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Upgrading 2013-2015 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe
- Thread starter maxthackray
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Hello, I have a Macbook pro 15 inch late 2013 "A1398", I was wondering if I can install the samsung evo 970 ssd on my logic board + sintech adapter without having any deep sleep, hibernation and battery drain problems! Should I buy the evo 970 or go with the Transcend jetdrive 855, OWC aura pro X???
[doublepost=1541541219][/doublepost]
Can't I just update my macbook pro 15 inch late 2013 firmware with my brothers 128G OEM apple ssd then after that install the new evo 970 ssd without issues?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.
Hi APe
I am using several layers of capton tape
- and the system seems stable...I did have to install fresh the macOS Mohave in order to have boot times around 20 secs.
Before I had crashes sometime on boot or after boot. This has dissappered now and I guess the system is ok fast....
/// Flemming
I see you tested with the ADATTA SX7000 but have you tested with the 960GB ADATA XPG SX8200 (ASX8200NP-960GT-C)?
[doublepost=1541572088][/doublepost]I also want to share this email exchange I had with Sintech earlier today. Anyone care to share their opinion with using the ADATA ASX8200NP-960GT-C SSD with a long adapter from Sintech?
If I had to chose between the intel 760p 1TB and the Adata 960GB XPG SX8200 which one would you guys recommend (price excluded)?
Hi all.
Can anyone discribe the order to install Windows 10 as a second OS.
MBP 15 Late 2013. In plans using ST-NGFF2013-C + Samsung 970evo 1TB or Adata SX8200 960GB.
Can anyone discribe the order to install Windows 10 as a second OS.
MBP 15 Late 2013. In plans using ST-NGFF2013-C + Samsung 970evo 1TB or Adata SX8200 960GB.
Unfortunately, I don't have any other suggestions other than shutting down the MacBook each night.
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Hello,
I currently have a Crucial P1 500gb (CT500P1SSD8) ssd installed with a sintech vC adapter (the long one) in my Early 2015 13" Macbook Pro Retina. I plan on returning it in favor of the ADATA SX8200 based on all I've read on in this forum (thank you all very much! especially Gilles_polysoft!!!), along with what I've read in a few other reviews. Everything is running fine, but I guess it just looks like the ADATA is an all-around better ssd for the same money, even though I'm giving up more space (480gb user). I also considered the Intel since it gives full 512gb and apparently lowest power consumption (battery will last longer).
1) Is the ADATA 480gb really worth losing 32gb for over taking the Intel 760p 512gb? My highest priority is stability and having all functions on the Mac work the same as the Apple SSD. Any thoughts comparing these two specific SSDs would be appreciated.
2) I'm happy to run whatever I can and provide info back on the Crucial P1 500gb ssd before I return it if you would like info on it to add to your chart. Just tell me what to run (where to get the tool) and what to collect and send back to you. I believe my 2015 MBPr 13" only has the PCI 2.0 interface, so that will limit what I can collect. At least that might help other 2015 MBPr 13" owners in making their choices?
Thanks very much for all the fantastic information provided in this forum.
rjb
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On the same boat. I haven’t been able to find much of a difference between the drives other than the capacity and the higher sustained writting speeds on the ADATA so I am unsure which one to chose for myself. I am looking at the 960GB and 1TB models. What interests me most is the reliability of each drive more than their speed.
Reporting success with the short adapter and the Adata sx8200 960gb on a 2013 MacBook Air with Mojave 10.14.1
I spent £5 on a 10m roll of kapton tape (probably fake) and only used a 2mm x 12mm part of it to cover the contacts. Probably didn’t even need it as there was plenty of distance.
I ordered two different short connectors planning to test them, but I received the exact same connector twice over. One will be going back. The model I received has 183307 stamped on it, and on the green circuit board it says NFHK N-941A
The most time intensive part was the backing up and the restoring. Updating from 10.14.0 to 10.14.1 took over an hour. Backing up 80gb from my 128gb Apple SSD to an external Samsung 840 SSD in a USB3 enclosure took Time Machine over 4 hours at an average of 6MB/s (!). Very frustrating.
I considered cloning the internal SSD via SuperDuper (free version) but decided against it as advice on here was to install Mojave from scratch.
