Samsung 960 Evo NVMe SSD w/ rMBP 15" (mid-2014): Trim? Firmware Upgrade?

[Tony N.]

Hello!

I recently installed a 1TB 960 Evo in my rMBP 15" mid-2014 using the JSER adapter from Amazon. I'm getting great speeds (~1500MB/s read & write) and everything is rock solid. However, I'm wondering if TRIM is working properly out of the box.

I checked system information and listed under the NVMe tab the SSD is detected and TRIM SUPPORT indicates YES. Does this confirm that TRIM is ON and working?

Also - I've been trying to update to the latest firmware using Samsung's instructions but the USB thumb drive I created does not boot. I get a black screen. I'm hoping someone here has been successful at running the firmware bootable USB update.

Samsung's instruction PDF: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...rmware_Update_Utility_User_Manual_English.pdf

I used UNetbootin to create a bootable USB using the 3B7QCXE7 firmware.

Firmware link: http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.c...5/Samsung_SSD_960_EVO_3B7QCXE7.iso&OriginYN=N

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Audit13]

I believe you need a Windows computer to flash the SSD firmware.

Trim should be enabled but, if you want, you can manually enable it again using this terminal command: sudo trimforce enable.

 

[treekram]

What I see on the Samsung downloads page for SSD's is:
- 950 Pro and 960 Pro/Evo firmware updates show up under Windows, but not for the Mac.
- There is a separate set of instructions in the Windows section for NVMe firmware updates (not the one that is linked). This document is not in the Mac section. The instructions appear to be pretty much the same but the screenshots for the SATA SSD's show "Samsung SSD Firmware Update Utility Version 1.0". The NVMe instructions shows version 3.1. It's possible that the screenshots are not up-to-date. If they have different versions for the firmware updates for the SATA vs. NVMe SSD's, it's possible that the updater program embedded with the ISO file isn't compatible with the Mac.

People have reported problems with the firmware update 3B7QCXE7 for the 960 Evo. Do a web search. After people reported the problems, they pulled the updates off the site and it looks like the 3B7QCXE7 (960 Evo) reappeared in January 2018. Did they just do a lot of testing and determine there weren't problems? Or maybe there was a problem with the updater which was embedded with the ISO file and that, but not the firmware itself was updated? Or maybe they changed the firmware but kept the same version (highly irregular)? It In doing a web search (I didn't spend that much time on it, maybe there's something out there) I don't see anybody with a Mac updating the Samsung 960's. In any case, you may just want to hold off doing a firmware update.

If you bought the 960 Evo recently, I would think they would have the most recent firmware - if they actually did not change the firmware, the 960 Evo's shipped since last November should have the latest firmware. Have you checked your firmware revision?

 

[mmomega]

So far my experience with firmware on the SSD as well as the Mac.
I have a 960 on a Mac Pro.
I have to update the SSD firmware in Windows.
I have to have an original SSD to update firmware of the Mac.

But then on a Mac Mini, as long as I upgrade the OS, the machines firmware will upgrade. Regardless of the drive.

Just something to keep in mind.

You mileage may vary but this has been my experience over the last few years.

 

[Tony N.]

Thanks everyone. I found out I'm running the latest firmware, 3B7QCXE7. My drive's build date was 04/2018 so it came with it.

Now if they ever release a new update I'm crap out of luck since I don't have access to a newer Windows laptop with m.2 slot.