BitterMelon's "Chip" build: GA-Z77N-WIFI - i5-3570K - HD 6870

[munitor]

Okay, a problem very specific to this motherboard, which is setting boot priority. This is related to a Windows 7 install.

1. I unplugged my SSD and first hard drive that have OS X on them and Chameleon.
2. I put in my second 3 TB hard drive and loaded the Windows DVD. During the install, I partitioned it with 128 GB for Windows and rest blank.
3. I installed Windows and the the Gigabyte and EVGA drivers. Everything looked good.
4. I plugged back in my drives and started up. It booted straight into Windows.
5. I restarted and went into the BIOS, but it won't let me even specify my SSD as a boot disk. I don't really understand all the UEFI and Legacy options, but I played with a few and I couldn't get it to work.
6. I did a boot override and got back into OS X. I tried to format the unformatted space, but it wouldn't let me.
7. I tried Stellar, and it wiped out the Windows partition so that it is invisible to Chameleon.

Which is the second problem. How do you format the remaining space and use it as a Time Machine?

Any suggestions on how to:

1. Force the boot order on this motherboard when there are two 3 TB drives, one 256 GB SSD, and a Blue-Ray.
2. Format the second 3 TB drive so I can run Windows on a 128 GB partition and use the rest as a Time Machine.

Thanks

 

[DMRider_10]

Hi there this is my first post so go easy! Excellent forum btw, massive wealth of knowledge!

Ive been a long time (moderately advanced) windows user, got a iPod - loved it, got a iPhone - loved it, got an iPad - loved it. So was certain that id love a iMac too! Except I didnt fancy paying for it. So Ive just built a very similar machine to bittermelons using this guide, so thank you!

Hardware is:

Gigabyte Z77N wifi
Intel i5 3750k cpu 3.4ghz
HD4000 Graphics
8gb of ebuyer budget 1600mhz ram
64gb Corsair f60 SSD
3TB 7200rpm Seagate HDD
25in 1080p Dell monitor (Using HDMI)

Mountain Lion 10.8.2

Its currently housed in a full tower case (looks ridiculous!)
But Ive splashed out on a Streacom ST-F7CB case and Picopsu which should be here tomorrow and Ill hopefully squeeze it all into that to make a pretty powerful mac mini alternative! Anyway......

This is the first time I've used OSX so bear with me!

Everything seems to have installed ok and the process was relatively easy thanks to tonymac! The issues I have are these:

1) The 3tb HDD

Ok so OSX locates your music, videos, document etc folders on the root disk as standard. I want these folders to be located on my 3tb data HDD. How do I make it so?! Ive looked at one or two guides online but can't seem to make sense of it all?

The 3tb HDD, despite obviously being an internal drive shows up as external and is sat on the desktop in orange? Obviously Id like to fix that too

2) When STARTING UP/rebooting my machine, the graphics are all garbled and you cant make anything out on the screen. Unplugging and reconnecting the HDMI lead fixes it and it goes back to being normal straight away, but its obviously annoying having to do that. Any ideas? The graphics are fine when waking from sleep though.

Errrrm thats pretty much it for now! Everything else seems great! Loving it!

 

[defbref]

1) The 3tb HDD

Ok so OSX locates your music, videos, document etc folders on the root disk as standard. I want these folders to be located on my 3tb data HDD. How do I make it so?! Ive looked at one or two guides online but can't seem to make sense of it all?

The 3tb HDD, despite obviously being an internal drive shows up as external and is sat on the desktop in orange? Obviously Id like to fix that too

Moving home folder: http://www.tonymacx86.com/general-help/56671-guide-how-move-home-directory-users-os-x-lion.html don't worry its exactly the same process for ML

For fixing showing as external try loading the third party SATA in multibeast

 

[DMRider_10]

That worked great thank you! Things are coming together nicely now! By doing that for some reason it seems to have fixed the external/internal drive issue aswell! Happy days!