The actual SSD swap only took about 5 minutes. Having the right 5-lobed (!) screwdriver to open the laptop is vital, you can get them cheap on Amazon or eBay. The internal ssd is held down with a tiny torx (6-splines) screwdriver. Ifixit has clear pictures and instructions. I forgot to reconnect the battery and had to open the laptop again, but overall was still under 5 mins.
Installing Mojave 10.14.1 from a 32GB USB3 flash drive took about 30 mins, just following the default prompts.
Restoring the 80gb from Time Machine on the external SSD took only about 30 mins.
No messing about with Kexts / code needed.
Photos said it had to rebuild its library, took a few hours.
Apple Mail said it had to reimport messages, kept hanging, I left it running overnight (with sleep disabled) and it was fine in the morning.
Laptop became very hot with the new SSD and I thought maybe I’d made a giant mistake, but it was the intensive Spotlight reindexing going on in the background. Left it running overnight & it was fine in the morning. Hasn’t become hot since.
Getting about 1300 MB/s with the new SSD on Black Magic. Old SSD was about 400 MB/s. Laptop boots in half the time, about 20 seconds, & apps open far faster. Don’t really care about the opening times, space was what I needed, but still very nice to have a new snappier laptop.
Currently loses about 10% battery overnight, which I can live with.
Am testing reducing the deep sleep delay to 1 hour after start of sleep via:
sudo pmset standbydelaylow 3600
sudo pmset standbydelayhigh 3600
The two commands are for:
- when to go into hibernate when sleeping with LOW battery charge (default is to wait 3 hours / 10800 seconds)
- when to go into hibernate when sleeping with HIGH battery charge (default is to wait 24 hours / 86400 seconds). Threshold for low / high battery status is 50% charge.
EDIT: It's the next day. Had 0% battery drain overnight, am not sure if fluke or genuine solution. The first time I put it to sleep after running the two commands, it froze on waking up with a black screen and I had to force a restart. After that, it's been fine.
Other Time Machine restore weirdness to be aware of:
- all tabs / logged in websites / cookies lost in Chrome & Safari, had to re-log into all my usual websites again. Chrome Sync was able to show my previous tabs albeit it thought they were on a 'different' computer.
- All contents of Downloads folder was lost, this is expected behaviour but I had forgotten about it.
- 1Password silently stopped syncing with my iPhone. This was easy to fix by moving over to 1Password's new sync method, but would be nice if 1Password had informed me there was an issue.
I spent £5 on a 10m roll of kapton tape (probably fake) and only used a 2mm x 12mm part of it to cover the contacts. Probably didn’t even need it as there was plenty of distance.
I ordered two different short connectors planning to test them, but I received the exact same connector twice over. One will be going back. The model I received has 183307 stamped on it, and on the green circuit board it says NFHK N-941A
The most time intensive part was the backing up and the restoring. Updating from 10.14.0 to 10.14.1 took over an hour. Backing up 80gb from my 128gb Apple SSD to an external Samsung 840 SSD in a USB3 enclosure took Time Machine over 4 hours at an average of 6MB/s (!). Very frustrating.
I considered cloning the internal SSD via SuperDuper (free version) but decided against it as advice on here was to install Mojave from scratch.
The actual SSD swap only took about 5 minutes. Having the right 5-lobed (!) screwdriver to open the laptop is vital, you can get them cheap on Amazon or eBay. The internal ssd is held down with a tiny torx (6-splines) screwdriver. Ifixit has clear pictures and instructions. I forgot to reconnect the battery and had to open the laptop again, but overall was still under 5 mins.
Installing Mojave 10.14.1 from a 32GB USB3 flash drive took about 30 mins, just following the default prompts.
Restoring the 80gb from Time Machine on the external SSD took only about 30 mins.
No messing about with Kexts / code needed.
Photos said it had to rebuild its library, took a few hours.
Apple Mail said it had to reimport messages, kept hanging, I left it running overnight (with sleep disabled) and it was fine in the morning.
Laptop became very hot with the new SSD and I thought maybe I’d made a giant mistake, but it was the intensive Spotlight reindexing going on in the background. Left it running overnight & it was fine in the morning. Hasn’t become hot since.
