MP All Models Bootable PCI SSD Cards/Drives for Mac Pro (NVMe M.2, U.2, EDSFF E3.S, etc.)

[Christian Evers]

Could also be firmware version now that I think about it. The smaller drives have 11300DN0, while the larger drives have 11300DR0.

Just tried the Sonnet Fusion card with Micron 9300 Pro 7,68TB (firmware 11300DU0) in my Mac Pro 5,1 - It doesn't work, no chime, no display, nothing.

Since older firmware 11300DN0 seems to work for "mkush", its likely to be the newer firmware that causes this problem.

Im trying to reach out to Micron for getting the older firmware 11300DN0.

By chance, anybody here have the older 11300DN0 firmware available ?

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Does anyone know if there is a U.3 controller card?

I really like the look of this new Micron drive.

The 32TB Micron 9400 Pro is a Beast PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD

We take a look at the massive Micron 9400 30.72TB and see how this is not just a large PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD, it is also perhaps the fastest

www.servethehome.com

Looks like Highpoint has a few options:

Fan-less, 4 connections PCIe3:

NVMe AIC Adapter | HighPoint Technologies,Inc.

HighPoint Rocket series NVMe AICs, for M.2,U.2/U.3 &E1.S SSDs,deliver uncompromised storage performance,scalability and adaptability using PCIe 4.0 & 3.0.

www.highpoint-tech.com

Fan, 8 connections PCIe3:

NVMe AIC Adapter | HighPoint Technologies,Inc.

HighPoint Rocket series NVMe AICs, for M.2,U.2/U.3 &E1.S SSDs,deliver uncompromised storage performance,scalability and adaptability using PCIe 4.0 & 3.0.

www.highpoint-tech.com

Fan, 4 connections PCIe4:

Rocket 1580 NVMe AIC |HighPoint Technologies, Inc.

Rocket 1580 is an 8-port U.2/U.3 NVMe AIC Controller, no bifurcation, standalone solution, with dedicated PCIe 4.0 x16, and native in-box NVMe driver support.

www.highpoint-tech.com

 

[timerickson]

Mac Pro 2019 is only PCIe Gen 3 (it was baffling even in 2019), so I don't think so. You'll need to stick to Micron 9300 U.2

 

[timerickson]

I mean, " PCIe 4.0 is backward and forward compatible. So, you can insert a PCIe 4.0 device into a PCIe 3.0 slot, but you'll be bottlenecked by the bandwidth limitations of Gen 3."

So there's not much benefit in these new drives (especially at their higher price) given you'll be throwing away the speed improvements.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I think you’re likely right, but the 16bit pci 3.0 interface, I think, in theory has a lot more bandwidth than the 7Gb/sec of the drive, so I do wonder what the throughput might be. Likely only 4 of the 16 lanes could be used, but depends on how each Channel/interface is fed through the bus. Likely just fed via 4 lanes and limited to that.

Also, it’s a single 32Tb drive going for less than $5000 currently, and there is value in the capacity. Bit of an expensive experiment though. :/

 

[timerickson]

Just get 2x Micron 9300 16TB and the OWC dual U.2 drive. This is a solved problem.

You will not be able to split a PCIe 4 x4 into PCIe 3 x8 or any other combination. you can only split by lanes, not by bandwidth

 

[tsialex]

You will not be able to split a PCIe 4 x4 into PCIe 3 x8 or any other combination. you can only split by lanes, not by bandwidth

With a PCIe switched card, yes, you can. That's why since the early-2008 Mac Pro we workaround the PCIe v2.0 slots with v3.0 PCIe switches. The PCIe switch internally converts the slow and wide to fast and narrow. Same thing with 2019 Mac Pro, x16 PCIe v3.0 becomes multiple x4 PCIe v4.0 with a PCIe switch.

Btw, 2019 Mac Pro do not support Intel PCIe lane partition in any way - while the chipset itself supports PCIe lane partition, the required firmware support wasn't implemented by Apple in the Mac Pro BootROM.

 

[timerickson]

Thanks for the correction!

 

[djshd]

apologies for the tangent here as there's not a lot of people online with u.2 experience but does anyone have any information about compatibility of the Samsung PM1733/PM1733A with macOS? The Sonnet Chart says Yes to the PM1733 but nothing about the 1733A but we all know that the chart is not reliable after the intel situation.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

This 15TB U2 drive I’ve been using just went on sale for an all time low price of $1750. Get it while it lasts! Up until this they were selling around 2900.

