Mac: Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD Firmware Update 

Thank you for making this video so simple I updated the firmware using a usb and then changed my ssd to 970 plus. Updated the mac os. It's perfect. Thank you

I really, REALLY wanna thank you for this video. I've literally been through hours of videos and although it took me time to get through yours because I had to keep pausing to keep up, yours was the most explanatory and straight forward. You went step by step. I used both your videos. What was perfect was I used the same exact Mac and ssd which was purchased before I came across your videos. I used a 2TB Samsung which wasn't working until I saw your video and bought the similar adapter. Again, thank you

Oh my god. I cannot thank you enough for this video. I've tried and tried and tried installing the new SSD and it just didn't work. It was so frustrating. And all because of this firmware update. Thank you!!!

the external flash drive wont show up on reboot+option. Why is that?

Did you need an adapter to connect the drive? I have a early mbp 13 wanting to buy this drive in 2t. Thanks for the info!

I'm confused, is the SSD already installed onto the Mac or the enclosure here? Your previous video shows how to install the SSD onto the Mac but got confused when you talked about filming a second video on how to update the firmware on the SSD. So, do you suggest formating the SSD to macOS first, then updating the firmware of the SSD after? Then install the SSD onto the Mac after it has been formatted and updated?

I tried to update to the 4B2QEXM7 firmware that's available now, but it doesn't recognize my 2TB drive. Does this happen to anyone too? My iMac takes ages to boot, and I'm hoping this firmware update can solve it.

i'm not getting that window asking me to "access files in my downloads folder"

Thanks for the video! What’s the difference between using this method to create the USB an using Unetbootin ?

Thanks for this... it has really helped me out. The pre-installed 128GB SSD was not adequate for todays applications. [*Gives High 5's*]

Thanks for the details. My mac doesn't detect 970 EVO Plus on EFI boot that you showed on video 3:08. In Disk(s) DETECTED box, it shows "No supported SSD detected for Firmware Update!!!". I have an Early 2015 13" MacBook Pro Retina. The SSD is mounted on my motherboard using a Sintech ST-NGFF2013-C Adapter. The SSD is recognized by my MacOS Monteray and I can see the Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB SSD listed in the System Report on the Mac. I am able to write to and read folders and files from the SSD. I created the USB installer as you showed in your video and it is recognized when I option boot my laptop and the installer boots and the program initializes. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Does a flash drive need to be plugged into the computer in order for the 2tb ssd to show up???

Hi and thanks for this. do you know if I can boot from the USB drive if I have no bootscreen (I use non UEFI graphic card, RX580 on a classic mac pro 5,1). Thanks !

I followed these Instruction exactly and Iso Image is on my USB Drive now but if I'm shut down and start my Mac new and holding down the option key I can't boot from the USB Drive because it doesn't appear ... what am I doing wrong??

hello Rick! after having finished creating the USB stick, I do not receive the "device not readable" warning. If I reinsert it, the usb is called "Samsung". When I try to boot EFI Upgrade, I see only two option for boot: "Mac OS" (ok) and "Windows" instead of “EFI Boot”. And boot from this “Windows” do nothing… any advice??

Thank you

Thanks for your help & nice video, igot it.

Thanks for the video. When you use the bootable thumbdrive, you mentioned that you have replaced the ssd. I presume you mean you’ve put the samsung 970 evo plus into the mac as an internal drive as you have done in your other video. My question is, was your ssd already fully set up with all friles transferred when you booted from your usb with samsung firmware iso in it? Wondering if i should do that precedure before or after I do my time machine transfer

I watched your last vid with the replacement. After ordering/trying, I read on reddit you have to update the firmware on windows so I've been (a. struggling on my macbook as I ran out disk space for the install of high sierra/mojave -_- ; b. after getting the enclosure installed.) So now I logged into my dad's PC, downloaded Magician ), yet it didn't read the enclosure and Samsung disk in magician regardless the format. So now to recap, this vid says to do that AFTER installing in the mac?? And in order to do the firmware, you just need a separate USB? Damn I watched separate video to say to use Unetbookin and install to load another application which reformatted the drive to Dos, then do something with same looking file you did. Which was all to do that same ISO loader which I heard that could destroy your (dad's) HD. So you're saying once I get macos updated finally (might just have to a clean restore, but unsure if time machine back would go from el cap to high sierra. My Google IT fundamentals course I did years ago were clearly inadequate. This thing and my brain is broken. Thank you for inspiring me to try this but it's not doable.

great video. I have a 970evo plus 2tb nvme in my iMac with version 2b2qexm7 on. I downloaded and created the USB stick as per your video and rebooted the system. It loaded the Usb and ran the Samsung software but said no compatible disk found. Any ideas?

Hello, when I press Efi, Samsung asks me for username and password. Do you have any advice for this?

