Easy successful NVMe Mojave installation

[zanthros]

I just wanted to put it out there. There is an easy way to install the OS on a NVME drive that requires very little extra work and no terminal experience, no extra kexts and no extra fidgeting around in the OS. I have tried it on a couple of different NVME drives (Plextor M8Pe, XPG SX8200 Pro, Samsung 970pro) and it has worked flawlessly on all. There are a few minimum requirements for this to work with no bugs.

1. Your motherboard Bios must support the NVME drive. (Intel Z77 boards and up with bios modified for NVME support, otherwise it will require a Z97 chipset or better for native support.)
2. The OS that is being installed must support NVME in a native fashion. That means that it is limited to High Sierra or better. I cannot say that it will work with earlier operating systems that utilize kexts or injecting the support by any other method as it is untested in my limited testing. (I personally suggest Mojave, as that is what I have used. I am using 10.14.6 and it worked flawlessly with no hiccups.
3. You must have a suitable adapter (PCIe X4 NVME adapter, not an X1 as it will affect your speed) and an empty PCIe X4 3.0 slot or better. (An empty PCIe X16 slot can be used but it may affect your graphics card to run at X8 vs full X16 speed.)

Although not necessary, If you have a current install on a SSD CONGRATULATIONS! You are already 80% there and migration to the NVME drive should take less than a few minutes.

Here is a pix of what I got.

I am currently working on the primer for this process and will put it up here if there is enough demand for it. Just chime in as it may take a day or so to get all of my notes, media and layout together and assembled into a lucid step by step primer.

 

[craighazan]

1. Your motherboard Bios must support the NVME drive. (Intel Z77 boards and up with bios modified for NVME support, otherwise it will require a Z97 chipset or better for native support.)

I had an NVMe drive installed on my Dell 7010 in the PCIe x4 slot via an adapter, that ran Mojave beautifully. No need to alter BIOS just install TheNvmExpressDxe driver into EFI/Drivers/UEFI folder. Clover is installed onto a separate SATA based drive, powering on loads CBM which can see the NVMe drive and load macOS. I've used this method on a HP6300 Q75 Chipset, Dell 7010 Q77 chipset and Dell 9020 Q87 chipset.

 

[zanthros]

Thank you for you input. Modifications to the bios is only necessary on systems whose bios does not natively support the NVME protocols and drives. With that being said, The support for NVME has been avalible since the implementation of the Intel 77 series chipsets and has been incorporated into many manufacturers bios since then. It has not however been picked up by every manufacturer during its early days and as a result sometimes it is necessary to mod the bios on some boards. Your board (according to dell) uses a Q77 chipset and apparently Dell has decided to incorporate the NVME information into their bios. Congratulations! Not every manufacturer has done that. Sorry I was not clear about the bios mod but let me say clearly, there is no need to alter the bios on motherboards that natively support the NVME drives. I thought that I was clear about that, my apologies.
Let me make this clear as well. I do not suggest that everyone go out there and modify their bios just to get this to work if your motherboard does not support NVME. As you have clearly pointed out that it works on your Dell and a bios mod was not necessary. Modifying your bios is a quick way to brick your board if you make a mistake and is not for the faint of heart and not for everyone. My thread is not about modifying your bios, I do not even cover it. The thread is about using and NVME drive on your rig, and getting the os to boot directly to it ONLY IF your bios supports the NVME.
My motherboard that I used is a Z77-up5 th and out of the box it does not support the NVME drives, so it was necessary to modify the bios to get that particular functionality out of it.


Also as you have pointed out

just install TheNvmExpressDxe driver into EFI/Drivers/UEFI folder.

The process that I have implemented does not require any install of "TheNvmExpressDxe driver into EFI/Drivers/UEFI folder" to work AND I do not have to do a "fresh" install to make it work as I can migrate the system from an existing SSD install.

How are your speeds? Got any speed tests with Black Magic? it is a free download and works great and many use it as a benchmark for speed testing a drive on a Mac. Some of the Dell 7010 models have only 1 PCIe X16 and a second slot that is limited to X2 rather than the X4 it can use. What exact model do you have?

Thank you again for your input and insight.

 

[craighazan]

How are your speeds? Got any speed tests with Black Magic? it is a free download and works great and many use it as a benchmark for speed testing a drive on a Mac. Some of the Dell 7010 models have only 1 PCIe X16 and a second slot that is limited to X2 rather than the X4 it can use. What exact model do you have?

Thank you again for your input and insight.

Here are some links to posts I've posted on these forums with speed tests. and a link to the adapter I use in the X4 or x16 slot. I've never had to alter BIOS to get NVMe working even on the HP6300 Q75 chipset. I use AmorphousDiskMark, which like Black Magic is free to download from the App Store.

Adapter
HP 6300
Dell 7010

My point is, it's much simpler to put one file in a folder.

 

[zanthros]

Like I said previously, Not all manufacturers decided to put the NVME in their bios. You may want to read that part again so that you can fully grasp the concept. There are many builds up here including some golden builds that did not support NVME and had to have their bios modified to be able to use a NVME drive. i am not talking about using a lame "fusion drive" that by design is difficult to implement for many and slower than a pure NVME only drive.Look around at user builds, not at the systems that just came off the shelf like the major pre-built systems (HP, Dell, etc) that required no skills as there is no building to the build, but only the will to drop the cash on a "off the shelf limited retail box"

I see the speed test you put up for your Dell 7010 is of a fusion drive.

