MacBook Air 2013 Salvaged + NVMe M.2 SSD Upgrade Success

[AphoticD]

Earlier in the year, I was given a free "non-working" MacBook Air 13" mid-2013 (MacBookAir6,2) which had a dead battery, a missing SSD, no power supply and was missing it's bottom case screws. My friend who gave me the laptop knew I enjoyed bringing older Macs back to life, so I was happy to accept the challenge!

I started by buying a cheap ($3 AUD) "NGFF M.2 NVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade MacBook Air(2013-2016 Year) and MF6A5" adapter via eBay (it was the short stub style adapter with the letters BZHS on the back) to go with a 256GB "KingSpec M.2 ssd M2 240gb PCIe NVME Solid State Drive 2280" which was about $65 AUD.

The parts set sail on the slow-boat from China and then sat in coronavirus quarantine / customs for a loooong time... After more than 2 months of waiting, the parts started to show up (including a sub-$2 set of screws). I installed the SSD along with the adapter (firmly seated) and found the NVMe SSD was completely ignored by the Catalina installer. The advice was that I needed to first install High Sierra or later on the "original SSD" to update the BootROM / SMC firmware. So I installed Catalina on an external USB HDD via Internet Recovery but still no luck as Disk Utility and System Profiler did not see the NVMe SSD.

After finding this thread I took the same route and opted to buy a $17 (AUD) "Sintech" type, brace-style adapter from a local Australian supplier. The adapter arrived within a few days and the NVMe SSD was instantly recognized.

I installed Catalina on the SSD and ran the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test benchmark. Initially, the write performance was really low (even as low as 10MB/sec), while the read speeds consistently reached 1300MB/s+. I had seen similar poor performance before with aftermarket mSATA drives in some of my other Macs, so I tried to remedy by enabling trim support via the command `sudo trimforce enable` and rebooted the MacBook Air. Re-running the test now shows 900MB/s+ write speeds and nearly 1400MB/s read speeds!

One warning I was seeing on many of the eBay listings for these adapters state the NVMe adapters would pose a problem if the MacBook Air/Pro was to go into sleep mode (as in possibly not waking up?). I played with the settings initially to disable sleep, but reverted back to normal sleep settings after a few hours and found no issues whatsoever. Everything is 100% operational and fully supported in macOS Catalina.

The NVMe SSD is recognized by System Profiler with a Link Width of x4 and a Link Speed of 5.0GT as expected. Macs Fan Control shows the KingSpec SSD running cool around 40°C. I have not seen the SSD temperatures rise above 50°C even during post-installation indexing and benchmarking.

Because most of my Macs are quite a bit older, I also didn't have access to a MagSafe 2 power adapter (and didn't want to pay $20 or so for a little MagSafe 1 > 2 converter which will likely go missing). So I bought a MagSafe 2 cable (only) for about $5 AUD. After carefully cracking open an existing 60W MagSafe 1 power supply (of which I have many) I desoldered the original cable, soldered on the replacement and re-sealed the plastic housing seams using the soldering iron tip. Instant Magsafe 2 on the cheap!

I've now ordered a replacement 55Wh 7.6V non-geniune battery from an interstate supplier for $65 AUD (inc shipping) to bring it back to it's portable glory. This should arrive during the week.

So to add it all up, the grand total to fully restore this old MacBook Air (which is surprisingly in good physical condition) is $157 AUD or about $112 USD at today's conversion rate.

Not bad for a little Mac which can run Catalina and Xcode 12, is surprisingly snappy with the new SSD and looks to be fully supported in the coming GM release of macOS Big Sur!

Not to mention, the MBA keyboard is much nicer to type on than my 2018 13" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar - it even has a physical escape key!

 

[Jack Neill]

I love seeing Macs brought back to life.

 

[Audit13]

Are you sure your MacBook is going into safe sleep where it saves the ram contents to a part for and powered itself off completely?

 

[AphoticD]

Are you sure your MacBook is going into safe sleep where it saves the team contents to a part for and powered itself off completely?

Ahh.. that’s is probably what the limitation is. No I haven’t tested this. I suppose safe sleep could be disabled via pmset, while still allowing regular sleep.

 

[AphoticD]

The new battery arrived yesterday and went in. While I had the MacBook Air open again, I re-pasted the CPU to give it the best chance of remaining cool, tightened up the wobble in the display hinges and also glued together the clutch cover which had been cracked at some stage in its life.

