5,1 Mac Pro with 970 Evo /Pro

[pierre1610]

Hi, i've been running a samsung SSUBX blade on a cheap imported PCIe card for years. Now that space is an issue again i'd like to upgrade.

I'm running 10.13.6 High Sierra, what are my options with the 970 Evo/Pro and what PCIe card should i connect it with. I'm looking for 2TB so im guessing a 970 EVO is the best bet.

Thanks

 

[tsialex]

Hi, i've been running a samsung SSUBX blade on a cheap imported PCIe card for years. Now that space is an issue again i'd like to upgrade.

I'm running 10.13.6 High Sierra, what are my options with the 970 Evo/Pro and what PCIe card should i connect it with. I'm looking for 2TB so im guessing a 970 EVO is the best bet.

Thanks

There is a thread dedicated to PCIe blades Blade SSDs - NVMe & AHCI, every PCIe blade and adapter that we tested is there, working and not working.
[doublepost=1548432311][/doublepost]Btw, forgot to tell: you will need to upgrade to 140.0.0.0.0 BootROM to have native NVMe boot support. Read the first post of this two threads:

MP5,1: BootROM thread | 140.0.0.0.0

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave

 

[pierre1610]

Thanks for the reply, if i don't intend on using it as a boot drive do i need to update the BootRom?

 

[tsialex]

Thanks for the reply, if i don't intend on using it as a boot drive do i need to update the BootRom?

No need to update your BootROM for data drives. For data drives you need macOS support, not BootROM support.

One note, only High Sierra works with a 970EVO. Apple started to support NVMe blades with Sierra, but only for 4KB per sector ones. 970EVO is a 512KB/sector blade and only works with 10.13/10.14.

If you have any more doubts, ask them into the Blade SSDs - NVMe & AHCI thread.

 

[pierre1610]

I'm already on 10.13 so thats fine. I messaged amfeltec for the SQUID PCIe Carrier Board for up to 4 M.2 SSD modules
They recomnded Gen2 version of the Carrier board SKU-086-01.

Is this the best card to use. I don't need 4 slots. If i did get another 970 Evo at a later date i take it they can run indipendently rather than in RAID and still get the same speeds or would them being on the same PCIe slot restrict it?

I see the Highpoint ssd7101a-1 is a better price but doesn't seem to be in stock. Which is better?

 

[tsialex]

Like I said, If you have any more doubts, ask them into the Blade SSDs - NVMe & AHCI thread.

 

[gernerd]

Mac Pro 2012 5,1 - Installed Samsung 970 Evo - formated 1tb into to partitions - one Mac Journaled , one ASFS.
Tried to Carbon Copy OS 10.7.5 from a running 10.7.5 on a Sonnet Card with Crucial SSD. I get the gray circle with the
diagonal line. It will not safe boot as directed by Carbon Copy to rebuild startup cashe. Can 10.7.5 boot from the PCIe SSD? Or am I waisting my time. I use an old CAD program that runs on Lion.

 

[tsialex]

Mac Pro 2012 5,1 - Installed Samsung 970 Evo - formated 1tb into to partitions - one Mac Journaled , one ASFS.
Tried to Carbon Copy OS 10.7.5 from a running 10.7.5 on a Sonnet Card with Crucial SSD. I get the gray circle with the
diagonal line. It will not safe boot as directed by Carbon Copy to rebuild startup cashe. Can 10.7.5 boot from the PCIe SSD? Or am I waisting my time. I use an old CAD program that runs on Lion.

Impossible, NVMe blades with a 512bytes/sector only work after High Sierra.

Read the first post here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/blade-ssds-nvme-ahci.2146725/
[doublepost=1562512843][/doublepost]For 10.7.5, you need a PCIe AHCI drive, like Samsung SM951-AHCI or Kingston Predator AHCI.

 

[gernerd]

Thanks for the reply. Mojave is on the Samsung 970 and running fine.
I will leave 10.7.5 on the Sonnet card with the Crucial ssd.

Thanks again.