Z620 booting from Intel and Samsung NVMe drives (with OPROMs)

[SDH]

DGroves,

Thanks for the kind words. I could not have pulled this all together without your help and tips over the years on the topic.

I agree on the P3500, and it actually is listed in the 2024 Solidigm document from near the top of this thread In a post from 2/16 as a PDF attachment down at the bottom. That shows the Intel P3500 to have the exact same last BIOS update and Bootloader versions as the other more expensive drives. The single associated "Client" version Intel released that also uses those versions is the Intel 750, supposedly a bit optimized for client type use. Here's that Intel "Enterprise" group:

All these will work... plus the 750

I think the key thing is to get one that came sourced directly from Intel rather than from HP, Lenovo, Dell or Oracle. The Intel ones have that nice Intel firmware updater software detailed above that works great under Windows 10 and 11. It can't work if the firmware ID tag is from HP, etc. You cannot crossflash. I don't mind buying used ones from eBay but the non-Intel-sourced ones don't have as good a way to get them updated to the latest firmware, in my experience, and the latest often is not available from the mentioned other vendors.

[Rhothgar]

I saw DGroves also had a big input. 

Phenominal work. 

I have a 950 winging its way to me as I type.  Looking forward to giving this a shot.

There was no reference anywhere to a clean install so guessing that is still not possible with NVMe and cloning is the only root. 

[SDH]

Rhothgar,

No. You want to do a clean install. I only did a clone upgrade because I had to. You want to place that M.2 SSD in a HP ZTG G2 and plug that into the proper PCIe socket (socket 4 if Z420 or Z620). You first check if your drive has a FW update available with Samsung Magician 8.3 and if so, update that. You next prep your Samsung 950 Pro by using the MS DiskPart utility to clean, GPT partition, and then NTFS long type formatting. This is all done on a workstation that is running Windows (booting from another drive). I've posted a DiskPart HowTo PDF on doing that. Post here if you can't find that. 

Use Rufus latest (4.9 from a few days ago) to create a bootable USB with all checkboxes checked on that page of options. Remove all other SSD or HDD, plug in your target ZTD G2 into slot 4. Cold boot, set BIOS to factory defauts and save. Shutdown. Reboot and go back into BIOS and change that one setting detailed above that lets the on-M.2 OPROM be added into the ZX20's boot code, save, shutdown.     See subsequent post clarifying the correct time when you make that small BIOS change... 

Insert the Rufus 4.9-created W11 24H2 USB into a USB port, install W11 24H2 from the Rufus thumb drive. Once the install is done you'll be able to F10 into BIOS and set your boot order to target the slot 4 M.2 drive from the UEFI set of options at the top of that BIOS list. You want that M..2 drive to be preferenced above the USB drive so if a thumb drive is plugged in on boot you don't have boot stall there (or retry another W11 install if the Rufus thumb is still plugged in).

I'm sure you'll get there but it might take some experimenting.

[Rhothgar]

Really appreciate you reiterating all that. 

I checked earlier today and Samsung Magician is now 8.3.1. Do you know if the latest version is still OK or do I need to 8.3 specifically as when you write original post I am guessing 8.3.1 has not been released. 

[SDH]

I'm quite sure that 8.31 would be as good as 8.3, and even earlier Magician versions. The firmware would have gotten to its final version years ago. With the Samsung Pro drives it is easy to run a quick check for updates and it will tell you if you have the latest. On my 512GB 950 Pro it detected there was an upgrade available and asked if I wanted it. Answered Yes and it took about 15 seconds. On another one that had the latest already. 

You may hear about a special Samsung NVMe driver. That was for prior OS (W7 era). W10 and W11 have "in-box" drivers and from my research and experience I'd stick with those. I tried the "special" one and ended up having to do another clone install to fix the small mess I made.

7/25 UPDATE: Confirming Samsung Magician 8.3.1 updates older firmware on the Samsung Pro 950 I found in our stash here last week.

[DGroves]

I've mentioned this before, SSD's due to how they are accessed for R/W using 4K/8K page blocks/ sectors should never be low level formatted using a DOS based Full/long format.... all that does is cause excessive wear do the ssd and waste quite a few hours note that all modern mech HD's simply ignore a low level format cmd and just immediately return a cmd complete response 

if the ssd supports it (and all current retail SSD's do)  simply do a secure erase using 3rd party tools or the ssd makers tools which accomplishes the same thing using the mfgr approved ssd routines to clear/erase the drive then do a high level NTFS format in the windows disk mgr tool

and as for the Samsung  ssd driver my experience is just the opposite of "SDH" i always use it and never had a problem

and also to "SDH" i have two intel 750 ssd's  (400Gb models) and the AHCI based sm951 is neck and neck with the 750

all that really needs to be done on any drive is to remove any existing partitions and you can do this with 3rd party disk tools or through DOS there really is no reason to do a secure erase most of the time

most 3td party disk tools that allow you to do a low level format do so by hooking into the ssd's secure erase function

[SDH]

DGroves,

Thanks for the added info on unnecessary wear. I had thought the extra layer of time was spent mapping out any bad/weak sectors.

