Macbook drive issue

[Big Jim]

2015 13" Macbook pro
internal SSD is too small 128GB

we are in the process of upgrading to a 500GB drive.
opted for an adapter and a 500GB NVME SSD, the drive is detected by disk utility in repair mode so that it can be formatted, it is also detected by "restore from a time machine backup", appears to successfully restore all user data until you reboot the machine then the machine doesn't detect it as a boot drive, and first aid on the drive finds no issues.

Similarly if we install a fresh copy of MacOS (tried Cataline and high Sierra up to now) it seems to install ok then upon reboot drive is missing again.
Adapter has no components on it at all its just providing pass through, the drive fitted is detected correctly.
The upgraded drive in this case is a Crucial P5 500GB, have also tried a 256GB Toshiba drive we have lying around and its exactly the same.



Currently I have the drive fitted and clone with time machine, booted to recovery environment and high sierra installer detects the drive just fine, and will essentially install to it but as soon as you reboot the machine you either get flashing folder icon or circle with a line though it. holding option key at boot does not detect the drive as a boot device either.

Is there another method I can use ?
Or have Macs got a whitelist of certain drives ?
I have done this once before with a "non mac" drive and remember then it wasn't straight forward.

incidentally I did clone the drive using macrium and it booted from a USB adapter but wouldn't detect again when plugged into the machine.

 

[timeshifter]

Don't know the answer, but feel your pain. These guys have already figured it out, they're usually the first with these things. If you're not in a hurry you may want to get their kit.

SSD Upgrades for 2013, 2014, and 2015 MacBook Pro

Upgrade the SSD of any 2013-2015 MacBook Pro for up to 16x the capacity of the original factory drive. Kit includes all tools needed for DIY installation.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[Big Jim]

I think the issue may be fixed with High sierra, they updated the bootloader to include NVME drives.
This thing is running Yosemite with 2GB free space.
Time machine backup > delete 40Gb photos file > update to High sierra

Hopefully when the update has finished it will boot from NVME.

 

[Markverhyden]

Fairly certain apple does not do any wonky firmware stuff on their drives. Just a bunch of different connectors which is almost as bad. Personally I'd avoid using any kind of interface adapter for an internal drive unless there was no choice.

 

[overburnz]

The OWC flash SSD are the best options for MacBook and they request that the MacBook where you are going to use it, is at the minimum on high Sierra, try to update the original flash SSD and then see if it boots if not use a OWC flash aura pro

 

[lcoughey]

The OWC flash SSD are the best options for MacBook and they request that the MacBook where you are going to use it, is at the minimum on high Sierra, try to update the original flash SSD and then see if it boots if not use a OWC flash aura pro

Have they stopped using the super cheap and unstable Sandforce controllers for their SSDs?

 

[overburnz]

That I don’t know but we use it very often and no big issues

 

[Big Jim]

Fairly certain apple does not do any wonky firmware stuff on their drives. Just a bunch of different connectors which is almost as bad. Personally I'd avoid using any kind of interface adapter for an internal drive unless there was no choice.

The only apple ones I could find were used and hideously expensive compared to a standard NVME drive.
FWIW, the Crucial i originally purchased had sleep issues (flashing folder waking from sleep)
We swapped it out for a Samsung 970 Evo and it worked like a charm.