X10DRi seems to support boot from NVMe devices

Hi. I tried to install Samsung 970 EVO PLUS (no built-in option ROM) on AOC-SLG3-2M2 on X10DRH-CT a few months ago. I was able to install OS but drive was not recognized as boot device afterwards. After reading your post, I just installed 2 x Samsung PM983 960GB M.2 22110 (with built-in option ROM) onto same setup. The option ROM in PM983 loaded and I was able to install Win 10 and Fedora 31 OS and was able to dual boot under UEFI!! Not RAID, but satisfied with results. Thank you for the post!!

@HW: Hi, glad to hear that. X10 mobo series seems to include a mix of NVMe boot support one and not one.

Hi, I have a Supermicro X10DAi motherboard and I want to boot win 10 OS from NVMe M.2 PCIe. Can you please suggest which Adapter I should buy and NVMe SSD which supports Option ROM / X10DAi motherboard? So that I will buy the exact one.

Right now I have Assus Hyper M.2 *16 Card + Samsung 970 EVO PLUS *4 ……… Not working as a bootable device,

Alos

SIIG Full Speed M.2 M Key NVMe SSD to PCIe Adapter + Lexar 1TB NM610 M.2 2280 PCIe …………Not working as a bootable device,

So please suggest to me which add on card and NVMe SSD M.2 I should buy to make it bootable.

thanks in Advance.

@Pramod : Hi, this problem is not on adapters, but on SSDs. I guess X10DAi have no embedded NVMe driver, so you have to choose a SSD which contains Option ROM. I think you have a option to use NVMe RAID controller such as HighPoint SSD7101A-1, but this is not the answer you want.

Unfortunately I don't have certain information about the bootable SSDs, but generally speaking, SSDs for enterprise use have a better chance to contain a Option ROM for NVMe boot than consumer ones. I think M.2 version Samsung PM983 and Intel DC P series can do so, perhaps.

Or you can try to use the Clover EFI bootloader. It makes motherboards without the driver possible to boot from NVMe devices. That is they boot the bootloader from a thumb drive, then it will boot win 10 from the NVMe. This method isn't certainly stylish, but reasonable.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

@Decomo: Hey mate, Thanks for your prompt reply! I really appreciate it. Thanks for mentioning the HighPoint SSD7101A-1 I was looking for that as well, Assus Hyper M.2 *16 Card it's too much work to make Intel VROC RAID so I was using as win 10 dynamic drive as RAID. and I don't know how reliable it is. So I will definitely go for SSD7101A-1 as I wanted the fastest workflow to work on VFX and Editing.

For the bootable problem: after you mentioned I tried Clover EFI bootloader. but the Clover Legacy Installer download link seems broken so could not able finish the process. Do you have to suggest an alternate method? (https://www.aioboot.com/en/clover-bootloader-windows/#Clover-Legacy-Installer)

otherwise, sadly again I need to buy Samsung PM983 to try.. as you see I already spend too much money. but still not happy :( Once again thanks for trying to help me out.

@Pramod: SPEED IS POWER, isn't it?

I'm so sorry SSD7101A-1 isn't bootable. Bootable cards are SSD7202, SSD7103 and SD7110. See official page.

Please use CloverBootloader instead of the Legacy Installer, and it is easy for you to make a bootable USB stick by using BDU. After creating the stick, you'll see the BDU drive on Explorer and copy \EFI\CLOVER\drivers\off\NvmExpressDxe.efi file to \EFI\CLOVER\drivers\UEFI folder. Reboot your PC and enter to BIOS, then a “UEFI: CLOVER_INSTALLED_STICK” item will show up in boot menu if the creation succeeds. Select the item to boot the Clover, and then NVMe drives which have any boot partitions will be listed as bootable devices. See also guides below:

・Forum - [Guide] NVMe-boot without modding your UEFI/BIOS (Clover-EFI bootloader method)
・[TUTORIAL] - bootable NVME install on old hardware made easy with pcie adapter and clover | Proxmox Support Forum
・Clover - ArchWiki

Some descriptions are a bit outdated nowadays or for Linux system, but still useful.

At any rate, I recommend you to google additional information because it's not as if I actually try these out. You'll get happy soon :)

@Decomo: Thank you very much! as per your suggestion, I ordered the HighPoint SSD7103. So that I can put * Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 2TB *4 and make RAID 0 (I don't want much data security but want fasted speed as I have NAS which auto backup my Project data realtime). In this case, I will wait for this card hoping it will solve the boot problem and I will have FAST RAID as well. and another SIIG Full Speed M.2 M Key NVMe SSD to PCIe Adapter + Lexar 1TB NM610 M.2 2280 PCIe I will use as a storage for software cache and paging file.

I will Return Assus Hyper M.2 *16 Card.

I really appreciate your time and Inputs. Will keep you posted once I get a happy face. :) have a great day!

@Pramod Nirwan: My pleasure. It's a good choice fits your desire. The card probably can boot your machine, and I hope it will do so.

In my opinion, maybe you should return SIIG's PCIe adapter rather than Asus's because the latter can handle 4 M.2 SSDs as you know. I feel the former is too good for a PCIe x16 slot to use just one SSD, of course, it's up to you. Have a nice PC time!

@Decomo: Hey Thanks for everything. I did what you suggested and Now I have windows bootable in NVMe RAID windows 10 in supermicro X10DAI motherboard. everything is working perfectly. Thank you once again you solve my big problem. I'm really happy. Wish you a very very happy new year with great success!!!