AHCI bootcamp with Velocity solo x2

[Gav Mack]

I've managed to get my hands on a mint octo 3.2 Mac Pro 3,1 2008 fully stuffed with 32gb ram for an absolute steal and I know this is the place on the web to ask tricky Mac Pro questions ;-)

It came with no drives so was going to stick in an 840 evo SSD. Ideally though I would like to use the velocity solo x2 for SATA3 performance. That wouldn't be a problem but I use Windows via bootcamp a lot and will require AHCI enabling with 7x64 for its disk performance and access to the additional SATA ports. I've done that very successfully with my 17" i5 2010 MacBook Pro using the AHCI enabler tool from insanely mac for the intel SATA controller but can AHCI mode also be enabled as default on the velocity solo x2 for windows 7 bootcamp set ups or not or are you stuffed with legacy ata-133 like with the intel drivers?

If not then I will have to revert to plan b, use the original SATA ports and just put up with SATA2 which considering how much I've paid for it isn't that bad a thing ;-)

 

[pastrychef]

The Velocity cards are known to have issues with Bootcamp in Mac Pro 3,1s. Best bet is to stick with internal SATA 2 ports.

 

[Gav Mack]

The Velocity cards are known to have issues with Bootcamp in Mac Pro 3,1s. Best bet is to stick with internal SATA 2 ports.

Any idea what the exact issues are? I'm happy with the usual "don't use suspend only hibernate" or the broken bootcamp control panel.

It's got a fibre controller and the apple raid card with battery backup installed which I was going to take out and eBay. The raid card I believe has >2tb issues so that rules out running a pair of EVO's in raid0 if I can't pick up my media drives so I guess my only path is a single evo on SATA2?

 

[pastrychef]

When I still had my 3,1, I had my SSD on the Velocity Solo X2 and another drive using one of the standard SATA 2 ports with Bootcamp. I was able to boot in to Bootcamp but had difficulty getting it boot back to OS X after booting in to Bootcamp. To get it to boot to the SSD again, I had to remove the Bootcamp drive. It was very weird. I tried many, many different methods of getting to work properly but was never able to find a consistent solution. Since I primarily used Windows virtually, I eventually gave up trying.

Since upgrading to a Mac Pro 5,1, all those issues no longer exists. With the same Veloicty card, same SSD, and same Bootcamp drive, everything works as you would expect. Selecting boot drive from control panel or by holding [Option] during boot time work.

 

[tomvos]

The Velocity cards are known to have issues with Bootcamp in Mac Pro 3,1s. Best bet is to stick with internal SATA 2 ports.

My setup was like this:

- Velocity Solo X2 with a 512 GB Samsung 830 (Mac OS X)
- 1TB Harddisk with a HFS and a NTFS partition (slot 1, Windows8)
- a bunch of other harddisks in slot 2-slot 4 (Data)

On my MP 5.1 I did not manage to get bootcamp work reliably. Booting into Mac OS X worked, but booting from the Windows8 Installer DVD or the Windows partition did not work with the Apricorn card installed. Once I removed the card, everything worked fine - the boot selector, booting to windows, booting to Mac OS X.

So I would advise to stick to the SATA2 connectors if you need to switch between Windows and Mac OS X a lot.

Perhaps someone else could chime in so that we get a better picture if the culprit lies in having the two OS on two different drives. Because pastrychef indicated - if I understand the post correctly - that the Apricorn card works if Windows and Mac OS X are on the same drive (but different partitions).

 

[Gav Mack]

My setup was like this:

- Velocity Solo X2 with a 512 GB Samsung 830 (Mac OS X)
- 1TB Harddisk with a HFS and a NTFS partition (slot 1, Windows8)
- a bunch of other harddisks in slot 2-slot 4 (Data)

On my MP 5.1 I did not manage to get bootcamp work reliably. Booting into Mac OS X worked, but booting from the Windows8 Installer DVD or the Windows partition did not work with the Apricorn card installed. Once I removed the card, everything worked fine - the boot selector, booting to windows, booting to Mac OS X.

So I would advise to stick to the SATA2 connectors if you need to switch between Windows and Mac OS X a lot.

Perhaps someone else could chime in so that we get a better picture if the culprit lies in having the two OS on two different drives. Because pastrychef indicated - if I understand the post correctly - that the Apricorn card works if Windows and Mac OS X are on the same drive (but different partitions).

That's my intention - to boot both OS's off the same 840 evo SSD. So if it does work that way can I get AHCI going booting windows using the Solo X2 to get the SATA3 SSD speed and also allow Windows 7x64 to detect the extra ports on a Mac Pro 3,1?

The other internal drives will be connected to the standard ports will be a mix of ntfs, exfat and hfs+, none bootable and just for data...

