970 evo mac pro

Ben, are you using this adapter? https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2016-2013-2015/dp/B07FYY3H5F/ref=pd_bxgy_147_3/261-5856238-7470418

i have tried this adapter with Samsung 960 eco, 970 evo, Intel 660p, 760p, all work without issues. All adapters are not created equal.

Ben, before you inserted that NVMe make sure you install either High Sierra latest version or Mojave so you get firmware updater to 127.0.0.0.0 or 128.0.0.0.0

once that is done then insert the NVMe into that 2013 Mac Pro. but make sure you use the sintech adaptor -c

Please forgive me, I've rarely checked the S.M.A.R.T status of a drive and I'm not too sure what it all means, but I cannot see anything alarming with the Sintech adaptor and a Samsung 970 evo 1tb drive in my Mac Pro 2013.

Now looking at my other drives!

The 970 evo PLUS does NOT work in the mac pro with its controller and software. I am told the evo did work although I have not tried it. The 970 pro DEFINITELY WORKS because I have tried it in my 5,1 Mac Pro, with firmware 141.0.0.0. I thought the boot time was too long however so I switched back to an AHCI ssd. The operating speed difference was nil using a single slot adapter.

Replaced all with 970 EVO's. No Kernel Panics at all. Great speeds.

Hi Tabosko,

I have just done this myself, with the Sintech adaptor I have installed a Samsung evo 970 1tb, all looking really good so far – some breathing space at last! Double the read / write speeds coming from the standard 256gb ssd.

1) Do a Time machine backup

2) Prepare a usb installer of High Sierra or above, the drive will only be visible High Sierra onwards.

3) Do the brain surgery on your mac, be carful when removing and installing the adapter to the mac pro as the connection doesn't allow for the drive to lean forward, just very small pulls upwards and avoid touching any components in your mac.

4) Place the usb installer in and power on, hold the option key down

5) If you can see the drive in disk utility, erase and format the drive to APFS format

6) Close disk utility and restore from your time machine backup

These drives are like sticks of gum, they are tiny and the connections are too, take great care with EVERYTHING you do, small movements, gently place males into female connections etc...

This is just how I did things, and obviously take no responsibility if you do any damage to your machine.

Thanks,

Al

Your report is showing no errors so you may be fine. Here is a comment from someone who bought the same heatsink as you.

I got the Samsung 960 Pro and it fits on it, so the Evo should be fine. 

To install it you "sandwitch" it: heatsink bottom, the included thermal pad, NVME drive, another thermal pad, heatsink top, and hold it together with the clips on the side (use a tweezer/screwdriver to lift the clip in place). 

Be careful how you align the heatsink, so it doesn't cover the connectors, or the screw on the other side, make sure the screw can completely reach the nvme drive and the bottom of the heatsink doesn't interfere. I got it wrong the first time I mounted it, but was pretty easy to take it off, align it carefully so the heatsink doesn't extend beyond the connectors/mounting scew and then it was a perfect fit. 

The heatsink definetely makes a difference: without it the SM960 Pro would start to reduce speed (thermal throttle) when running a benchmark, with the heatsink on it kept running at full speed without thermal throttling.

I've read and re-read this post and still can't understand exactly your plan. Testing all those NVMes is a waste of time. Either they work or don't and most likely if your firmware is good and the sun tech is correct ending in -c then the Samsungs are going to function properly. As far as cloning just try it on one machine and see if it works or what the issues are....simplify the project. I swap my Mac Pro 2013 with three different internal drives, the original SSD , an SSD from a late 2015 rMBPro and the 970 NVMe. They all work all the time. I did not try a closing or migration because I don't care for the migration. I've never had a migration which did not cause some kind of situation so I do nothing but clean installs.

The procedure of replacing the SSD was simple and I was able to install the new drive and restore from back up in less than 45 minutes. Trim support was enabled by default and it appears that the Mac is able to wake up from hibernation without any issues. One slight problem I noticed was the boot up time was really slow, the screen remains blank for nearly 15 seconds after the startup chime before the Apple logo appears. I have reset the PRAM/SMC and restarted the startup disk but still getting slower boot times than the stock SSD. When the OS loads, however, the drive operates as normal and speeds through tasks without issue.

Bugger. My Mac Pro's kernel panics got worse, to the point where it won't even boot. Running Disk Utility in (Internet-downloaded) Recovery Mode shows that the SSD doesn't even appear in the list of attached storage devices. So, to prove that it's the SSD and not something wrong with the Mac Pro, I swapped the SSDs between my Mac Pro and my rMBP (Apple-branded, 1TB). Voila, the problem is the EVO 960 - the rMBP exhibits the same issues with that SSD installed.

The rMBP started first time and I was able to run Recovery Mode (from the SSD, not the Internet) -> Disk Utility and verify that the SSD was present - I even ran First Aid on it. But after hitting Restart, it died shortly after loading the desktop and whilst loading startup apps, etc - heavy load for a boot drive.

Using a thermocouple to measure the temperature of the flash chips on the front-side (label-side) of the SSD, I can see that the chip nearest at the board-connector end gets way hotter than the others - it climbs to a max of 56 ºC (132-133 ºF) whereas the other chips stay at around 30-ish ºC. That max temp remains even after the rMBP has crashed (flashing folder "?" icon on screen), i.e. with no load on the SSD.

The EVO 960 is undoubtedly kaput, and it appears to be temperature-related - 'proven' through the fact that Recovery Mode loads off the SSD (not the Internet) and First Aid can be run on it - but 30-60 sec of boot-up and desktop load-up is too much for it. So my working theory is that the SSD has a temperature-related fault.

The SSD is still under warranty, but as FileVault is not enabled, there's no way I'm gonna send it back to Samsung for warranty replacement - not unless I can find a way of erasing it. I'm thinking that it might be worth buying a heatsink and seeing if I can keep the SSD cool enough for long enough to wipe the SSD. Bit of a long-shot, but at least it would allow me to ship the SSD back to Samsung for replacement without risking my security. If I erase the SSD via Recovery Mode then that'll eliminate the boot-up temperature-ramp that's crashing it out.

I installed a 970 pro in a carrier without heatsink on a 5,1 mac pro and got similar messages. I moved the blade to a carrier with a heatsink and the messages disappeared. For the 6,1 however, you would need a smaller heatsink that attached to the blade. OWC have a really nifty one that also contacts the shell of the mac and radiates heat from the ssd to the outside. It came with one of their 1TB ssds. My client said how come the outside case is getting a bit warmer ? And I said don't worry, thats actually a good thing !

I think so, you usually have to go to terminal and type "sudo trimforce enable" then reboot. check in the sys info first ... make sure you dont get an 'evo plus' , just the straight evo (if available) or the pro, a safer bet...

The Sintech didn’t explain his recommendation to use the Intel. I did install the 670p 1TB retail $160 and I am pretty pleased. Without a heatsink it never went beyond 56c. Idle was 36c. That’s a far cry from my 970. That said it’s not quite as fast, but close with a potential shorter life expectancy. Still having a 5 year warranty it’s a good buy. I got a1tb for the price of a Samsung 500gb.

So far, I like it!

installing a heatsink had no effect. So tech suggested others have reported the same result and suggested the Intel 660p or 760p. I will try this tomorrow.

Auto correct got me again. It should have said Sintech recommended the Intel 660p or 760p. Sintech wrote,

”if you want low power comsumption SSD,I suggest you to buy Intel 660 or 760P.”