HighPoint SSD7110 User manual

SSD7110 Controller macOS Installation Guide
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SSD7110 Controller
macOS
Installation Guide
Version 1.1.0
Copyright © 2020 HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Last updated on Jan, 2020

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Content
1. Overview ....................................................................................................................................................3
2. Installing macOS on SSD7110 controller ................................................................................................3
3. Troubleshooting.........................................................................................................................................7

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1. Overview
The purpose of this document is to provide clear instructions on how to install and use the SSD7110 controller with
a macOS system.
2. Installing macOS on SSD7110 controller
If you would like to install macOS onto drives attached to SSD7110 controller, please follow the procedure bellow.
Step 1 Prepare your hardware for installation
After you attach your NVMe SSDs to SSD7110 controller, you can use the SSD7110 UEFI Utility to configure
your NVMe SSDs as RAID arrays, or just use them as single disks.
Before installation, you must remove all the disk drives, which are not physically attached to SSD7110 controller
from your system.
Note
SSD7110 only support EFI boot. If you have other PCIe controllers/adapters installed, you must make sure the
SSD7110 controller EFI is loaded firstly. If not, try to move the SSD7110 to another PCIe slot. Otherwise, you may
be unable to boot up your system.
Step 2 Determining if your Mac has a T2 chip
1. Choose Apple menu > About This Mac > Overview > System Report…, then click the ‘Controller’ item;
2. If it says ‘Apple T2 Security Chip’ in the right-hand column, continue on to Step 3 ‘Disabling secure boot’ section
bellow，otherwise skip Step 3.
Step 3 Disabling secure boot
1. Turn on your Mac, then press and hold Command (⌘)-R immediately after you see the Apple logo. Your Mac

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will now start in Recovery Mode;
2. When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose Utilities > Startup Security Utility from the menu bar;
3. When the Startup Security Utility window appears, select ‘No Security’ under the ‘Secure Boot’ options and
‘Allow booting from external or removable media’ under the ‘Allowed Boot Media’ options.
Step 4 Updating UEFI and Create Array (e.g. RAID0)
The flash utility is used to update controller UEFI and must run under UEFI environment. You should boot from
UEFI on boot disk.
1. Unzip the SSD711X UEFI package to the root dir(/) of a USB flash drive, and insert the USB flash drive into
the motherboard’s USB port;
2. Press and hold the Option (Alt) key immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac;

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3. Release the Option key when you see the Startup Manager window;
4. Select ‘EFI Boot’, then click the arrow under its icon, or press Return to enter the EFI interface;
5. Use the command “SSD711x.nsh”, and press Return when the message “Passed” appears;
6. Use the command ‘ArrayCreate.efi’ to enter the Create Array interface;

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7. Use the command ‘create RAID0’ to create a RAID0 with maximum capacity. The interface will then report the
array has been created successfully;
8. Use the command ‘exit’ to exit the EFI interface;
Step 5 Install the system to SSD7110
1. Install macOS to the Mac’s internal disk. After booting the system, install the SSD7110 driver and WebGUI;
2. Use ‘Disk Utility’ to format/partition the array:
3. Clone the internal boot disk to the RAID array using ‘Carbon Copy Cloner 5’
( https://bombich.com/software/download_ccc.php?v=latest);

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4. Open ‘Carbon Copy Cloner’, SOURCE = select the disk that you want to clone, DESTINATION =
select RAID disk that you created in the EFI interface, then click ‘Clone’;
5. When cloning has finished, restart your Mac, then press and hold the Option (Alt) key immediately;
6. Release the Option key when you see the Startup Manager window;
7. Select RAID0 disk, then click the arrow under its icon, or press Return.
3. Troubleshooting
If you can't select your startup disk or start up from it
1. Check for a valid operating system on the startup disk
Make sure that your RAID disk is using a version of macOS that is compatible with your Mac. You might need
to reinstall macOS on that disk.
2. Check startup security settings (Refer to Step 3)
If you're using a Mac that has the Apple T2 Security Chip, check the settings in Startup Security Utility.
3. Check for Option ROM firmware
If you're in Startup Manager and can't see a third-party startup disk.
a. Make sure your ‘Firmware password protection is off’.

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b. Press Option-Shift-Command-Period while in Startup Manager (e.g., MacBook Pro 2013/ MacBook Pro
2016). If your RAID disk appears, do that each time you want to start up from it or from another disk
connected to it.