Upgrade SSD on Mid-2015 15" Retina. Which SSD?

[LucidIllusion]

I've seen conflicting answers on upgrading the SSD on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015). I currently have a 512GB SSD, but want to upgrade to a 1TB or 2TB if possible.

The results from my Googling seem to indicate that it is possible, but only with specific types of SSD drives. I can't find any good resource indicating which SSD drives are compatible.

Does anyone here have experience on which SSD drives would work for my situation? Thanks!

 

[jerryk]

You have a few issues to consider.

First, you need to get an Apple factory drive since the Apple uses a proprietary controller. Also, the drive needs to come from a 2015 rMBP, unless you are willing to give up performance. In 2015, the Apple drive could hit about 1.5 GB/sec. In 2014 the drive could hit around 0.7 GB/sec. And in earlier rMBPs about 0.5 GB.sec.

Second, this drive is not available for direct purchase from Apple. You will need to buy one off eBay or from an Apple repair shop.

If you looked at something like OWC, know your drive will lose over 1/2 it max performance, from the 1.5 GB/sec down to around 0.5 GB/sec.

If you just occasionally need additional storage consider a USB 3 external drive. I use the Samsung T-3 with great success. I see around 0.5 GB/sec on this drive.

 

[wgr73]

I've seen conflicting answers on upgrading the SSD on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015). I currently have a 512GB SSD, but want to upgrade to a 1TB or 2TB if possible.

The results from my Googling seem to indicate that it is possible, but only with specific types of SSD drives. I can't find any good resource indicating which SSD drives are compatible.

Does anyone here have experience on which SSD drives would work for my situation? Thanks!

I opted for an older apple drive and slower speed as well.

(If you decide to sell your 512GB, PM me I'm interested in upgrading yet again haha)

 

[ZapNZs]

This may be of interest if the loss of speed is an acceptable trade off
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro-retina-display/2013-2014-2015

IIRC, I have read that the Mac Pro PCIe SSD will work in the PCIe MacBook Pros. If that is the case, I wouldn't be surprised if a 2tb version costs more than a new 15-inch

 

[Deliverat0r]

I've seen conflicting answers on upgrading the SSD on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015). I currently have a 512GB SSD, but want to upgrade to a 1TB or 2TB if possible.

The results from my Googling seem to indicate that it is possible, but only with specific types of SSD drives. I can't find any good resource indicating which SSD drives are compatible.

Does anyone here have experience on which SSD drives would work for my situation? Thanks!

I upgraded my Macbook Pro (Retina, 15", mid 2015) with a 2TB Intel 660p M.2 nVME SSD and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME adapter. A High Sierra boot disk could not see the Intel SSD for partitioning, etc., but a Mojave boot disk had no trouble with it whatsoever. Install went perfectly, though restoring from my Time Machine backup proved problematic, as I had 2 HDDs in my old 2010 Macbook Pro. I had to use drive caddies to transfer the files.

 

[jerryk]

De

I upgraded my Macbook Pro (Retina, 15", mid 2015) with a 2TB Intel 660p M.2 nVME SSD and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME adapter. A High Sierra boot disk could not see the Intel SSD for partitioning, etc., but a Mojave boot disk had no trouble with it whatsoever. Install went perfectly, though restoring from my Time Machine backup proved problematic, as I had 2 HDDs in my old 2010 Macbook Pro. I had to use drive caddies to transfer the files.

You are replying to a 3 year old thread.

 

[Deliverat0r]

De


You are replying to a 3 year old thread.

Yes. I'm doing this for others who will find this thread in a search, as it comes up in a lot of related searches.

I did a lot of searching for my problem, and came across precisely zero comments indicating I would need anything more recent than High Sierra to get an M.2 nVME recognized in a Macbook.

 

[Audit13]

It was confirmed here that the MacBook must be running at least a High Sierra bootrom in order to use a nvme drive. Also, Sierra can be used on a MacBook with a Hisgh Sierra bootrom as long as the drive can be formatted using 4k clusters.

