the woman who actually owned the machine had no idea what OS it was running.)

Check the System information and see what you get if; it did not update jt should show up there.

Best case a security update or reinstall of OS from USB may be able to pull that for you..

 

[Dan232323]

Hi there, looking for advice what ssd would be best suited to upgrade a MacBook Air 2017 that is known to work and gives good performance.

I’ve had a read through some of this thread but confused what best to go for and what will work.

I’m in the uk and I’ve seen I can get a 1tb ssd and adaptor for my MacBook Air from flexx memory for just under £100.

But looking on Amazon there are 1tb ssds for cheaper like the WD Blue SN580 at £55 https://amzn.eu/d/j4nXLBZ

and then a sintech adaptor for £16.

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card For Upgrade 2013-2015 MacBook
https://amzn.eu/d/4ifLIup


Thanks for any advice it’s much appreciated.

 

[natus.w]

Hi there, looking for advice what ssd would be best suited to upgrade a MacBook Air 2017 that is known to work and gives good performance.

I’ve had a read through some of this thread but confused what best to go for and what will work.

I’m in the uk and I’ve seen I can get a 1tb ssd and adaptor for my MacBook Air from flexx memory for just under £100.

But looking on Amazon there are 1tb ssds for cheaper like the WD Blue SN580 at £55 https://amzn.eu/d/j4nXLBZ

and then a sintech adaptor for £16.

Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card For Upgrade 2013-2015 MacBook
https://amzn.eu/d/4ifLIup


Thanks for any advice it’s much appreciated.

Usually Flexx or whoever is reselling these SSDs usually has the value tied up in the connector and ready fit (I cannot verify what hardware is within those drives, usually going off other examples from OWC et al it is usually dissimilar to the standard AHCI drives)

A third party drive and adapter will likely have the speed advantage (but you will have some caveats as stated above with extended write periods)

So I’d go with the latter and strictly go off of drive model (check reviews to see what suits you..)

 

[StardustOne]

I did complete my 12+16 pin adapter-free transformation on a 2013 MBA and on 2 2015 MBAs.

From what I experienced: No issues, no adapters, no sleep or hybernation issues.

The only drawback of going 12+16 pin direct compatible replacement SSDs are:

- no widespread user experience with direct compatible replacement SSDs
- advise from all the users who did go with adapter+NVMe SSD is overwhelming and there are many success stories
- unknown 12+16 pin compatible SSD brands that usually do not get a lot of reviews and uncertainty of reliabiliy
- SSD can't be pulled at a later time and re-used in an inexpensive external case

For whatever solution someone is opting for, please consider the alternatives, it is in my opinion it was not worth to spend 10-15 for an adapter and then another 60-100 for an NVMe. The speed you achieve is the same, either with adapter plus NVMe or with a 12+16 pin SSD that would fit a lot of older Macs (especially any MBA from 2013-2017).

Although, it was way easier to simply swap one 12+16 pin original SSD with one of the offerings that do not require any adapters and possible side effects with sleep or hibernation. Plus the ones I did try and upgrade they were no issue with the Internet Recovery option seen, I could install the last supported macOS on these drives using this feature and then went with Open Core Legacy Patcher and update the macOS to either Ventura 13.7 (for 4 GB RAM) or Sonoma 15.0.1 and then 15.1 (for the 8 GB models).

 

[cowboysalem]

I had recently purchased the Samsung 990 EVO as it was on sale for a pretty killer price. I have an A1502 MacBook Pro with barely 500 gbs and it would always fill fast so I thought it would be a cheap and easy upgrade.

I purchased the ssd and sintech Adapter, formatted it, and after numerous times it would not recognize the new drive. I don’t remember the other post exactly but I just wanted to see if I could confirm with anyone else that the SAMSUNG 990 EVO is not compatible for models in this post?

 

[natus.w]

I had recently purchased the Samsung 990 EVO as it was on sale for a pretty killer price. I have an A1502 MacBook Pro with barely 500 gbs and it would always fill fast so I thought it would be a cheap and easy upgrade.

I purchased the ssd and sintech Adapter, formatted it, and after numerous times it would not recognize the new drive. I don’t remember the other post exactly but I just wanted to see if I could confirm with anyone else that the SAMSUNG 990 EVO is not compatible for models in this post?

