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Problems upgrading Mac Pro 5.1 with SSD system drive

Hello, I'm in the process of upgrading an older Mac Pro ("cheese grater") with Samsung QVO SSD drives. I've run into some weird and perplexing issues that I haven't seen addressed or even mentioned anywhere. I’ll try to keep my explanation brief, but this has been a long and complicated troubleshooting process, so bear with me. Skip to the end for a summary.


Here's the setup:


Mac Pro 5,1 Mid 2010


2 x 2.66 6 Core Xeon


24GB ECC RAM


ATI Radion HD 5770


Pro Tools HDX PCIe card


It had two internal SATA system drives in bays 1 & 2, one running 10.9.4, the other with 10.12.6.


I installed two Samsung SSD drives in OWC drive sleds in bays 3 & 4: a 1TB partitioned equally for the two OS versions, and a 2TB for storage. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy both original system drives over to the new SSD and tried to boot into them.


First off, I was able to boot into both of the old drives and the new 10.12 partition just fine. However the new SSD 10.9 just gave me the “universal no access symbol” after loading for a while on the apple screen. I was able to boot in safe mode but otherwise couldn’t get it to load normally. Also, when I booted into the old 10.9 neither of the new SSDs showed up anywhere, as if they weren’t even installed (they were available in boot select). This wasn’t an issue in either 10.12 partition. After some troubleshooting I discovered that if I unplugged all extra USB devices then the SSDs would show up again in the old 10.9, but I still couldn’t boot from the new 10.9. I tried several different combinations of USB devices and it didn’t seem to be any one in particular causing the problem.


Then I noticed that there are metal tabs on the motherboard next to each of the SATA ports. These tabs are depressed when a regular 3.5” drive is installed, but not with a 2.5” drive which is substantially thinner. I put some electrical tape on those tabs to hold them down and voila, the new drives were available in the old 10.9 with USB devices attached. This is obviously some kind of sensor but I’m not sure what it’s for. I’m guessing to monitor drive heat, or possibly confirm that a drive is inserted. There’s a SOT-23 device under the tab, but I can’t identify it. Either way, it seems to disable the port if there are too many USB devices. After some more troubleshooting I found that if I booted one of the working partitions and selected the SSD 10.9 as the startup drive in system preferences, then I could boot into it successfully.


At this point I thought I’d figured it all out, so I removed the old SATA drives and moved the new SSDs over to bays 1 & 2. This is where things got really confusing. Now I could boot into 10.9 fine, but I got the no access symbol when I booted 10.12. After more troubleshooting, I found that I can boot either OS only if I completely shut down first. If I restart then neither will load (this is true when restarting from one into the other). This is independent of USB devices.


I’ve done multiple SMC resets, and I applied the 10.13 firmware update, but still having issues.


So to summarize:


There’s a metal tab next to each internal SATA port that is depressed when a drive is inserted. Any idea what it’s for? I haven’t found it mentioned anywhere online. On this particular machine, if it’s not depressed then when I boot into 10.9 it disables the port if too many USB devices are attached.


I have 10.9.4 and 10.12.6 installed on separate partitions on one SSD drive. I can boot into either one if the computer is shut down first, but can’t if I restart. It just gives me the no access symbol after loading on the apple screen for a while. Is it a hardware/firmware issue? Having both OS versions on one drive?


Again, sorry for the long post. This was about a day and half of solid troubleshooting. I greatly appreciate any insight into these issues.

Mac Pro

Posted on Aug 12, 2019 8:22 AM

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Posted on Aug 12, 2019 5:30 PM

Since a re-Install of a fresh copy of MacOS is a good debugging technique anyway, I am a big proponent of doing a fresh install from scratch rather than cloning.


MacOS has an interesting way to install itself. IIt copies the stripped-down Base System onto the proposed drive, then boots from it, thereby using the exact version that is being installed to do the Install. This assures you that all the setup is done exactly right, and there has been no mistake about what little partitions and special stuff is supposed to be on the drive, and all firmware and all the Drivers are in place.

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4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 12, 2019 5:30 PM in response to veloquacat

Since a re-Install of a fresh copy of MacOS is a good debugging technique anyway, I am a big proponent of doing a fresh install from scratch rather than cloning.


MacOS has an interesting way to install itself. IIt copies the stripped-down Base System onto the proposed drive, then boots from it, thereby using the exact version that is being installed to do the Install. This assures you that all the setup is done exactly right, and there has been no mistake about what little partitions and special stuff is supposed to be on the drive, and all firmware and all the Drivers are in place.

Aug 12, 2019 8:51 AM in response to veloquacat

I posed the question of what that tab was for years ago, and nobody here knows, but it does not interfere with anything. I have even plugged a bare SSD card (no enclosure whatsoever) into a slot and it works fine. The tab is a complete red herring. forgetaboutit.


Many SSD drives you buy today will be nVME drives. Boot support for nVME drives was only added in the firmware updates for 10.13.6. what is your boot EFI firmware version?


Some Samsung drives such as EVO 970 PLUS have not been workable in a Mac Pro.


Did you erase these drives with Disk Utility before copying?

Aug 12, 2019 3:58 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Well that tab definitely made a difference in this particular case. I'm not sure if it's a matter of power draw on the USB bus or what. However, it doesn't seem to be an issue now that I only have two drives installed.


The SSDs are Samsung QVO 860, so not nVME. I believe I applied the last 10.13 firmware update, but I will double check.


I fully erased and cloned the drives twice, with no luck.

Aug 13, 2019 2:48 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Well it seems this particular model of Mac Pro is not compatible with these SSD drives. I tried moving the existing drive as-is to an entirely different Mac Pro (same era, slightly different configuration) with the same results. So I wiped the drive completely with disk utility and did a fresh install of 10.13. Every time it restarted during installation I got the no access symbol. After shutting down and powering up a couple of times, installation eventually finished and I was able to boot. However it still would not successfully boot if I restarted. So I tried installing on a different SSD (same model) and got the same thing. I moved one of the drives over to my macbook pro and it boots just fine.


At this point I can't see any other options.

Problems upgrading Mac Pro 5.1 with SSD system drive

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