HP z800 booting from NVME or Raid-0

[DGroves]

if you have a HP z800 system you may have realized you can not just install the latest/fastest NVME based SSD'S as a boot device due to the z800 bios having no support for nvme booting (you can however use it as a data non booting drive)

i have a z800 (and z820/z840 systems) and was curious if the onboard sata 3GBps  were really that slow compared to a nvme drive in day to day use

the quick answer is a sorta no, most people can install a mid-range SATA 6GBps SSD on the z800 sata 3GBps controller and be quite happy with the massive speed increase over a mechanical drive

the full answer is it depends on what you use the z800 for, ......as cad or video use users will  defiantly see a benefit when using a high performance setup see below for the options you have as a boot device

1. stock mechanical HD (slowest option but usually the cheapest in regards to capacity vs price)

2. SATA based 6GBps SSD even the slowest ssd is much faster than a mech drive, and mid range/high performance ssd's  can hit the limits of the sata 3GBps (and even the 6GBps standard)

3 high performance SATA based SSD's that use the PCI-E bus like the Kingston predator (no longer made) which is a pci x2 based SSD (the Samsung sm941 AHCI and the XM941 and the 950 pro drives do not work as boot devices for some reason)

so what other options are available?

1. use DUET + REFIND as a preboot manager, which loads the missing nvme bios code before the z800 bios loads and this allows you to boot from a nvme drive. i found that on my z800 i required the DUET_UDK2015_REFIND version as the latest DUET_UDK2017_REFIND failed to load correctly

2. install a addin SAS/SATA 6GBps Raid card that supports JBOD and Raid like the adaptec 6000/7000 series of cards

i compared booting and drive  speeds using a z800 with a adaptec 6950 and four Kingston a400 ssd's in raid 0

and using a USB 2.0 Key which booted the duet/refind nvme loader with a single HP ex9000 528meg nvme ssd

both the adaptec and duet/nvme  methods had speeds that were very close to each other

however the adaptec method is more flexible as it allows you to have 8 or more SAS/SATA devices connected in any raid mode you want and can convert the internal four 3GBps drive bays into 6GBps SAS or SATA bays ,....... the DUET/REFIND method is basically a single boot drive setup

if you would like to try the DUET/REFIND nvme boot method on the z800 read below

1. you need a way to create the custom bootloader on a 2 Gig or smaller USB key (DUET/REFIND program will do this for you)

2. you need the 2015 DUET/REFIND   files installed on the usb key (again the DUET/REFIND program will do this for you)

https://www.win-raid.com/t3286f50-Guide-NVMe-boot-for-systems-with-legacy-BIOS-and-older-UEFI-DUET-R...

look for the line that says:  OLD Updated download link for DUET (UDK2015) with REFIND included  and click on "DUET"

3. you need to create a MS windows 10 x64 bit USB KEY in UEFI Mode (do not select MBR it will not work)

 select the media creation tool not the win 10 update (requires a 16GB or larger key)

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

ok, download DUET/REFIND, and extract the files,  now insert the 2GB key note the drive letter and enter the DUET_UDK2015_REFIND folder and run (with admin rights)  "USBSetup" and follow the prompts. when finished remove the key

now go to the z800, and insert the DUET/REFIND usb key and power on the system and enter the bios and set the USB device as the first boot device ( make it the topmost device)

power off, and install the pci-e carrier card that holds the nvme ssd into any slot that supports x4 or more

close up the system (note make sure the nvme ssd has all existing partitions removed, you need a clean raw ssd!!)

now insert the 16 GB windows 10 usb key, and power on if you configured the bios right you can now press the f9 key during startup (make sure the f9 option is enabled in the bios!!) and select the DUET/REFIND usb key it will load show a breif screen and then auto boot the 16GB win 10 usb key and begin the win 10 install

the system should reboot 3 times, on the 3rd and final reboot remove the win 10 usb key, or leave in and ignore any prompts to press a key to boot the windows installer

leave the 2GB DUET/REFIND key connected, and the system should now auto boot into win 10 using the nvme drive

as the z800 has internal motherboard usb headers, you can move the duet/refind key inside the z800 case if you want to using a adapter to connect the 10 pin header or a usb connector

any questions let me know