Hello Rick. I just watched your video and for some reason when I go to download the EVO 970 Plus firmware, I'm getting a "The following disk images couldn't be opened" - "no mountable file system. Any idea what I can do? I'm not able to get my SSD drive to connect to my Mac.

Hi Rick. Great vid; however, I can't get the Mac (Catalina on MacPro 2019) to load from the ISO file. I see the option of the EFI Boot icon, I choose it but then it loads the Mac OS. I've Allowed boot from EXT drive for the T2 Chip as well as lowered Security settings. Any ideas?

Rick, I have been at this all day. Using a MAC MINI and I have a Samsung V-NAND 970-EVO. Ever since I installed Monterey, the drive has been burning hot for no reason at all. I am trying your method 100 times and to no avail does my MAC see the flash drive upon rebooting and holding down the option key. I tried different flash drives and just can't figure this out. The Flash Drive was formated FAT32 so I am lost.

Hi thank for this info ! i need to upgrade the firmware of my nvme evo 970 BUT it's my actual system hdd on my mac pro ? how can i do ? it's plug on a pci card , how can i do ? thank you

No supported ssd detected. Legacy or uefi boot. I get the same message.

So I got the files on my thumb drive but when I try to boot using the option button its showing up as "Windows" and when selected it goes through the Apple logo twice then boots from the main drive. I am not sure if I had the thumb drive formatted properly. I used MSDOS FAT when I did. Is that the issue? (Running Latest Big Sur on Mid-2014 MBP with a Samsung 980)

This particular drive Evo 970 Pro has a problem which causes windows 10 21H2 to BSOD crash with certain drivers. I'm looking for the solution atm, I think it is going to be a driver rollback from samsung back to the standard mircrosoft driver.

Hey Rick...thanks a lot for great videos. I am trying to upgrade the firmware of 970 EVO+ SSD but it's not getting detected when I boot up my Mac with USB drive, I see EFI boot option too just when connect the SSD and proceed to update firmware it doesnt recognise the SSD. I see that your firmware version is bit different from mine, I got 4B2QEXM7 from Samsung site. Any suggestion will great help. Thanks.

When upgrading to Samsung 970 Plus do you do this step before or after formatting the drive to APFS? or it does not matter?

Thanks for sharing. I installed without issues, but its only showing up as 2x PCIe lanes @ 8.0 GT/s instead of 4 in a mid 2015 Macbook Pro, which I understand should be using 4x PCIe lanes. Given I paid so much for it I'd like to know if others have it working with 4x PCIe lanes. Does anyone know how to get 4x lanes working? I did a PRam reset but didn't help. Wiggled it about a bit. Do you think its the adapter. Even Sintech says their adapters don't work with Evo 970 Plus - but maybe that is old and they say that due to the old firmware. Thoughts?

Thanks a lot. it helped me

hey rick after scanning EFI boot and pressing any key to continue, it didn’t say it found my drive or whether or not it’s updated. it simply said press any key to restart

Hi there Rick, why am I getting this error: dd: unknown operand disk I will appreciate your answer. Thanks

Thanks for the concise video tutorial. Does this work on a M1/M2 Mac? I created a bootable .iso flash drive but it does not show up as a startup volume option on my M1 Mac Studio. I’m trying to flash a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVME that is installed in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure. It does boot up on an older 2012 Intel MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, the Intel MacBook Pro will not recognize the TB3 drive. The firmware installer scans but can’t find the NVME enclosure. What to do with firmware upgrades using an M1/M2 Mac? Thanks

If you can't see usb *Boot Efi* try to write image by Rufus in Windows it faster and stable. Thanks for video

Thanks

Hi Rick, wonderful Video. I am upgrading my iMAC 27 19.1 A2115 with a 970 Eva Plus and a SSD. Which adapter do you recommend for the NVME? How can I do a clean install when the old drives are not present anymore? Thank you. Michael

Hi, im just erase my macbook disk and i had try many times for samsung evo 970 but it didn't work

Thanks for making this video. May i know which adapter do you use with 960evo plus? I want to upgrade my macbook air 2017 not sure if it work the same as yours Thank you

thank you sooooooooo much!!!

Hi Rick I cannot find the file with the EFI boot what will I have to do to see this when I restart my mac?

Can I do all the firmware downloads prior to swapping out the new drive? And then just run it after I swap them?

I bought the 1tb version of the 970 evo + for my macbook air (with adapter), and a 2tb 970 evo + for my asus zephyrus g14 (2021). They are both great! Although, I tried an internet recovery on my 2015 macbook air, to install mac os x yosemite, and it wouldn't detect the nvme at all. Maybe the problem is the firmware is not up to date?

does this process work in linux ??