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

 

[cdcastillo]

I've seen conflicting answers on upgrading the SSD on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015). I currently have a 512GB SSD, but want to upgrade to a 1TB or 2TB if possible.

The results from my Googling seem to indicate that it is possible, but only with specific types of SSD drives. I can't find any good resource indicating which SSD drives are compatible.

Does anyone here have experience on which SSD drives would work for my situation? Thanks!

A work mate and I went to macsales and got OWC Aura Pro X2 blades for our laptops (his, a late 2013 15"; mine, a 2015 13") and have been really happy with the results. He got a 512 gb and I got a 1 Tb.

Mine set me back about 280 USD after shipping and Mexican import taxes; his, approx. $170. My mate had received a quote of about 480 USD in the Antara Apple Store for a 256 GB SSD, I was denied the service because apple refused to sell me a 1 TB SSD blade for my old laptop.

I installed the blades in about 4 minutes each.

EDIT: I just realized this was a 3 y/o thread. Anyhow, there's the info, hope it's useful for someone.

 

[Audit13]

A work mate and I went to macsales and got OWC Aura Pro X2 blades for our laptops (his, a late 2013 15"; mine, a 2015 13") and have been really happy with the results. He got a 512 gb and I got a 1 Tb.

Mine set me back about 280 USD after shipping and Mexican import taxes; his, approx. $170. My mate had received a quote of about 480 USD in the Antara Apple Store for a 256 GB SSD, I was denied the service because apple refused to sell me a 1 TB SSD blade for my old laptop.

I installed the blades in about 4 minutes each.

EDIT: I just realized this was a 3 y/o thread. Anyhow, there's the info, hope it's useful for someone.

Glad you got the drives to work.

The OWC drive is a nvme with Apple's proprietary connector. The same can be accomplished by using a Sinecth adapter with a standard nvme drive. At the same some, the Sintech/nvme drive combination is far cheaper and the nvme drive can be re-used in another non-Apple desktop or laptop.

 

[Deliverat0r]

It was confirmed here that the MacBook must be running at least a High Sierra bootrom in order to use a nvme drive. Also, Sierra can be used on a MacBook with a Hisgh Sierra bootrom as long as the drive can be formatted using 4k clusters.

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

Interesting. As I said, in my case High Sierra would not recognize the drive and I had to use Mojave. Not a big deal, but I thought others might want to know before giving up or thinking their drive was at fault.

I just performed a Blackmagic disk speed test on my drive: 1599.8 MB/s Read, 1678.7 MB/s Write. IIRC, that's about twice what the OEM drives would do. Not bad.

 

[Audit13]

Interesting. As I said, in my case High Sierra would not recognize the drive and I had to use Mojave. Not a big deal, but I thought others might want to know before giving up or thinking their drive was at fault.

I just performed a Blackmagic disk speed test on my drive: 1599.8 MB/s Read, 1678.7 MB/s Write. IIRC, that's about twice what the OEM drives would do. Not bad.

Weird that Mojave was needed in your case.

I used High Sierra with a nvme drive and Sintech adapter on two early 2015 13" Airs. Both were updated to the first release of High Sierra from Sierra before the drives were replaced.

 

[Deliverat0r]

Yes, weird. I noticed that the Disk Utility in my High Sierra boot disk didn't have a "View" item under the usual "File, Edit, View..." menus, nor did it have the View button on the window. It may be that the drive was detected, but it was unformatted and I had no way to "Show All Devices" and move forward with the install. I tried recreating the boot disk, but it didn't change. Very odd.

 

[Audit13]

Hmm, some people had to format the drive using Linux first?

 

[Deliverat0r]

I think I read something like that somewhere, too. I didn't have a drive caddy to try that, and since my Macbook Pro is fine with Mojave, I went with that option. I probably would have updated the OS anyway, so I really should have started there.

 

[Codeline]

I am interested in this also.
Instead of reading through 260 pages is there a summary list of parts to buy & a single post detailing how to do it?

