The truth about z620/z820 NVMe SSD boot

[marsMAK]

Thanks DGroves for the post!

It is a BIOS file I downloaded from a Chinese webpage where I paid equivalently 2 USD for this resource.

I now put this onto my own Synology NAS share, and you may check this if you are happy so:

http://gofile.me/6J7dq/FPgaMe2xU

Thank you!

[Mallaki]

Hello Mr_Raven,

My name is Peter and I am new to this community. Just spend last hour/s reading all these posts with regards what NVMe drive/s to use with my Z820 workstation. I currently have SSD SATA drives installed but want to switch over to NVMe drive. My Z820 has J63 v03.96 BIOS version. I can see there is one newer on HP website 03.96A.

I don’t care if I use M.2 or U.2 form factor as long as its connected to PCIe x4 slot (First slot on Z820)

It seems you have done this successfully on your Z620. I have Z820. What is the version of BIOS you have as one of the latest posts outlines that BIOS version 03.96 removed the capability for booting Z820 from NVMe drive.

I would really appreciate your response here before I decide to purchase a NVMe drive.

Thank you

[DGroves]

once more............the HP zx20 workstation line does not and will not ever have native support for booting from a nvme drive

HP did not add the necessary nvme bios boot code until the next model which is the zx40 line

you can boot from nvme on the zx20 models by

1. using the samsung 950 pro which has the necessary nvme bios boot code in the ssd'd firmware, note that this drive is out of production and quite expensive

2.use the samsung AHCI based  sm951 ssd  (MZHPVxxxx) where the "H" denotes AHCI model, again quite expensive  and out of production

3. use a software pre-boot loader  such as DUET/REFIND or Clover which loads the missing nvme boot code into ram before the zx20 system bios loads

4. burn the missing nvme boot code into  your existing bios using a hardware eprom programer (requires desoldering/soldering the rom chip) this is only for advanced skilled persons and has some drawbacks

5. use one of the few datacenter/server grade pci-e based ssd's that have custom boot code

known bootable drives, zx00-zx20 workstations Seagate Warpdrive Nytro, Revo x3 ssd's (personally tested/verified working)

zx20 workstations only:....... apple SSUBX/SSUAX based AHCI ssd's using the proper pci-e adapter (personally tested/verified working) others have claimed the intel 750/3600 series bootable (not tested) and the micron p9200/9300 (not tested)

[Mallaki]

What about HP Z Turbo Drive?

[Mallaki]

So just to be clear, I can get Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 NVME SSD (MZVKV512), mount to Lycom DT-120 M.2 PCIe to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter, slide it inside slot-1 which is PCIe3 x8(4) on my HP Z820 motherboard with J63 v03.96 BIOS, make necessary changes in BIOS and viola, my Z820 will then be able to boot from Samsung 950 Pro with no issues.

Steps:

1. Get Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 NVME SSD (MZVKV512).
2. Get Lycom DT-120 M.2 PCIe to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter (or similar).
3. Install Samsung 950 Into Lycom adapter.
4. Install adapter with SSD into PCIe3 x8(4) on HP Z820 (slot 1).
5. Make sure you have latest BIOS. In my case I have J63 v03.96.
6. Boot into BIOS and navigate to Advanced menu and change Mass Storage Option ROMS from Legacy to EFI.
7. Make sure your Boot order is correct.
8. Save the changes. Exit BIOS.

Please confirm.

As a side note, I was hoping for a larger drive than Samsung 950 Pro 512GB. I would be happy with something close to 2TB... Any recommendation here that have been tested and are guaranteed to work on HP Z820

How about one of these:

• SSDPEDME016T4 Intel 1.6TB DC P3600 Series PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive SSD - https://www.ebay.com/itm/SSDPEDME016T4-Intel-1-6TB-DC-P3600-Series-PCIe-NVMe-Solid-State-Drive-SSD/1...

• Micron NVM 9200 Series 1.92TB Enterprise Server SSD Solid State Drive - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Micron-NVM-9200-Series-1-92TB-Enterprise-Server-SSD-Solid-State-Drive/22428...

• Micron 9300 MAX 3.2TB NVMe 3D TLC U.2 Server SSD MTFDHAL3T2TDR-1AT1ZABDB - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Micron-9300-MAX-3-2TB-NVMe-3D-TLC-U-2-Server-SSD-MTFDHAL3T2TDR-1AT1ZABDB/22...

Thank you

[DGroves]

ALL OF THE DATACENTER GRADE SSD'S YOU LIST MIGHT WORK, as they have nvme boot code however i have not tested them

i do have  intel 750 and a dc3605 waiting for free time to test but no timeframe when that will be you might want to see if a seller has a return policy if the ssd you choose fails to work in the z820

[Mallaki]

Slightly different question... I don’t have RAID and didn’t like the long POST on Z820 with LSI SAS so I disabled it in BIOS and connected my SSD dive to SAS-0 controller. Boot time is faster now due to skipped initialization of LSI SAS Controller, however once in Windows - CrystalDiskMark benchmark shows my Read/Write came down from 469/458 MB to 275/265 MB

Does that make sense??? Is onboard SATA controller that much slower that LSI SAS controller or did I missed something in the BIOS?

[DGroves]

connect the SSD to one of the two INTEL 6GB s port instead of the 5 Intel 3GBps "SCU" sata ports

[Mallaki]

I have 6 SATA and 8 SAS ports...
I have connected my Windows SSD drive into SATA-0 port (which is the one closest to CMOS battery)
Which ones are 3GBps and which ones are 6GBps?
Also what’s the speed of LSI SAS controller?
Thanks

[Mallaki]

 OK, I found this:

• 2-channel SATA 6.0 Gb/s Interface (2 channels e-SATA configurable) 4-channel SATA 3.0 Gb/s Interface
• 8-channel 6 Gb SAS interface (8 SAS connectors on the motherboard)
  
  

Now the question is WHICH 2 out of 6 SATA  are 6.0 GB/s?