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

[natus.w]

Edited so it wouldnt include links, thus wont be filtered as spam View attachment 2360647

Being hard wired there shouldn’t be as many issues as a laptop (which has its own constrained power source)

Most of these should be OK, the risk of permanent damage should be low (if you are concerned you can look at reviews to determine the quality of each unit..)

 

[natus.w]

Do we know which bootrom ver is required? I think mine is at 420 or 422. But I know that the latest is 429 . I can't upgrade mine using the stock SSD since it's dead. Do you think 420/422 bootrom will allow bootrom updates via third party SSD? Thanks

422 sounds like the versions that came with an earlier version of 10.15, it seems you should be able to update to the latest version..

Which EFI firmware should your Mac be using? (version 4)

macOS 10.15 Catalina brings EFI firmware updates for all supported models, and subsequent updates have changed those for most models too. This article lists the firmware versions of Macs which have…

eclecticlight.co

Worst case the genuine Apple drives are fairly cheap (64GB ones should be attained for well under 20; that should be enough to get you by)

 

[natus.w]

"It may be installed to /Library/Extensions on 10.15 and earlier, or injected by the bootloader on all versions."

I'm on 11.7 (Big Sur) so I thought it had to be "injected by the bootloader". I tried by copying it to /Library/Extensions like SsdPmEnabler and it complained that it needed Lilu. I did the same for Lilu and got a kernel panic and had to re-enable SIP in recovery to be able to boot and then remove Lilu. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT:

Looks like I was right, it has to be injected:

Macbook Pro 14,1, MacOS 12.0.1 not boot with lilu.kext · Issue #1877 · acidanthera/bugtracker

Hi. I need some help according to my laptop. HW: Macbook Pro mid-2017 13" non touchbar version (14,1) OS: macOS 12.0.1 lilu.kext: 1.5.7, 1.5.6, 1.5.4 I upgrade my laptop storage with an NVME adapte...

github.com

Still unsure on how this is actually done.

You should be able to use OCLP to get this done (you can still boot a native OS through OCLP and have the appropriate kexts side loaded)

 

[Flyview]

You should be able to use OCLP to get this done (you can still boot a native OS through OCLP and have the appropriate kexts side loaded)

Yea I have to research this some more since I've never used it. I thought it installed a new system. Are you saying I can use it to boot my current Big Sur install?

 

[natus.w]

Yea I have to research this some more since I've never used it. I thought it installed a new system. Are you saying I can use it to boot my current Big Sur install?

You should be able to, I have tried this and you won’t need to touch anything else (if anything you can adjust the built settings so that you can just use it as a native model)

 

[misterminibus]

Hi Guys, I am rather confused, I am trying to upgrade my wife's macbook Pro early 2013 15 inch SSD from 256 to a Samsung 980 NVMe M.2 SSD. I have purchased a converter but it's the wrong one. Can someone please help me identify which converter I need. The first image is of the original SSD and the second image is the Samsung SSD980 I wish to install, I will buy one from Amazon if available but just need help with which converter I need. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[xboxbml]

Hi Guys, I am rather confused, I am trying to upgrade my wife's macbook Pro early 2013 15 inch SSD from 256 to a Samsung 980 NVMe M.2 SSD. I have purchased a converter but it's the wrong one. Can someone please help me identify which converter I need. The first image is of the original SSD and the second image is the Samsung SSD980 I wish to install, I will buy one from Amazon if available but just need help with which converter I need. Any help would be appreciated. View attachment 2362196 View attachment 2362197

Check out page 1 of this thread a bit down where it says what cannot be upgraded to NVMe. I believe yours is one of them. I might be reading that wrong.. so study that page.
From page 1..

• MacBook Air from Late 2010 to Mid 2011 (MacBookAir 3,1 to MacBookAir4,2)
• MacBook Pro Retina from mid 2012 to early 2013 (MacBookPro10,1 to MacBookPro11,2)

These two models above come with a M.2 AHCI SATA SSD and use a SATA interface. They are definitely not compatible with M.2 PCIe SSD. The PCIe M.2 format looks very similar to the SATA M.2 format but it won't work.

 

[MiniWheatsHD]

Hey folks I just joined the forum for this express purpose.

I'm wondering what you guys think the current best option for a currently in production energy efficient NVME drive that would be ideal in a MacBook Air 2017.
Firstly I'd like to establish that I'm not actually using MacOS on my unit. I'm actually running Linux Mint since I wanted to use something quick and easy for school.
I had my eyes set on the Crucial P2 since it seemed like it completely blew most options out of the water when considering it's speed and power efficiency. However I'm pretty sure no longer in production as some product listings are increasingly out of stock, used, or strangely overpriced.
So I'm wondering what the next best thing is for the US market that you've seen online. Again I'm super keen on power efficiency since I'm still going strong on the original battery (older sister didn't use it that much).
Hopefully I'm looking for speeds comparable/exceeding to what I'm currently reaching.