 

[Audit13]

I am interested in this also.
Instead of reading through 260 pages is there a summary list of parts to buy & a single post detailing how to do it?

Look at the first post here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/upgrading-2013-2014-macbook-pro-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/

 

[Deliverat0r]

Look at the first post here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/upgrading-2013-2014-macbook-pro-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/

I used: a 2TB Intel 660p M.2 nVME SSD and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME adapter. Pretty much any nVME SSD and adapter will work.

This video shows how to install it:

He installs the OS and migrates the system first using a drive caddy. That's ok, but you can also just install the hard drive directly and then install MacOS using a Mojave or Catalina install disk on a USB thumb drive, and then migrate from a Time Machine backup as well.

 

[pshufd]

I used: a 2TB Intel 660p M.2 nVME SSD and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME adapter. Pretty much any nVME SSD and adapter will work.

This video shows how to install it:

He installs the OS and migrates the system first using a drive caddy. That's ok, but you can also just install the hard drive directly and then install MacOS using a Mojave or Catalina install disk on a USB thumb drive, and then migrate from a Time Machine backup as well.

I've been seeing newer videos on this process and it seems like things are a lot easier these days to do the upgrade. Of course, there's always just the option of upgrading to the 16. The thing is that I'm sure that there are an absolute ton of 2015 15s out there begging to be upgraded. I'm still quite happy with mine. The only thing more that I'd like is 32 GB of RAM.

 

[Audit13]

I used: a 2TB Intel 660p M.2 nVME SSD and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME adapter. Pretty much any nVME SSD and adapter will work.

He installs the OS and migrates the system first using a drive caddy. That's ok, but you can also just install the hard drive directly and then install MacOS using a Mojave or Catalina install disk on a USB thumb drive, and then migrate from a Time Machine backup as well.

You can use a High Sierra USB installer too as long as the MacBook is running a HS bootrom.

 

[Codeline]

Look at the first post here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/upgrading-2013-2014-macbook-pro-ssd-to-m-2-nvme.2034976/

I noticed it was from 2017 but I didn’t notice it had been edited on 21st feb 2020....my mistake
[automerge]1589483275[/automerge]

I used: a 2TB Intel 660p M.2 nVME SSD and a Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME adapter. Pretty much any nVME SSD and adapter will work.

This video shows how to install it:

He installs the OS and migrates the system first using a drive caddy. That's ok, but you can also just install the hard drive directly and then install MacOS using a Mojave or Catalina install disk on a USB thumb drive, and then migrate from a Time Machine backup as well.

Exactly what I was looking for thanks.

 

[Audit13]

I noticed it was from 2017 but I didn’t notice it had been edited on 21st feb 2020....my mistake

The first post is a Wiki post so it can be edited as needed.

Good luck with your upgrade.

 

[cdcastillo]

... He installs the OS and migrates the system first using a drive caddy. That's ok, but you can also just install the hard drive directly and then install MacOS using a Mojave or Catalina install disk on a USB thumb drive, and then migrate from a Time Machine backup as well.

I did something similar to this, but after "cold installing" the SSD blade, the system failed to recognize the Mojave installer in the USB; it did saw the drive, but it just didn't recognized the installer. I ended installing Mojave from a network server in an apple store (something not doable this days) and then migrating my files from the TM back up.

 

[Audit13]

Updated my mid-2014 13" to 10.15.4 and the bootrom went from 159.0.0.0 to 160.0.0.0 using an original Apple SSD.

 

[landfiles]

Hello everyone

I just upgraded my Macbook Pro 2015, 15 inch, with a 512 Sabrent Rocket SSD.

I want to share my experience using a faulty adaptor.

i had 2 of these cheap adaptors, and I was getting terrible results on writing, after I installed the new ssd.
(You can see the results, around 600 mb/s on writing)

so I just changed the adaptor, to the other one I had (both identical, lucky I bought 2) and the results boosted up!

So, just be careful on what adapter you use!
I'm still buying the sintech adapter that everyone recommends on the forum.

Good luck !