I have now gifted this zippy little MacBook Air to my wife to finally upgrade from a 2009 white Unibody MacBook which was struggling with a slow HDD.

So the resurrected MBA now lives on and this story has a happy ending.

 

[Audit13]

The new battery arrived yesterday and went in. While I had the MacBook Air open again, I re-pasted the CPU to give it the best chance of remaining cool, tightened up the wobble in the display hinges and also glued together the clutch cover which had been cracked at some stage in its life.

I have now gifted this zippy little MacBook Air to my wife to finally upgrade from a 2009 white Unibody MacBook which was struggling with a slow HDD.

So the resurrected MBA now lives on and this story has a happy ending.

Looks like good news for users of 2013 and 2014 MacBook Pros and Airs in that the latest bootrom included with the latest Big Sur beta solves the hibernation problem when using a NVMe drive

 

[AphoticD]

Looks like good news for users of 2013 and 2014 MacBook Pros and Airs in that the latest bootrom included with the latest Big Sur beta solves the hibernation problem when using a NVMe drive

That is great news! Big Sur public release should land any day now. Once we get GM I’ll upgrade and test it out.

 

[drsharma]

I need advice for upgrading MacBook air 2013 (6,2)

Will the SimTech adapter from Amazon work with Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 Internal SSD Extreme Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-NVMe4-1TB)
or should I get a cheaper Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-1TB)
The former is Gen 4

 

[Silencio]

I need advice for upgrading MacBook air 2013 (6,2)

Will the SimTech adapter from Amazon work with Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 Internal SSD Extreme Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-NVMe4-1TB)
or should I get a cheaper Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-1TB)
The former is Gen 4

See this Wiki / thread in the MacBook Pro forum:

Upgrading 2013/2014 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe

This thread is about upgrading MacBook Airs & Macbook Pros (2013-2015) with new high speed and/or high capacity NVMe SSDs. This thread was one of the first to talk about MacBook Pro NVMe SSD upgrades on Macrumors, and was started by user "maxthackray", which we can thank and give tribute for...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[drsharma]

See this Wiki / thread in the MacBook Pro forum:

Upgrading 2013/2014 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe

This thread is about upgrading MacBook Airs & Macbook Pros (2013-2015) with new high speed and/or high capacity NVMe SSDs. This thread was one of the first to talk about MacBook Pro NVMe SSD upgrades on Macrumors, and was started by user "maxthackray", which we can thank and give tribute for...

forums.macrumors.com

Thanks
It was not evident from the wiki if the new Sabrent will work so will probably wait a few days before deciding may go with the old Sabrent drive now in Amazon for $129.

 

[0423MAC]

I am in a similar situation with an SSD upgrade needed for a 2015/2017 MBA and wondering how this adapter is holding up after 2 months? I see upgrade options such as OWC and a drive by a company named "DATARAM", but they do come at quite the price premium to avoid going with a 3rd party adapter.

It's tough to go by what some horror stories I am hearing from reviewers on amazon, but the highest reviewed ones on amazon are only showing about a 5% 1-star review rate at the time of making this post.

Thanks

 

[xboxbml]

I am in a similar situation with an SSD upgrade needed for a 2015/2017 MBA and wondering how this adapter is holding up after 2 months? I see upgrade options such as OWC and a drive by a company named "DATARAM", but they do come at quite the price premium to avoid going with a 3rd party adapter.

It's tough to go by what some horror stories I am hearing from reviewers on amazon, but the highest reviewed ones on amazon are only showing about a 5% 1-star review rate at the time of making this post.

Thanks

See sig.. Mine has been running for about 3 months trouble free... I'm still on Catalina and not going up to Big Sur.. My first research found OWC as well, but they are REALLY expensive compared to others with adapter. They also have their issues with crashing and are not as reliable from what I've found. I've not had ANY issues so far with my 2tb ADATA and small Sintech adapter. Now that I have a new battery as well, this is in great shape for several more years!

 

[0423MAC]

See sig.. Mine has been running for about 3 months trouble free... I'm still on Catalina and not going up to Big Sur.. My first research found OWC as well, but they are REALLY expensive compared to others with adapter. They also have their issues with crashing and are not as reliable from what I've found. I've not had ANY issues so far with my 2tb ADATA and small Sintech adapter. Now that I have a new battery as well, this is in great shape for several more years!

