[SOLVED] SATA hot plug patch not working in Big Sur

[esafeddie]

Thank you.

Just for clarification if anyone has any doubts or want Hot Plugging in Big Sur, here is the patch (data must be exactly as in the pic) and proof of it working in both BS and Catalina. Catalina is the Drive that is Hot Plugged hence orange icon depicting it correctly as an external Drive. Both OS X version operating off one single EFI Folder residing on the BS EFI partition.

 

[patnaik]

@Jamesbond007 @shuhung @scottkendall
I've found a way to make this patch work again thanks to @esafeddie by pointing me in the right direction.
The patch appears to be valid as it was used on Catalina. With an important detail: the Count parameter must be 1 (not 0) in config.plist. OpenCore PDF says: "Count / Type: plist integer / Failsafe: 0 / Description: Number of patch occurrences to apply. 0 applies the patch to all occurrences found".

And the cause of the error was the use of different EFI folders for different system disks.

I have Catalina on one SSD and BS on another SSD, each with its own ESP partition and complete EFI folder. It appears that NVRAM keys from each system are accessible to the other systems. As soon as I have cleared NVRAM from BS OpenCore menu and rebooted, SATA hot plug works again!!!

This was the problem, swapping disks that read NVRAM that has been stored from another disk. Since I use SSDT-PMC, I have native NVRAM and it is no longer saved in the root of each system disk, as before, I think it's stored now in the Board CMOS (I guess it's in this place though I'm not sure but NVRAM values are available for systems other than the one that generated them).

Thank you very much to all for your help, problem solved.

I am new to openCore (less than a week). How exactly did you do this? Could you please post the changes you made to the config.plist and where exactly do you put them? Thanks!

 

[scottkendall]

I am new to openCore (less than a week). How exactly did you do this? Could you please post the changes you made to the config.plist and where exactly do you put them? Thanks!

Look at the images from the post just before yours.

 

[patnaik]

Look at the images from the post just before yours.

Thanks! I was able to get it to work after I figured out how to use ProperTree to add a patch. External drives now show up perfectly in Big Sur. What plist editor do you use?

 

[miliuco]

Thanks! I was able to get it to work after I figured out how to use ProperTree to add a patch. External drives now show up perfectly in Big Sur. What plist editor do you use?

I'm glad, I see that you have configured it well.
My 2 favorite plist file editors are:

Corpnewt's ProperTree - free software from a hackintosh guru, works fine:
- you download it as a folder with some files
- it runs from ProperTree.command
- there is a way to create a macOS style app by running Scripts / buildapp-python2.command
- if this command fails, install Python 3 from the Python website and run Scripts / buildapp-python3.command; you get an app that you can put into the Applications folder to run from there.

Vlad Badea's Plist Editor (App Store): it is paid but its design is the best of all the ones I have tried and it also works very well.

See attached images to compare with the patch you have set.

 

[esafeddie]

What plist editor do you use?

PlistEdit Pro is a good app to use for editing.

 

[miliuco]

PlistEdit Pro is a good app to use for editing.

Yes, it is true, it had been forgotten. It's probably the most used on the forum judging from the screenshots I see.
@patnaik PlistEdit Pro looks like a paid app when you enter the web but it can be used for free.

 

[scottkendall]

Thanks! I was able to get it to work after I figured out how to use ProperTree to add a patch. External drives now show up perfectly in Big Sur. What plist editor do you use?

Plistedit when I need to but most of the time I just use OpenCore Configurator.

 

[miliuco]

Plistedit when I need to but most of the time I just use OpenCore Configurator.

I used to use OpenCore Configurator, which is also the most comfortable way to do this, but I had a problem with any key that was not well included in the version and for about 3 months now I only use plist editor and Bbedit.
But I miss the convenience of the graphical interface.

 

[esafeddie]

If you're looking for an OpenCore Configurator with an interface and much better (IMHO) than the current one, I highly recommend this one. Much, much, better than the Mackie app as that tends to add unselected data if you're not careful. This one is very newbie friendly and easy to understand, it makes updating your OC config.plist a doodle with a builtin OC Validate for checking your selections before saving.

I don't use these apps as I prefer Plist Editors but I do try them all to see what benefits they offer and if they are user friendly for late starters to OpenCore.
This Configurator is available on GitHub with the usual notes on it's various functions and operation. I have attached it here, to install just drag and drop it into your Application Folder, you may have to give it permission to launch when opening.