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

[bxs]

Used nearly every version through current release version 5. Worked well with High Sierra and previous. Mojave and after really changed things, mostly with APFS issues.

Version 6 was supposed to "FIX" all of these issues and concerns, but it flat out has been more than a year since they originally said it was due for release, nearly 18 months since they said 6 was in beta testing. Then they again said at NAB 2019 they would have Version 6 in several months...

At some point, you need to move on. Third party tools like this are just not reliable when they're not updated for the OS and continually delayed. You cannot build your workflow around them. Hardware RAID just doesn't break since the OS sees it as a "normal" one device drive. Works a lot more smoothly in macOS.

Yes, SoftRAID has had its share of problems, I agree. 'Tis a shame version 6 is taking so long. 👎

BTW, when using the Accelsior one can use the included SoftRAID to reconfigure and re-format the pre-installed SoftRAID RAID-0 back to 4 separate Apple HFS+ blades/devices. Once this is done, then Apple's Disk Utility (DU) can be used to configure the 4 HFS+ blades/devices as RAID-0, and thus live with using Apple's DU for managing the Accelsior and abandon the use of the included SoftRAID.

 

[jasonmvp]

Once this is done, then Apple's Disk Utility (DU) can be used to configure the 4 HFS+ blades/devices as RAID-0, and thus live with using Apple's DU for managing the Accelsior and abandon the use of the included SoftRAID.

Personally: I like this approach. Either with this "slower" card or the quicker Highpoint card: have two of them installed with four drives a piece, and use Apple's OS RAID to do the dirty. Stripe each of the cards' drives internally, then mirror the two cards onto each other.

Speed and redundancy. Sign me up.

 

[bsbeamer]

Until the HighPoint 7101 is 100% confirmed, I would pick the Sonnet M.2 4x4 over the OWC card (even with the Sonnet blade restrictions). It's an x16 card, confirmed MP7,1 compatibility and benchmark speed results should show performance gain vs. OWC Accelsior.

"Mac Pro 7,1 (2019) – Use x16 PCIe slot (slot 3, 4, or 5) for full performance"

Sonnet Technologies

SSD compatibility:

https://sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/M2_compatibility.pdf

 

[bxs]

Personally: I like this approach. Either with this "slower" card or the quicker Highpoint card: have two of them installed with four drives a piece, and use Apple's OS RAID to do the dirty. Stripe each of the cards' drives internally, then mirror the two cards onto each other.

Speed and redundancy. Sign me up.

After much procrastination I'm about to change my MP7,1 order from being a 12-core, 32GB RAM, stock graphics card, Afterburner, and 4TB internal SSD to a 16-core with 32GB RAM, the Radeon Pro Vega II, and 1TB internal SSD. The price difference is minimal for me.

I will buy the either the 4TB or 8TB OWC Accelsior unit to have some awesome internal i/o, add my own 3rd party RAM, but a bit less than what I had planned for with the original MP7,1 order.

The change-order will likely cause a pushed-out delivery date (current delivery is Jan 30 - Feb 5), that I can live with so long as it's no more than a few weeks.

I already have the Promise 2Ji with its included 8TB Toshiba and have since added a 16TB Seagate. this storage will be convenient as it's internal. It will be used for long-term bulk storage for my Projects. The 8TB Toshiba disk will be backed up to the 16 TB Seagate's 8TB partition, and the remaining 8TB will be used for Time Machine backups that will coexist with some amount of backup from the Accelsior depending on its selected size (4TB or 8TB). I have a 1TB OWC Mercury Envoy M.2 SSD Thunderbolt 3 unit that will be used to backup/cone my bootable internal Apple 1TB SSD.

I share my MP7,1 between myself running CFD simulation applications and my son's video/editing/film business. Son uses mostly Adobe software so we agreed that for time bing the Afterburner (AB) can be looked at down the road when we are more confident about its benefits. The AB can be purchased as a separate accessory on Apple's web site.

...and of course I still want wheels and not legs. 👍

 

[jasonmvp]

After much procrastination I'm about to change my MP7,1 order from being a 12-core, 32GB RAM, stock graphics card, Afterburner, and 4TB internal SSD to a 16-core with 32GB RAM, the Radeon Pro Vega II, and 1TB internal SSD. The price difference is minimal for me.

This is exactly the order I'll be placing RSN: your updated one. Maybe a second Vega II. MAYBE.

