yosemite macbook pro connect to external nvme ssd (thunderbolt 3)

[77iicC]

Hi guys, I have a macbook pro mid 2012 retina with OS X 10.10.5 (14F2511). This model only has thunderbolt 1.

I knew if I upgrade the Os to minimum 10.13, I would be able to thunderbolt 3 external nvme hard drive.(you will need the apple adapter and the external hard drive has to get the power from some where else instead of the thunderbolt port) However for some personal reason I cannot do the Os upgrade, so I need to somehow extract the specific upgrade for nvme support from the newer Os.

At this point I don't even know if I did manage add the nvme driver to yosemite, will the macbook able to recognize the thunderbolt 3 ssd, but at least it would recognize the external nvme ssd.

A lots of posts out there are more for add internal bootable nvme ssd for macintosh project. And they really lost me, because I don't really have any knowledge about macintosh, I did pick it up few terms, EFI, bios, bootrom...

Anyhow, plz help me!!! a point to a right direction would be nice too. If a full procedure that would be awesome : )

 

[joevt]

If you only have Thunderbolt 1 (limited to 10 Gbps), then consider using the NVMe device in a cheap NVMe to USB 3.1 gen 2 USB adapter which will be more compatible and have the same performance when connected to your old MacBook Pro.

ORICO NVME M.2 to Type-C USB3.1 Gen2 10Gbps Transparent External Hard Drive Adapter Enclosure for 2280 2260 2242 2230 PCI-E M2 M-Key SSD, USB Type C Converter Case With C to C & C to A Cable (TCM2-Black)

Product Code: ORICO TCM2-C3 Material: Transparent PC+ Aluminum Alloy Color: Blue/Red/Silver/Black (Aluminum alloy plate) Output Interface: USB3.1 Type-C Chip: JMS583 (10Gbps) Speed: USB3.1 GEN2 10Gbps Supported Capacity: 2TB max Dimension: 108*34*11.5mm Supported System: Windows/Mac/L...

www.amazon.ca

Plugable USB-C M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure; Tool-Free & Driverless. USB 3 Type-C, including Thunderbolt and USB4, at 10Gbps. For M.2 NVMe SSDs 2230 to 2280 PCIe Gen 3 and 4. USB C and USB A cables included

Plugable's NVMe USB 10Gbps enclosure enables the fastest external storage for USB computers. Great for file storage, backups, transferring large files between computers, data migration to a larger NVMe SSD, or recovering data from a computer's operating system drive. This M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure c...

www.amazon.ca

Then connect it to the MacBook Pro's USB port (5 Gbps) or a USB port of a Thunderbolt 2 dock. Or a Thunderbolt 2 PCIe expansion box with a USB 3.0 PCIe card.

You should update your macOS version. The updates are free to download. Your MacBook Pro supports Catalina (10.15).

1. NVMe
   1. requires El Capitan (10.11) using patched or third party drivers
      1. Then you can try one of the solutions at https://github.com/RehabMan/patch-nvme
      2. Even if you use the third party NVMeGeneric.kext solution, you still need to have 10.11.6 (I suppose it could be compiled for an older macOS version but we don't have the source code - you would have to make your own driver).
   2. requires High Sierra (10.13) using Apple drivers
2. USB 3.1 gen 2 (10 Gbps)
   1. requires Sierra (10.12)
3. Thunderbolt 3
   1. requires High Sierra (10.13) for full functionality...
   2. might be usable in Yosemite (10.10) - I tested connecting a Thunderbolt 3 dock to a Thunderbolt 2 MacBook Pro 2015 running El Capitan (10.11). It works - it just doesn't show up in the Thunderbolt list in System Information.app. The PCIe devices inside the Thunderbolt 3 dock are detected and drivers are loaded (FireWire, Ethernet, USB 3.0). The USB 3.0 controllers in the Thunderbolt 3 Dock and the USB devices connected to them appear in the USB section of System Information.app. The USB 3.1 gen 2 controller of the Thunderbolt 3 controller of the Thunderbolt 3 Dock appears only when a USB device is connected to the downstream Thunderbolt 3 port - only the USB 2.0 ports appear because USB 3.1 gen 2 is not supported in El Capitan (10.11). I can also connect a second Thunderbolt 3 device to the first.

 

[joevt]

Added more notes for Thunderbolt 3.

 

[77iicC]

what a detail post, thx joevt.
I knew I could upgrade the system, would make life so much easier, I also wish I still has the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2, then I will not worried about TB3 nvme ssd. But the relality was I have some professional softwares, they would have compatibility issue with higher Os.
I saw so many posts regarding yosemite adding full nvme support for the macintosh
or even mac pro for internal nvme ssd. I thought in theory there should be a way for me to modify the bios for the motherboard and modify the Os somehow to made the 10.13 upgrade for the TB3 part to my yosemite 10.10.5. Just don't know where to get started.