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

[caozxode]

您好：我正在使用2015AIR。安装三星960pro后，重启三次后，我将无法检测到硬盘，然后我可以在硬重启后进入系统。你知道具体原因吗？

 

[mbosse]

您好：我正在使用2015AIR。安装三星960pro后，重启三次后，我将无法检测到硬盘，然后我可以在硬重启后进入系统。你知道具体原因吗？

So this should read:

"Hello: I am using 2015AIR. After installing Samsung 960pro, after restarting three times, I will not be able to detect the hard disk, then I can enter the system after a hard reboot. Do you know the specific reason?"

Which macOS was installed on the MBA before you switched to the Samsung drive?

 

[caozxode]

Use the latest version of Mojave

 

[wolva]

Use the latest version of Mojave

Do you know if using Mojave will update the bootrom?

Thank you

 

[RedTomato]

I've found a cheap nvme drive: £135 for a 1TB PM961 for my 2013 13" MBA running Mojave. Before I buy it, I'm trying to work out if this drive will work for sure in my MBA.

Is the PM961 still recommended now? Usually I can pay a bit more for quality and stability, but all other alternatives are double the price.

I've looked through this 90-page thread but it has been hard to find answers.

Many thanks RedTomato

 

[Audit13]

I've found a cheap nvme drive: £135 for a 1TB PM961 for my 2013 13" MBA running Mojave. Before I buy it, I'm trying to work out if this drive will work for sure in my MBA.

Is the PM961 still recommended now? Usually I can pay a bit more for quality and stability, but all other alternatives are double the price.

I've looked through this 90-page thread but it has been hard to find answers.

Many thanks RedTomato

I think the current consensus is to get the Adata sx8200 or Intel 760p. The Samsung drives tend to run warm and battery drain is noticeably higher.

With the mid-2013 Air, I believe that hibernation needs to be disabled.

 

[caozxode]

The SMS is reset and will be used normally afterwards. It may be that the MAC system cannot be accessed and the system is reinstalled after the last installation of the win system partition. Thank you

 

[Angel NN]

Hi everyone.
Have someone tried to place a heatsink on Samsung Evo on a Macbook Pro? I bought one 2mm version, but still wonder if it will be ok or not...
It will take may be two weeks to get it.

 

[IdentityCrisis]

Upgraded my 2015 13" MBP to the adata 480gb NVME ssd with the Santech C adapter. Other than a tight install where it bends it a little, everything works great. Here is a picture of the performance from it. Very pleased. I was hoping for more speed than that, but this is more than it had.

 

[RedTomato]

I think the current consensus is to get the Adata sx8200 or Intel 760p. The Samsung drives tend to run warm and battery drain is noticeably higher.

With the mid-2013 Air, I believe that hibernation needs to be disabled.

Many thanks. I've now found a good price on an Adata SX8200 1TB, and it's much newer so I will get that one instead.

I need to get the adaptor. The long black Sindata one seems to be favoured in this thread, but I can't get one for less than 3 weeks delivery. The other two can arrive on Monday which is perfect.

Long black Sintech - 3 week delivery
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sintech-Replace-MZ-JPU128T-SD6PQ4M-128G-MacBook/dp/B01CWWAENG

Short black adaptor, marked 161305 - delivered Monday
https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-2-NGFF-SSD-adapter-original/dp/B01GJVFKP8

Short black adaptor, marked 154303 - delivered Monday
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073F9LDD5

Which is best?

 

[weckart]

I need to get the adaptor. The long black Sindata one seems to be favoured in this thread, but I can't get one for less than 3 weeks delivery. The other two can arrive on Monday which is perfect.

Which is best?

Long black Sintech revision C. You might get away with a shorter adapter in a 2015 Mac but older ones seem pickier.

Upgraded my 2015 13" MBP to the adata 480gb NVME ssd with the Santech C adapter. Other than a tight install where it bends it a little, everything works great. Here is a picture of the performance from it. Very pleased. I was hoping for more speed than that, but this is more than it had.

Given that your absolute max with PCIe 2.0x4 is 1500MB/s, that is pretty much there. My experience with the drive in the same notebook is around 1450MB/s read, 1300MBs write give or take a bit.

 

[majonex]

Hi everyone.
Have someone tried to place a heatsink on Samsung Evo on a Macbook Pro? I bought one 2mm version, but still wonder if it will be ok or not...
It will take may be two weeks to get it.

