Ensure NVMe Compatibility with MacBook Air SSD Replacement

Written By: Dan
  • Comments: 37
Ensure NVMe Compatibility with MacBook Air SSD Replacement

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

1

Time Required

1 minute

Introduction

This guide will help guide you to an NVMe drive that will work in your MacBook Air.

Green indicates no issues

Yellow indicates you may have kernel Panic issues on wake from hibernation

Red indicates no workable option available using non apple pin formatted drives

    • MacBook Air Late 2010 - Working - High Sierra, Catalina, M2 Samsung Evo 860, Adapter

    • MacBook Air 2011 - Unknown

    • MacBook Air 2012 - Unknown

    • MacBook Air 2013 - Unknown

    • MacBook Air 2014 - WD_black 500 + Sintech adapter, running MacOS Big Sur

    • MacBook Air Early 2015 - WORKING- Mojave 10.14.3 to Big Sur 11.0.1- Crucial P1 SSD NVME, Adapter.

    • MacBook Air 2017 - WORKING - High Sierra, Catalina and Big Sur - Samsung Evo 960, Adapter.

    • MacBook Air 2018 and forward - will not work, No removable drive

    Can confirm also that this same setup works on a MacBook Pro 13” Retina Early 2015. Mojave 10.14.5 with Rivo NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter and 1TB Crucial P1 SSD NVMe

    Before Upgrade from 128GB Apple (samsung) SSD: < 220 MB/s read/write speeds from disk

    After: 1200MB/s read/write with the Crucial P1 1TB PCI channels read as an NVMe device in System Information

    Josh Fiddler -

    Thank you for following up!

    Dan -

    Have some bad news… suddenly started getting frequent kernel panic from this mod.

    when I installed, it worked flawlessly until July 25, 2019 when I started getting kernel panic when on battery.

    I knew I had to replace my battery soon, it was just under 90% of design capacity. But the error was always kicked out by iokit specifically from IONVMeFamily 2.1.0

    Bought an iFixit Battery, installed it on 28 July. Calibrated it according to the instructions. Still get at PPT004 warning in the hardware diagnostics program on startup. (battery not functioning correctly).

    I feel however, based on the 22 July system update to Mojave 10.14.5 to 10.14.6, may be the culprit.

    In the meanwhile, i’ve gone back to the original SSD, will try to properly re-calibrate the battery, as during initial phase, the magsafe disconnected momentarily.

    Thankfully, I have a backup machine to work on, albeit a windows-based one. :-( Anywho, will keep y’all posted.

    Josh Fiddler -

    I just installed the same update last night and also have a Crucial P1 1TB PCI. I will keep you informed. You installed the corrected update not the original right? The original was cause kernel panics across the board. I believe the corrected update came out on July 29th

    Dan -

    Yeah, I’m on the oops-we-casused-kernel-panics-for-everyone-here-try-this macOS update. lol.

    So a strange turn of events…

    In my desperation, after I removed the P1 and put the original back in to see if it was battery or the disk, I made a bootable USB installation of same kernel-panic free updated macOS Mojave 10.14.6, put the P1 back in, ran some diagnostics from USB installation, all clean, and then proceeded to work, KERNEL-PANIC-FREE riiiiight up until yesterday at 10:38:27 (thanks Console.app) while re-syncing my OneDrive account… part of me wonders if I’ve got some corrupt data in there that is causing havoc with the NVMe driver.

    For the time being, I’ve disabled sleep (always happens after it goes to sleep and I wake it up),

    Thanks for the back-n-forth. Will also keep you posted.

    Josh Fiddler -

    UPDATE:

    I had no luck with clearing the battery error with the iFixit Battery after re-calibrating.

    Things worked well for a brief period: 4 days of no KPs. Cannot identify any corrupt data.

    KPs started up again. In desperation, I opened up the case, and reseated the P1. Again noted that the drive seemed almost loose in the key-slot. Tightened the lock-down screw to a bit more than hand tight.

    That was 24 hours ago, and no KPs after suffering 5 or 6 the day before while trying to get some fricking C-code finished. Thanks to the reprieve, got it done. Now trying to make sure everything is okay.

    Josh Fiddler -

    Awesome to hear, I am running 10.14.6 and not having any issues.

    Dan -

    I wonder if this still applies for the 2019 model.

    Max Fiedler -

    You’d have to see if the SSD is removable, the form-factor etc. perhaps the tear-down is a good place to check.

    Josh Fiddler -

    2018 and forward the memory is not removable i’m afraid

    Dan -

    Is the 1TB Crucial P1 SSD NVMe convertible to the Macbook Air early 2015?

    On Apples website it only says that it’s convertible with 512 gb

    Pernille Madsen -

    Yes it should work fine

    Dan -

    Works well with Kingston A2000 250GB… 1GB write / 1.5GB rear /sec

    TB_rep -

    thanks for the feedback!

