Pegasus2 on Bootcamp/Windows 7

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Pegasus2 on Bootcamp/Windows 7

I have a Pegasus2 R8 bought from the AppleStore pre-configured for MacOS. It's a Thunderbolt device.

I'd like to use it on a Bootcamped Mac running Windows 7 to store .wav files. I was hoping that I could fire it up and just reformat it and starting using it.

Unfortunately, after installing the latest Windows drivers and utility software for the Pegasus2 I'm unable to 'see' the drive! It works on the MacOS side just fine but isn't even recognized on the Windows side.

Has anybody else faced this problem? I've successfully used a 3rd party Thunderbolt dock with bare drives for awhile.

Thanks.

Posted on Oct 20, 2015 7:36 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

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Oct 20, 2015 9:18 AM in response to billwhit

W7 may need a reboot to see TB devices properly. Please see Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - Apple Support .

1. Are Thunderbolt devices “hot pluggable” using Windows with Boot Camp?

Thunderbolt hot plug is supported under Windows 8 or 8.1 on all 2014 and later Mac computers.

For all other Mac computers, Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 scans and activates Thunderbolt devices connected to Thunderbolt ports only during the Windows startup process. If your device was not plugged in at start up, Windows will not detect it without a restart.

2. My Mac running Windows 7 or 8 does not sleep when a Thunderbolt device is plugged in. Is this normal?

Yes. Sleep is disabled in Windows 7 or 8 while a Thunderbolt device is plugged in.

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Answer 2

billwhit Author

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Oct 20, 2015 2:37 PM in response to Loner T

Nope. Just the CPU drive with Mac OS and Win partitions. I've re-installed Windows drivers from the Promise site a couple of times and it works fine on the Mac side. Have a ticket open on Promise's web support site. Hope it leads somewhere helpful.

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Answer 3

billwhit Author

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Oct 20, 2015 5:55 PM in response to Loner T

This is what the diskutil commands you suggest gave:

Bills-MacBook-Pro:~ bw$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *751.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 102.4 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 648.0 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *28.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS Promise RAID 28.0 TB disk1s2

Bills-MacBook-Pro:~ bw$ diskutil cs list

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

Bills-MacBook-Pro:~ bw$ diskutil info disk1

Device Identifier: disk1

Device Node: /dev/disk1

Part of Whole: disk1

Device / Media Name: Promise Pegasus2 R8 Media

Volume Name: Not applicable (no file system)

Mounted: Not applicable (no file system)

File System: None

Content (IOContent): GUID_partition_scheme

OS Can Be Installed: No

Media Type: Generic

Protocol: SAS

SMART Status: Not Supported

Total Size: 28.0 TB (27999976030208 Bytes) (exactly 54687453184 512-Byte-Units)

Volume Free Space: Not applicable (no file system)

Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Read-Only Media: No

Read-Only Volume: Not applicable (no file system)

Ejectable: Yes

Whole: Yes

Internal: No

OS 9 Drivers: No

Low Level Format: Not supported

Bills-MacBook-Pro:~ bw$

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Answer 4

Loner T

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59,536 points

Oct 20, 2015 7:27 PM in response to billwhit

1. What is the OS X version on your Mac?

2. This is a RAID file system, yet Apple HFS. Unless Promise can certify this configuration, the conflicts between the WindowsHFS+ driver and Promise RAID are the root of the problem. As a test, download SysInternals (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545021.aspx) and disable AppleHFS and test if it works.

This is not a TB device issue, it is a file system issue.

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Answer 5

billwhit Author

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Oct 21, 2015 3:14 AM in response to Loner T

My OS X version is 10.9.5.

Before downloading SysInternals and disabling AppleHFS I took a look at Device Manager and noticed that the RAID controller had a little yellow triangle at the bottom right of its icon. Looking at properties I find that it has no drivers after all! I tried uninstalling and re-installling as admin using the Promise app and still no luck. I think the issue is Promise Windows drivers not installing - as a first step - and have contacted them about it. I'll post what I find out.

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Answer 6

billwhit Author

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Oct 21, 2015 5:32 AM in response to Loner T

It claims to be:

Pegasus R4/R6 and Pegasus2 R4/R6/R8/M4 Windows Driver Service Release 2.42. WHQL certified driver for Windows 7/ Windows 8 and Windows 10.

But I'll look for an older driver just to see.

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Answer 7

billwhit Author

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Oct 22, 2015 2:15 AM in response to Loner T

OK, here's what finally worked. In looking around to find WebPAM I stumbled on a .sys file in /Program Files (x86)/Promise/x64. After right-clicking on the RAID controller and getting the pop-up window I navigated to this file to try and reinstall drivers. It worked! The RAID is now useful.

It's still AppleHFS+ but my .wav files still play in a custom app called Perseus so that's fine, BUT I still think I'd be better off reformatting the whole thing to NTFS. Unfortunately, I don't see that option - which is shown in the manual - on my copy of WebPAM or Promise Utility.

I was not enthralled with Promise support -- neither on-line nor on-phone were much help so far at all.

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Answer 8

Loner T

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59,536 points

Oct 22, 2015 6:00 AM in response to billwhit

I would recommend formatting the whole array as NTFS. You may want to split it in half. Download any Linux Live CD containing Gparted, split the array in half with the second half as Free Space. Boot to the Windows side, and convert this Free Space to NTFS. You can also use Windows Diskpart to achieve the same thing.

Please see

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766465(v=ws.10).aspx

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/300415

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825686.aspx

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Answer 9

billwhit Author

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Oct 22, 2015 6:37 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks - again! Since I really want the whole thing to be a NTFS RAID would it be just as easy to reformat each drive as NTFS and then use Promise's utility to create the NTFS RAID?

Right now I've copied a few folder to the Pegasus and am enjoying that it works! I have no idea how a Apple HFS+ RAID 'works' on a Win7 box, but it does.

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Answer 10

Loner T

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59,536 points

Oct 22, 2015 12:58 PM in response to billwhit

As a test, create a 1.9 TB FAT Partition on the Pegasus, and then reboot into Windows. Let us check if it shows up.

If you can post a link to their NTFS partition link(s), I will try and decipher them.

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Answer 11

billwhit Author

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Oct 20, 2015 10:57 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks. I'm familiar with the reboot thing to get Thunderbolt drives recognized on Win7/Bootcamp. I've done that several times -- no difference.

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Answer 12

Loner T

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Oct 20, 2015 11:02 AM in response to billwhit

After you reboot with the Pegasus connected, do you have any unknown devices in Device Manager?

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Answer 13

Loner T

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Oct 20, 2015 4:02 PM in response to billwhit

Can you connect the Pegasus to the OS X side and post the output of the following commands?

diskutil list

diskutil cs list

diskutil info diskN (where N points to the Pegasus disks)

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Answer 14

Loner T

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59,536 points

Oct 21, 2015 5:18 AM in response to billwhit

Is the Promise RAID driver W7 compatible? You may want to look for an older driver.

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Answer 15

Loner T

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Oct 22, 2015 8:44 AM in response to billwhit

It is a proprietary Promise RAID. You should be able to ask Promise to let you create a hardware RAID set of storage and then use DU and Windows to create appropriate-sized parts valid for each.

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