I tried the 3mm version from sintech ( http://eshop.sintech.cn/cooling-heatsink-for-m2-ngff-2280-sm951-sm961-960pro-nvme-ssd-p-1195.html) and there was not enough room. You need som room for the adhesive also. I could not get the bottom plate to fit with the extra height. I don't know if 1mm will help. Let me know if you test it.

 

[Audit13]

Many thanks. I've now found a good price on an Adata SX8200 1TB, and it's much newer so I will get that one instead.

I need to get the adaptor. The long black Sindata one seems to be favoured in this thread, but I can't get one for less than 3 weeks delivery. The other two can arrive on Monday which is perfect.

Long black Sintech - 3 week delivery
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sintech-Replace-MZ-JPU128T-SD6PQ4M-128G-MacBook/dp/B01CWWAENG

Short black adaptor, marked 161305 - delivered Monday
https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-2-NGFF-SSD-adapter-original/dp/B01GJVFKP8

Short black adaptor, marked 154303 - delivered Monday
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073F9LDD5

Which is best?

I cannot comment on any of the three adapters because I have this one: http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1143.html

The adapter works perfectly in my early 2015 13 Air with an Intel 600p.

If you get the long black Sintech, some people reported that the SSD will bend if the screw is tightened too much.

 

[RedTomato]

Hi guys,

Been following this thread for some time and decided to get myself an adapter since i've got given a macbook air 2013 and i have an intel nvme drive laying around.

I've formatted the NVME to APFS, and while selecting the installation destination, it won't allow me to select the NVME drive, saying it needs a firmware update in order to use APFS and ask me to format it as HFS+.
I've been trying to install Mojave/High sierra but it restarts itself 4 minutes after it began to install...
After a bit of digging the mac was running Mavericks.

So my question is, how can I update the SMC firmware and bootrom while not having a working operating system/official mac ssd?

Is it possible to perform a fresh install, through the macbook air, with an external hdd, hence update the firmware and bootrom?

Cheers

Update.
Yeh Nah.... even with an external HDD, the installation could not complete. It'll just restart back to the installation page.

Most modern macs should run fine from external HDD, though for speed and quality of life an external SSD is best - you can buy a used 128GB one very cheaply nowadays. Put it in a SSD-compliant USB3 enclosure.

I think only Mojave will support APFS on a HDD, and even then it doesn't like it very much. So if you are installing MacOS on a HDD, the APFS support infrastructure might not get installed. For NVME on a MBA 2013, you really need to install Mojave either on the original Apple SSD or on an external SSD, and then run all the Apple updates.

I'm struggling with this myself.

 

[weckart]

I think only Mojave will support APFS on a HDD, and even then it doesn't like it very much. So if you are installing MacOS on a HDD, the APFS support infrastructure might not get installed. For NVME on a MBA 2013, you really need to install Mojave either on the original Apple SSD or on an external SSD, and then run all the Apple updates.

Just need to qualify this slightly. There is support for APFS from Sierra onwards but the sticking point is whether the volume is bootable. I formatted a clean HDD with APFS under High Sierra and my Sierra volume had no problems reading from and writing to it. I could not get one to work for booting from until Mojave as you said. I had no problems installing Mojave on a HDD using APFS, however, and that is sharing space with other HFS+ volumes.

 

[grame89]

Will wait a couple of days more and see if the issue goes away.

Nothing really happened in the meantime, but the battery drain was 7% in just 4 hours

Any news here? I'm experiencing exact the same problem here. Early 2015 MBP 13". Upgraded the SDD with a Samsung Evo 970 and this adapter here:
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0788CKXJZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Everything works fine, except the high battery drain when I just close the lid of the macbook. I also noticed the higher battery usage while using the macbook the first few days. Should come from reindexing and after some days it stopped and battery drain was back to normal. I think reindexing should not happen at the time when the mac should sleep? Don't know what to do now. Maybe I try a clean install without time machine backup. SMC and NVRAM reset did not change anything. Little bit annoying as everything is good except the battery drain.

 

[Ryker9]

I also have very high battery drain sometimes, I don't know why. Over 40% overnight. Probably a problem with the driver, I'm still waiting for my SOIC8 CLIP, and I hope that flashing the rom will fix this problem.

 

[RedTomato]

What do you do with the old Apple nvme SSD? I'm looking for a USB nvme m.2 enclosure to:

- test the new nvme m.2 if I run into installation problems
- to put the old Apple ngff nvme SSD in afterwards

All the cheapish ones I can find say they don't do nvme m.2 ssds.

