Mojave on RAID with APFS - a HOWTO

[dlwg]

That’s cool. I will use the shorter syntax next time.

Make sure when you connect a raw disk to VMware it is actually the final RAID volume and not original individual disks. I did initial installation and never got any errors to do with blessing boot or anything. Never needed to delete any caches.

This opens up an avenue to do system updates in VMware without any additional worries about RAID. Just boot into another macOS with VMware, update it there in a VM and reboot back to have the updated system running on RAID.

 

[ItsDaSpecialK]

So this is a small bit off topic, but has anyone tested this with macOS Catalina? Does it work/is this process still necessary?

 

[webg3]

So this is a small bit off topic, but has anyone tested this with macOS Catalina? Does it work/is this process still necessary?

diskutil umountDisk disk0
diskutil umountDisk disk1

gpt destroy /dev/disk0
gpt destroy /dev/disk1

diskutil appleRAID create stripe Storage JHFS+ disk0 disk1

diskutil umountDisk disk2
gpt create disk2
gpt add -t hfs disk2

Open Disk Utility and select disk2 format to APFS and install macOS Catalina

post install, open terminal and

/sbin/mount -uw /
mv /usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /usr/standalone/bootcaches.bak

install post-install patches and reboot


working updates, in case of boot loop, try:

CMD+S:

/sbin/mount -uw /
mv /usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /usr/standalone/bootcaches.bak

nice!

(macOS Mojave and macOS Catalina)

 

[Flaviolira]

Registered on macrumors just to confirm toru's solution works great! My mid-2012 is flying with 2tb of storage and 900+mb of read and write speeds on Mojave! Thank you so much!

 

[joseperes]

Stuck after update to macOS Mojave 10.14.6 !

The RAID 0 APFS was working perfectly on 10.14.5, then I tried to update to the new version, now it's not booting.
I tried those commands in single user mode (CMD+S)
/sbin/mount -uw /
mv /usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /usr/standalone/bootcaches.bak
But I'm getting the error:
device is write locked.

Can someone help me please?

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

I'm a noob as well so senior users can correct me if I'm wrong. I think that command only works from Recovery

Stuck after update to macOS Mojave 10.14.6 !

The RAID 0 APFS was working perfectly on 10.14.5, then I tried to update to the new version, now it's not booting.
I tried those commands in single user mode (CMD+S)
/sbin/mount -uw /
mv /usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /usr/standalone/bootcaches.bak
But I'm getting the error:
device is write locked.

Can someone help me please?

 

[fjdreyes]

Stuck after update to macOS Mojave 10.14.6 !

The RAID 0 APFS was working perfectly on 10.14.5, then I tried to update to the new version, now it's not booting.
I tried those commands in single user mode (CMD+S)
/sbin/mount -uw /
mv /usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /usr/standalone/bootcaches.bak
But I'm getting the error:
device is write locked.

Can someone help me please?

Same thing happened to me after installing the 10.14.6 update.
1. On the "macOS could not be installed on your computer" screen, go to Utilities > Terminal (if the menu bar is not visible, click anywhere-except on restart-on that screen and the menu bar should show up).
2. Restore your bootcaches.plist from backup (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist).
3. Restart and wait for the bootloop.
4. Boot in recovery/single user/USB installer and remove your bootcaches.plist again (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup)
5. Reboot.

Thanks to digizer0's post (#67).

 

[joseperes]

Same thing happened to me after installing the 10.14.6 update.
1. On the "macOS could not be installed on your computer" screen, go to Utilities > Terminal (if the menu bar is not visible, click anywhere-except on restart-on that screen and the menu bar should show up).
2. Restore your bootcaches.plist from backup (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist).
3. Restart and wait for the bootloop.
4. Boot in recovery/single user/USB installer and remove your bootcaches.plist again (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup)
5. Reboot.

Thanks to digizer0's post (#67).

Thank you for the tip, I didn't have the opportunity to try what you said, but it makes sense.
Before I read your tip I solved my problem making a clean install.

 

[toru173]

Same thing happened to me after installing the 10.14.6 update.
1. On the "macOS could not be installed on your computer" screen, go to Utilities > Terminal (if the menu bar is not visible, click anywhere-except on restart-on that screen and the menu bar should show up).
2. Restore your bootcaches.plist from backup (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist).
3. Restart and wait for the bootloop.
4. Boot in recovery/single user/USB installer and remove your bootcaches.plist again (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup)
5. Reboot.

Thanks to digizer0's post (#67).

This looks like it should work. From the original images, it looks like @joseperes is trying to modify /use/standalone/bootcaches.plist on the image-booted (and thus, write locked) recovery volume. Use the full path to your boot array and it should be fine!

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but I am unable to open files from my desktop, downloads or documents folders. I have tried disabling Gatekeeper without any resolution to the problem. I've tried a fresh install of Catalina on my 2012 MBP RAID but the problem persists.
All I get is "*.***" is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.
Any ideas? I don't have a working Mojave backup anymore

 

[toru173]

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but I am unable to open files from my desktop, downloads or documents folders. I have tried disabling Gatekeeper without any resolution to the problem. I've tried a fresh install of Catalina on my 2012 MBP RAID but the problem persists.
All I get is "*.***" is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.
Any ideas? I don't have a working Mojave backup anymore

Interesting? How did you do the install?

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

Interesting? How did you do the install?

Multiple ways with the same outcome.
I initially installed the Catalina beta on an external drive, then booted into the external drive and installed Catalina over the existing Mojave install on the RAID set. That was the first time I noticed this problem. I figured there must have been some system file corruption in my RAID so I went for option 2.
Backed up the newly installed Catalina to time machine, then deleted the RAID. Recreated the RAID using webg3 approach with one slight change.
Replaced disk2 with disk3 here ...