Thanks a bunch in advance!
I've never posted to a forum in my life so I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here.
Again thanks for all the awesome information here.

 

[natus.w]

Hey folks I just joined the forum for this express purpose.

I'm wondering what you guys think the current best option for a currently in production energy efficient NVME drive that would be ideal in a MacBook Air 2017.
Firstly I'd like to establish that I'm not actually using MacOS on my unit. I'm actually running Linux Mint since I wanted to use something quick and easy for school.
I had my eyes set on the Crucial P2 since it seemed like it completely blew most options out of the water when considering it's speed and power efficiency. However I'm pretty sure no longer in production as some product listings are increasingly out of stock, used, or strangely overpriced.
So I'm wondering what the next best thing is for the US market that you've seen online. Again I'm super keen on power efficiency since I'm still going strong on the original battery (older sister didn't use it that much).
Hopefully I'm looking for speeds comparable/exceeding to what I'm currently reaching.
View attachment 2362604
Thanks a bunch in advance!
I've never posted to a forum in my life so I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here.
Again thanks for all the awesome information here.

Given you are not using a native Apple OS environment it is hard to tell as to what exactly will fit your needs (it is impossible to test every single combination of drive and OS and see what power drain is like; manufacturers are also known to change specs without warning)

You may also have to review other machine parameters as well (the firmware version with NVME booting only came out with MacOS 10.13; if the machine was not updated to such a version prior you will have to reinstall the latest version of MacOS before installing your new drive)

If anything I’d probably focus on how much capacity you’ll need, then look at what units are available within your price range and try a few (see how your performance goes under Linux; there may be other additional tools available under Linux to assist with power management..)

 

[xboxbml]

Given you are not using a native Apple OS environment it is hard to tell as to what exactly will fit your needs (it is impossible to test every single combination of drive and OS and see what power drain is like; manufacturers are also known to change specs without warning)

You may also have to review other machine parameters as well (the firmware version with NVME booting only came out with MacOS 10.13; if the machine was not updated to such a version prior you will have to reinstall the latest version of MacOS before installing your new drive)

If anything I’d probably focus on how much capacity you’ll need, then look at what units are available within your price range and try a few (see how your performance goes under Linux; there may be other additional tools available under Linux to assist with power management..)

I thought High Sierra had the right bootrom for NVMe drives.

 

[natus.w]

I thought High Sierra had the right bootrom for NVMe drives.

10.13 is High Sierra, I’m not sure why you’re confused..

 

[xboxbml]

10.13 is High Sierra, I’m not sure why you’re confused..

Oh sorry.. I had had a few at that point...lol..I missed that a 2017 was mentioned at that would have at least come with that if never touched.. I think I must have been thinking a 2015..

 

[Flyview]

Even so I believe it was only one of the Big Sur firmwares that added better support for NVMe without sleep issues.

I thought High Sierra had the right bootrom for NVMe drives.

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Even so I believe it was only one of the Big Sur firmwares that added better support for NVMe without sleep issues.

That is described in page 300 of this thread. BootRom 424.0.0.0 did the trick.

 

[Eduardo Machado]

Hello, I'm Brazilian and I'm also trying to upgrade my MacBook. I'm considering installing an ADATA Legend 710 SSD. It's a Gen 3 SSD. Do you think it's compatible with a MacBook Pro Retina 2015?

 

[natus.w]

Hello, I'm Brazilian and I'm also trying to upgrade my MacBook. I'm considering installing an ADATA Legend 710 SSD. It's a Gen 3 SSD. Do you think it's compatible with a MacBook Pro Retina 2015?

Shoud be fine, if you just need the space it should be sufficient..

 

[tamerln]

I have Linux Mint successfully booted/running on a 2015 mbp with a M2.0 NVMe adapter and WD SN520 NVMe SSD in case anyone is wondering about this specific SSD

 

[Eduardo Machado]

I have Linux Mint successfully booted/running on a 2015 mbp with a M2.0 NVMe adapter and WD SN520 NVMe SSD in case anyone is wondering about this specific SSD

I'm wondering if the ADATA Legend 710 SSD is compatible.

 

[tamerln]

I'm wondering if the ADATA Legend 710 SSD is compatible.

If you have an m.2 adapter I would just give it a shot. If it won't boot off that ssd just put the old one back in

 

[Darth_fazer]

Hi there.
Today I upgraded my A1398 15" Macbook Pro from 2014 with a Sintech adapter and a WD SN 570 Blue 1TB SSD. That "operation" doubled read/write speed and capacity at the same time.