    Dan -

    From what i read before, for a MacBook Air early 2015, we have confirmed that the following work fine :

    a. One Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD

    b. One M.2 NGFF M-Key SSD Convert Card to Nvme PCI-E.

    But which adapter ? There are several brands ranging from €10-€40 … Any thoughts ?

    Can anyone confirm the overall length of the original M2 ssd on the above MacBook air ? The Crucial M2 states total length of 80mm. Has anyone the length of the adapter that fits ?

    Also will the above work on a MacBook Air early 2015 with latest High Sierra 10.13.6 ? I am not ready to migrate to the new file system on Mojave.

    Dimitris Nikolopoulos -

    High sierra should not be an issue as others has confirmed this working, the adapter is “Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card for Upgrade

    Dan -

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JPC...

    robinprior -

    Can anyone help out ? I installed the Crucial P1 ssd with the adapter, i booted with the option/alt key and the ssd is not present, only the bootable usb ! On a MacBook Air early 2015

    Dimitris Nikolopoulos -

    I have the same problem of Dimitris. Please someone could help us?

    Thank you very much

    Dani -

    I can confirm using the SinTech long adapter with a Western Digital SN720 256 GB (aka WD Black) NVME SSD works great with sleep and hibernation being flawless. On my early 2017 Macbook Air. Im getting 1700MB/s Read, and 1400MB/s write speeds. My original 128GB Apple SSD was getting about 800 MB/s read and write. Make sure to use the screw that came with the adapter. I don’t see any extra battery drain either. I was running OSX Catalina 10.15.3 and used a bootable USB and Time Machine backup. Formatted my WD SN720 with APFS. My 2017 Air came back right where I left off.

    Abe m -

    Thanks for the update!

    Dan -

    I try it with:

    - Macbook Air Early 2015 13’’.

    - Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD

    - QNINE M.2 Adaptador convertidor NVME SSD para MacBook Air Pro Retina Mediados de 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017, Kit de actualización NVME/AHCI SSD para A1465 A1466 A1398 A1502

    - Catalina 10.15.3

    It doesn’t work. The Macbook Air doesn’t see the SSD.

    Tomás Lucas -

    Did the bootable disk see the SSD?

    Dan -

    In the MacBook Air 2017 and the Catalina 10.15.5 can you upgrade the ssd using the Samsung evo 960? And if you use the Samsung evo 970 will it work? Always with the adapter, thank you for your help

    bbreia -

    Sorry for the late reply, I cant see why it would not work, did you give it a shot?

    Dan -

    works with WD_black 500 + Sintech adapter on MacBook Air 13” early 2014 running MacOS Big Sur

    Muwa -

    Awesome to hear|!

    Dan -

    Will this all work with earlier versions of Mac OS? I prefer to stay at Sierra level and no higher.

    Mark T Galyean -

    This worked for me:

    - Macbook Air Mid 2017 “MacBookAir7,2“

    - macOS Big Sur

    - Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe M.2 . (I checked that it had latest firmware 2021 Oct. For how to do that, go youtube “970 evo plus firmware update“)

    - Adapter: “Rivo NGFF M.2 Adapter“ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z87N85Y https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07N4HS69S (even though product description did not mention MacBook Air 2017) Also adapter physically fit fine. Did not cause MacBook Air back cover to bulge

    shin -

    Thanks for sharing!!

    Dan -

    Macbook air early 2015 with ssd crucial P1 nvme

    Hi to all,

    I bought a crucial P1 ssd nvme with this adapter: ++https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z87N85Y++ and I make a bootable disk with mojave in usb.

    When I restart the mac, and when I go to Utility disk, my new disk there isn’t.

    I also putted the P1 in an external case and in this case the new ssd therre is so I formatted in apfs from here. But when I put it inside there isn’t.

    Could someone help me please?

    I’m becoming crazy!!!!!

    Probably it depend from operating system?

    Dani -

    Make sure you click show all drives

    Dan -

    Pour l'adaptateur, 4,31 euros :
    https://www.amazon.fr/bubbyleyy-16Pin-M-...
    Pour le SSD, fiable, 1T à 45 euros :
    https://www.amazon.fr/Samsung-SSD-Intern...
    Et en plus, il chauffe moins que celui d'origine à 128 gb...
    Pour moins de 50 euros, votre MacBook a une nouvelle vie !

    Francois -

    Which version of NVMe does MacBook Air (Early 2015) model support?....I'm interested to upgrade the SSD from present 128 GB to 1 TB...pls help

    Satyakam Chakraborty -

    I tried with the Samsung 1 TB 990 PRO SSD with an adapter but it didn't work..could not detect the SSD...

    Satyakam Chakraborty -

    970 Pro plus works. 990 has more lanes I believe.

    livfe -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Dan

Member since: 19/02/19

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