Micron 9300 Pro 15.36TB NVMe U.2 Enterprise Solid State Drive

Performance-critical cloud and enterprise workloads demand consistently Fast throughput and immediate access to data. The Micron 9300 Series of NVMe SSDs delivers industry-leading sequential write performance with the lowest write latency on the market, to accelerate your datacenter to meet the g...

www.amazon.com

 

[0Jeff]

This 15TB U2 drive I’ve been using just went on sale for an all time low price of $1750. Get it while it lasts!

Micron 9300 Pro 15.36TB NVMe U.2 Enterprise Solid State Drive

Performance-critical cloud and enterprise workloads demand consistently Fast throughput and immediate access to data. The Micron 9300 Series of NVMe SSDs delivers industry-leading sequential write performance with the lowest write latency on the market, to accelerate your datacenter to meet the g...

www.amazon.com

[Deleted] Should have read the thread before commenting.

 

[timerickson]

I've seen them go as low as $1200 on eBay.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I've seen them go as low as $1200 on eBay.

New!?!

 

[theboom]

Greetings & Salutations - it's my first time posting here. Big hello to all.

Do you folks have any idea if MacOS will support a U.2 drive (like the Micron) with one of these PCI Express cards?

U.2 PCIE Expansion Card, PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card, PCIE X16 to 4 Port U.2 NVME SFF-8643/8639 Expansion Cards with LED Indicator PCIE 4.0 Card PH49-4P

How to Use: Plug and Play Specification: Item Type: PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card Material: PCB Model: PH49 Applicable Slot: PCIE X4 X8 X16 Expansion Interface: SFF8643 Support System: for Windows Package List: 1 x PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card 1 x Screw 1 x Baffle

www.amazon.com

 

[djshd]

Greetings & Salutations - it's my first time posting here. Big hello to all.

Do you folks have any idea if MacOS will support a U.2 drive (like the Micron) with one of these PCI Express cards?

U.2 PCIE Expansion Card, PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card, PCIE X16 to 4 Port U.2 NVME SFF-8643/8639 Expansion Cards with LED Indicator PCIE 4.0 Card PH49-4P

How to Use: Plug and Play Specification: Item Type: PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card Material: PCB Model: PH49 Applicable Slot: PCIE X4 X8 X16 Expansion Interface: SFF8643 Support System: for Windows Package List: 1 x PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card 1 x Screw 1 x Baffle

www.amazon.com

yes MacOS supports most Micron u.2 drives. However I recommend the Startech adapter or the Sonnet card that supports two drives https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-U-2-PCIe-Adapter-PEX4SFF8639/dp/B072JK2XLC/

 

[theboom]

Thanks for the lightning fast response! I guess what I was also trying to understand at a deeper level is if these cards even require a special driver in the first place (For MacOS to Support or Not Support), or if they only pass-thru the PCI-Express protocol from the drive to the PCI Express bus? This last question would make the difference between needing a specific card like the StarTech one you linked or any generic card if it's just a passthru.. Or did you only link the StarTech because you know it's been reported as working (which would certainly makes sense to make a recommendation based on known experiences) ?

And for the known/working StarTech adapter, is it known to work as a boot drive? or do these have to be installed as secondary storage?

 

[djshd]

Thanks for the lightning fast response! I guess what I was also trying to understand at a deeper level is if these cards even require a special driver in the first place (For MacOS to Support or Not Support), or if they only pass-thru the PCI-Express protocol from the drive to the PCI Express bus? This last question would make the difference between needing a specific card like the StarTech one you linked or any generic card if it's just a passthru.. Or did you only link the StarTech because you know it's been reported as working (which would certainly makes sense to make a recommendation based on known experiences) ?

They don't require special software; it's all done through PCIE bus. Some u.2 drives (samsung and western digital) are not compatible with macOS BIOS for some reason and they will write but not read so it's better you just avoid them all together than get them and try to troubleshoot like I did. The same thing goes for the cards, some cards won't let you boot off certain drives. The Startech card has been tested extensively by me personally and other people I know who use these drives so the extra $10 is worth the reliability.

 

[felix123]

I am in the same situation. Sonnet Fusion with micron 9400. under PCI it says installed=no. Under other operating systems it is recognized. Do I need to enable or set something in OSX ?

Micron 9400 also confirmed by support that they run.

 

[timerickson]

Greetings & Salutations - it's my first time posting here. Big hello to all.

Do you folks have any idea if MacOS will support a U.2 drive (like the Micron) with one of these PCI Express cards?

