I actually am very curious about this expansion you are doing. Finding a way to utilize the independent x4 slots on this card for other purposes like USB 3.0 expansion is pretty nifty.
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SATA Express meets the '09 Mac Pro - Bootable NGFF PCIE SSD
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I actually am very curious about this expansion you are doing. Finding a way to utilize the independent x4 slots on this card for other purposes like USB 3.0 expansion is pretty nifty.
Got another SSD to have 2 - however, once added it does not boot, because i'm an idiot and bought an NVMe drive (GAAAAH damn store, sure it said SATA on the website).
The other SSD works fine on the Squid, i see extended boot times with alt/OS selection (10-20s?) but i have another PLX splitter attached for the external GPUs (here: http://imgur.com/a/suUFy )
I have an issue with my space though, expectedly the PCIe x4 risers cover slot 3 which cannot be used natively anymore. I have the PCIe expander for external now in slot 4.
The 2 x4 of slot 2 will be used for 10G/USB with the extensions (cut out hole in the back of the Mac) - i can fit an extension to slot 3 also so it will likely be used for something as well.
The other SSD works fine on the Squid, i see extended boot times with alt/OS selection (10-20s?) but i have another PLX splitter attached for the external GPUs (here: http://imgur.com/a/suUFy )
I have an issue with my space though, expectedly the PCIe x4 risers cover slot 3 which cannot be used natively anymore. I have the PCIe expander for external now in slot 4.
The 2 x4 of slot 2 will be used for 10G/USB with the extensions (cut out hole in the back of the Mac) - i can fit an extension to slot 3 also so it will likely be used for something as well.
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If anyone could help me, I would greatly appreciate it! I'm using a Samsung SM951 512GB (SAMSUNG AHCI version - MZHPV512HDGL) + Lycom DT-120 in my 2012 Mac Pro 12 Core. I'm only getting read speeds of 880 and write of 150. I have trim enabled. I have tried both slots 3 and 4. I purchased another Lycom DT-120 to see if that was the issue, but the same speed persists.
I have used both blackjack and AJA software to run the benchmarks (up to 16GB). Same results...
Any help is welcome!!!
I have used both blackjack and AJA software to run the benchmarks (up to 16GB). Same results...
Any help is welcome!!!
Did you buy it new or used? I would try an app like DriveDX available on the app store, although I think it cost like $15. I have it and it works great. With an app like DriveDX, you will be able to see how many hours it has ran, how many times it has been power cycled, its likely lifespan, and a whole slew of health indicators. Not only would that tell if its genuinely new, it will most likely tell you what is wrong with it. If an SSD or m.2 is running extremely slow, it could mean someone tried a "secure erase" on it...OUCH! Solid state drive don't like secure erase and can cause them to dramatically drop in performance. You can try running OS X own disc utility app and use the "repair" option. Sometimes if you do this more than once it can really help the drive recover. It could also mean the drive is corrupt or there is a loose connection, or one of the connector pins is damaged. Does the card look ok, do all of the connector pins look like what you see in the pics online? Also which mac pro are you using?
2012 Mac Pro 12 Core 2.4
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I purchased it new from Macmall. I will give DriveDx a shot. I will also run disk utility as well. It is in perfect condition and installed correctly to the Lycom DT-120. No pins are damaged.
My Mac pro is:
2012 Mac Pro 12 Core 2.4
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Here is my DriveDX test results:
Attachments
With 959 power cycle counts and 3,325 hours of use, I would say the drive is far from "new". How long have you had it?
I would send those numbers directly to macmall and demand a refund or replacement if you haven't had it that long and they claim it was "new". The health status looks fine however.
Oh, if you had it for a year than yeah that looks to be right. I highly doubt mac mall offers a warranty for that long on a drive like that. Even if you did purchase an extended warranty. If you haven't already, I would check to see if anything else is running slow in your Pcie slots. Ssd hooked up to an esata card or USB 3 card, that way you can weed out whether or not it is your slots or the drive. You could try reformatting the drive and see if that helps. Or install it in another computer. Another option I see as far as OS X goes is a fairly expensive program called disk warrior. It can repair most things as far as corruption is concerned. But it's still a gamble being how expensive it is and may or may not solve your problem, so I wouldn't really recommend going that route. If you have Windows via bootcamp, there are several software options to repair damaged disks, probably far cheaper and possibly even free. Also, maybe a pram or SMC reset would help, but I doubt it. Wish I could help more but that's pretty much all I got....