 

[pastrychef]

@ tomvos:

No, my issues only occurred with my old Mac Pro 3,1. I have always had Bootcamp and OS X on separate drives. My Bootcamp drive resided on one of the internal SATA 2 bays and my OS X drive was on a Velocity card.

Once I migrated all my drives along with the Velocity card to a Mac Pro 5,1, everything worked.

I have never had OS X and Bootcamp reside on the same drive so I don't know how well, that would work with the Velocity cards.

 

[Gav Mack]

Sent a mail to Apricorn support:

What is the part number of your Apricorn Product?: Solo x2

What is the model and manufacturer of your computer?: Mac Pro 3,1 (2008)

What Operating System are you using?: Osx 10.8.5 / windows 7 pro x64 sp1

What is the exact error message?: Hi before I purchase a solo x2 for my Mac Pro 2008 I have a few boot camp questions regarding running windows 7 pro 64 bit on my Mac Pro.

I understand there are issues when accessing boot camp if the windows volume is on another drive not connected to your controller but my intention is to have the mac and windows volumes boot off the same SSD connected to the Solo x2 which on the 2008 Mac Pro will work and a mixed type of data hard discs in exfat, hfs+ and ntfs (non bootable) formats will be plugged in the standard SATA ports.

What I do need to know is clarification of when a clean install of windows is setup using your controller is what type of controller is installed via windows setup, as every bootcamp install I have done apart from the very latest macs sets the controllers up as legacy ata-133 and they require the tweaking of the partition to enable windows to boot the controllers into AHCI mode to enable all the extra ports so windows can access them.

Thanks in advance

Url: http://www.apricorn.com/product-support/upgrade-kits/vel-solox2.html


Hello,

We have learned via our customers, that nearly every Mac Pro 3,1 behaves differently.

Below are the steps that our IT manager suggests. The windows install will see the Solo as a standard AHCI host controller. It will update to drivers from Marvell 9182 chipset during windows update.

How to install Bootcamp on the 2008 MacPro3,1

Problem:
If OSX is booted from a drive on the Solo, BCA will not install because it identifies the drive on the Solo as removable.

Problem:
Installing Bootcamp fully with SSD on the motherboard and then trying to move the drive to the Solo confuses the Mac, and it can’t find a startup disk. Even holding down the Option Key during startup

Solution:
Move the bootable SSD to the motherboard and start the BCA. The BCA will partition the drive in preparation for the Windows installation. Once the partitioning is done BCA will reboot the computer from the Windows installation DVD When windows finishes installing, install the bootcamp support files into windows. Reboot as needed. When finished reboot into OSX. Enter the System preferences in OSX and make sure that OSX is picked as the startup disk. Shutdown, and move the ssd to the Solo. Boot up OSX with drive on Solo. Use System preferences to pick Windows as the startup disk.

Sincerely,


Apricorn Support

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Solution:
Move the bootable SSD to the motherboard and start the BCA. The BCA will partition the drive in preparation for the Windows installation. Once the partitioning is done BCA will reboot the computer from the Windows installation DVD When windows finishes installing, install the bootcamp support files into windows. Reboot as needed. When finished reboot into OSX. Enter the System preferences in OSX and make sure that OSX is picked as the startup disk. Shutdown, and move the ssd to the Solo. Boot up OSX with drive on Solo. Use System preferences to pick Windows as the startup disk.

Sincerely, Apricorn Support

Thanks for sharing this information!!! Is this THE WINNING SOLUTION for your setup?

I'm also looking for an SSD SATA III upgrade for my MP 3.1, will this solution work with the VX2 and a 2 SSD RAID-0 configuration?

Cheers

 

[Gav Mack]

Thanks for sharing this information!!! Is this THE WINNING SOLUTION for your setup?

I'm also looking for an SSD SATA III upgrade for my MP 3.1, will this solution work with the VX2 and a 2 SSD RAID-0 configuration?

Cheers

I'm installing Windows bootcamp at this very moment, though Apple have seemed to pulled the Mavericks bootcamp 5.1 installer so I'm going to use 5.0 until it's backup on the software update server before I patch the MBR to enable Intel AHCI then swap the drive from the standard SATA port. The Velocity is installed but empty, on Windows boot I see it comes up with its BIOS.

I'll be back with updates!

 

[m4v3r1ck]

I'm installing Windows bootcamp at this very moment, though Apple have seemed to pulled the Mavericks bootcamp 5.1 installer so I'm going to use 5.0 until it's backup on the software update server before I patch the MBR to enable Intel AHCI then swap the drive from the standard SATA port. The Velocity is installed but empty, on Windows boot I see it comes up with its BIOS.