Hi Rick, I have two versions of the Samsung EVO and EVO Plus, both of them not showing at the boot screen and also in Startup! however both are new and showing in Disk Utilities with no issues! Working on MacPro 5,1 with High Sierra Your help is highly appreciated

Was an adapter card like the Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter Card required, in order to fit the 970 EVO Plus into the MacBook Pro?

I have some issue in catalina, is not possibile start from usb

Hi RickMakes. I'm not computer savvy at all and I just bought the 970 EVO Plus 2TB in August 2020. Dumb question...do you think the SSD already has the latest firmware? If so, if I install the EVO Plus 2TB to replace my EVO 1TB, would I have any issues? I have High Sierra installed. Would I need to upgrade to Mojave? Thanks in advance!

can I update the firmware in the mac without SO?

Thank you for your video,I am looking for 970 eve plus 1T for my mac pro,I am not sure it can work on my mac pro, because I don't have other win10 computer, do you think I can upgrade the old ssd with 970evo plus in the same mac pro(without other computer ),now my mac runs catalina (10.15.4)

Thank you for the detailed instructions... Little help please... I made thumb drive from video instructions and seems I did correct. When I restart holding option key I never see EFI boot. I see Mac Os but no EFI boot. And there is no additional drop down for additional drives. iMac 2019 stock no upgrades if that helps thanks.

Is this ssd upgrade works for macbook air mid 2013? Cheers

Hey,I just removed my old ssd and tried to install a new one(Samsung 970 EVO) and I am not able to view it In Disk utility, Any advice ?

Hi Rick, I have the same 970 Evo plus in my MacBook, but the firmware boot device isn’t detecting the 970 Evo plus

hi, you didnt mention do you have to do the update after you insert the new internal ssd, or you have to do that before you insert it thank you

Hi i have a mid 2012 macbook pro, I have a samsung 850 ssd (500gb) that now is super slow write speeds (30mb/s) and normal read of 300mb/s+. Downloaded the firmware from samsung for the 850 pro, but cant seem to burn the iso to a usb? Any help please

ATTENTION: If you're using this on Windows, Samsung Magician software will do this without having to type terminal commands. You can avoid this completely in that case. By the way, the firmware update is essential. This drive was causing massive lag and stuttering until I installed it yesterday.

Hi Rick! I was trying to follow this video before opening my Mac and finding out that I need to do this. So, problem, Im in the terminal part and then I write Downloads/ it says “zsh: permission denied: Downloads/“ any help there?

thanks for the video , quick question i have an early 2015 mbp and I was wondering whatas best if the 960 or 970 ?

It’s says no supported SSD detected for firmware update!!! Please help

Thanks for video but when i iam in terminal & dowloads directery & type 1s -1 Samsung _ssd_980_pro_...gxa7.iso (my is 980 pro) but it said command not found, please help me, thanks again.

Can you update the firmware adata xpg sx8200 pro ?

I come from the upgrade video I was wondering u boot from the Samsung ssd and then u install the driver right ?

Great video. I did all the operations. The upload was successful. He sees the disc. But I can't see it in the system? Hardware is Imac 18.3 2017 and operating system is sierra. I will be very happy if you can help me with this. Thank you.

I apologize for the silly question but why don‘t you just update MacOS via the AppStore if you‘re already running OSX on the 970? Or are we talking about a different firmware here?

Thank you Rick, I did all the steps, I can see the firmware updated but in the last step when I restart the computer the disk not appears. What can I do?

What do I have to do for windows??

sleep mode works perfect?

I'm looking into purchasing this adapter for the 970 Evo Plus: www.amazon.com/dp/B01CWWAENG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_YMkIBb9T383R3?tag=ifixitam-20 However, on Amazon, it says that the Evo 970 plus isn't supported. Now that this firmware is out, will it resolve this issue? Also, will it fix the hibernation issues I've heard so much about regarding the adapter and SSD?

Hi Rick, I'm planning to upgrade my rmbp mid 2015 to a samsung evo plus 2tb using your tutorial. I was just wondering if the ssd heats up too much or is it working just fine? Thanks in advance for your response.

Is there a way using the mac to check, which firmware version is actual on the ssd? Thanks in advance.

Hi Rick....I just upgraded my SSD MBA 2013 with Samsung 970 EVO Plus....and it works !!! Thanks alot for your step by step upgrade and firmware update videos. But now, I have an issue that I can not install Bootcamp on it (the Windows 10 iso did not running) . Can you help me please.....

I tried everything. I can't get this to work on my 2014" macbook pro retina with a 970 EVO (Not Plus) 2tb. I know I did the install correctly because I can boot to USB on my 2012 macbook pro.Losing all hope.

This is great, buy I couldn't for the life of me get the M1 Mac Mini running Big Sur to boot from the thumb drive

hi, can i update the firmware the 970 evo plus while connected to my pc via usb? or do i need to connect it to the m.2 slot on my motherboard?

