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

[Walee]

and also, do you guys know what size the SSD screw is?

By the looks of it it's an M2, length of the original one is 2mm, but 3mm fits just fine. Some adapters from eBay come with a spare screw, however the one I got is way too long - 4mm and as a result it doesn't sit right with a short adapter. As always be careful when experimenting with screws and don't screw them into the board effectively drilling a hole...

My question is: If I choose the Intel 660p, will I still be able to achieve 1,800Mbps (realistically less), or will I get even slower r/w speeds than with the Sabrent? Sorry if this doesn't make sense.

Realistically you will get 1400-1700Mbps no matter how fast drive you get. Better look as other speedtest results instead of plain sequential r/w (iops, random read/write etc). To be honest I'm unfamiliar with Adobe Creative Suite and Final Cut Pro so I don't know what kind of workload these programs create.

What else can I do?

Find someone who can lend you their original apple ssd for upgrade purposes. You can always try to install macos on an external drive to see what happens, but it's unlikely this will do the job.
No harm in tying though

After installing the sintech adapter and the ssd, I closed the body again - and recognized that afterwards the macbook "wobbles" a bit on the table. Following I suppose that ssd & adapter do not fit perfectly.

There are two latches around the battery that need to be clipped in place. Maybe you missed them? There are no latches on Air's.
if possible make photos - it's hard to guess without being a fortuneteller

Is there a consensus on the best and or cheapest product to use the old oem drive externally?

As far as I know the answer is "no". There is no selection to choose from anyway - these beasts are rare, not cheap and in my opinion are hardly worth buying.
But if you really need/want one - check out OWC or Sintech. Also Transcend has a Jetdrive lineup, but I'm not sure they sell enclosures without ssd's - these appear on used market from time to time.

 

[quaresma]

Installed the Adata SX8200 pro 512GB in my Early Macbook Pro 2015 13 inch. Was easy. Sintech did not send a screw, so I just used the one that was there on the motherboard.
Anyway, not noticing speed increase in file transfers or loading apps. Not a big deal. My goal was to increase storage space.

But it got me thinking: How much does Filevault slow things down? Mounting dmg files is still as slow as before, and copying to apps to applications folder is not much faster.

 

[Chilorio]

Hi.

Please Help Me.

I have a MBP early 2015. The SSD crashed and could not fix it (had Yosemite). To replaced I purchased a 970 EVO with a Syntech large adapter. Because the original SSD doesn't work I couldn't upgrade the OS. I made a usb with Catalina and Mojave, if I format the SSD to APFS I does not let me install the OS because of a firmware error, if I format the drive to MacOS Journaled the installation starts but before it finishes the MBP restarts and I'm not able to finish. It happens with both OS.

What else can I do?


Thank you in advance.

Any ideas?

 

[damaltor]

Any ideas?

Just an idea.... can you install Yosemite or Sierra and then upgrade to High Sierra or Mojave. If not, I think you may need to borrow an apple SSD to upgrade the ROM??

 

[Carioquinha]

Hi at all,
while waiting for the short sintech adapter - which hopefully will be solving the "bulge-issue" - I was thinking about the ssd itself. I was wondering, if the adata 8200pro is also a good choice with regard to temperature and follwing fan activities.

So far and with my typical usage of my 13" Macbook pro retine (early 2015), I cannot recognize any fan activities at all. In addition, changing the ssd follows the need for more capacity (Apple SSD came with 256 GB) - not necessarly more speed - but - as far as possible - not significant more power consumption - and not significant more waste heat.

Can I suppose that those ssd models with small power consumption also produce less waste heat?
Following the Corsair (does anybody have this ssd in use?) and the sabrent are one of the ssds with small waste heat? Is there any other analysis/ recomandation than the ones on the first page?

Thanks in advance,
Carioquinha

 

[quaresma]

Installed the Adata SX8200 pro 512GB in my Early Macbook Pro 2015 13 inch. Was easy. Sintech did not send a screw, so I just used the one that was there on the motherboard.
Anyway, not noticing speed increase in file transfers or loading apps. Not a big deal. My goal was to increase storage space.

But it got me thinking: How much does Filevault slow things down? Mounting dmg files is still as slow as before, and copying to apps to applications folder is not much faster.

Well, the answer to my question is here:
https://macmyths.com/do-i-really-need-filevault/

Filevault DOES affect performance. I knew that, but I didn’t know read speeds could be up to 48% slower! and write speeds up to 22% slower.

do you guys enable FileVault with the nvme ssds?

 

[Kraizelburg]

Well, the answer to my question is here:
https://macmyths.com/do-i-really-need-filevault/

Filevault DOES affect performance. I knew that, but I didn’t know read speeds could be up to 48% slower! and write speeds up to 22% slower.

do you guys enable FileVault with the nvme ssds?

I never have enabled fire vault or any other kind of encryption in my personal computers as they are always with me, on the other hand if it is a business computer you may want to enable fire vault for security purposes.

 

[Chilorio]

Hi.

Please Help Me.

I have a MBP early 2015. The SSD crashed and could not fix it (had Yosemite). To replaced I purchased a 970 EVO with a Syntech large adapter. Because the original SSD doesn't work I couldn't upgrade the OS. I made a usb with Catalina and Mojave, if I format the SSD to APFS I does not let me install the OS because of a firmware error, if I format the drive to MacOS Journaled the installation starts but before it finishes the MBP restarts and I'm not able to finish. It happens with both OS.

What else can I do?

OT: Without realizing The SSD that came with the MPB became full and crashed. When I started the MBP gave me the folder with a ? error (can't find OS) I tried to fix the drive with disk utilities it can't be donde because it doesn't have enough free space (8 MB), i't can't be erased or formatted either. Do you know a solution?

Thank you in advance.

