Disk Utility error on Erase with Toshiba Q300 SSD

[Hackabot]

Hello.

This is my second build. I already have a High Sierra triple boot on an Asus P6T SE, OCZ Agility SSD, GTX 680 working with no problems.

I need to setup an other machine which will just boot as a single Mac (no multiboot).
The specs are almost the same:

Mobo: Asus P6T
Graphics: GTX 660Ti
SSD: Toshiba Q300 480GB

After a lot of struggling with Clover and USB and kexts for GTX660 and the Realtech network adapter to work, I now have a strange problem with the SDD.

When booting from Clover USB (presing space and selecting to boot WITH kexts), the system reaches the setup screen. I open the Disk Utility, selecting the Toshiba SSD, hitting Erase, selecting APFS, GUID Partition Map and name I get the following error: "unable to write to the last block of the device" (Almost all combinations resulton that error, some stuck there forever).

- I changed the SATA cables, SATA ports but the same error.
- I plugged the SSD to an Ubuntu machine, used GParted to format msdos/HFS+, all went normal, but when I connected the SSD to the installation machine, got the same error.
- I connected the SSD to the existing running High Sierra machine, and when it finish booting, it popups an error saying: "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"

and at Disk Utility I get the same error like thwe one I get on the installation.

The SSD was working flawlesly having Windows 10 installed on it for almost 2 years now.
At the Clover USB I have the following kext files:

Does anyone has a clue of what I should do to format this SSD?

 

[Hackabot]

I found a solution. It appears that the motherboard Intel storage controller is not loading correctly, or with that specific SSD (?) or it needs propper kexts. This mobo has another SATA II controller, the JMicron JMB322 which worked and let me Erase the SSD to APFS with no problems at all.

I thought AppleAHCIPort was enough for the Intel storage controller, but I guess I am wrong.

 

[BreBo]

I found a solution. It appears that the motherboard Intel storage controller is not loading correctly, or with that specific SSD (?) or it needs propper kexts.

Certain SATA controllers have issues with AppleAHCIPort v329 (eg ICH10, 5 series, 7 series, ASMedia 1061)
Disks may fail to initialize, not readable or hot plug may fail.

See [Solved] Problem: HDD not supported and try new ICH patch.
Or see [Solved] Drives not showing up in installer "Disk I/O error" and try Apple AHCIPort.kext v328.

Note: AppleAHCIPort.kext v328 will only work if installed in /Library/Extensions and using a kext installer like KextBeast.

 

[mm2margaret]

Certain SATA controllers have issues with AppleAHCIPort v329 (eg ICH10, 5 series, 7 series, ASMedia 1061)
Disks may fail to initialize, not readable or hot plug may fail.

See [Solved] Problem: HDD not supported and try new ICH patch.
Or see [Solved] Drives not showing up in installer "Disk I/O error" and try Apple AHCIPort.kext v328.

Note: AppleAHCIPort.kext v328 will only work if installed in /Library/Extensions and using a kext installer like KextBeast.

BreBo:

I have an odd problem, similar to this issue in this thread. I have a Gigabyte Z370 and the drives on it are HFS+. It's on 10.13.6. If I try and format any drive for APFS, I can't. The format won't complete and the drive is left in an incomplete state and won't mount. If I use my X99 that is 10.13.5 and is also now APFS, I can backup (from a HFS+ drive volume) and restore onto an APFS drive (formatted on the 10.13.5 system), but it won't boot on the Z370. My old least favorite error: HID legacy shim. Remember, HFS+ drives boot fine.

Now here's what's strange. I also have an X99 board that was HFS+. It's on 10.13.5. I converted all drives to APFS, using the process listed above - just reformat the system drive as APFS, then do a CCC restore from an HFS+ volume (at first). No issues, boots fine. In fact, my backup clones I converted just like as I've described, and they all booted. No issues.

Any thoughts?

 

[BreBo]

I have a Z370 and the drives on it are HFS+. It's on 10.13.6. If I try and format any drive for APFS, I can't. The format won't complete and the drive is left in an incomplete state and won't mount.

Are you able to format the drives to APFS if you boot in Recovery Mode?

 

[mm2margaret]

Are you able to format the drives to APFS if you boot in Recovery Mode?

So, I have a real Mac, and its on 10.13.6. I took one of the portable drive clones (USB) and plugged it in there and formatted it there as apfs, and it completed properly.

So, I will try doing a format from the Recovery Partition as you suggested. But right now, I am doing a restore from an HFS+ volume via CCC to the newly Apfs formatted USB volume, the same process I used successfully to convert all the drives on my X99 system to APFS. I'll let you know if it worked, and if I can boot an APFS drive running 10.13.6 on my Z370 (or not).

But I now have a more serious problem. Clearly, I have an issue with my Gigabyte Z370 Hackintosh, as both my X99 Hackintosh (on 10.13.5) and my real Mac (on 10.13.6) will format a drive as APFS successfully, but my Gigabyte Z370 will not.
Troubling.....

 

[mm2margaret]

So, I have a real Mac, and its on 10.13.6. I took one of the portable drive clones (USB) and plugged it in there and formatted it there as apfs, and it completed properly.

So, I will try doing a format from the Recovery Partition as you suggested. But right now, I am doing a restore from an HFS+ volume via CCC to the newly Apfs formatted USB volume, the same process I used successfully to convert all the drives on my X99 system to APFS. I'll let you know if it worked, and if I can boot an APFS drive running 10.13.6 on my Z370 (or not).

But I now have a more serious problem. Clearly, I have an issue with my Gigabyte Z370 Hackintosh, as both my X99 Hackintosh (on 10.13.5) and my real Mac (on 10.13.6) will format a drive as APFS successfully, but my Gigabyte Z370 will not.
Troubling.....

So, reporting back, the restore did not work, and that process was exactly the same as the one I used on my X99 board successfully. It seems as if this Z370 board can't handle APFS drives at all. I'm stumped....for now....

EDIT: I should add that I can convert a regular spinning hard drive to APFS, but I cannot convert any flash based drive to APFS - a 128GB USB drive, a SATA 2.5" SSD, or a M.2 NVMe drive.

What is bizarre about this is that back at 10.13.1 or 10.13.2, I had this system running on APFS, and took it back to HFS+ because I was NTFS for Mac on it with a Windows drive and NTFS for Mac does not support APFS drives (yet).