Any ideas on the graphics issue anyone?

 

[munitor]

Any ideas on the graphics issue anyone?

Do you have to disconnect and reconnect the cable, or can you just cycle the monitor power? I've got a 1080p Acer H233H monitor, which has an aggressive energy saving mode, attached to a Mac Mini via HDMI. It occasionally gives me a screen full of snow on start up or when waking from sleep. Cycling the power on the monitor fixes it. I think this is an HDMI/monitor issue.

 

[munitor]

Update on this little exercise

1. Force the boot order on this motherboard when there are two 3 TB drives, one 256 GB SSD, and a Blu-Ray.
2. Format the second 3 TB drive so I can run Windows on a 128 GB partition and use the rest as a Time Machine.

Regarding problem 1, I put the BIOS settings for drives back to defaults and went in and set the boot order as BR drive, SSD, 3TB drive. Worked okay.

Regarding problem 2, I was never able to successfully put anything on the rest of the disk, which is unacceptable. I suspect the 3 TB size is at least part of the problem.

Re-evaluating my needs: I will use the Blu-Ray once in a while. I will use Windows more than the Blu-Ray. I will use the Time Machine all the time.

Solution: I put an old 60GB SSD in the door, unplugged the BR drive, installed Windows 7 and tested. Everything works great. I'll clone the Windows drive to another 840 SSD and call it good.

I'm considering putting an adapter on the onboard USB 3.0 header and running a USB 3.0 to SATA adapter on the BR drive, and handling it that way. Data over the currently unused USB 3.0 header, with power from the SATA adapter.

UPDATE: I put a Anker USB 3.0 to SATA adapter on the BR drive and built a 4 pin Molex adapter so I could power it from the power supply rather than the wall wart. I couldn't find an adapter for the USB 3.0 header that would fit (interference with the H60 liquid cooler and one SATA port), so I snipped a few of the vent connectors in the back and snaked a USB 3.0 cable out and plugged it into one of the two built-in 3.0 ports. That leaves the other one free for periodic cloning of my startup disk to an external drive. The cooler covers up most of the hole, so it looks tidy. So I'm running two SSDs on the SATA III, two 3TB hard drives on the SATA II, and a Blu-Ray burner on the USB 3.0. Boots into Windows or OS X with no issues, although Windows is giving me some trouble with a few of my peripherals (doesn't like my Apple wireless keyboard and trackpad). All in all, I'm good. Thanks, BitterMelon!

 

[DMRider_10]

Right my new case arrived woo!

Its mega mega tiny but veeeery sleek!

Its about to get even tighter too, Ive ordered an aftermarket cooler for the i5 3570k which is mega low profile and ill then be able to squeeze my 3tb 3.5in HDD in there too!

What I want to do is measure my temps now and once Ive changed to the new cooler +HDD to make sure every things ok. Thing is im struggling to get CPU temps from OSX?

Ive downloaded iStat, and that shows temp for my current HDD but nothing for the CPU? Anything else I can try or is there a bios setting im missing or something?

Thanks

 

[UnKnown737418]

I'm hoping to start a very similar build in the coming weeks.

Could you clarify that USB 2.0 storage devices are not compatible with the Motherboard at all? Would it be possible to add a USB2.0 PCI/e card for my USB2.0 flash drives?

 

[JimmyS]

I'm hoping to start a very similar build in the coming weeks.

Could you clarify that USB 2.0 storage devices are not compatible with the Motherboard at all? Would it be possible to add a USB2.0 PCI/e card for my USB2.0 flash drives?

USB 2.0 storage devices will work fine in USB 2.0 ports. USB 2.0 storage devices in USB 3.0 ports will have problems.

 

[UnKnown737418]

USB 2.0 storage devices will work fine in USB 2.0 ports. USB 2.0 storage devices in USB 3.0 ports will have problems.

ohhhh! thanks for clearing that up