.



Find someone who can lend you their original apple ssd for upgrade purposes. You can always try to install macos on an external drive to see what happens, but it's unlikely this will do the job.
No harm in tying though

I have MacOS installed on an external HD, the latest OS that I can install is Sierra, I failed with High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina. Thank You for your answer, I keep looking if somebody let me use their original SSD.

 

[vince22]

I have MacOS installed on an external HD, the latest OS that I can install is Sierra, I failed with High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina. Thank You for your answer, I keep looking if somebody let me use their original SSD.

eBay is your best bet, buy original apple ssd, return it if you're not satisfied with the product.

 

[Walee]

eBay is your best bet, buy original apple ssd, return it after OS install and bootrom upgrade.

That's a rather questionable way of solving this problem, in my opinion.

 

[quaresma]

Can the bootrom install file be extracted somehow? I'm on Mojave 10.14.6 with the latest security updates but my bootrom is till 186.0.0.0.0. The latest bootrom for my Early 2015 MBP on Catalina is 188.0.0.0.0?

But... if nothing important has changed I don't need it?

 

[Dimentium]

The latest bootrom for my Early 2015 MBP on Catalina is 188.0.0.0.0?

I'm on Catalina 10.15.1 but right now bootrom 187.0.0.0.
MBPr13'2015 too :\

 

[damaltor]

Can the bootrom install file be extracted somehow? I'm on Mojave 10.14.6 with the latest security updates but my bootrom is till 186.0.0.0.0. The latest bootrom for my Early 2015 MBP on Catalina is 188.0.0.0.0?

But... if nothing important has changed I don't need it?

I'm a little confused, the info I am seeing for your MBP running Mojave is...
MacBookPro12,1 186.0.0.0.0
...and as Dimentium states, running Catalina...
MacBookPro12,1 187.0.0.0.0
Am I missing something?

 

[quaresma]

I'm a little confused, the info I am seeing for your MBP running Mojave is...
MacBookPro12,1 186.0.0.0.0
...and as Dimentium states, running Catalina...
MacBookPro12,1 187.0.0.0.0
Am I missing something?

It’s up to 188.0.0.0.0 on the latest Catalina beta. I’d like to know if bootrom update can be done without upgrading to Catalina?

 

[damaltor]

It’s up to 188.0.0.0.0 on the latest Catalina beta. I’d like to know if bootrom update can be done without upgrading to Catalina?

Oh, I got it, sorry.

 

[liberace]

guys how you don't understand that bootrom version bring you nothing
we will never receive update that will fix this because "the key of apple" is completely opposite in every product they made

 

[bugra101]

Has anyone ever experienced good read speeds but low write speeds after upgrading to Sabrent Rocket Ssd?

its an MBA 2017, Upgrade was flawless. Trim is enabled. x4 Pcie is showing on system info.

I`m getting 1500mb/s read and 800mb/s write.

Does indexing effect this result? I've done a clean OS install to Catalina from Catalina.

Also there seems to be 2 disks on Disk Utility like in the attached picture?

 

[bigpoppamac31]

Would it make more sense to upgrade with the SSD adapter or just purchase one of these drives? https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro-retina-display/2013-2014-2015

 

[teffers]

Would it make more sense to upgrade with the SSD adapter or just purchase one of these drives? https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro-retina-display/2013-2014-2015

I'd definitely go the adapter upgrade route rather than OWC. That way you can determine the quality of the NVME drive yourself ;-)

 

[bigpoppamac31]

I'd definitely go the adapter upgrade route rather than OWC. That way you can determine the quality of the NVME drive yourself ;-)

Well yes I can choose from various drive options though I don't really know which one is the best one. Just seems that the OWC drives would be easier in that I don't need to fuss with an adapter. Plus their prices seem decent now although I think SSD prices are still way too high compared to "traditional" HDD with the same capacity.

 

[vince22]

Also there seems to be 2 disks on Disk Utility like in the attached picture?

its normal, read only volume (system files) and Data volume.

 

[liberace]

Has anyone ever experienced good read speeds but low write speeds after upgrading to Sabrent Rocket Ssd?

its an MBA 2017, Upgrade was flawless. Trim is enabled. x4 Pcie is showing on system info.

I`m getting 1500mb/s read and 800mb/s write.

Does indexing effect this result? I've done a clean OS install to Catalina from Catalina.

Also there seems to be 2 disks on Disk Utility like in the attached picture?

how is your battery life now?
I guess yes after indexing it should go close to 1200 on write

 

[bugra101]

how is your battery life now?
I guess yes after indexing it should go close to 1200 on write

I’ve not actually measured the battery yet, need to download coconut battery.

I havent actually left the mac running more than an hour since the upgrade. Might still be indexing. Will try again after a while.

 

[quaresma]

I’ve now used the Adata SX8200 pro 512GB on my early 2015 MBP, for 5 days.

Battery: Definitely a hit on battery, when just surfing and listening to music. I guess I have to live with it.

Speed: I was surprised to see mixed results. Sometimes r/w speeds are better and sometimes worse than the original drive. I don’t get nowhere near the 4k random speeds as you guys. Might have something to do with FileVault being enabled? Pretty disappointing. I don’t feel the faster speeds in the OS in general (loading apps, opening dmg files and so on).

Overall it was a really easy upgrade, I used the iFixit Essential Toolkit and was done in 5 minutes. I used the short Sintech adapter.

As for storage: Well what can I say, double the space! Went from 256 -> 512! I can now transfer most of my Raw files from the external drive.

Speed is still disappointing though... Makes me wonder why people say “you won’t notice Filevault, Apple is so smart blah blah”

 

[efra]

Has anyone tried the 2 tb Sabrent version? Works normal? Would it work in the mbpr mid 2014?