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OWC's Aura SSDs Not Working With macOS High Sierra, Fix Coming Soon

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Why OWC need Apple to resolve this is a mystery to me.

Tip: simply repack the latest FirmwareUpdate.pkg that comes with macOS High Sierra as a stand alone installer and run it. That's how easy it is.

FirmwareUpdateStandAlone-1.0.pkg

md5 = 24a1731b514c633c7aff07b5d739828c

You can make it yourself by running:

./installSeed.py -a update -f FirmwareUpdate.pkg -t / -u /tmp/FirmwareUpdate

./munkipkg.py --create /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone

cp /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/postinstall_actions/update /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/postinstall

cp -R /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/Tools /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/

./munkipkg.py /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone

Used scripts:

https://github.com/Piker-Alpha/HandyScripts/blob/master/installSeed.py
https://github.com/munki/munki-pkg/blob/master/munkipkg
 
Last edited:
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robeddie said:
Umm, we're talking about AURA SSD's which is only one of two vendors that make SSD's for macbooks from 2013 onward. So for anyone with a 2013, 2014, or 2015 macbook pro or macbook air, Crucial does NOT make compatible ssd's for those models.
It's either OWC, or these guys -

http://www.transintl.com/super-blade-flash-storage-ssd.html
Click to expand...
Thanks for clearing that up. There are lots of posts here that reflect unknowledgeable opinions.
 
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Weaselboy said:
It is probably because those drives were setup as RAID0 internally.

Here is an excerpt from the Anandtech review:

The OWC Aura contains two SMI 2246 XT 4-channel controllers which are situated in a RAID configuration through a Marvell 9230 RAID controller. There are four unbranded 256MB MLC synchronous NAND flash chips which, once paired, create a RAID 0 volume with a 1TB capacity.
Click to expand...

The whole setup was a kludge from the beginning.
Click to expand...

They have technology to get 1TB of capacity out of 4 modules of 256 MB each?

Well, this whole issue shall be forgotten then, let me get their magic controller whilst I go on a NAND shopping spree to replace some HDDs then...

Glassed Silver:mac
 
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Glassed Silver said:
They have technology to get 1TB of capacity out of 4 modules of 256 MB each?
Click to expand...

LOL... Glad you spotted that typo, because I linked to the wrong site. That quote (typo and all still there) is from the site SSDREVIEW.

Anandtech has similar info:

In order to keep costs under control, OWC has opted to not use a native PCIe SSD controller. Instead, the PCIe Aura SSD uses a Marvell 9230 SATA RAID controller and a pair of Silicon Motion SM2256 SATA SSD controllers. The Marvell 9230 has a PCIe 2.0 x2 host interface, so the PCIe Aura SSD has the potential to outperform SATA SSDs but won't be able to approach the peak transfer rates of the recent Samsung SM951-based Apple originals. The Silicon Motion SM2256 controllers mean the PCIe Aura SSD is almost certainly using TLC flash, which is less expensive but also performs worse and draws more power than MLC flash. The PCIe Aura SSD's RAID design unfortunately does not support passing through TRIM commands nor retrieving SMART information from the individual SSD controllers.
Click to expand...
 
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Pike R. Alpha said:
Please clarify. What didn't work? The installation of that package, or one self made, failed to install, or what?

Did you check: /var/log/install.log for errors?
Click to expand...

I ran this from the installer at first, it completed happily, but the 'firmware error' appeared again when I tried to install HS.

This time I've extracted your installer into the cpio archive and have run the commands by hand. Note the final failure now. Any idea what this means? This is a 10.12 machine (MP 6,1)