I will buy the either the 4TB or 8TB OWC Accelsior unit to have some awesome internal i/o, add my own 3rd party RAM, but a bit less than what I had planned for with the original MP7,1 order.

I've had such good luck with OWC's stuff over the years that I really have no hesitation buying their "slower" cards; but I'd do two of them for the added speed/redundancy. Though we've discussed at length the fact that the x8 cards are literally half the speed, they're still... quick.

 

[bxs]

Until the HighPoint 7101 is 100% confirmed, I would pick the Sonnet M.2 4x4 over the OWC card (even with the Sonnet blade restrictions). It's an x16 card, confirmed MP7,1 compatibility and benchmark speed results should show performance gain vs. OWC Accelsior.

"Mac Pro 7,1 (2019) – Use x16 PCIe slot (slot 3, 4, or 5) for full performance"

Sonnet Technologies

SSD compatibility:

https://sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/M2_compatibility.pdf

Hmmm, that sounds like a good alternative to the OWC's Accelsior. The sonnet card has just a 2 yr warranty vs. OWC's Accelsior having a 5 yr warranty.

The Sonnet card will cost $570 without blades. A 2TB Samsung 970 blade will cost $538. Thus to configure the Sonnet card with 8TB will cost $570 + 4*$538 for a whopping total of $2722. this is 2x the cost of the 8TB OWC Accelsior which itself is fast enough for me at around 5 GB/s.

 

[bxs]

Hmmm, that sounds like a good alternative to the OWC's Accelsior. The sonnet card has just a 2 yr warranty vs. OWC's Accelsior having a 5 yr warranty.

The Sonnet card will cost $570 without blades. A 2TB Samsung 970 blade will cost $538. Thus to configure the Sonnet card with 8TB will cost $570 + 4*$538 for a whopping total of $2722. this is 2x the cost of the 8TB OWC Accelsior which itself is fast enough for me at around 5 GB/s.

I've just visited the OWC web site and they have updated their page for the Accelsior 4M2. It now shows a different box for the 2019 MP,71 vs. what it had previously. For example, the old 4TB unit is $679 and the new 2019 MP7,1 4TB unit is now $950 - a uptick of some $271.

I called OWC sales and was told they had just got their MP7,1 and were testing the old Accelsior 4TB unit in their MP7,1 and it did not behave correctly. So their engineering have had to tweaked the Accelsior to make it compatible with the MP7,1 and consequently are now charging more for it. The new prices for the Accelsior for the MP7,1 is now, as I stated, $950 for 4TB and $1,600 for the 8TB.

Also found out that the Accelsior comes out of the box as a RAID-0 HFS+. If you want RAID-5 you will need to use SoftRAID for say RAID-5 and greater.

 

[bsbeamer]

There are better options than this PCIe x8 card at those prices, especially with the restrictions/issues and reliance on SoftRAID (even if just for initial setup).

Sonnet M.2 4x4 = $400
HighPoint 7101 = $390

Samsung 1TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 is around $170/blade right now. If you already have the NVMe blades or can pickup used or on sale, it's even cheaper entry. If you can wait 3-4 weeks, those prices may drop a bit more. New models tend to release on an annual basis.

 

[bxs]

There are better options than this PCIe x8 card at those prices, especially with the restrictions/issues and reliance on SoftRAID (even if just for initial setup).

Sonnet M.2 4x4 = $400
HighPoint 7101 = $390

Samsung 1TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 is around $170/blade right now. If you already have the NVMe blades or can pickup used or on sale, it's even cheaper entry. If you can wait 3-4 weeks, those prices may drop a bit more. New models tend to release on an annual basis.

Thank your that info. 👍

OK sounds OK..... Let's see

Sonnet M.2 4x4 PCie 3.0 x16 cost $365 at B&H
Samsung 1TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD/Fash blade cost $170 at B&H
Thus for a 4TB unit cost will be $365 + 4x $170 = $1045.

Cost for an OWC Accelsior 4TB is $950

Difference between the two is some $95 with the Sonnet giving x16 (max 12GB/s) and the OWC giving x8. (max 6GB/s). Speed can in this case trump the extra $95 I guess. No matter, thanks for the help on this.

[EDIT]
I noticed that there a newer 1TB 970 blade at B&H - Samsung 1TB 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 Internal SSD costing $200, and slightly faster than the $170 blade. This "Plus" does get very good reviews on the B&H site. 👍

The BIG question is, is the 4TB Sonnet/Samsung that much faster than the 4TB OWC Accelsior ???
Is the x16 vs. x8 that meaningful for giving extra speed for a single PCIe card ???