Getting about 1300 MB/s with the new SSD on Black Magic. Old SSD was about 400 MB/s. Laptop boots in half the time, about 20 seconds, & apps open far faster. Don’t really care about the opening times, space was what I needed, but still very nice to have a new snappier laptop.
Currently loses about 10% battery overnight, which I can live with.
Am testing reducing the deep sleep delay to 1 hour after start of sleep via:
sudo pmset standbydelaylow 3600
sudo pmset standbydelayhigh 3600
The two commands are for:
- when to go into hibernate when sleeping with LOW battery charge (default is to wait 3 hours / 10800 seconds)
- when to go into hibernate when sleeping with HIGH battery charge (default is to wait 24 hours / 86400 seconds). Threshold for low / high battery status is 50% charge.
EDIT: It's the next day. Had 0% battery drain overnight, am not sure if fluke or genuine solution. The first time I put it to sleep after running the two commands, it froze on waking up with a black screen and I had to force a restart. After that, it's been fine.
Other Time Machine restore weirdness to be aware of:
- all tabs / logged in websites / cookies lost in Chrome & Safari, had to re-log into all my usual websites again. Chrome Sync was able to show my previous tabs albeit it thought they were on a 'different' computer.
- All contents of Downloads folder was lost, this is expected behaviour but I had forgotten about it.
- 1Password silently stopped syncing with my iPhone. This was easy to fix by moving over to 1Password's new sync method, but would be nice if 1Password had informed me there was an issue.
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If I get the USB external case for NMVe M.2 SSD just like Sintech One.
Can I format that and clone via USB from the original internal SSD to the new external NMVe M.2 SSD?
After that can I use this cloned SSD for internal SSD via adopter?
Can I format that and clone via USB from the original internal SSD to the new external NMVe M.2 SSD?
After that can I use this cloned SSD for internal SSD via adopter?
Sounds like an expense that isn't necessary. Just clone your internal NVMe to any external drive and clone back to your new NVMe. Takes an extra step but at least you won't be blowing $72 to save a little time.
Thank you for the reply.
I thought the case was necessary to use the original internal SSD.
In that case, it would be expensive, but the way I described above is possible?
I am getting kernel panics randomly and not sure what is going on (2015, Sintech long adapter, SX 8200). Can anybody make sense of this? Computer working fine otherwise as far as I can tell.
The error report below mentions "nvme" so I think it's related. No KPs prior to this in 12 months of use with this computer (bought used) using the original ssd.
The error report below mentions "nvme" so I think it's related. No KPs prior to this in 12 months of use with this computer (bought used) using the original ssd.
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Hi,
I learned a lot from your posts, so I want to share my experience too. I finally have installed my samsung 970 evo 1TB on Macbook Pro late 2013.
I used long adapter and also have added heatsink, one for the ssd driver and one for the CPU area to additionally take the heat. I cut one of the heatsinks to the size of the ssd controller and stick it there(check the photos), the heat problem is mainly there.
After a good clean and changing the heat paste, I started to reinstall my.......Windows 10 pro without bootcamp as a primary operating system. During the installation I have partitioned the ssd drive to 180gb for Windows and the rest was set as a second drive for personal data. Once installed I started installing the Windows Support Software, which was prepared in Mojave OS beforehand.
After installing the necessary Macbook drivers, I downloaded the support software for 970 evo called Samsung Magician and Samsung_NVM_Express_Driver_3.0. With the help of the Magician application I also updated the firmware of the ssd.
To be able to have better battery life and gesture options I have installed also these useful apps Power Plan Assistant and Trackpad++ you can find them here http://trackpad.forbootcamp.org
Finally when all done, the result is very good speed 1662/read and 1412/write, no heat issues at all the evo ssd stays at 45C measured with Samsung Magician app. The CPUs core heat during the 1gb test goes about 57C-60C and with normal use the cpu cores heat stays about 48C. Battery life though is not as good as if we use OSX , with windows I get around 4hours-4.30 with Mojave OSx the same Macbook pro gets 8 hours.
So, at the end I am very happy with the outcome. I know most of you would prefer the OSX, but for me Windows is more useful and not so much limited, it is a good option to consider.
I forgot to say about hibernation, no issues at all , 3% over night which is really good.