Sounds good to me. The sintech model without the tray is the one I have had my eye on as it looks like the adapter fits flush with the connector end on the logic board.

 

[xboxbml]

Sounds good to me. The sintech model without the tray is the one I have had my eye on as it looks like the adapter fits flush with the connector end on the logic board.

If you mean the short one, then yes! I actually had ordered the long one first, and found because of the geometry of the adapter and the drive, it made the bottom case cover press pretty firmly against it. It did work, but I was worried about it causing cold solder joints etc.. I promptly ordered the small one and replace it. It fit perfect!

 

[tphan91]

The new battery arrived yesterday and went in. While I had the MacBook Air open again, I re-pasted the CPU to give it the best chance of remaining cool, tightened up the wobble in the display hinges and also glued together the clutch cover which had been cracked at some stage in its life.

I have now gifted this zippy little MacBook Air to my wife to finally upgrade from a 2009 white Unibody MacBook which was struggling with a slow HDD.

So the resurrected MBA now lives on and this story has a happy ending.

Hello OP,

Thank you for a comprehensive writeup. I'm in the process of giving my old Macbook Air 11" Mid 2013 a new life as well.

If you don't mind me asking, how well does the new battery hold up until now? I live in Canada so I'm looking at either the iFixit or OWC battery to replace the original Apple one (the brand is Dynapack according to Coconut Battery).

Also, does the new SSD interfere with the new SSD at all? I read online that the new SSD installed to Macbook Air/Pro 2013 - 2014 may reduce the charge of the original battery. So I don't know if that is the case for the new battery as well.

Any input from you is highly appreciate.

TIA.

 

[Omega Mac]

Hello OP,

Thank you for a comprehensive writeup. I'm in the process of giving my old Macbook Air 11" Mid 2013 a new life as well.

If you don't mind me asking, how well does the new battery hold up until now? I live in Canada so I'm looking at either the iFixit or OWC battery to replace the original Apple one (the brand is Dynapack according to Coconut Battery).

Also, does the new SSD interfere with the new SSD at all? I read online that the new SSD installed to Macbook Air/Pro 2013 - 2014 may reduce the charge of the original battery. So I don't know if that is the case for the new battery as well.

Any input from you is highly appreciate.

TIA.

Quick question how do you find the 11' MBA, thinking of picking up a used model or a refurb up (any pointers which model is the sweet spot?)

For reading convince and then being able to type with an actual keyboard, how the keyboard with the added light portability.

 

[Macdctr]

OP, you made this comment "One warning I was seeing on many of the eBay listings for these adapters state the NVMe adapters would pose a problem if the MacBook Air/Pro was to go into sleep mode (as in possibly not waking up?)."

I have refurbished numerous MacBook Airs/Pros from 2013 to 2015 and have never experienced this issue with any of them. In all cases I have used Sintech adapters (short black ones) and Samsung 960/970 PRO/EVO drives (my preferred ones). I can put my laptops to sleep and they wake up with no issue. I am running Mojave (MacOS 12) on them as well.

 

[Macdctr]

Quick question how do you find the 11' MBA, thinking of picking up a used model or a refurb up (any pointers which model is the sweet spot?)

Best place to find 11 inch Airs is on eBay. I scored my Early 2015 11-inch i7/8GB Air on eBay for $100. Then used an extra AC Adapter and performed an SMC reset to restore full functionality to that laptop. Love eBay...

 

[Omega Mac]

Best place to find 11 inch Airs is on eBay. I scored my Early 2015 11-inch i7/8GB Air on eBay for $100. Then used an extra AC Adapter and performed an SMC reset to restore full functionality to that laptop. Love eBay...

Cool thanks, since posting came across a refurb site backmarket, the .com prices are super duper low compared to outside US for the same models, and so liek amny I'm outside the US, it might be chepaest ito import from US via eBay, but I see already an extra $75-80 buck with import and delivery charges, so that $100 bucks MBA 11' woudl be approx $180.

Exampel fo Backmarkrt Identical spec'd model: 11" MBA 2015, 4GB, 128GB, i5 1.6Ghz

US price $149 (converted €145)
EU price €285 (converted $295)