 

[bsbeamer]

Just make sure you buy blades that are compatible on their list

 

[majus]

... A 2TB Samsung 970 blade will cost $538.

The only 2TB Samsung available right now is the 970 Evo Plus, and it's priced on Samsung's site (and other vendors) at $399.99, not $538. The 1TB 970 Pro is $299.99 and the 1TB 970 Evo is $169.99.

 

[jasonmvp]

I called OWC sales and was told they had just got their MP7,1 and were testing the old Accelsior 4TB unit in their MP7,1 and it did not behave correctly. So their engineering have had to tweaked the Accelsior to make it compatible with the MP7,1 and consequently are now charging more for it.

That sort of smells like, "Separate new, wealthy Mac Pro owner from his money". I'd love to know the specifics as to what wasn't behaving correctly, because I'm not buying it.

 

[sugarfreemedia]

FYI, I got a clarifications from OWC regarding Accelsior 4M2. A new version is available, compatible with MP7,1.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDACL4M208T/

 

[bxs]

FYI, I got a clarifications from OWC regarding Accelsior 4M2. A new version is available, compatible with MP7,1.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDACL4M208T/

Yes, and they've increased the price by around $270 for the 4TB unit.

 

[bxs]

Thank your that info. 👍

OK sounds OK..... Let's see

Sonnet M.2 4x4 PCie 3.0 x16 cost $365 at B&H
Samsung 1TB 970 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD/Fash blade cost $170 at B&H
Thus for a 4TB unit cost will be $365 + 4x $170 = $1045.

Cost for an OWC Accelsior 4TB is $950

Difference between the two is some $95 with the Sonnet giving x16 (max 12GB/s) and the OWC giving x8. (max 6GB/s). Speed can in this case trump the extra $95 I guess. No matter, thanks for the help on this.

[EDIT]
I noticed that there a newer 1TB 970 blade at B&H - Samsung 1TB 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 Internal SSD costing $200, and slightly faster than the $170 blade. This "Plus" does get very good reviews on the B&H site. 👍

The BIG question is, is the 4TB Sonnet/Samsung that much faster than the 4TB OWC Accelsior ???
Is the x16 vs. x8 that meaningful for giving extra speed for a single PCIe card ???

Hmmm.... I noted from the Sonnet site https://sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/M2_compatiblity.pdf the 970 EVO Plus states "macOS compatibility requires a firmware update which must be installed under Windows".

 

[OkiRun]

Looks like the Apple 8Tb option is now on the 'Buy" page:

8TB SSD storage $2,600.00

​

+ $2,600.00​

 

[Korican100]

OK, so for the OWC 8TB Im getting:

Black Magic Speed Test: 4.75, 5.2

Setup with SoftRAID was a cinch. I optimized for digital video.

No noise!

Looking and sounding good to me!

hey man! since you are the only one on the forums i know that has and used this in their MP7,1. Have you seen any "misbehaving"?

Since OWC has just now released a version for the MP7,1, they claim the older model isn't completely compatible with the 7,1.

And I ordered mine before they released this newer one, so its on the way to my house. I'm hoping its a issue with booting, and as a sratch drive, its A-OK.

 

[bsbeamer]

OWC stated a firmware update was required for MP7,1 for compatibility. No idea what they actually required or what it fixed, but it's not shocking they're doing that firmware update themselves and upcharging. Data corruption with their SSD products has been a real problem for initial releases in the past.

I personally absolutely would not take the chance with a stated non-compatible product, especially when it comes to something like a working drive. (Also would not purchase this product.)

Very few vendors/manufacturers make PCIe firmware update tools that work with macOS. Maybe that will change in the future now that MP7,1 is available?

 

[H. Flower]

hey man! since you are the only one on the forums i know that has and used this in their MP7,1. Have you seen any "misbehaving"?

Since OWC has just now released a version for the MP7,1, they claim the older model isn't completely compatible with the 7,1.

And I ordered mine before they released this newer one, so its on the way to my house. I'm hoping its a issue with booting, and as a sratch drive, its A-OK.

No, no misbehaving whatsoever. Setup was easy and it’s working fine. Maybe they sent me the new one for the old price ? And are doing the same for you ? I’m going to call them today .

 

[jasonmvp]

Maybe they sent me the new one for the old price

Is there an easy way to see the model number/SKU on it?