I'll be back with updates!

Thanks for your rapid reply! good luck with the install and looking forward to all your updates to this thread!!!

When succeeded I hope you will be sharing all ins-and-outs of your work-around. I'll be very happy to finally upgrade my MP 3.1 with an OS X Mavericks & Windows 8 ProX64 bootable SATAIII PCIe card and SSD's in RAID-0

Very exciting thought!

Cheers

 

[Gav Mack]

Thanks for your rapid reply! good luck with the install and looking forward to all your updates to this thread!!!

When succeeded I hope you will be sharing all ins-and-outs of your work-around. I'll be very happy to finally upgrade my MP 3.1 with an OS X Mavericks & Windows 8 ProX64 bootable SATAIII PCIe card and SSD's in RAID-0

Very exciting thought!

Cheers

Champagne is on very much hold here - got bootcamp all setup in non intel ahci mode and added the card empty. Refused to update to the marvell 91XX driver via Windows Update from the standard 1.0 AHCI controller. Patched the MBR to enable Intel AHCI and found the latest Marvell driver so in Device Manager its now moved to the Storage Controller Section listed as "Marvell 91xx SATA 6G Controller". Powered down, all seemed good - until I swapped the drive out to the Solo.

Mavericks works fine but boots with both the Mac and Bootcamp volumes listed as removable devices, on first boot it asked me if I wanted to use the volume bootcamp as a Time Machine disk (!) I can boot into OSX fine but even though the bootcamp volume is listed in startup disk it refuses to boot into Windows full stop, no black screen at all for BIOS emulation mode, only white and then an Apple logo that hangs permanently. Putting the 840 EVO back into the sled ports it works beautifully albeit slower.

I suspect its got something to do with the volumes on the SDD being flagged as removable when connected to the Solo X2 by OSX which is stopping it booting into BIOS mode properly. Can't be sure if its a specific 3,1 glitch but if I can mod the kext so they are both fixed volumes it might rule that in or out. Hackintosh land here I come to have a go at that puzzle when I next get time.

Not totally gutted - even at Sata 2 speeds it's more than satisfactory, though sadly not for you running a pair in RAID0!

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Hi Gav,

Thanks for your feedback again. Disappointing results for you then.... sorry to hear that! Could you please share a benchmark screen with us?

I'm prepping my MP for the migration to OS X Mavericks now, but having problems even making an image of my bootcamp partition with Winclone 4.2.2, but the support desk are working on my console log file, so I hope to get started very soon!

And I'll report back as soon as I have done my migration.

Cheers, hold on for the champagne to pop? ;-)

 

[Gav Mack]

Hi Gav,

Thanks for your feedback again. Disappointing results for you then.... sorry to hear that! Could you please share a benchmark screen with us?

I'm prepping my MP for the migration to OS X Mavericks now, but having problems even making an image of my bootcamp partition with Winclone 4.2.2, but the support desk are working on my console log file, so I hope to get started very soon!

And I'll report back as soon as I have done my migration.

Cheers, hold on for the champagne to pop? ;-)

I haven't given up yet by a long way, I will get it working its just having the time to get it all sorted. I'll run a disk bench later.

If you are going on a new SSD I wouldn't bother with winclone, just plug your old disk into an external enclosure and copy the data back. For ahci modified bootcamp setups I always do a clean bootcamp install as a rule. If you have a Mac Pro 3,1 then the bootcamp drivers for it only support Windows 7 which isn't a bad thing in my book as I'm not a fan of Windows 8

I have been checking twice a day since the weekend for the 10.9 Bootcamp 5.1 software for the 3,1 and it's not been available from the update server so far.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

I haven't given up yet by a long way, I will get it working its just having the time to get it all sorted. I'll run a disk bench later.

Thanks!

If you are going on a new SSD I wouldn't bother with winclone, just plug your old disk into an external enclosure and copy the data back. For ahci modified bootcamp setups I always do a clean bootcamp install as a rule. If you have a Mac Pro 3,1 then the bootcamp drivers for it only support Windows 7 which isn't a bad thing in my book as I'm not a fan of Windows 8

I'm a big fan of Windows 8 running in Bootcamp! When OS X Mavericks comes out I'll be doing a clean install of it and then migrating my OS X data.

I have been checking twice a day since the weekend for the 10.9 Bootcamp 5.1 software for the 3,1 and it's not been available from the update server so far.

As far as the Windows side, I really want to restore an image of my current set-up, because for my needs-and-likes I haven a real clean&mean tweaked-machine. So no clean install of Windows for me. Unless.......

Cheers, GL and hope to read about your succes very soon!