A1502 only has PCIE2.0 throughput, I am suspecting the issues lie there (controller possibly not falling back or other issue relating to the drive talking to the machine)

I would possibly return it and try another drive.

 

[StardustOne]

Regarding killer deals, from Nov 11 - 18, you can get a 512 GB SSD that does not require any adapter from Aliexpress for 29, 1 TB for 46 and 2 TB for 83 USD. I bought and installed 1 x 512 and 2 x 1 TB for 3 MBAs. No issues and double the speed of the original Apple 256 GB SSDs.

 

[EugW]

Regarding killer deals, from Nov 11 - 18, you can get a 512 GB SSD that does not require any adapter from Aliexpress for 29, 1 TB for 46 and 2 TB for 83 USD. I bought and installed 1 x 512 and 2 x 1 TB for 3 MBAs. No issues and double the speed of the original Apple 256 GB SSDs.

Most of those cheap noname AliExpress drives are junk. I wish you the best of luck. BTW, there are also a bunch of fakes there too.

 

[StardustOne]

I was referring to brand name deals from e.g. these manufacturer, they have also reliable products and use quality chips like others, not as famous, but still reliable. Mac SSDs with PCIe 3.0 that work flawless without any adapters and no sleep / hibernate issues are offered by these brands:

OSCOO, Fanxiang (available up to 4TB), KingSpec and OWC (I would not be surprised if OWC would be manufactring theirs maybe also in China ?).

https://www.oscoo.com/product/-nvme-pcie-gen304-ssd-for-macbook.html

Fanxiang AP2000Pro PCIe3*4 NVMe M.2 SSD For Mac

With powerful performance of up to 3500MB/s read and 2500MB/s write, it improves workflow on high-performance desktops and laptops, making it ideal for Apple PC users who want to upgrade. The fanxiang AP2000 Pro SSD provides next-generation performance with a mainstream Gen 3x4 NVMe controller...

www.fanxiangssd.com

https://www.kingspec.com/product/m2-nvme-pcie-gen3-macbook-ssd-na900s.html

OWC Aura Pro X2

Gives you 16x more storage (up to 2TB) and up to double the speed of the original drive so you can keep your Mac running optimally for years.

www.owc.com

 

[EugW]

I was referring to brand name deals from e.g. these manufacturer, they have also reliable products and use quality chips like others, not as famous, but still reliable. Mac SSDs with PCIe 3.0 that work flawless without any adapters and no sleep / hibernate issues are offered by these brands:

OSCOO, Fanxiang (available up to 4TB), KingSpec and OWC (I would not be surprised if OWC would be manufactring theirs maybe also in China ?).

https://www.oscoo.com/product/-nvme-pcie-gen304-ssd-for-macbook.html

Fanxiang AP2000Pro PCIe3*4 NVMe M.2 SSD For Mac

With powerful performance of up to 3500MB/s read and 2500MB/s write, it improves workflow on high-performance desktops and laptops, making it ideal for Apple PC users who want to upgrade. The fanxiang AP2000 Pro SSD provides next-generation performance with a mainstream Gen 3x4 NVMe controller...

www.fanxiangssd.com

https://www.kingspec.com/product/m2-nvme-pcie-gen3-macbook-ssd-na900s.html

OWC Aura Pro X2

Gives you 16x more storage (up to 2TB) and up to double the speed of the original drive so you can keep your Mac running optimally for years.

www.owc.com

KingSpec is believed to use 2nd tier binned RAM chips - ie. the stuff companies like Kingston will not buy. So yeah, not recommended. Dunno about the others. I also generally prefer not to use OWC flash and memory products. If you're going to buy that stuff, you may as well buy from the manufacturers, Samsung, Hynix, Crucial (Micron), or else some other respected brands.

 

[StardustOne]

OSCOO uses the Silicon Mottion SM2263XT controller, not sure about Fanxiang and the others.

https://www.siliconmotion.com/download/3bo/a/SM2263ENXT_PB_EN.pdf

Fanxiang uses YMTC TLC 3D NAND modules that are also used by well known brands as Lexar as an example, in their highly rated NM790 SSDs.

China's 3D NAND leader YMTC gradually switching to homegrown chipmaking tools

But there are a couple of catches.

www.tomshardware.com