My issue with the Samsung driver may have related to other causes during the build process... my clone build approach is a bit convoluted with use of DiskPart/ Acronis disk imaging and recovery software and use of that imaging software that was never originally engineered for W11. I'll try that driver on a clean W11 24H2 install.

Thanks also on the speed tip... we've both done speed testing with quality NVMe-controller M.2 SSDs and found the special HP AHCI-controller Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD to be almost exactly as fast as those but now is expensive and rare. Same with the Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD. To hear that your Intel NVMe 750 add in cards (with that special OPROM code) gets you virtually the same speed should help others consider taking this path. These Intel NVMe devices can be used to boot the Z420/ Z620/ Z820 workstations but also in later HP workstation generations without the single BIOS tweak.

[SDH]

For Rhothgar and others regarding clean installs with Rufus:

The Rufus developer continues to upgrade the program and the latest is 4.9. I realized that I had not yet personally done a clean install of W11 24H2 onto one of my OPROM-containing NVMe drives which allows booting on a ZX20 workstation. I just finished that and have an update on the process, plus the logic:

1. Discussed above is the advice to first get the latest firmware installed onto the drive. Once that is done use the DiskPart method of cleaning the drive, GPT partition the drive, and NTFS format it (default quick method, with respect to DGroves input). That is done when the drive is not yet a boot drive... so there is no need to do the BIOS change yet.

2. To load W11 24H2 as a clean install from the Rufus 4.9-created thumb drive you'll be booting from that USB drive and thus there still is no need to change the BIOS setting in Advanced tab/ Device Options/ from default of Legacy to EFI. You'll change that later. Have the Intel/Samsung 950 Pro drive in its recommended PCIe slot and run the Rufus installer as usual, setting its main preferences page to include the target drive being GPT partitioned. 

3. It is only when you're done with the early blue background phase of the Rufus OS load that a restart automatically happens and that is when you need to remove the thumb drive, change the BIOS from Legacy to EFI, save that change and then the remainder of the W11 install will proceed. If you missed taking the thumb drive out in time (I usually miss it) you can shut down, remove it, and cold boot into BIOS to get that change done. Otherwise, a repeat boot from the thumb drive will happen and you don't want that. You won't lose your progress if you know what to do if that happens... just press the front on button and hold for a bit over 5 seconds.

EDIT/small update: I'm making some progress on getting the W11 24H2 clean install technique simplified. I've got a couple more ideas and will post a followup with the new improved technique in a couple of days. The BIOS settings and when they are applied makes this more complex than usual, so I want to get a one-size-fits-all approach.

[Rhothgar]

Just a thought and maybe things have changed but with the restrictions on TPM2.0 on Z420, do I need to use the DongKnowsTech Windows11 24H2 iso or will the standard Microsoft W11 x64 English International version be fine?

Samsung 950 Pro has arrived so just about to have a play! 😁

[SDH]

In the ZX20 series of workstations the Infineon chip on the motherboard that deals with TPM can only be TPM 1.2. With the advent of the ZX40 workstations the Infineon chip is different, and it can be fimrware flashed between TPM 1.2 and 2.0.

However, the Rufus (now version 4.9) method to install W11 24H2 turns the TPM 2.0 "requirement" off. Peter Batard, developer of Rufus, has discussed that he only uses loopholes that Microsoft has left open. I personally believe that Microsoft is motivated to let adventurers like us do these experiments. They want more W11 users and realize forcing everyone to junk their still-excellent hardware will be a losing stance.

New news: I was able to test an idea yesterday during a series of clean W11 24H2 installs. The simplest method works both for the Intel add in card such as the P3700 and also for the Samsung 950 Pro. I'll get that posted late today.

I hope you have a HP Z Turbo Drive G2 in hand to mount your 950 Pro in. You can find my DiskPart document attached to a post up near the top of page 1 here. You can plug that card into your PCIe3 x8 slot (slot #4) and use Samsung Magician to check for firmware updates. You then can use DiskPart to clean it, convert GPT, and then use Disk Management to make it into a simple volume and NTFS format it (the quick type). No change to your BIOS needed for those steps. After that use DiskPart again to just clean it but don't format it and do the convert GPT step again. That will leave it in a "RAW" condition ready for the W11 clean install method I'll post.

Our friend Paul Tikkanen in the forum discovered an excellent recent YouTube video HERE on creating the Rufus 4.6 thumb drive (same directions as for Rufus 4.9). This is short and sweet and gives excellent advice. The early step of allowing Rufus to check for Rufus updates got me a brief update added to 4.9 so it is worth doing. Under the options page gotten to near the end after you click on the START button, I also check all the boxes.