U.2 PCIE Expansion Card, PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card, PCIE X16 to 4 Port U.2 NVME SFF-8643/8639 Expansion Cards with LED Indicator PCIE 4.0 Card PH49-4P

How to Use: Plug and Play Specification: Item Type: PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card Material: PCB Model: PH49 Applicable Slot: PCIE X4 X8 X16 Expansion Interface: SFF8643 Support System: for Windows Package List: 1 x PCIE to U.2 Adapter Card 1 x Screw 1 x Baffle

www.amazon.com

Short answer: it won't work.

Long answer: Those adapter cards, regardless of the brand, are extremely simple. There's nothing magical about the Startech one. It's PCIe on both ends, so it's doing no translation. It comes down to whether the drive itself is compatible with the OS.

HOWEVER: the 2019 Mac Pro does not support PCIe Bifurcation, so attaching four via a simple card like that won't work, but not because the card is faulty, but because they require the chipset to read four 4x lanes of PCIe separately, instead of as one x16 lane. The Startech one works because it's just one 4x lane.

The Sonnet Fusion Dual U.2 card works because it has an active chip handling the PCIe switching.

 

[theboom]

Short answer: it won't work.

Long answer: Those adapter cards, regardless of the brand, are extremely simple. There's nothing magical about the Startech one. It's PCIe on both ends, so it's doing no translation. It comes down to whether the drive itself is compatible with the OS.

HOWEVER: the 2019 Mac Pro does not support PCIe Bifurcation, so attaching four via a simple card like that won't work, but not because the card is faulty, but because they require the chipset to read four 4x lanes of PCIe separately, instead of as one x16 lane. The Startech one works because it's just one 4x lane.

The Sonnet Fusion Dual U.2 card works because it has an active chip handling the PCIe switching.

I probably should have mentioned this is for a new hackintosh build but I wasn't sure if I was going to be told to head over to tonymacx86

 

[Rimmsi]

Hi, has anyone tried the Sandisk Skyhawk U2 ssd in a Mac Pro 7.1? Thanks.

 

[randy85]

I have this POS adapter card in my 7.1 with a 15.36TB 9300 Pro and it runs flawlessly.

PCIe 3.0 to U.2 SFF-8639 Adapter, X4, for 2.5’’ U.2 NVMe SSD or 2.5" SATA SSD

PCIX48639-1

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Eyezestful]

They don't require special software; it's all done through PCIE bus. Some u.2 drives (samsung and western digital) are not compatible with macOS BIOS for some reason and they will write but not read so it's better you just avoid them all together than get them and try to troubleshoot like I did. The same thing goes for the cards, some cards won't let you boot off certain drives. The Startech card has been tested extensively by me personally and other people I know who use these drives so the extra $10 is worth the reliability.

I have just installed a couple of 15.36tb Samsung PM9A3 in the new Mac Pro 2023 using the sonnet u.2 card. The SSDs reach the expected read/write speeds (around 3GB/s) when used as single drives. However, as soon as I do a RAID 0 volume the read speeds go down dramatically to around 400MB/s, when it should be at least 6GB/s. The write speeds are decent at around 5GB/s. The issue happens with both Apple Raid and SoftRaid.

Do you think this is related to the problem you mentioned between Samsung drives having issues with the MacOS Bios?

Thanks for your help.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I have this POS adapter card in my 7.1 with a 15.36TB 9300 Pro and it runs flawlessly.

PCIe 3.0 to U.2 SFF-8639 Adapter, X4, for 2.5’’ U.2 NVMe SSD or 2.5" SATA SSD

PCIX48639-1

www.amazon.co.uk

Have any of you seen new PCI4 cards that support U.3 drives? I posted this one before:

https://www.highpoint-tech.com/nvme-aic/r1580

But was wondering if there are any updated/newer ones that just plug in easy like this old PCI3/U.2 card:

Fusion Dual U.2 SSD PCIe Card - SONNETTECH

Two U.2 NVMe SSD slots on a PCIe 3.0 x16 card. Add your own U.2 SSDs for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

www.sonnettech.com

I'm getting close to needing to upgrade and want to try the Micron 9400 Pro and was thinking it might be nice to upgrade my highpoint 7120 card while I'm at it. What I like about my 7120 is it is finless and that new highpoint 1580 has a fan. :/

 

[timerickson]

I probably should have mentioned this is for a new hackintosh build but I wasn't sure if I was going to be told to head over to tonymacx86

Then it will depend on your motherboard's support for PCIe bifurcation. If it does support it, enable in BIOS. It should be blind to macOS and just work.