[SUCCESS] Z68MA-D2H-B3 i5 2500...with RAID1 for User folder

Components

Apple OS X Lion @ Mac Apps Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-lion/id444303913?mt=12

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Motherboard (Rev 1.0) - BIOS F9
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0050AQAPE/[/amazon-uk]

Intel Core i5-2500* Sandy Bridge Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155)
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004FA8NNW/[/amazon-uk]

Palit GeForce GT 520 Graphics Card 1GB Silent (fanless)
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004ZCQWJW/[/amazon-uk]

Official XBOX 360 Live Vision Game Camera Webcam
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0054JZU70/[/amazon-uk]

Sony AD-5280S-0B DVD±RW 24x SATA Drive
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005DX4DAM/[/amazon-uk]

OCZ 500W ModXStream Pro Power Supply
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001GLFD4U/[/amazon-uk]

Ultron UBA-130 Micro V3 Bluetooth Dongle
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0041XPNL8/[/amazon-uk]

Corsair CSSD-F120GB3-BK Force Series 3 120GB Solid State Drive
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0051A8T52/[/amazon-uk]

2x Seagate ST2000DL003 3.5 inch 2TB Hard Drive
[Amazon-uk] http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004CCS266/[/Amazon-uk]

Komputerbay 32GB (4x 8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz DIMM
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007A1TK8A/[/amazon-uk]

TP Link TL-WDN4800 450Mbps Wireless N Dual Band PCI Express Adapter
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006PMX964/[/amazon-uk]

Lian Li PC-V351B PC Case ATX Black
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002DL41X6/[/amazon-uk]


Already Owned

Apple Aluminum Wired Keyboard MB110LL/A
[amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000VLYEL4/[/amazon-uk]


Comments

I thought to post my configuration, in case someone else needs this
I got help from the community and now it's my turn to contribute in some way Thank you!

What I've created is a quite powerful box, good for virtualization and photo/video editing. Also it has WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity and webcam

* I made a mistake when I bought it... I was thinking to buy the 2500K (to use integrated VGA on the mainboard) but I've realised the mistake just when I've unpacked the CPU (I was too excited to build it!) so I had to get the GeForce card... but to be honest... is actually nice


Anyway... just to try to don't write a poem but a quick guide.

1. First of all I've tried to configure the BIOS as per this guide: http://lnx2mac.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/optimal-bios-configuration.html

2. Then, I double checked to have ONLY the SSD Hard drive connected.

3. RE-DOWNLOADED Lion installer.
I've followed this guide to re-download Lion I've bought for my laptop: http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/02/re-download-mac-os-x-lion-from-app-store/
Luckily, it downloaded the latest version, with the last combo update included
I've put the installer in "Application" folder [REQUIRED to create the USB installation drive]

4. Created the USB installation drive | Installed Lion | Configured with MultiBeast
I've carefully followed the tonymacx86 UniBeast Lion Installation Guide http://tonymacx86.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/unibeast-install-mac-os-x-lion-using.html
I've used exactly the same selections showed in the pic for MultiBeast.

I've also applied the two following patches from this thread: http://tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?t=36674

A.) Using Terminal apply this fix for the Standby BIOS reset issue:
Code (although it's now a MultiBeast option):

B.) OPTIONAL: I also enabled TRIM for my SSD using Grant Pannell's method, it works for me however your results may vary depending on your SSD - http://goo.gl/aEAPU - The TRIM option is also a MultiBeast option now.

Worked! Lion 10.7.4 up and running!!!


*** DO NOT TRANSFER YOUR DATA NOW. Just wait to have the RAID1 configured, otherwise the copy of /User will take longer - probably ages ***


5. Then I've connected the 2x 2TB hard drives and booted again*
DO NOT INITIALIZE the devices! Just press "ignore" if you get the prompt window. The RAID will destroy the filesystem anyway...

6. Created RAID1 with the 2 TB disks, and mounted in /Users

This is quite handy to have the user's data safe.
I've simply created a RAID1 using Disk Utility and set this new device to auto mount in /Users folder
Call the new device "Users". I will use this name as reference in this guide.
Simply drop the hard drives in the Raid section and select Mirrored Raid Set - Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Once created, CMD+I on the new device and take note of Universal Unique Identifier the famous UUID

How to mount this new drive in /Users?

First of all you need to enable "root" user.
Very easy... open Terminal, got superuser privilegies (sudo su - command) and once the prompt shows "#", type passwd command.
Set a new password (it will ask to insert it twice).
Now, go to Users and Group and in Login Options select Show Input menu in login window (this can be rolled back once finished).
Logout (better if you do a full reboot).
Once the OS is up again you will have an "old fashion" login window, where you need to enter username and password.
Fantastic!
Insert root as username and the password is the one you've just set via Terminal: you will login as super user.
Now... back to the Terminal!
Open it (and you will be already root user! ), have handy the UUID you've saved before and digit the following commands:

cd /
cp -a /Users/* /Volumes/Users/
cp -a /Users /Users.orig
rm -rf /Users/*
vifs

Now you need to press SHIFT+g
Then press o
Then insert the following, of course replacing the XXX with your UUID

UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX /Users hfs auto

Once finished, to save press these in sequence esc : wq

For more info check any vim editor guide.

What we've done is coping the full content of /Users in our new RAID device (called "Users" during the RAID setup).
Created a copy on the local drive as well (just to stay from the safe side )
Removed all the content of /Users and make it ready to get the new RAID1 device mounted inside (sounds a bit xxx but it's not )
Edited /etc/fstab to auto mount the RAID1 device automatically at the boot.

Now it's all ready for the reboot and login with your normal user!
Once confirmed that all works, you can safely remove Users.orig folder and restore the original login window.

...and you can finally restore your data manually using Time Machine (Migration Assistant will probably fail if the amount of data is bigger than the size of the SSD disk. It's not able to understand that there are extra 2TB of space under Users. What I've done is restoring ALL but the users using Migration Assistant, and then, I've used Time machine and copied manually all the folders inside /Users ... and worked ).




PROBLEMS FOUND:

*If I set First boot device -> CD ROM, Second bood device -> USB, and Third bood device -> Hard drive and I order the Hard drive boot list putting the SSD hard drive as first, this order is not followed.
So I found that the only way to make the mainboard follow my hard drive boot order is set as First Boot Device -> Hard drive (and any other order the following two).

I have also still few issues to wake up the box after sleep mode. Mouse sometimes needs to be removed and re-plugged. Any idea??


And sorry... at the end I made a poem

is your RAM running at 1600MHz? I have the same RAM with an i7 (see sig) and have boot issues when I set the xmp to profile 1 and the SPD to 16. Perhaps I'm missing some some steps in the bios setup?

I run a memtest and it shows DDR3-1298 / CAS 9-9-9-24
I believe the description of this RAM is not really correct.

About the BIOS setup, I've followed the link I've posted. I'm not running the most recent BIOS anyway. I kept F9.... not sure if this can help

thtieig,
Your Step 4 has been incorporated into MultiBeast several versions ago. (See the MulitBeast Features and the Changes documents that came with the MultiBeast zip file.)