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

[vk2fro]

I have edited that post slightly so people won't get confused when their checksum doesn't match D5h - as each checksum per rom revision will be different.

 

[pedrorubster]

Hi. I just bought a Intel 760p 128gb with the ST-NGFF2013-C (the large black one), but I don't have my macbook to test it atm. It's a early 2015 Macbook Pro 13 inch, can anyone vouch for this combo?

EDIT: Also, do I really need to to the kapton tape insulation?

 

[vk2fro]

Yes if it is not already applied to the adapter for you as it prevents the adapter shorting against the shielding on the computers connector.

 

[swagpatrol]

Hi to all,

I just tried to make a little table of all the SSD I've tested so far. Hope it helps a little.

View attachment 746441

PS : I'm waiting for a Toshiba XG5 and will add it to the results in a few days.
If you have other data or results, please tell me so that I can add them or confirm or infirm the datas I have.

[EDIT]: I just add the same table sorted by price instead of by name

View attachment 746448

is the hibernation problem still unresolved? with most compatible ssd like xg4+taped adaptor ?

 

[terraphantm]

Hibernation works fine if you mod your EFI firmware

 

[wololo7]

Anyone tried this WD Black 500GB SSD and confirm it works? https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-Black-W...531063015&sr=8-1&keywords=wd+black+nvme+500gb

 

[Cmd+Q]

I have put together a write-up as RTFD in TextEdit to summarize the state of upgrading 2013-2014 MacBooks with NVMe drives thus far. The pictures are from an upgrade of the girlfriend's MacBook Air last week.

Have a look in case you are new to this thread - or a regular.

Happy to make changes in case there is something incorrect or misrepresented.

 

[vk2fro]

Nice writeup CMD + Q

Now everyone should be able to follow that writeup to get things going

 

[tabormeister]

Threw a 960 Evo in a 2017 Macbook Air with the Sintech -C adapter, worked like magic. All 4 lanes lit up, didn't even have to Kapton. Getting 1500MBps in+out.

 

[Audit13]

Threw a 960 Evo in a 2017 Macbook Air with the Sintech -C adapter, worked like magic. All 4 lanes lit up, didn't even have to Kapton. Getting 1500MBps in+out.

How's the battery life, temps, and sleep/hibernation?

 

[tabormeister]

How's the battery life, temps, and sleep/hibernation?

Seemed fine, tested it for a few days. Sold it to a friend of mine, she hasn't complained yet. I saw in another thread 2015+ rMBP and Airs have EFI code that allows hibernation without bugs but idk, seemed to just work like magic. Formatted APFS sand Trim was on by default, I didn't even have to trimforce

 

[Audit13]

Seemed fine, tested it for a few days. Sold it to a friend of mine, she hasn't complained yet. I saw in another thread 2015+ rMBP and Airs have EFI code that allows hibernation without bugs but idk, seemed to just work like magic. Formatted APFS sand Trim was on by default, I didn't even have to trimforce

That's great news. I have one early 2015 Air running an OEM 256 GB Samsung and one early 2015 Air running an Intel 600p. If I feel the need to upgrade the Samsung, I'll keep the Samsung in mind.

 

[pfleet]

Hi. I just bought a Intel 760p 128gb with the ST-NGFF2013-C (the large black one), but I don't have my macbook to test it atm. It's a early 2015 Macbook Pro 13 inch, can anyone vouch for this combo?

EDIT: Also, do I really need to to the kapton tape insulation?

I installed a 512GB Intel 760P in my early MacBook Pro 2015 13" yesterday. So far, it has woken from sleep properly, and I get much better performance than I was getting with my TarDisk Pear solution (which really was a huge hassle and a disappointment over several years). I was so pleased to find this thread, because I didn't realize I had the option to upgrade the SSD in my Mac with a new drive.

I used the same adapter as you (I ordered it from Amazon, and even though it said it would be delivered between July 10 and July 31, it showed up before the 10th). I did use the Kapton tape, but I don't know if that was really necessary.

 

[Eliah]

Did anyone test the new 970 EVO drive?

 

[JavierDiaz4]

Am I reading all of this correctly? I can't just swap my 512gb SSD on my Wife's 2013 Macbook Pro Retina to a 1TB SSD without a "BootRom" and other finessing? Is it just safer to just get an external SSD for extra storage and call it a day? Especially @ the cost of a regular SSD vs a PCIE SSD. Any thoughts or corrections of my probably poorly informed statements?

 

[Audit13]

Am I reading all of this correctly? I can't just swap my 512gb SSD on my Wife's 2013 Macbook Pro Retina to a 1TB SSD without a "BootRom" and other finessing? Is it just safer to just get an external SSD for extra storage and call it a day? Especially @ the cost of a regular SSD vs a PCIE SSD. Any thoughts or corrections of my probably poorly informed statements?

The bootrom is code that is stored inside the motherboard's non-volatile ram and every Macbook will have a bootrom. It is recommended that you install the latest OS to the Macbook with the original SSD inside. This will ensure that the Macbook is running the latest bootrom. Installing the latest OS with a third-party drive will not update the Macbook's bootrom.

If you are swapping the 512 GB for an Apple OEM 1 TB drive, you can make the swap and install the latest OS which will update the the bootrom if necessary.

Yes, an external is probably the simplest so you don't have to worry about excess heat, kernel panics, sleep issues, and battery drain.

Please correct the above-listed information if I am incorrect. I based the above on my mid-2013 Air.

 

[kikangh]

Did anyone test the new 970 EVO drive?

