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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
mad cow disease said:
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.
Click to expand...
ohnggni said:
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.
Click to expand...

It does seem linked to the NVME driver, and also to the bootROM firmware. The only two things I can think of is:

- buy the new short adapter that myself and others have had luck with, and install it.
- Back up to TM, wipe the SSD, and install 10.14.1 Mojave from scratch, then restore from TM.

10.14.1 has a lot of bugfixes over 10.14.0. You might want to update to 10.14.1 first to try to get whatever low-level firmware bugfixes it has, then if you still have problems wipe the SSD and reinstall it from scratch to give Mojave a second chance to get everything set up right.
 
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polanskiman said:
And the can actually put the MBP back cover back without it bulging?
Click to expand...
Hi,
The Evo ssd is not completely flat, so I had to cut the heatsink. When once cut, you can place both bits, one on the controller and one above the other two memory parts. Somewhere I read, that is better to keep these two memory bits hot and if possible to try to reduce the heat only of the controller, so this is what I did.
I also tested it with both heatsink parts next to each other and you can close the back lid but with effort, which is not good. So I grind the heatsink part which was a bit above than the other and I was able to put them both effortlessly, but I didn't. I placed only the heatsink part for the controller and it fit perfectly.
Remember you have to put the adapter a bit harder to the motherboard in order to fit completely. When tightening the screw, I turned it a bit more so the ssd drive goes a bit low, it is enough space below anyway. May be if you use the new small black adapter you will be able to put the heatsink even easier.
Hope that helps.
 
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ohnggni said:
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.
Click to expand...

Nope, that is for Box, the cloud service. It runs as a background process so if that were it I would be getting more kernel panics. I'm going to continue and see if any patterns emerge, I have not had any since. If it's this intermittent I can live with it.
 
Ryker9 said:
I still have very high battery drain with SX8200 (over 25% overnight) and I still don't know how to fix it, the Mac seems quite hot btw when covered
Click to expand...

I have the same setup, I’m seeing 3% battery drain overnight and the MacBook is very cool to the touch. You must have some process running that is somehow preventing sleep.
 

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Angel NN said:
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
Click to expand...
Which heat sink did you use?
Can you provide a link?
[doublepost=1541812518][/doublepost]Hey guys,
Anyone used the samsung PRO 970 on a macbook pro 15" late 2013 (A1398) and succeeded without having any problems?
 
RedTomato said:
It does seem linked to the NVME driver, and also to the bootROM firmware. The only two things I can think of is:

- buy the new short adapter that myself and others have had luck with, and install it.
- Back up to TM, wipe the SSD, and install 10.14.1 Mojave from scratch, then restore from TM.

10.14.1 has a lot of bugfixes over 10.14.0. You might want to update to 10.14.1 first to try to get whatever low-level firmware bugfixes it has, then if you still have problems wipe the SSD and reinstall it from scratch to give Mojave a second chance to get everything set up right.
Click to expand...

Which short adapter are you using? This Sintech adapter? Trying to skim the other posts, seemed like the thread was recommending the long -C adapter from sintech. Are you also using a 2015 MBP 13?

Thanks!
 
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macuserforumreader said:
Which short adapter are you using? This Sintech adapter? Trying to skim the other posts, seemed like the thread was recommending the long -C adapter from sintech. Are you also using a 2015 MBP 13?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
No he was refering to the NFHK N-941A which is not Sintech to my knowledge. But yes most people recommend the Sintech brand which seems to be the most reliable as far as I have been able to understand. I ordered myself the long version (c) and the short version (b) so I could chose the one I feel the most confortable puting inside my MBP. If you read through the thread you will see that with the long version the problem lays with the adapter’s length and the scewhole position which inevitably will slightly bend the drive. Honestly I can’t see why would anyone accept this to happen as the flex combined with the heat will create stresses in the drive board which is not good. Someone in the thread explained this quite clearly in one post but I can’t seem to find it.
I will test all this myself once I get both adaptors and the drive but I have the feeling I will stick with the short version unless I can come up with an elegant solution with the long, more commonly used, version.
 
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markintosh13 said:
$205 CAD?
Click to expand...
Looks like it is USD. When I try to check out, this is the message I see:

Due to shipping restrictions, we are currently unable to ship to P.O. Boxes, APOs, FPOs, U.S. Territories or anywhere outside the United States at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience.
​
WIth the CAD/USD exchange rate, it's almost the same as the Memory Express price.
 
polanskiman said:
No he was refering to the NFHK N-941A which is not Sintech to my knowledge. But yes most people recommend the Sintech brand which seems to be the most reliable as far as I have been able to understand. I ordered myself the long version (c) and the short version (b) so I could chose the one I feel the most confortable puting inside my MBP. If you read through the thread you will see that with the long version the problem lays with the adapter’s length and the scewhole position which inevitably will slightly bend the drive. Honestly I can’t see why would anyone accept this to happen as the flex combined with the heat will create stresses in the drive board which is not good. Someone in the thread explained this quite clearly in one post but I can’t seem to find it.
I will test all this myself once I get both adaptors and the drive but I have the feeling I will stick with the short version unless I can come up with an elegant solution with the long, more commonly used, version.
Click to expand...

Looks like we’re of the same mind. I have the long, thinking of buying the short to try first. I think I read the same thread about poor fit about the long as well. Some people seemed to be reporting the sx8200 doesn’t fit with the heat sink with the long, I wondered if it would fit with the short. Or if it even matters.

Report back on your findings! I’ll do the same once I receive my drive.
 
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macuserforumreader said:
Looks like we’re of the same mind. I have the long, thinking of buying the short to try first. I think I read the same thread about poor fit about the long as well. Some people seemed to be reporting the sx8200 doesn’t fit with the heat sink with the long, I wondered if it would fit with the short. Or if it even matters.

Report back on your findings! I’ll do the same once I receive my drive.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to mention that the SX8200 960GB fits great in my late 2013 MacBook Pro 15” retina, using the short Sintech adapter and the heat spreader.
 
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Alii7 said:
Did you have any problems after installing the ssd?
Click to expand...

I have not had any problems. I disabled hibernate, since I’m aware it causes problems. There is a delay at boot, after the chime it takes several seconds before the Apple logo comes up. Otherwise everything is great and the SSD benchmarks twice as fast as the original one.
 
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