Samsung SM951-AHCI 512GB on Z97 Extreme6

I actually had tried a USB device that was 128 GB and required Large FAT32 instead of just FAT32. I tried it again with an 8 GB flash drive and did not have any error. I think it will work now.

I am so excited now. Should I be able to clone my MBR to the GPT once this is done?

Edited by gniblack - 24 May 2015 at 6:54am

Glad that finally worked for you. I want to verify that you needed to set the CSM option for the Storage OROM to UEFI only. Did you maintain that setting during your installation attempts?

Cloning software works by copying from a source drive to an empty destination drive. The MBR and GPT partitions contain the addresses of every data block on a drive. Those addresses are used by the file system of the OS. GPT formatting is more advanced than MBR formatting. Non-SATA drives like the SM951 require a GPT partition in order to be used as an OS drive.

Don't forget that the SM951 is a PCIe SSD, whose PCIe lanes are provided by the CPU. Standard SATA drives are connected to the board's chipset (Z97 for your board) which contains the SATA interface. The SM951 does not use the SATA interface in the Z97 chipset.

The GPT formatting and use of that CSM option in the UEFI/BIOS is not something that conditions the SM951 to become an OS drive. Those things make it possible for it to boot an OS. Remove either or both of these things, and it won't boot an OS.

Don't forget if you do a UEFI/BIOS update, which sets all the options to their default values, or manually set the options to their default values, that CSM option will no longer be set to UEFI only. If that happens, your OS won't boot until you set that option to UEFI only.

All of this is why you cannot clone an MBR partition based OS installation to a SM951. Well, you can do that of course, but it won't boot the OS.

I'm sorry the few places that sell the SM951 don't make all this clear. Actually, one of them does, RamCity, or at least they provide some installation instructions. Reviews of the SM951 at best barely mention the special requirements needed for booting an OS from it.

If you find migrating software that states it supports GPT and UEFI or EFI booting, then it might work. It must be capable of converting MBR addressing to GPT addressing. Be very careful about that, saying it supports GPT is not enough.

I did maintain the setting during my installation attempts. Also disconnecting all of my devices and following your exact instructions I was able to succeed. I just could not use Large FAT32. It actually had to be FAT32.

Good outlook to have frankly, I go with fresh installations personally. Normally takes a few days to get things where you want them to be.

Unless someone has a major insight into some new cloning software, I think you might as well start installing your software.

The X99E-ITX/ac supports SM951/XP941 M.2 SSD, please be confident to use it.