"diskutil umountDisk disk2
gpt create disk2
gpt add -t hfs disk2

Open Disk Utility and select disk2 format to APFS and install macOS Catalina"

Ran installer from the external drive again, selecting my newly formatted RAID volume as the target drive.
Install goes fine. Bless error as expected, but easily corrected by renaming the bootcaches.plist file in installer.
I boot up the new device. Drag over my files from the Time Machine backup to prevent further data corruption.
Still same glitch.
After some digging around, I learnt to remove file attributes using "xattr -cr /User/filepath" which seems to be resolving issues for now. Still not sure how the problem developed in the first place.
Ran etrecheck and it picked up no errors, except the lack of a Time machine backup (new install).

 

[toru173]

It might have been Catalina’s new system volume playing havoc with gatekeeper. I imagine it marked all your files with the ‘quarentined’ extended attribute, and you were able to remove it with xattr.

Can you post a screenshot of your disk utility, or the output of ‘diskutil list’? I’m interested to see what a Catalina installer does to the RAID set

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

It might have been Catalina’s new system volume playing havoc with gatekeeper. I imagine it marked all your files with the ‘quarentined’ extended attribute, and you were able to remove it with xattr.

Can you post a screenshot of your disk utility, or the output of ‘diskutil list’? I’m interested to see what a Catalina installer does to the RAID set

Here's the output. I ended up recreating the RAID and installing everything from scratch, using a clean Mojave install first, then Catalina over that. File permission corruption seems to be resolved.

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_RAID 999.9 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3


/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *960.2 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_RAID 959.9 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s3


/dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme +1.9 TB disk2

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk3 1.9 TB disk2s2


/dev/disk3 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.9 TB disk3

Physical Store disk2s2

1: APFS Volume Macintosh - Data 245.6 GB disk3s1

2: APFS Volume Preboot 46.2 MB disk3s2

3: APFS Volume Recovery 1.0 GB disk3s3

4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk3s4

5: APFS Volume Macintosh 10.3 GB disk3s5

 

[toru173]

That all looks right. I wonder what happened last time?

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

That all looks right. I wonder what happened last time?

I don't know but I used to have 23 disks when I ran diskutil list in the past.
The clean install must have fixed that.

 

[joseperes]

I am having problem to install the macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update
I am doing this procedure:

1. On the "macOS could not be installed on your computer" screen, go to Utilities > Terminal (if the menu bar is not visible, click anywhere-except on restart-on that screen and the menu bar should show up).
2. Restore your bootcaches.plist from backup (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist).
3. Restart and wait for the bootloop.
4. Boot in recovery/single user/USB installer and remove your bootcaches.plist again (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup)
5. Reboot.

But after the system boots up the update seems to be not applied. How can I do the update?

 

[toru173]

I am having problem to install the macOS Mojave 10.14.6 Supplemental Update
I am doing this procedure:

1. On the "macOS could not be installed on your computer" screen, go to Utilities > Terminal (if the menu bar is not visible, click anywhere-except on restart-on that screen and the menu bar should show up).
2. Restore your bootcaches.plist from backup (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist).
3. Restart and wait for the bootloop.
4. Boot in recovery/single user/USB installer and remove your bootcaches.plist again (e.g. mv /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/standalone/bootcaches.plist.backup)
5. Reboot.

But after the system boots up the update seems to be not applied. How can I do the update?

Have you tried applying the combo update - not downloaded from the App Store, but directly from Apple support?

 

[balloz]

Anyone else coming from SoftRAID?

I use SoftRAID on my boot volume and I'm having to upgrade from Yosemite (which brew no longer supports among other things). I previously tried to upgrade to Mojave which failed miserably due to SoftRAID incompatibility.

I'm guessing there is no clean way to switch to AppleRAID other than a reformat.

 

[joseperes]

Have you tried applying the combo update - not downloaded from the App Store, but directly from Apple support?

I have already installed 10.14.6 , what I am trying to apply is the Supplemental Update

In the image above, when I click Install Now, the Macbook restarts and starts the installation, after the installation finishes it gets on boot loop, so I do the bootcaches rename procedure. After that when I get back to the system and look for the version I see that the update still pending, and the version still as 10.14.6 (18G84) and not the 10.14.16 (18G87) as expected.
@toru173 Does the combo update comes with the version 18G87?

 

[vince22]

thanks to toru173, webg3 and others. I'm up and running Raid0 APFS Catalina beta 5.

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

Anyone else coming from SoftRAID?

I use SoftRAID on my boot volume and I'm having to upgrade from Yosemite (which brew no longer supports among other things). I previously tried to upgrade to Mojave which failed miserably due to SoftRAID incompatibility.

I'm guessing there is no clean way to switch to AppleRAID other than a reformat.

I imagine the solution would involve a time machine backup (or other acceptable clone), followed by a clean Mojave install, and then restore using whatever backup solution you chose.

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

Anyone have any experience with bootcamp or other dual boot solution using RAID0 on either Catalina or Mojave ?

 

[toru173]

Anyone have any experience with bootcamp or other dual boot solution using RAID0 on either Catalina or Mojave ?

I wonder if you could use Grub or the like to chainload into the volume spanning the array from on of the “Boot OS X” partitions? It would be interesting to look at. Does anything support read/write from Apple RAID volumes? I’m assuming Windows doesn’t but Linux does

 

[dudewheresmycar123]

Slightly different topic now. Due to a recent waterspill accident, my old faithful 13" mid-2012 mbp is out of commision. I am now in the market for a replacement. Torn between getting a replica off ebay, and porting over my SSDs and RAM chips vs forking out more cash for something with better graphics support, and hardware like the 13" early 2015 MBP. Thoughts ?