Sir, my ssd have information 3500MB/s to read and 3200MB/s to write but i try test it by use app crystal diskmark, then result is 1700MB/s to read and 1600MB/s to write. i don't know how this difficult too much. please help me, sir.

Hi! I got the same Ssd and made the bootable usb and restarted the Mac and selected the drive, and I get to that Samsung electronics firmware update utility. However, it says it cannot find any drive that is compatible. When I’m in my Mac I can see the drive and transfer files to it etc, but I cannot see the drive in that bootable Samsung firmware utility menu. What format did you format your ssd to before updating its firmware, APFS, Marcos extended journaled, or?

Hello, of course it didn't work for me... Once I get to PW in terminal I get this "Usage: diskutil u[n]mountDisk [force] MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

Hey soo I have a 850 evo in a 2012 macbook pro, i created the usb to boot up, but when i start the process it asks me for a samsung login and password, before the welcome screen. Any advice?

sudo dd if=Samsung_SSD_970_EVO_Plus_2B2QEXM7.iso of=/dev/rdiskX after typing this command curser is not at all moving why?

Please sir tell me sir Can i used samsung 970evo plus 1tb ssd into macbook air 2017

HELP ASAP!! I AM STUCK AT THE LAST PART WHERE IT SAYS PASSWORD. I CANT ENTER ANYTHING AND WHEN I HIT ENTER IT SAYS SORRY TRY AGAIN. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

I bought all your products on your list. Why does my Quine NVME enclosed piece have to have a stripped screw? This is so frustrating. How do I get it off?

Edit: Just for kicks, I tried making the 970 EVO Plus firmware update USB, and it was recognized instantly by my MacBook Pro. I think there is some issue with the EVO (non-Plus) firmware update. Original post follows: Thanks, I have installed a Samsung 970 EVO (not Plus) into my 2015 MacBook Pro, restored macOS from a time machine backup and now wish to update the firmware. I downloaded the firmware for the 970 EVO and prepared the USB according to your video, but the only drive that appears in the Startup Manager (holding down Option at boot) is the SSD, not the USB. Any thoughts? I tried using a different USB, tried installing to /dev/rdisk3, tried reformatting the USB as GUID/exfat and installing to /dev/rdisk3s1, tried using UNetbootin per the samsung directions, tried resetting PRAM and SMC on the MacBook Pro, nothing works. If I make a macOS installer USB (the OS, not for a firmware update), it appears instantly in the Startup Manager. Any help anyone could give on how to get the firmware usb recognized would be most appreciated.

Hi，Thank you for the video. After updating efI, you can update macOS Monterey on SANSUNG 970 EVO ？

Hello, after press Efi, Samsung Magician tool asks me for username and password. Do you have any advice for this?

Hi. I just bought an Evo plus 970 500gb to upgrade de M2 of my Macbook pro 13" early 2015. It's necessary to update the Samsung firmware?

I installed the OS on internal samsung 970 evo plus 2tb, but forgot to check the firmware first. Can i use this method to verify it? If old version, and I update it, will that erase the OS blade? Thanks

can you explain to me why we should upgrade the firmware? what if we didn't upgrade it?

excellent video I acquired a ssd 970 evo plus to update the storage of my macbook air 2013 a1466 but when I put it it does not detect me or anything, they tell me that this ssd is not compatible with that model but I already acquired it is 1tb and I would like to find a way to make it compatible also buy the m.2 adapter and maybe not, previously I updated the firmware but it still won't let me be as a disk to install the system it only detects it to update it nothing else, if it could help me it would stay very grateful, in advance very good video successes and move on

What happends if my firmware is not to date ??? how would we proceed

Thank you for the detail instruction. Could you help me write down the command at 1:59 starting with: sudo dd... Thanks!

I plugged my NVME drive to the computer, can I write the ISO directly to NVME or I have to put it on a flash drive?

Does 970 evo plus 500 gb ssd works on macbook air with nvme adaptor.

Thanks A lot for this Video ... but am facing a problem as I booted from the EFI Boot after press holding the option key . after where it says press any key to continue ... it says scanning and nothing shows up the it says press any key to restart the system ...... Please what am I doing wrong ... Please help me My ssd is 860 pro 2 TB Media

im getting error dd: unknown operand rdisk2 (#2 for my USB) and also what file format do you have for your usb? can you please help me?

If I’m buying this in 2023, do I still need to run/check for updates?

Hi Rick! Great video! I have the following scenario: I have my Macbook Pro with Samsung Evo 970 with my MacOS installed on it. I would like to upgrade the firmware on this drive. Will your method work on my SSD and will my files survive the firmware upgrade? Or it will be completely lost and I will have to restore it from time machine?

What was on the SD card? That’s where I am lost.