Code: 
19:37 mp01:~/Downloads/fw[] % sudo /usr/libexec/FirmwareUpdateLauncher -p Tools
2017-09-27 19:37:08.354 FirmwareUpdateLauncher[4540:150074] Checking for MultiUpdater at Tools/MultiUpdater/MultiUpdater.efi
2017-09-27 19:37:08.356 FirmwareUpdateLauncher[4540:150074] Running /usr/libexec/smcupdater (
    "-p",
    "Tools/SMCPayloads",
    "-s"
)
2017-09-27 19:37:08.362 smcupdater[4541:150078] path: Tools/SMCPayloads/Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6
2017-09-27 19:37:08.363 smcupdater[4541:150078] SMC REV  Current version: 2.20f18
2017-09-27 19:37:08.363 smcupdater[4541:150078] SMC REV  New     version: 2.20f18
2017-09-27 19:37:08.363 smcupdater[4541:150078] No reason to update Tools/SMCPayloads/Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6/Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6.smc.
2017-09-27 19:37:08.371 smcupdater[4541:150078] SMC RVBF Current version: 2.20f18
2017-09-27 19:37:08.371 smcupdater[4541:150078] SMC RVBF New     version: 2.20f18
2017-09-27 19:37:08.371 smcupdater[4541:150078] No reason to update Tools/SMCPayloads/Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6/flasher_base.smc.
2017-09-27 19:37:08.380 smcupdater[4541:150078] SMC RVUF Current version: 2.20f18
2017-09-27 19:37:08.380 smcupdater[4541:150078] SMC RVUF New     version: 2.20f18
2017-09-27 19:37:08.380 smcupdater[4541:150078] No reason to update Tools/SMCPayloads/Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6/flasher_update.smc.
Nothing to update.
2017-09-27 19:37:08.444 FirmwareUpdateLauncher[4540:150074] smcupdater exited with status: 1
2017-09-27 19:37:08.444 FirmwareUpdateLauncher[4540:150074] Running /usr/libexec/ssdupdater (
    "-p",
    Tools,
    "-s"
)
2017-09-27 19:37:08.514 FirmwareUpdateLauncher[4540:150074] ssdupdater exited with status: 255
2017-09-27 19:37:08.514 FirmwareUpdateLauncher[4540:150074] Running /usr/libexec/usbcupdater (
    "-p",
    Tools,
    "-s"
)
2017-09-27 19:37:08.521 usbcupdater[4544:150092] Error reading plist: No files to support boardID: Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6
2017-09-27 19:37:08.589 FirmwareUpdateLauncher[4540:150074] usbcupdater exited with status: 13
19:37 mp01:~/Downloads/fw[] % sudo /usr/libexec/efiupdater -p Tools/EFIPayloads
Raw EFI Version string: MP61.88Z.0116.B46.1706200309
EFI currentVersion: [0000000001160046]
EFI updateVersion:  [0000000001200000]
EFI found at IODeviceTree:/efi
Will need to copy 8523776 bytes to EFI system partition
GPT detected
No auxiliary booter partition required
System partition found
Returning booter information dictionary:
<CFBasicHash 0x7ff6d1503330 [0x7fffaecb0da0]>{type = mutable dict, count = 3,
entries =>
    0 : <CFString 0x106a76a60 [0x7fffaecb0da0]>{contents = "System Partitions"} = (
    disk0s1
)
    1 : <CFString 0x106a77240 [0x7fffaecb0da0]>{contents = "Data Partitions"} = (
    disk0s2
)
    2 : <CFString 0x106a77260 [0x7fffaecb0da0]>{contents = "Auxiliary Partitions"} = (
)
}

ESP disk0s1 is not accessible as a recovery device
Error while writing firmware updater for EFI

19:37 mp01:~/Downloads/fw[] % sudo gpt -r show disk0
       start        size  index  contents
           0           1         PMBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34           6
          40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
      409640  3748477584      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  3748887224     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  3750156760           7
  3750156767          32         Sec GPT table
  3750156799           1         Sec GPT header
 
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deley said:
I ran this from the installer at first, it completed happily, but the 'firmware error' appeared again when I tried to install HS.

This time I've extracted your installer into the cpio archive and have run the commands by hand. Note the final failure now. Any idea what this means? This is a 10.12 machine (MP 6,1)
Click to expand...
The upgrade failed somehow, because it's still reporting an older version:

EFI currentVersion: [0000000001160046]

This is why you get the firmware error. Did you mount the volume before firing up:

sudo /usr/libexec/efiupdater -p Tools/EFIPayloads

By the way. I used:

sudo /usr/libexec/efiupdater -p /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/Tools/EFIPayloads

Which failed with:

Raw EFI Version string: IM191.88Z.0058.B00.1708081711
EFI currentVersion: [0000000000580000]
EFI updateVersion: [0000000000000000]

Simply because there is no EFI update for it.
 
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Pike R. Alpha said:
The upgrade failed somehow, because it's still reporting an older version:

This is why you get the firmware error. Did you mount the volume before firing up:
Click to expand...

Mount which volume, sorry? I am running it on HFS+ 10.12 on the root partition. Same disk etc.
 
Same APFS conversion failure on an OWC Mercury Electra 6G (250GB, in a Mac mini) here, left unbootable.

First thing I did was check the drive firmware version... it was not current, so jumped through the hoops to update that, and formatted fresh. A fresh High Sierra install went fine from there.

(While not thrilled that I also needed to spend time recovering from backup, this is precisely why I hang a USB drive off every desktop and run a full bootable SuperDuper image to it nightly. Boot from external, fix internal, re-download installer and let Migration Assistant do its thing.)
 
Last edited:
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deley said:
Mount which volume, sorry? I am running it on HFS+ 10.12 on the root partition. Same disk etc.
Click to expand...
Look here: "Will need to copy 8523776 bytes to EFI system partition". That copy won't be done without the EFI partition being mounted.
[doublepost=1506589689][/doublepost]
grundoon said:
Same APFS conversion failure on an OWC Mercury Electra 6G (250GB, in a Mac mini) here, left unbootable.

