NVME Boot & Z170x & High Sierra 10.13.1

[zipb]

My SSD's were getting full once more and I could get a good deal on an Intel 760 1TB NVME SSD.
Here's what I did(using OSX10.13.1):
0. Reorder PCIe stuff, lower PCIe x4 slot shares PCIe lanes with M2 slot. Moved UAD card to x1 slot, moved WIFI/BT card to x1 slot next to GFX card. Put NVME bar in M2 slot. (fixing screw is on the mobo)
1. Find NVME in Disk Utility, it wasn't immediately visible though MacOS warned about an unformatted disk.
2. Format/initialize as GUID/HFS+(I consider APFS immature, I may be paranoid)
3. Tested with BM Speed Disk: it's working(and fast)
Used CCC to clone my boot SATA SSD to the NVME drive, plus I ran the install/copy efi shell script. Rebooted from my NVME.
Worked for 5 seconds, then kernel panic and reboot. Wiped caches. Reboot.
Tested for 48 hours, also without former boot disk (disconnected)
All is fine, works as advertised. Don't see much of a speed increase(with DAW use and Adobe Photo apps mostly), though.

Rebooted from my old SSD once more to make room on the NVME disk for the standard emergency boot partition, CCC doesn't do that automatically. This makes it possible to remove stuff easily when I botch my install. I don't have spare SATA slots for another MacOS boot disk, and booting from USB is sometimes iffy. Used CCC to add the emergency partition.

All in all, easy. Just as easy as upgrading to an ordinary SSD. No extra kexts or Clover patches needed. Nice.
No way to read the temps on this thing, though.

 

[vipermachine]

Hi,

Since I have the same motherboard I have some questions.
I us a Samsung 970 EVO with High Sierra formatted as APFS

-My problem
-In a good boot situation the 970 Evo show in System Report/NVME Express/ Lane witdh x4 (this is how it should be)
But sometimes I reboot the system or do a cold boot it gives me System Report/NVME Express/ Lane witdh x2 (What results in half speed of the SSD)

Im aware of how to order the PCIE Graphics & Sata Connections to get full Lane Speed,because it works on 4x Lane Speed.

What I did try to find a solution is starting from scratch with no PCI-E or Sata drives attached!
It still give me sometimes lane width x4 and Sometimes lane width x2 (or even x1)
Its like there is a ghost in Bios

I Spoke with a guy on the forum who has the same problems, and he ended up using a Pcie NVME express Card,that solved his problem.

Since you have no problems with the NVME SSD ,I'm really curious.

Maybe its a Samsung Related problem..I don't know.
But before consider being a PCI Express Card to put the nvme ssd on,I'd like to ask some help from other users with the same motherboard .

Thanx

 

[zipb]

It's on PCe x4. Never noticed a degradation, but I haven't been checking. I ran the BM Disk Test a couple of times, speeds are as expected.

What BIOS version are you on? I did follow the Z170 manual about sharing lanes etc.

 

[vipermachine]

Thanx for the reply.

I have Bios F22a
There are newer ones but I think this doesn't matter.

My guess its a problem with Samsung EVO 970.
It doesn't make sense that sometimes it boots and "Lane Width x4" and sometimes "Lane Width x2"
I don't think this is a Clover related problem or APFS.

For now I give up on this

I ordered a PCIE m.2 adapter to avoid this .

Thanx