You ever have any success at running the NVME only on this board? Or is it limited to the fusion drive only?

On the your HP 8300 the speeds are much better from what you put up.I can only guess that it is because you are using the PCIe X16 slot that is normally used for a discrete graphics card and explains why you are limited to the Intel HD4000. I understand that that motherboard also only has a PCIe X2 slot so it would also limit the speeds of your drive. At least the HP lets you use the Graphics PCIe slot to put the drive into, because according to dell you can only put graphics cards into the primary slot. The HP is not a bad choice of lower end systems to get up and running as a Hackintosh.

I do believe that you may want to see if your speeds are in line with the product specs, as far as I can tell they are falling far short of the capability of the drive you have installed. It could be due to the implementation of your method of "inserting the NVME drives presence" of just dropping a file into it. Here is the test specs of your drive against others:

Baseline is about 2100 MB/s and yours doesn't even come close. You might want to take a look at your implementation of the NVME used in the system. Your drive can go much faster than what you have posted, I know because my old plextor M8Pe 512GB simply smokes your numbers by at least 500MB/s. Don't get me wrong, I'm just saying that there are many ways to do things and choice is a good thing. If it is simple ... fine you can use it if you are not capable of more. But exploring new ways that are simple that produce better results are good too. I am a firm believer in the KISS principle.




You might want to look at the sppeds that I am getting with my implementation of the NVME drive. I don't like to be held back. I feel the need...... the need for speed!

Not quite the 3200MB/s read and the 2600MB/s write that I get in windows but it is pretty good for an IMac Hackintosh.


And Finally:
You say: " My point is, it's much simpler to put one file in a folder."

I am gonna have to learn that drag and drop move to put an item in a folder and have it work just fine in a mac.

How could you possibly know how I was going to explain and show the way I did it before I even did It? Are you a clairvoinant or psychic? And your way seems to produce a slower NVME.

I appreciate your input but there are other ways to do things. Don't get trapped into OBEY! Thank you again!

 

[craighazan]

I'm not using fusion drive.

 

[craighazan]

I also don't appreciate your condescending tone. There are many NVMe drives at varying speeds and according to budget. Im not saying there's only one way of doing something and I actually found it by accident while attempting to create a fusion drive. And I did grasp your point thank you, I'll stick with my G5 I built because clearly this a sensitive subject.

 

[zanthros]

@craighazan
I did not mean to sound condescending, if it came across that way, my sincere apologies. The only point of my post was to point out that there is an easy way to install on a NVME drive that is basically drop dead easy. I realize that there are a million ways to do this.... this is but another. It’s just as I am sure that you know there are minimum hardware specifications for this to work. Just like anything else. All the newer motherboards support NVME so it’ Not a big deal. Just s lot of the Intel pre 97 series chipset motherboards bios didn’t support it out of the box and bios updates didn’t enable it. It was great that the mainline retail computer manufacturers supported it right out of the box since the 75 series chips. I was unaware of that tidbit. I thank you for that info! I just figured that there may be some hackintoshers out there that might be interested in an easy process that follows the TonyMacX86 standard installation for a ssd with no additional secret sauce for the installation just a little magic trick.
It is perfect for someone who is looking to migrate to a NVME from a ssd.
Some people have spent a lot of time on their boxes and have the systems with all of their software and use it for work or don’t want to have the down time of setting up their system all over again.

I have taken a NVME drive and had it up and running in under 10 minutes from the very start. All inclusive.

I wish you luck and kudos on your G5 build. I have one I am working on myself. Just the case so far. I’ve got my apparatus built to do the “ brushed look” without it appearing “ghetto”. I’ve also got the anodizing kind up after that and I had a friend do some laser cutting on it for what I want. He also cut me out a back that I spec’d out. The “Hive” did not have what I wanted, so I created my own cad files.
Again, My apology and good luck!

 

[craighazan]

It would make me happy to see a guide for working NVMe on Pre 97 chipsets, apparently it also works on Sandy Bridge though I can't confirm that myself. If your method is really easy then you should definitely share it with everyone.

This is the link to my G5, I finished it up last week with the BlackCHmods front IO cable. You should post about your G5 in the PowerMac G5 mod forum, I would love to see it!.

 

[zanthros]

Just took the time to read your entire G5 adventure. All 13 pages. Was the problem with the no power on issue the hp m2?
I have seen bad hardware cause a freeze on boot causing systems to full stop in the bios, but never a no power on mode. (except for a old cd burner that had a short in it that would burn out power supplies and wold "pop" the fuse)

Anyway, looks like a nice build!

The bios mods can only be performed on AMI UEFI bios if I remember correctly. I did the mods back around July of 2015. I used an article written by "Fernando". As I have gone into my dell 1720 bios and added support for the
x9000 mobile processor and enabled the max memory to 6GB instead of the 3GB limit it had i figured it would be no big deal. And it wasn't.
The changes can only be made to the AMI UEFI bios firmware/bios files. Many motherboards use AMI so it opens up a lot of doors for NVME usage. I was just surprised that your dell and your HP had no issues and was able to see the drive and to boot from it.

I might be able to post my build process as I get going but I think that my case that I ordered back in November will be here soon for my next build. I have all of the components for it I am just trying to figure out if I can use a Highpoint ssd7103 on the motherboard. (Z390) officially not supported, but since I have a tendency to not listen to manufacturers and their sale departments and have violated more warranties than I care to admit I probably will do it. Unfortunately it is a large amount of coin to throw out there if it does not work.
Have a good one!