First thing I did was check the drive firmware version... it was not current, so jumped through the hoops to update that, and formatted fresh. A fresh High Sierra install went fine from there.

(While not thrilled that I also needed to spend time recovering from backup, this is precisely why I hang a USB drive off every desktop and run a full bootable SuperDuper image to it nightly. Boot from external, fix internal, re-download installer and let Migration Assistant do its thing.)
Click to expand...
You don't necessarily need to use APFS.

1.) Tun the installer (this creates the: /macOS Install Data/ folder).
2.) Reboot.
3.) Do not select the volume/drive with the /macOS Instal Data directory on it. Boot from another boot volume.
4.) Download and run sudo checkAPFSSettings.sh (changes the APFS conversion settings) twice.
5.) Reboot.
6.) Let the installation process proceed.

No. Now you won't have APFS, but that is highly overrated. The gains are very limited. Despite what Apple want us to believe. And when you want, the APFS conversion can always be done at a later time.
 
Pike R. Alpha said:
Look here: "Will need to copy 8523776 bytes to EFI system partition". That copy won't be done without the EFI partition being mounted.
Click to expand...

That's a shame, it doesn't work with /dev/disk0s1 on /Volumes/EFI (msdos, local, nodev, nosuid, noowners) mounted either.

ESP disk0s1 is not accessible as a recovery device

I wonder if recreating it the hard way will work.
 
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OK I've gotten somewhere. I installed on the original SSD put back into the MP6,1: then was able to install on the OWC 2TB after moving the original SSD out again.

The disk was not converted to APFS as OSX doesn't think it's an SSD. So MP 6,1 with OWC can do 10.13 with HFS+.
 
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Soopastar said:
I made the mistake of buying of of these for my 2013 Retina Macbook Pro. It died in about 6 months. The replacement died a few months later. I have the third replacement sitting on my desk. These things get HOT! I am just a casual end user - I do not edit video, play games etc. I'm glad I didn't install the replacement yet. Not sure I want to.
Click to expand...

Same here. I purchased the 1 TB version for my MacBook Air 2012 because I was living outside the US. The first two were the non pro versions and failed after 3 months of use. So, I purchased a Pro version thinking that would make a difference. It also failed after 3 months. I now have 3 non-functional SSDs. The MacBook Air will not recognize the SSD part. I put the original factory SSD back in the MacBook Air so I can still use it.

Bad investment. Use to love OWC products, but not after this experience.
 
deley said:
OK I've gotten somewhere. I installed on the original SSD put back into the MP6,1: then was able to install on the OWC 2TB after moving the original SSD out again.

The disk was not converted to APFS as OSX doesn't think it's an SSD. So MP 6,1 with OWC can do 10.13 with HFS+.
Click to expand...

I don't understand what difference putting original SSD makes? You remove it anyways after. Is it maybe that you're doing fresh install after vs upgrade?
 
Pike R. Alpha said:
Look here: "Will need to copy 8523776 bytes to EFI system partition". That copy won't be done without the EFI partition being mounted.
[doublepost=1506589689][/doublepost]
You don't necessarily need to use APFS.

1.) Tun the installer (this creates the: /macOS Install Data/ folder).
2.) Reboot.
3.) Do not select the volume/drive with the /macOS Instal Data directory on it. Boot from another boot volume.
4.) Download and run sudo checkAPFSSettings.sh (changes the APFS conversion settings) twice.
5.) Reboot.
6.) Let the installation process proceed.

No. Now you won't have APFS, but that is highly overrated. The gains are very limited. Despite what Apple want us to believe. And when you want, the APFS conversion can always be done at a later time.
Click to expand...

I'm already using High Sierra on a OWC Aura SSD but I've not been able to convert the file system from HFS+ to APFS, I need that in order to use Time Machine because the HD in my Time capsule is formatted in APFS.

You say that the conversion can be done at a later time but right now this is not possible or maybe I don't know how to do it.


Any advice?

Thanks
 
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Pike R. Alpha said:
The upgrade failed somehow, because it's still reporting an older version:

EFI currentVersion: [0000000001160046]

This is why you get the firmware error. Did you mount the volume before firing up:

sudo /usr/libexec/efiupdater -p Tools/EFIPayloads

By the way. I used:

sudo /usr/libexec/efiupdater -p /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/Tools/EFIPayloads
Click to expand...

In my case, I can see in the EFI partition that the firmware is loaded up in there, ready to go. It's just that upon boot-up, it's possibly not seeing that partition and loading the firmware. Unless you know of a way I can force this Mac to see my EFI partition upon boot up, I'm out of ideas (as is Dr. Google, it seems).

EDIT: Also tried cloning the EFI partition to a USB drive. It booted but then ceased to continue past the BIOS screen, claiming it was a non-system disk. Oh well. I'll just have to wait and see for now.
 
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