 

[m4v3r1ck]

I'm prepping my MP for the migration to OS X Mavericks now, but having problems even making an image of my bootcamp partition with Winclone 4.2.2, but the support desk are working on my console log file, so I hope to get started very soon!

UPDATE: it seems that Paragon NTFS for Mac v.10.0 disabled the creation of an image by Winclone. It locks the bootcamp drive.... Tweaking in sys-prefs did not work so I complete un-installed the driver!

Restored the image to the bootcamp partition on the SSD in bay #1

OS X 10.8.5 boots fine with the VELO-X2 (single SSD 840 EVO) in slot 2 (x16)! The bootcamp side gives a -not surprisingly - BSOD INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE stop-error. So far so good on the OS X side.

@pastrychef
Second thought, I might as well end up having dual SSD VELO-X2 in slot #2 and optical bay in RAID0 for OS X and another single SSD with Icy-Dock in bay #1 resulting in:

1. SATAIII dual SSD RAID0 for OS X (main production on Mac)
2. SATAII for bootcamp Windows 8.1 Prox64 (flightsimming)

I guess that (technically) this will be my best shot and money wise best option! I might be able to life with it... ;-)

Perhaps someday there'll be some GOOD standard bootcamp drivers for windows 7/8 allowing us to make full advantage of our great hardware!? Or perhaps a future upgrade to the MP 5,1... ?

My very last trial-and-error this weekend will be installing OS X 10.8.5 & bootcamp on the VELO-X2 with only that device as (bootable) drive in the Mac. I'll have to take out my 3xHDD apple software raid0, so it will be an almost empty Mac, except for the 2 graphic cards in slot #1 & #3

Fingers crossed!

Cheers

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Additiional question; are you planning to use a thrid party trim driver like Trim Enabler or Chameleon? I'm reading some say do and some say DON'T! Any thoughts?

Cheers

 

[pastrychef]

Your latest idea on using RAID 0 for OS X and SATA 2 for Windows should work fine.

I have always enabled TRIM through terminal. The only down side to using terminal is that it must be reenabled after each point release of OS X, but I assume the same should be true of other enablers.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Your latest idea on using RAID 0 for OS X and SATA 2 for Windows should work fine.

I thought so too!

I have always enabled TRIM through terminal. The only down side to using terminal is that it must be reenabled after each point release of OS X, but I assume the same should be true of other enablers.

But, reading several forums it seems to be the OMDQ, should one enable trim or not? Some say it will degrade the SSD faster then without...? I find this very confusing, it's my very first SSD ever. Perhaps I should send Samsung an email!?

Cheers

 

[Gav Mack]

Have to enable trim for SSD's.

Still waiting on a reply from Apricorn - I won't have time till next week to do any more work on the 3,1 anyway!

 

[pastrychef]

But, reading several forums it seems to be the OMDQ, should one enable trim or not? Some say it will degrade the SSD faster then without...? I find this very confusing, it's my very first SSD ever. Perhaps I should send Samsung an email!?

Every time you write to an SSD, you are shortening its lifespan. But, at least on my SSD, TRIM allows the drive to function better and is recommended. I can't speak for the Samsungs, I've never looked in to getting one and don't know if they do anything differently.

 

[snarfquest]

I had the issues described above.

I upgraded to Mavericks GM and Bootcamp 5.1. I can now dual boot without any issues. Hooray!

 

[m4v3r1ck]

I had the issues described above.

I upgraded to Mavericks GM and Bootcamp 5.1. I can now dual boot without any issues. Hooray!

Congrats!
Could you please share your MecSpecs?

Cheers

----------

Every time you write to an SSD, you are shortening its lifespan. But, at least on my SSD, TRIM allows the drive to function better and is recommended. I can't speak for the Samsungs, I've never looked in to getting one and don't know if they do anything differently.

I've read about the OWC SSD using the Sandforce controller and therefore it is recommended bij OWC to unable TRIM!

Best for me to send Samsung an e-mail! Stay tuned!

Cheers

 

[m4v3r1ck]

UPDATE: Installed TrimEnabler Pro 3.1.2 + first benchmark (after booting from recovery disk and did a repair disk permissions, then rebooted again)

TrimEnabler Pro 3.1.2

Appricorn VELO-X2 (slot#2 x16) + 1x Samsung SSD 840 EVO

So far so good!

 

[snarfquest]

Congrats!
Could you please share your MecSpecs?



Cheers

MacPro 2012
Velocity Solo x2
Samsung 500gb SSD boot drive on the Velocity card. OSX only.
Bay 4 1tb Seagate SSD hybrid drive Windows 7 64bit Bootcamp drive.

Since Mavericks GM and installing Bootcamp 5.1 my system now boots seamlessly between the 2 OS's.