 

[Korican100]

No, no misbehaving whatsoever. Setup was easy and it’s working fine. Maybe they sent me the new one for the old price ? And are doing the same for you ? I’m going to call them today .

if they did, they just saved you a whole bunch of money! The old ones were on sale, and the new ones are full price.

I am receiving it today, so I will find out for sure. Also, I sent their technical team an email, hoping to get some clarification from them as well.

 

[Maxtoid]

So glad I found this post. I got my 7,1 Monday - went with the 16-core 2TB with 96GB ram and the Vega II... Love it, but I'm needing additional storage for my database-heavy applications. I was already looking at the Sonnet M.2 4x4 card when I saw the article for the updated OWC Accelsior 4M2 card... seems like no matter which way you slice it, the Sonnet card is a better deal. The new 4M2 card comes with Toshiba blades that only have 380TBW endurance and only 8 lanes for PCIe. Plus I couldn't for the life of me find a clear answer as to how many actual chips come with the pre-configured storage options from OWC, but given that they advertise 6GBps+ read/write and almost no Toshiba blade has over 3GBps write, I'm guessing they fill all 4 slots with lower-grade cards and raid them, maxing out the x8 speeds?

Either way it seems like despite the 2yr vs 5yr warranty and the fact that the 4M2 comes with SoftRaid, getting the Sonnet 4x4 and throwing Samsung 970 Pro/Evo Plus drives in it would be a better value all around. It may cost a bit more up front, ($949 for a 4TB 4M2 vs $1049 ($680 for 4 970 EVO drives and $370 for the sonnet 4x4) but you get 600TBW on the evo drives and 8.5GBps read/write.

I'm still figuring out which blade combos I want in the sonnet card, but I'll likely order it today and install it next week. Just can't bring myself to buy the OWC pre-configured when I could spec it out with Samsung drives I know are rock solid and mix-and-match how I want with higher speeds from double the PCI lanes.

 

[tommy chen]

.....

The BIG question is, is the 4TB Sonnet/Samsung that much faster than the 4TB OWC Accelsior ???
Is the x16 vs. x8 that meaningful for giving extra speed for a single PCIe card ???

the sonnet or highpoint should be 10 -15% faster in on a fast single NVMe like the samsung,
and much more in a raid config

 

[giggles]

The Sonnet needs to be setup as “JBOD” to boot from it as a big whole 4TB (or even 8TB) drive, right? Is it supposed to be done in Disk Utility?

 

[bxs]

So glad I found this post. I got my 7,1 Monday - went with the 16-core 2TB with 96GB ram and the Vega II... Love it, but I'm needing additional storage for my database-heavy applications. I was already looking at the Sonnet M.2 4x4 card when I saw the article for the updated OWC Accelsior 4M2 card... seems like no matter which way you slice it, the Sonnet card is a better deal. The new 4M2 card comes with Toshiba blades that only have 380TBW endurance and only 8 lanes for PCIe. Plus I couldn't for the life of me find a clear answer as to how many actual chips come with the pre-configured storage options from OWC, but given that they advertise 6GBps+ read/write and almost no Toshiba blade has over 3GBps write, I'm guessing they fill all 4 slots with lower-grade cards and raid them, maxing out the x8 speeds?

Either way it seems like despite the 2yr vs 5yr warranty and the fact that the 4M2 comes with SoftRaid, getting the Sonnet 4x4 and throwing Samsung 970 Pro/Evo Plus drives in it would be a better value all around. It may cost a bit more up front, ($949 for a 4TB 4M2 vs $1049 ($680 for 4 970 EVO drives and $370 for the sonnet 4x4) but you get 600TBW on the evo drives and 8.5GBps read/write.

I'm still figuring out which blade combos I want in the sonnet card, but I'll likely order it today and install it next week. Just can't bring myself to buy the OWC pre-configured when I could spec it out with Samsung drives I know are rock solid and mix-and-match how I want with higher speeds from double the PCI lanes.

If you check the Sonnet supported SSD/flash blades note that the Samsung 970 Pro/Evo Plus SSD/blade requires a firmware update that must be done under a Windows system. See

Sonnet M.2 4x4 PCIe Card (Four M.2 NVMe SSD slots on a PCIe 3.0 x16 card • Add your own SSDs)

Four M.2 NVMe SSD Slots On a PCIe 3.0 x16 Card.

www.sonnetstore.com

https://sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/M2_compatiblity.pdf