Before: 512GB Apple
Read/Write: 661,1/665 MB/S
After: WD SN 570 1TB (about 80€ incl. shipping in Germany, Sintech adapter was about 15€)
Read/Write:1265,9/1458,3 MB/s

Hardware change was done in less than 10min and included a bit of dust cleaning. Quite easy, and you will find a lot of videos on youtube how to do it. I did forgot to remove the battery clip while changing the SSD, but it worked as well - lucky me.

For the SW update I did prepare a bootable USB-stick with Big Sur as described here:
https://support.apple.com/de-de/101578

Put this in the USP port of the MacBook and pressed the ALT (Option) key when hitting the start button.
Then followed some 5-10 seconds with a black screen (hoping everything is good) and then the installation screen of Big Sur showed. Selected Hard drive manager and formatted/deleted the WD 570 and selected

• Mac OS extended journaled and
• GUI partition table as options for the file system => if you understand german, there is a nice youtube video about the whole process:

Then some 45min of Big Sur installation, followed by approx. 3h of Time Machine back-up and now I have my good old, and even now a bit faster MacBook with double capacity.

Thanks for this thread and all the infos that made me confident I can do it as well.
So no need to sell this MacBook, it's still good for some everyday tasks.
BR
Mario

 

[chayden]

Hi guys,
I have been watching this forum for a while and decided to take the plunge to upgrade my hard drive also. I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with a 256GB hard drive. I also have an external drive which came out of my previous Toshiba windows machine. Occasionally, I have to boot from the external drive (with Windows) for school reasons. I have purchased the SK hynix Gold P31 1TB and will be doing the upgrade in the next 2 days.
I see the steps to do the upgrade but I want to find out if can I partition the drive in two (700 GB, 300GB) and then
1. clone my current Mac system to one partition
2. clone the Windows external drive to the other partition so I don't have to carry around the external drive.

 

[natus.w]

1. clone my current Mac system to one partition

You can certainly do that (you can either make a bootable backup using CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper! or some other imaging tool, or use an an external enclosure for the original drive & Migration Assistant to restore the partitions into a fresh image)

2. clone the Windows external drive to the other partition so I don't have to carry around the external drive.

Should be able to do that as well (machine natively supports UEFI booting so you should be able to restore that to a prepared partition)

 

[bolli]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the great info and tips here. The SSD of my MacBook Pro 13" Early 2015 (A1502, DMC2835) died after 7 years, leading me to install a new SSD. Choosing an NVMe SSD was not that easy since many recommended ones were unavailable on Amazon Germany. I went with the Western Digital SN580, since some of the promising post and also for its mentioned power efficiency. I also used the recommended Sintech Adapter.

However, the recovery system didn't recognize the new SSD. After updating the SSD's firmware with "WD Dashboard," it still wasn't recognized. After some of you already had this problem and were able to solve it by reinstalling macOS with a bootable USB I tried this. Using my second computer with Windows and Xubuntu Dual Boot, I failed to create the USB stick despite following the various tutorials out there. That was not very satisfying. Fortunately, my brother still has an old Macbook with which I was able to create the bootable USB stick according to Apple's "official" instructions, which was recognized and I was able to start the installation. The new installation also recognized the new SSD and I was able to install macOS without any problems. Since then, the system has been stable.

In terms of cost, I was at just under 70 euros for the 1TB WD SN580 and around 15 euros for the Sintech Adpter. All in all, this is completely reasonable compared to the prices for the original SSDs or the already customized OWC Aura SSDs.

Finally, it can be said that the combination of a MacBook Pro 13" Early 2015 with the recommended Sintech adapter and the WD SN580 seems to work pretty well!

 

[bolli]

Finally, I have two more questions:

1. Some of you recommend to optimize the power consumption of the new SSD by kernel extension with the ssdPmEnabler or NVMeFix. After leaving my MacBook in sleep mode overnight, the battery dropped from 100% to 69%. The battery health was already pretty bad before the SSD replacement anyway. My question now is does it make sense to install one of the two patches and if so, which one is better? And do the functionality of both extensions differ?

2. Does anyone have experience with the recovery of old supposedly dead MacOS SSD? As described in the previous post, mine died and is not recognized by MacOS, Linux, or Windows by default (using the respective drivers if necessary). I had ordered two different SSD enclosers for the Apple interface. Unfortunately, one of the two could not even recognize the new WD SSD with adapter.

Thanks in advance!

 

[touten]

1502 13" mbpro mid 2014 currently installed Big Sur latest version with latest bios

Attempted sintech adapter small version with crucial P3 PCIe 3.0 NVM3 M.2 2280 SSD 500GB. The drive is not found and does not show up.

Attempted sintech adapter small version (same adapter as above) with WD Blue SN570 NVME M.2 2280 SSD 1TB. The drive is found and does show up.