This seems to be an Apple ngff nvme SSD to M.2 socket adaptor. It might allow moving the Apple SSD into a USB m.2 enclosure, but may not be able to close up the enclosure afterwards.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/2013-MacBook-NGFF-adapter-card/dp/B018KHJHRG

EDIT: I found a usb nvme m.2 enclosure (no idea if it can take an Apple nvme SSD even with the above adaptor):https://www.amazon.com/USB3-1-Type-C-Mobile-10Gbps-Enclosure/dp/B07H6CZRGY

 

[tshelby73]

What do you do with the old Apple nvme SSD? I'm looking for a USB nvme m.2 enclosure to:

- test the new nvme m.2 if I run into installation problems
- to put the old Apple ngff nvme SSD in afterwards

All the cheapish ones I can find say they don't do nvme m.2 ssds.

This seems to be an Apple ngff nvme SSD to M.2 socket adaptor. It might allow moving the Apple SSD into a USB m.2 enclosure, but may not be able to close up the enclosure afterwards.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/2013-MacBook-NGFF-adapter-card/dp/B018KHJHRG

EDIT: I found a usb nvme m.2 enclosure (no idea if it can take an Apple nvme SSD even with the above adaptor):https://www.amazon.com/USB3-1-Type-C-Mobile-10Gbps-Enclosure/dp/B07H6CZRGY

Owc makes an enclosure they sell with there upgrade kits to put the stock drive in to use as an external drive. Looks like you can buy these separately at macsales but they are spendy for what there are. Looks like 53.00 to 99.00.

 

[Angel NN]

I tried the 3mm version from sintech ( http://eshop.sintech.cn/cooling-heatsink-for-m2-ngff-2280-sm951-sm961-960pro-nvme-ssd-p-1195.html) and there was not enough room. You need som room for the adhesive also. I could not get the bottom plate to fit with the extra height. I don't know if 1mm will help. Let me know if you test it.

Hi,
I bought this heatsink: https://es.aliexpress.com/item/Disi...553.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3c7063c00W75L3

and 1mm adhesive tape : https://es.aliexpress.com/item/Alta...241.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3c7063c00W75L3

The total is just 3mm, i think it should work, but will see when I got everything.

 

[amenjas]

Hi
I recently ordered the adapter from sintech and i got this one delivered. I think they have again improved the quality with pins already taped or insulated. I will post the review after installing it with samsung 970evo 500gb on macbook air early 2015

 

[ponta pon pon]

What do you do with the old Apple nvme SSD? I'm looking for a USB nvme m.2 enclosure to:

- test the new nvme m.2 if I run into installation problems
- to put the old Apple ngff nvme SSD in afterwards

All the cheapish ones I can find say they don't do nvme m.2 ssds.

This seems to be an Apple ngff nvme SSD to M.2 socket adaptor. It might allow moving the Apple SSD into a USB m.2 enclosure, but may not be able to close up the enclosure afterwards.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/2013-MacBook-NGFF-adapter-card/dp/B018KHJHRG

EDIT: I found a usb nvme m.2 enclosure (no idea if it can take an Apple nvme SSD even with the above adaptor):https://www.amazon.com/USB3-1-Type-C-Mobile-10Gbps-Enclosure/dp/B07H6CZRGY

Owc makes an enclosure they sell with there upgrade kits to put the stock drive in to use as an external drive. Looks like you can buy these separately at macsales but they are spendy for what there are. Looks like 53.00 to 99.00.

I am thinking the same thing like you now.
OWC's case is expensive.
The problem is that the thickness of the SSD with the adapter will fit in that case.

 

[erudyne]

I cannot comment on any of the three adapters because I have this one: http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1143.html

The adapter works perfectly in my early 2015 13 Air with an Intel 600p.

If you get the long black Sintech, some people reported that the SSD will bend if the screw is tightened too much.

I noticed some flex with the long black Sintech. I don't think it would have caused any harm, but I didn't tighten mine more than I had to in order to make sure the screw wouldn't fall back out.

 

[ragermac]

Hello all, I am just being reading up on this and I have a few questions. I have a Macbook Pro 15" Late 2013.

It is currently running Mojave, I would like to try getting a NVMe M.2. What are my options? I do not want to attempt any rom flashing right now.

Thank you.

 

[RedTomato]

Hi
I recently ordered the adapter from sintech and i got this one delivered. I think they have again improved the quality with pins already taped or insulated. I will post the review after installing it with samsung 970evo 500gb on macbook air early 2015

That does look much better quality. Look forward to your review. My adaptor has arrived, am waiting for the nvme drive to arrive.