Hope this can be useful info for all of you.
Best Regards
I learned a lot from your posts, so I want to share my experience too. I finally have installed my samsung 970 evo 1TB on Macbook Pro late 2013.
I used long adapter and also have added heatsink, one for the ssd driver and one for the CPU area to additionally take the heat. I cut one of the heatsinks to the size of the ssd controller and stick it there(check the photos), the heat problem is mainly there.
After a good clean and changing the heat paste, I started to reinstall my.......Windows 10 pro without bootcamp as a primary operating system. During the installation I have partitioned the ssd drive to 180gb for Windows and the rest was set as a second drive for personal data. Once installed I started installing the Windows Support Software, which was prepared in Mojave OS beforehand.
After installing the necessary Macbook drivers, I downloaded the support software for 970 evo called Samsung Magician and Samsung_NVM_Express_Driver_3.0. With the help of the Magician application I also updated the firmware of the ssd.
To be able to have better battery life and gesture options I have installed also these useful apps Power Plan Assistant and Trackpad++ you can find them here http://trackpad.forbootcamp.org
Finally when all done, the result is very good speed 1662/read and 1412/write, no heat issues at all the evo ssd stays at 45C measured with Samsung Magician app. The CPUs core heat during the 1gb test goes about 57C-60C and with normal use the cpu cores heat stays about 48C. Battery life though is not as good as if we use OSX , with windows I get around 4hours-4.30 with Mojave OSx the same Macbook pro gets 8 hours.
So, at the end I am very happy with the outcome. I know most of you would prefer the OSX, but for me Windows is more useful and not so much limited, it is a good option to consider.
I forgot to say about hibernation, no issues at all , 3% over night which is really good.
Hope this can be useful info for all of you.
Best Regards
Attachments
I have the similar intermittent kernel panic when I have tried to start up or reboot my MBP-2014mid, since I installed 960evo+Sintech long adapter this March. Unfortunately, I haven't find the solution so far. I'd already installed macOS clearly several times and re-attached kapton tape, adjusted the extent of the screw of the adapter but anything hadn't work. Finally I re-ordered the same adapter a couple of days ago and I'll give it a try again after receiving new one.
I upgraded my late 2013 MacBook Pro retina 15" using the Sintech NGFF short adapter (bought on eBay from seller “Vitakore”, arrived in 2 days) and the XPG SX8200 960GB SSD. The SX8200 is double-sided, but using the short NGFF adapter there is plenty of room - I even attached the optional heat spreader. I used Time Machine for data backup/restore (USB 3.0 HD), and I used a Mac OS 10.14.1 installer on a separate partition on the same external HD. It works great! I recommend using a Wiha 4PL driver for the pentalobe screws, I bought mine on Amazon. I disabled hibernation with "sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0".
Update: only 3% battery drain overnight in sleep mode. There is a delay of 10-15 seconds when booting before I see the Apple logo, I wonder if it’s looking for a “normal” internal SSD before giving up.
Update: only 3% battery drain overnight in sleep mode. There is a delay of 10-15 seconds when booting before I see the Apple logo, I wonder if it’s looking for a “normal” internal SSD before giving up.
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Thank you for your detailed and understandable report.
I have a MacBook that is the same as yours,
so I'm interested in your 'heatsink'.
How thick is it and where did it get it?
It would be helpful if you let me know.
Mine was not at startup or reboot. I walked away from the laptop and when I returned it had rebooted on its own. Haven't had a panic in 12 months of use. Hopefully it has nothing to do with the ADATA drive...I got this cheaply so I am really not excited to swap it out.
Newegg is having a black friday sale for Intel 660p 2TB for $250; I think they charge tax so depending on where you live it might more like $270 or so, but still seems a like a good deal. I know there are tradeoffs with the QLC technology, but are there any other 2TB drives that are in the same price neighborhood?
Do you use 'Fuse for macOS' or something?
loaded kexts:
com.box.filesystems.osxfuse 203.6.4
I suspect there is some conflicts between NVMe kext and it. (I'm not sure but...)
Stop executing the app and check if the same KP repeats.
Hi,
The heatsink can be found here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Cop...789.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.24074c4drLm8Xw