MacBook Pro Early 2015 NVMe SSD Upgrade Tutorial
619A How-To on upgrading an Early 2015 MacBook Pro’s internal NVMe SSD to a higher capacity, faster performing drive.
**PLEASE UPGRADE YOUR MAC OS TO 10.13 OR HIGHER BEFORE SWAPPING YOUR DRIVE – IT WILL SAVE YOU SOME HEADACHE AND TIME**
Parts used:
13” MacBook Pro (Early-2015) - https://amzn.to/351RFl3
IFixIt ProTech Toolkit - https://amzn.to/2Q4DcR2
Generic Pentalobe Screwdriver Set - https://amzn.to/2F1gJOz
Generic Torx Screwdriver Set - https://amzn.to/2F4dDZU
Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe SSD - https://amzn.to/354UwcM
SinTech NGFF M.2 Adapter - https://amzn.to/364xPa8
Seagate Backup+ External HDD - https://amzn.to/2ZxKnUQ
SanDisk Cruiser 64 GB USB - https://amzn.to/2F4djKG
Filmed on a Canon 5D Mark IV kit - https://amzn.to/2t7AgKl
Rode VideoMic Pro - https://amzn.to/2Q5unpV
Some parts of the tutorial have been omitted in description due to character limits.
Time to upgrade a MacBook Pro with a new NVMe SSD! This time it’s a 13” Retina version from early 2015, Model #12.1 or A1502 running MacOSX Yosemite.
As always, our links are Amazon affiliated so I’ll earn a very tiny commission should you choose to purchase things below. Thank you.
You’ll need a screwdriver with a pentalobe 5 bit along with a Torx T5 bit, an NVMe SSD, and a converter to connect the pin layout from Apple’s connector to standard NVMe. A Sintech NGFF sled for about $15 to adapt the pins works great. Also you’ll need a backup external hard drive or SSD for Time Machine, as we need it for restore later. For this we are using a 1TB Seagate Backup +.
First, use a Pentalobe 5 screwdriver to remove the 10 Pentalobe screws on the bottom of the machine. Keep in mind that the two located by the heat vents are a little shorter so keep track of them.
Next, remove the adhesive next to the power supply and the battery, then remove the tab connecting the battery to the machine, providing power. This can be done with a spudger or by using a finger nail.
Next we want to install the sled adapter into the empty space and then the SSD itself onto the sled. Install both the sled and SSD at a very slight angle to the connector and ensure they are firmly seated with the pins. Use the included Phillips #0 screw to lock both the drive and sled into the slot.
One big issue. It turns out that MacOSX 10.10 Yosemite and its associated Apple recovery volume is too old to recognize this new drive. To solve, take your current MacOS install and upgrade it through the App Store to 10.14 or 10.15, Mojave or Catalina. For booting, you can’t use the internet recovery option, you’ll instead have to run a terminal command to create a downloaded boot volume with an exterrnal 16 GB or greater USB drive. From there, it should detect fine.
Once upgraded, use the external HDD to run Time Machine to back up your entire disk image so that we have something to restore from.
Once Time Machine finishes its initial backup of MacOS Catalina, prepare your bootable USB..
Now that MacOS and its associated Bootrom are upgraded, it should be able to detect our NVMe drive without issue.
Prepare our USB Drive with Disk Utility, erase it and reformat the drive as MacOS Extended (Journaled).
Next, create a bootable USB drive with a Sudo Command in Terminal after having your USB drive ready. Change your volume label “My Volume” in the command to whatever name you gave your USB drive; in my case it’s just “USB”.
Once you download MacOS Catalina from the Apple App store, you see it’s about 8 Gigs. You don’t want to install it, instead place this in our Applications folder to create a bootable USB.
Copy/Paste or type the following command into Terminal for MacOS Catalina: “sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume” without quotes. The spaces after slashes are required.
With the installer package in our App folder, we get a prompt after running our terminal command to create our bootable media. Put in your user or login password and erase the disk.
Swap to the new SSD and reboot the machine in Safe Recovery mode by pressing and holding Command + R during the startup chime.
Select “Launch Time Machine Backup” and pick our external hard drive.
The machine will reboot and you’ll see the recovery console. Select Disk Utility to erase and format the SSD.
I named it Samsung 970 EVO and reformatted it using the Apple File System. Keep in mind that the APFS file system doesn’t work with lower versions of MacOS (below 10.13 High Sierra).
Once done formatting our SSD, select restore from Time Machine backup.
Next, Restore to the new SSD. Select erase SSD and let the restore begin.
Once the restore completes, the machine will reboot automatically.
This wraps up on how to swap out an NVMe based SSD on an Early 2015 MacBook Pro. Like, comment, and subscribe for more!