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Intel 750 SSD - NVMe works natively

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Once I get time later I'll try a few things with fdisk and mkfs to see if I can get it to align to the 4k physical sectors. I can see with the docs I can check for compatibility of 4k with smartctl so I'll check that as well.

I think those are for monitoring vs making any changes to the drive but I'm not 100% sure. I've reviewed the docs and don't see anything that indicates I can reformat the drive to 4k sectors.
 
I think those are for monitoring vs making any changes to the drive but I'm not 100% sure. I've reviewed the docs and don't see anything that indicates I can reformat the drive to 4k sectors.

Link is provided in the patch-nvme readme on github. You need to read it.
 
Indeed I did and I have been successful! The drive shows up natively and benches at fantastic speeds! I think I found my new set of drives to play with.


Link is provided in the patch-nvme readme on github. You need to read it.
 
HI i want to return the factory settings (512)
what command i Should i use ? to restore default settings.
this is command format for 4k ("isdct start -intelssd 0 -nvmeformat LBAFormat=3 SecureEraseSetting=0 ProtectionInformation=0 MetadataSettings=0")
what command for 512 default?
thank in advance



So thanks to Rehabman, who noted to me in the OSX NVMe thread that the nvme patches only deal with altering the sector size used by the driver to 512 from 4096.

Knowing that Intel has a utility to set the sector size of its SSD's, I decided to gamble on getting a 750 to test with. Short story, it works with zero driver alterations or kext's.

1. I tested with the U.2 version of the 400GB model on macOS 10.12.2.
2. I did a low level format of the drive to 4k sectors with the latest intel data center tool under windows using the following command (assuming your intel ssd to be formatted is indeed index 0)

"isdct start -intelssd 0 -nvmeformat LBAFormat=3 SecureEraseSetting=0 ProtectionInformation=0 MetadataSettings=0"

3. Operation as a second drive works. Booting from it also works after some jiggering with carbon copy cloner and copying around my previous EFI. I'm not sure that was the best idea ... maybe reinstalling would be better, but what a pain that is.

4. Speed is below benchmarks in windows. I get about 850MB/sec read and write and the real speeds should be around 2.2GB read and 1.2GB write. Not sure why. I checked for 4k sector alignment and that seems fine. Just saw another post here that says they have a similar problem with the patched NVMe drivers, tho, so maybe it has something to do with the native macOS driver.

Screenshots:

View attachment 229694

View attachment 229695

View attachment 229696
 
HI i want to return the factory settings (512)
what command i Should i use ? to restore default settings.
this is command format for 4k ("isdct start -intelssd 0 -nvmeformat LBAFormat=3 SecureEraseSetting=0 ProtectionInformation=0 MetadataSettings=0")
what command for 512 default?
thank in advance

Hi "isdct start -intelssd 0 -nvmeformat LBAFormat=0 SecureEraseSetting=0 ProtectionInformation=0 MetadataSettings=0" can be format to 512 size.

You can run "smartctl -a /dev/nvme0" on Linux (smartools least 6.5) to see all supported values.
 
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Indeed I did and I have been successful! The drive shows up natively and benches at fantastic speeds! I think I found my new set of drives to play with.

Hi thedocbwarren,
I use p3700 1.6t, 10.12.6 natively work is good, but low speed.
You fix intel 750 low speed problem???? How did you do it?
thank in advance
 
I used the OCZ nvme drive to avoid the hacks on the driver but also low speed from intel. There is something about those drives that require drivers to run full speed.

My only issue is one of my motherboards is flaky but the others seem fine.

Hi thedocbwarren,
I use p3700 1.6t, 10.12.6 natively work is good, but low speed.
You fix intel 750 low speed problem???? How did you do it?
thank in advance
 
Anyone tried updating this [4k block intel 750 nvme] to high sierra yet?
 
Same performance 4K Block High Sierra :(
 

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Regarding the speed issue, I've sometimes encountered my DC P3605 (same family as the 750, just geared toward enterprise applications) do its advertised speed. I've posted screenshots of this on the other thread:
Intel 750 U.2 NVMe SSD speed issues
 
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