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[FlameThrow]

Hi all,

I need a little help — I'm stuck. I want to upgrade the SSD in my MBP A1502 (2015) because the original SSD is dead. I purchased an NVMe-to-mSATA type adapter (PCIe) that Apple used in this model.

Everything fits, but the Mac refuses to see the drive. The drive is a Hynix 512GB that I took from a Lenovo ThinkPad.

I should mention that when I first inserted the SSD, it still had Windows 10 on it, and it did boot into the Windows 10 boot manager — so the drive and adapter do work.

[victor]

Hi,

Samsung drives are usually the ones that work directly in the PCIe slot. For a Hynix SSD, you need to do a small workaround:

1. Put the SSD in a USB enclosure, connect it to a Mac, and format it as APFS.

**Or**

1b. Connect the SSD to a Windows 7 (64-bit or newer) system and run **diskpart**:

```
> list disk (your SSD is usually disk 1, system disk is disk 0)
> select disk 1
> clean
```

This will remove all partitions.
Then, go to Disk Management and initialize the drive as **GUID (GPT)**, but do **not** create a volume.

2. Start the MacBook Pro while holding the **Option (ALT)** key and let it load the macOS Recovery from the internet.
Once at Recovery, connect the USB enclosure with the SSD, open **Disk Utility**, choose **Erase**, and format the drive as **GUID Partition Map** + **Mac OS Extended (Journaled)**. Then partition it again the same way.

3. Install macOS **onto the SSD while it is still in the USB enclosure**.
This is the key step — after the macOS installer finishes, the SSD will be recognized and will work correctly once you move it back into the PCIe slot.
_________________
Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.

[victor]

Forgot to add: You need to upgrade to High Sierra or newer (try Monterey) to have NVME support and have the firmware updated. This tools does it automatically, just download the iso and burnit to a USD disk

https://github.com/MuertoGB/MacBRTool

I personally would put Monterey on it.
_________________
Victor Voinea
ALLservice HQ, Romania.