People's thoughts on PCIe M.2 SSD or SATA SSD

[Gratefulnoob]

Hi,

I'm going to add an SSD to my Build, it's a HP8300

I was just going to put a SATA SSD in it, but then I came across PCIe SSD's.

I will need to buy an adapter as I don't have the newer PCIe m.2 port.

My question is.. Has anybody done this and used it as a bootable drive. Did you have any problems? Was it faster?

Also would a using a USB 3 SSD externally be another option.

Your thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Nick

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hi,

I'm going to add an SSD to my Build, it's a HP8300

I was just going to put a SATA SSD in it, but then I came across PCIe SSD's.

I will need to buy an adapter as I don't have the newer PCIe m.2 port.

My question is.. Has anybody done this and used it as a bootable drive. Did you have any problems? Was it faster?

Also would a using a USB 3 SSD externally be another option.

Your thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Nick

Does your computer support booting from PCIe NVMe SSDs? If you cannot be sure I would recommend using SATA SSDs instead.

 

[craighazan]

Hi,

I'm going to add an SSD to my Build, it's a HP8300

I was just going to put a SATA SSD in it, but then I came across PCIe SSD's.

I will need to buy an adapter as I don't have the newer PCIe m.2 port.

My question is.. Has anybody done this and used it as a bootable drive. Did you have any problems? Was it faster?

Also would a using a USB 3 SSD externally be another option.

Your thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Nick

Hi Nick, Yes I have done this on my HP6300 via an adapter. Yes an NVMe SSD with Mojave installed can be booted via Clover, installed on a HDD or SSD. No problems. Much faster.
See my post here on [Guide] HP 6300 Pro / HP 8300 Elite - A 100 percent Working and Easily Affordable CustoMac. This will lead to threads for you to read. In my post it shows a kingspec NVMe, I currently use 250 GB HP EX900 as my Mojave drive. Last time I checked on Newegg a HP NVMe was cheaper than SSD with similar storage.

 

[nicksoph]

Has anybody done this and used it as a bootable drive.

Not as the first drive to boot, at least not on one of these (although I suspect it is possible with a bios mod - see BIOS mod sites). The HP cannot actually see the NVMe drive when it first starts and needs a UEFI based driver for the NVMe drive before it can be recognised, so the EFI partition which is needed to load the NVMe driver must be on a SATA or USB drive (or over the network) only once that driver is loaded can the machine or Clover see the NVMe drive. I've use this setup with a pci NVMe card and a spinning disk as the boot drive with the EFI partition on (and its also my timemachine drive) and the NVMe as the OSX drive and that works perfectly.

 

[Gratefulnoob]

Hey thanks for the replies,

Nicksoph, craighazen - is it difficult to do? I've gone into this with no prior knowledge or friends lol, my skill level is pretty low, I'm winging it at the moment. Would I notice much difference over sata?

(unrelated question) Nicksoph - if you have the same pc - how did you power your graphics? did you buy a motherboard adapter and change the PSU?

 

[craighazan]

Hey thanks for the replies,

Nicksoph, craighazen - is it difficult to do? I've gone into this with no prior knowledge or friends lol, my skill level is pretty low.

The process is pretty straightforward and not difficult. I think @trs96 and @nicksoph have written better instructions on the Dell 7020/9020 and HP 6300/8300 guides. Like you I’m new to this, but this week I did learn to dump a bios from 9020 and opened a Pandora’s box.

 

[nicksoph]

Sorry - not the same graphics - Ive used only a GT710 and that didnt need a bigger psu.
I did a write up for a Dell 7020 and the instructions are exactly the same except,
When installing;
Make sure you have the UEFI based driver for the NVMe on your boot USB (unibeast does)
When you format - you format both drives (using the same formatting instructions)
When you install OSX make sure you select the NVMe drive
When you install Clover make sure you select the SATA

It's not hard but you need to be able to understand and follow instructions and sometime that's not as easy as writing the instructions.

My intro to the way the files are laid out

File structure - Some of the things I wish I knew before starting

This is a brief and incomplete guide to how most hackintosh builds are structured. It has been written by a novice to hackintoshing about some of the things he wish he knew before he started. It is important to note there are other ways of making a hackintosh where the following description...

www.tonymacx86.com

and this guide

[Guide] HP 6300 Pro / HP 8300 Elite - A 100 percent Working and Easily Affordable CustoMac

A Complete Ten Step macOS Sierra Guide for the HP 6300 Pro/8300 Elite ___ 4 ___ z_ 8300 Elite Mini-Tower / 8300 Ultra Slim Desktop / 6300 and 8300 SFF / 6300 Pro Mini-Tower Installing macOS Mojave If you want to begin with a clean install of Mojave instead of Sierra or High Sierra you...

www.tonymacx86.com

Then only then take a look at snikis build for mojave. Which is what you should probably build from.

This type of card takes both types of drive, at the same time - NVMe and MSata - the NVMe works thru the the PCI connector as normal but the MSata drive only gets its power from the the PCI slot and is connected by normal sata cable to the motherboard, where it just looks like a sata drive that you can boot from(coz it is). This is close to my office setup, no spinning disks is nice. Not recommending these brands or sellers but the idea of what I might research if I was looking to do this now.

M.2 NVME NGFF SSD and B Key M Key M.2 NGFF (SATA Based) SSD to PCI-E B6O7 | eBay

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SanDisk SSD X400 Flash Storage 128gb SATA M.2 2280 Sd8sn8u-128g-1002 for sale | eBay

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Im not so new and may be almost half a step in front of craig.

 

[trs96]

My question is.. Has anybody done this and used it as a bootable drive. Did you have any problems? Was it faster?

For a daily use machine a Sata SSD is plenty fast enough. The advantage of NVME is primarily when you work with large files such as those created by 4K video. For example the boot time of your 8300 might be only a second or two faster with an NVME drive. If you work with 4K in FCP X it will significantly speed things up when editing or rendering video. So make a decision based on how you will be using your hackintosh most of the time. The other consideration if you do go with NVME is airflow and cooling. NVME drives get hot when reading/writing lots of data so plan on some way to get the air moving over the place the drive is installed.

 

[craighazan]

Im not so new and may be almost half a step in front of craig.

@nicksoph you’re being kind, I would of said 1 1/2 steps in front of me.

 

[Gratefulnoob]

Hey, thanks everyone for the info. Greatly appreciated