I believe someone did in earlier posts. A search in the thread should help you find it I guess.
[doublepost=1531474903][/doublepost]

The flashing procedure is well documented in this thread. Basically you dump the firmware of the machine in question, modify it and then flash it back using a special clip and a cheap programmer. Alternatively, you can use the pmset command to disable the power management features that cause a kernel panic on wake. They too are documented in this thread.

The reason we can't simply post up the firmwares for people to flash is A) its copyright Apple stuff, and B) each firmware is married to one particular machine (the ME region) so a machine flashed with a different machines firmware won't run correctly.

However if you don't feel comfortable modifying the firmware, the pmset commands will prevent the machine from crashing at wakeup, however battery drain during sleep will be higher (the machine will never sleep properly)

edit:
My experience thus far with hibernatemode set to 3, was a nearly flat battery the next morning. I have since reprogrammed it to 25, to see if I get better autonomy from the battery while sleeping with the Toshiba XG-5. Else I have a samsung 960 EVO which I can fit, just need to completely wipe it first after backing up as its the boot drive of a hackintosh, and I need to get rid of clover.

Hi, did you have flashed your bootrom before setting hibernate to 25 ?
[doublepost=1531475717][/doublepost]

Hello,
as a remember :
- NVMe drives work out of the box on any 2015 mac without issue.
- you don't need any BootRom modification, the Bootrom upgrade provided with 10.13 gives full NVMe compatibility
(BootRom modification is only necessary to have full hibernation on 2013-2014 macs)
- Sintech rev.B or C adapters are the only way to go. Avoid at any price any other adapters, they have reboot issues.
- the Sintech adapter is provided with kapton tape insulation
- you will have PCIe 3.0 speed with x4 lanes. Trim of course.


all those NVMe were tested to work :
- Adata SX7000
- Intel 600p
- Intel 760p
- Intel 6000p
- Kingston A1000
- Kingston KC1000
- MyDigitalSSD SBX
- OCZ RD400
- Samsung SM950
- Samsung PM950
- Samsung 960 Evo
- Samsung 960 Pro
- Samsung 970 Evo
- Samsung 970 Pro
- Toshiba XG3
- Toshiba XG4
- Toshiba XG5
- WD Black gen 1

One only particular model of NVMe SSD doesn't work, probably because of a custom firmware : Samsung PM981.



Seems that in the post you refer, the person didn't use a sintech adapter but a know bad adapter (chenyang, known to make kernel panics with samsung drives), and worse, without proper insulation with kapton tape

Hi Gilles,

I read in earlier posts that the module to flash the bootrom was cheap, but the only one I have been able to find so far from France is this one : https://www.ebay.fr/itm/NEW-EFI-ROM...409462?hash=item4b41bc57b6:g:Z2UAAOSw~mpa4G3b

With a price around 50€, it's not exactly what I call cheap, but I'm having too much problems with sleep to remain that way. If I can get confirmation, I will proceed with the purchase ASAP. I am not near Tour, sadly ;-).

Despite setting my hibernate mode to 0, I still get a blank screen in the morning and waking my rMBP 15" requires powering it down by holding the power button, then booting it with it chiming twice as it fails to read the hibernate dump and then starting from scratch...

Also, do you know where I could find kapton tape here in France, all I see are from abroad, and I only need the one tiny piece to prevent the shield from shorting with the sintech adaptor.

Thanks in advance for your advices,

Best regards,

(another) Gilles

Edit : typo

 

[voldemurt]

i install samsung 960 evo + adapter into my macbook pro late 2103, but laptop do not detect SSD drive
boot rom was updated during Sierra update to MBP112.0145.B00, SMC 2.18f15
is it correct bootrom version for NVME support or version must be other?

 

[kikangh]

i install samsung 960 evo + adapter into my macbook pro late 2103, but laptop do not detect SSD drive
boot rom was updated during Sierra update to MBP112.0145.B00, SMC 2.18f15
is it correct bootrom version for NVME support or version must be other?

Hi, you mentioned Sierra update. Did you mean High Sierra? You need to update to High Sierra BEFORE you install the NVMe SSD in your rMBP.

 

[voldemurt]

Hi, you mentioned Sierra update. Did you mean High Sierra? You need to update to High Sierra BEFORE you install the NVMe SSD in your rMBP.

Correct , i update to High Sierra. after it install NVME ssd + connector. before it i connect SSD via usb connector and format it, but if install SSD instead of original my mbpr do not detect it

 

[kikangh]

Correct , i update to High Sierra. after it install NVME ssd + connector. before it i connect SSD via usb connector and format it, but if install SSD instead of original my mbpr do not detect it

What type of partition table did you use ? What filesystem did you choose?

Are booting with a usb stick prepared for High Sierra installation?

 

[voldemurt]

What type of partition table did you use ? What filesystem did you choose?

Are booting with a usb stick prepared for High Sierra installation?

boot from prepeared usb stick High Sierra. ssd was partition in windows and was created one partiotion on it

 

[kikangh]

Did you open the disk Utility from the usb stick ? The drive should appear in it and from there you should be able to repartition/reformat it to Efi partition table (if I remember well) and then hfs+ or apfs depending on if you need bootcamp or not.

 

[voldemurt]

Did you open the disk Utility from the usb stick ? The drive should appear in it and from there you should be able to repartition/reformat it to Efi partition table (if I remember well) and then hfs+ or apfs depending on if you need bootcamp or not.

there in not drive in disk utility. my laptop do not detect SSD! i write above.
u make bootable ubutu and it with lsblk command it also not detect any nvme device.

 

[Audit13]

Correct , i update to High Sierra. after it install NVME ssd + connector. before it i connect SSD via usb connector and format it, but if install SSD instead of original my mbpr do not detect it

Which adapter for you get? Did you try applying kapton tape to the adapter? Can you test the drive and adapter in another Macbook?