installing a SSD into Z600 Workstation.

[cdmanxp]

Just double checking if anyone has installed a HP Z Turbo PCIe SSD in a Z600 and it works successfully?
Please share your experiences.
Thanks

[SDH]

Have not tried that, but from all I have read it is not possible.  There supposedly is a special added cable from the HP PCIe SSD card to the Z620 motherboard, and a BIOS update to let that work.  The Z600 has no such motherboard header that can be enabled/modified by a BIOS update to enable the HP card. 

However, there is a nice post for the Z600 where Brian describes getting a non-HP PCIe SSD card to work quite nicely, and hopefully he will update us on how things have gone since then.  It is  HERE.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/PCIe-SSD/m-p/557339...

EDIT -- ALMOST 2 YEARS LATER:

Here we are September 2018..... The "special added cable" from the HP PCIe SSD Z Turbo Drive card to the motherboard of a Z620 is just to convey "drive activity" signals from that card to the motherboard.  It works somewhat, not as well as for drive activity for a SSD or a HDD.  Nothing special there, and not really something most of us pay attention to.

The Z Turbo Drive generation 1 is for the ZX20 series of workstations.  It can work on the ZX40 series too, but the Z Turbo Drive generation 2 which is for the ZX40 series won't work on the ZX20 series.  Neither of those work on the Z600 (ZX00 series of workstations).  I tried all that.

What did work was the Kingston Predator M.2 PCIe SSD drive and that has been posted about here in detail.  Kingston stopped making those, which used an AHCI driver and worked very well.  Was it worth the hassle?  Yes, for me, but not for a lot of people.  Regular SSD in a Z600 is mighty fine even if it really can only run at SATA II speeds.

[brettMc]

Hello,

First post.

I have an HP Z600 and I am trying to install a Samsung 860EVO SSD as the primary boot and software drive. I absolutely cannot get it to work. 

Booting from a valid Windows 7 Pro disc I have tried the following:
-install via USB-SATA adapter. 
-install via internal SATA connection

-install via internal SATA connection to PCIe2 x8(4) card [current working hard drive is connected to this card)

-ive tried setting the BIOS to IDE

-i believe i have upgraded the BIOS (how do i verify this?)

At one point I seemed to get through the install process with the SSD, with the drive connected to the main motherboard SATA ports, but then I had an issue with the Nvidia Quadro 4000 display driver...I believe I updated that and then had a problem where the machine would boot but to a black screen where I could see the cursor and thats it.

I really could use some help here.

Thanks,

Brett

[monkey_griff]

Hi Brett,

I was clearing out my old bookmarks and came across my old post.. couldnt believe the views i had on it 🙂

and the fact you have recently tried the same thing.. so thought i would try help.

with installing windows it maybe down to the disc method, jump on google and search for a usb windows 7 installer, i know W10 has media creation tool and pretty sure 7 has same thing now google this and you will find how to do it.

USB will be more reliable than the disc.. could have scratches or something could be causing volatile install..or drive maybe dodgy..

-i believe i have upgraded the BIOS (how do i verify this?) - I'm on a new build now so dont have access to my old pc right now, but all bios's should have an information section or on main page which displays a version number. Check on hp website for bios download and check the version numbers match.. if they are out you know its not the latest.

My quardro had similiar issues with drivers.. best to rollback to version which was working the best, just because the release newer driver doesnt mean it performs the best for the card (in quadro's case anyway). They're old cards so have teething problems with drivers on z600.. i find making sure you use display port cables and not hdmi cables with converters performs more stable..

apart from that make sure sata and power cable are working ok, try swapping sata cable out with a different one..  and all are plugged in correctly.

..could have a dodgy drive (try it in a laptop or other pc if you have access to one) if all else fails

try one thing at a time to rule out the issues it could be.

lastly.. they're old machines and will have issues as most old things do 🙂

cheers

[SDH]

See my updated post above.

Remember that the ZX00 generation of workstations use Legacy BIOS, not NVMe.  Is that SSD a NVMe SSD?  There also are SATA SSDs.  We're talking 2.5" form factor SSDs here.

You must not install your OS with SATA emulation set to IDE.  You should set it to RAID + AHCI. 

For the ZX00 workstations they're all SATA generation 2 technology... for this reason I've really liked buying used Intel non-HP 320 series SSDs off eBay.  Either the 300 or the 600GB ones.  I know DGroves does not like this one bit, but I have bought many of these and the Intel Toolbox software shows % life left on any of their SSDs probed with this free up to date software.... almost all I have bought used off eBay have 100% life left on them.

So, I take that risk happily.

Regarding the Samsung SSDs.... I've found them to have some hidden software/sector data on them that I get rid of via running DBAN on them to do a full low level format.  Then MBR partition, and NTFS long type format.  I have gotten these Samsung SSDs to work well with the older HP workstations that way.

Edit:  For Monkey and others.... yes, I do run DBAN and that MBR/NTFS long format on brand new Samsung SSDs first.  Our IT guys were having problems getting the Samsung SSDs to function normally in some of our older workstations.... xw6600, xw4600, Z600 boxes.  I took one home and did the above process for them, and that SSD worked perfectly thereafter.  Unwise.... now they want me to do that for them here at home for all the new Samsung SSDs....  For some reason that helps with the older HP workstations.  We don't need to do that with the Z620s and up.

[AllenRR]

So, there are 2.5 to 3.5 adapters out there that fit the Z600-Z800. Corsair has one the fits these. It is available on Amazon.com the part number is CSSD-BRKT1  the trick is to find one that locates the SSD all the way to the side. If it is in the middle, it will not work.

[AllenRR]

  I have been using the Z workstations for several years. I've learned a few things. I am glad to help. My personal PC is a Z600 Workstation w/2 X5650 Xeons and 32gb of ram. If anyone has questions about these awesome workstations, I am happy to reply..

[AllenRR]

I investigated this. It is not a pefect fit. I must have been lucky the first time.

[AllenRR]

Bear in mind that the NVMe technology was after Z600/800.

[AllenRR]

SSD are fine on this line, but NVME is pretty new and the bus speed of Z600/800 was PCI 2.0