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Also, have you been running it without a heatsink and doing heavy lifting, such as working with video files? These cards quickly exceed their max recommended temp when under load. DriveDX works well but may not be giving you all related health variables.
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I did benchmarks on SSD’s in the PCI slot. They benchmarked at the typical speeds for a standard SSD. So it seems as if it the drive itself. I will try diskwarrior first and then try formatting and reinstalling everything. I will also do a PRAM and SMC reset.
I never used a heatsink for this system. I don’t do any video work, but I push Ableton Live to it absolute limits.
I would get the biggest heatsink you can fit for them. At minimum you can get the smaller ones on Amazon for cheap and stick them to each die on the card. Again, disk warrior is expensive and may not solve your problem, but it is the best disk repair utility available for Mac. I would do that as your last resort. Try the other steps first. Also try OS X disk utility repair function a few more times and see if the Blackmagic stats go up.
Reporting.... Generic NVMe PCIe SSD's appear to be supported under the latest Sierra beta release. Has anyone tested?
within the kext, it's referred to as "Generic NVMe Controller". No mods look necessary
within the kext, it's referred to as "Generic NVMe Controller". No mods look necessary
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For reference, here is how I got a bootable Windows 10 installation on a dedicated SM951 (OS X is on another drive) in a Mac Pro 5,1.
The exact parts I used are a Samsung SM951 128GB (AHCI version) on a Lycom DT-120 PCIe adapter board.
The exact parts I used are a Samsung SM951 128GB (AHCI version) on a Lycom DT-120 PCIe adapter board.
- Download official Win10 v1607 ISO from Microsoft and burn it to a DVD.
- Take all drives (SATA & PCIe) out of the Mac Pro except the SM951 intended for the Windows installation.
- Use the Mac's boot screen (hold Alt immediately when turning machine on) to boot off the DVD. Select the optical disc icon labelled EFI.
- On the initial screen of the Windows installer, press Shift+F10 to open a Command Prompt. Do the following commands:
- diskpart
- select disk 0
- clean
- convert gpt
- create partition efi size=200
- format fs=fat32
- create partition msr size=128
- create partition primary
- format fs=ntfs quick label=Windows
- exit
- Continue with the Windows installer and select a clean install (Custom) onto the partition labelled Windows that just got created.
- When the machine reboots a few times during install, hold Alt and use the Mac's boot screen to select the drive (rather than optical). << This may be unnecessary.
- After the installation is finished, again use the Mac's boot screen to check that it is bootable.
- Shut down the Mac Pro and put the other SATA & PCIe drives back in.
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For reference, here is how I got a bootable Windows 10 installation on a dedicated SM951 (OS X is on another drive) in a Mac Pro 5,1.
The exact parts I used are a Samsung SM951 128GB (AHCI version) on a Lycom DT-120 PCIe adapter board.
- Download official Win10 v1607 ISO from Microsoft and burn it to a DVD.
- Take all drives (SATA & PCIe) out of the Mac Pro except the SM951 intended for the Windows installation.
- Use the Mac's boot screen (hold Alt immediately when turning machine on) to boot off the DVD. Select the optical disc icon labelled EFI.
- On the initial screen of the Windows installer, press Shift+F10 to open a Command Prompt. Do the following commands:
(With the "create partition primary" command, I omitted a size so that it will use the full remainder of the disk)
- diskpart
- select disk 0
- clean
- convert gpt
- create partition efi size=200
- format fs=fat32
- create partition msr size=128
- create partition primary
- format fs=ntfs quick label=Windows
- exit
- Continue with the Windows installer and select a clean install (Custom) onto the partition labelled Windows that just got created.
- When the machine reboots a few times during install, hold Alt and use the Mac's boot screen to select the drive (rather than optical). << This may be unnecessary.
- After the installation is finished, again use the Mac's boot screen to check that it is bootable.
- Shut down the Mac Pro and put the other SATA & PCIe drives back in.
Just tried this and all the commands seem to do something, but the installation still can't see the SM951 to install too, just asks for a driver.
The installer (booted from DVD) could always *see* my SM951 (AHCI). The problem solved for me by the palaver was this:
That would be really cool.
I'd love to get a 256GB NVMe Samsung SM951 and clone over my current SDD boot drive (128GB Samsung 830 simply connected via SATAII)
I don't think so. Just like we can get the USB 3.0 card working (because of the driver), but can't boot from it (because no EFI support).
