MP 1,1-5,1 Setting up New NVMe's in a 2012 cMP

[bigbadneil]

I have just bought 4 Samsung 2TB 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 plus the HighPoint SSD7101A-1 M.2 NVMe RAID Controller for my 2012 cMP. I have read up on how to physically install the hardware but get lost after that as far as configuring how to best use them.

I currently have my Mojave OS in bay #1 on a 2TB SSD drive. Should I keep that set up or would I be better off copying my OS onto one of the new NVMe's and use that as the OS Drive (If I do that how would I go about doing that)?

Apparently it comes with a RAID but I have no idea what that is or how to use it

Thanks in advance

Neil

 

[KeesMacPro]

The overall performance will definitely improve if you move the OS to the HighPoint.
For advices about how to setup the RAID, i recommend to ask in the following thread about PCIe adapters:

PCIe SSDs - NVMe & AHCI

This is a general info thread for blade SSDs that can be used in the Mac Pro. This is a WikiPost so anyone with the proper credentials may edit it. NVMe SSDs can be used as a boot drive in the MP5,1 and MP6,1 with the latest firmware installed (beginning with version 140.0.0.0.0 for MP5,1 and...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[bigbadneil]

The overall performance will definitely improve if you move the OS to the HighPoint.

Thanks for the feedback.......How do I do that?

 

[KeesMacPro]

I would setup the RAID configuration first, after that clone the OS to the blade(s) .
Carbon copy cloner works 100% and got a 30 days free trial version .

 

[tsialex]

I would setup the RAID configuration first, after that clone the OS to the blade(s) .
Carbon copy cloner works 100% and got a 30 days free trial version .

Since you are recommending this, shouldn't you warn that every software or security update that Apple releases you will have to clone the array to an APFS single disk to do the updates and then clone it back to the array?

Last macOS release that still fully support bootable arrays is 10.13.6. Not even Big Sur support bootable APFS RAID arrays or can self update when hacked to boot from an array.

 

[bigbadneil]

Since you are recommending this, shouldn't you warn that every software or security update that Apple releases you will have to clone the array to an APFS single disk to do the updates and then clone it back to the array?

Last macOS release that still fully support bootable arrays is 10.13.6. Not even Big Sur support bootable APFS RAID arrays or can self update when hacked to boot from an array.

I'm sorry but I don't have a clue what your talking about there. I know how to carbon copy but how do I get the computer to know which os to open
Neil

 

[tsialex]

I'm sorry but I don't have a clue what your talking about there. I know how to carbon copy but how do I get the computer to know which os to open
Neil

If you have a GPU with pre-boot configuration support, you press ALT at POST and select the disk you want to boot or you select via SystemPreferences/StartupDisk. If you have a PC GPU without pre-boot configuration support, you have to use SystemPreferences/StartupDisk.

Forget bootable arrays after High Sierra, it's not a supported config anymore and it's too much trouble to maintain it.

 

[KeesMacPro]

Since you are recommending this, shouldn't you warn that every software or security update that Apple releases you will have to clone the array to an APFS single disk to do the updates and then clone it back to the array?

I wasnt recommending to install the OS to RAID .
The OP asked about RAID in post #1.

For advices about how to setup the RAID, i recommend to ask in the following thread about PCIe adapters:

 

[tsialex]

I wasnt recommending to install the OS to RAID .
The OP asked about RAID in post #1.

Ah, sorry about the confusion, I understood that you was suggesting to clone the macOS install to the RAID array.

 

[KeesMacPro]

Ah, sorry about the confusion

No problem

 

[Chips Stephens]

Hey op, just went though this, I just used the driver and high point raid software https://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ssd7101a-1-download.htm
I used carbon copy cloner on my boot drive, and raid on the other 3.
May not be the “best”? Way to do all this, but it works fine...all the info you need on the raid is in the link I sent..
Not sure how this is done with just the Mac disk manager, maybe someone else will chime it?

 

[bigbadneil]

Hey op, just went though this, I just used the driver and high point raid software https://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ssd7101a-1-download.htm
I used carbon copy cloner on my boot drive, and raid on the other 3.
May not be the “best”? Way to do all this, but it works fine...all the info you need on the raid is in the link I sent..
Not sure how this is done with just the Mac disk manager, maybe someone else will chime it?

Thanks a lot mate I will have a look at it