Install issues Samsung Evo 850 250gb El Capitan

[Cerberus73]

Ok, i have got a working usb install drive created with Unibeast 6.1.1, edited everything ready to go, such as config.plist, got all the required kexts in place, and it boot fine into the El Capitan installer. but when i partition the Mac SSD (i have 2 x Samsung Evo 850's, 1 for win 10, and one i want to use for OSX, same with storage space, i have one dedicated 4TB hybrid drive for win 10 use, and a matched drive for OSX exclusive use)

I use the disk utility to format the mac SSD as GUID, 1 partition, OSX HFS+ Journaled case insensitive, and first the installer complained it didn't have journaling enabled, and i used first aid on it to ensure it was all ok, the disk info told me it was now journaled, but not bootable (id like to think that during the install process osx would flag it as bootable) so i restarted the pc, and booted into the installer again. now it begins the install, then after a few seconds complains *the target disk is too small for the operation, quit the installer and try again".. WTF its a 250GB 1 partition drive.. theres plenty room!

Ive googled around for a solution, so i can get past these issues and at least get OSX installed onto the drive so i can get on with fixing any hardware issues that may arise, and to get the machine dual booting win 10 and OSX.

Another niggle id like to fix to make my install easier, is there any way to switch the el capitan installer res? I've a 4k screen and the text is nigh on unreadable on it. i have clovers interface set to 1920x1080, but as soon as the el cap installer starts its full 4k, or is the only solution to hook it up to a 1920x1080 screen until i get it installed?

And has anyone any experience of using 2 Nvidia graphics cards in OSX? i have a pair of GTX 970's i know SLI won't work, but wanted to leave them in place as i use this machine as my gaming rig.

In brief (TL;DR)

How can i get my SSD drive partitioned in such a way that i can get El Capitan installed without these journaling or to small issues? and the installer interface readable on a 4k screen if possible. I'm desperate!

 

[ammulder]

For starters, I would disconnect the second SSD and do the install with only the one you intend to use for OS X connected.

When you get to the installer, just after selecting your language I would use Utilities / Disk Utility to "Erase" the drive (not the partition, the whole drive). Then make sure you select Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and GPT and it should create the new partition for you. Then Quit disk utility and use the Install button to carry on with the installation and see how that goes.

 

[Cerberus73]

Thank you ammulder, i have got El Capitan to install, and have managed to get clover installed to the hard drive. I have now got some other small issues to deal with.

I have installed the NVIDIA Web Drivers for OSX El Capital 10.11.3, but whenever i select the NVIDIA drivers and reboot, it defaults right back to the Built in OSX Graphics driver (so it says on the pref pane) and there is definitely no acceleration and some artefacts start to appear if i try to open more than a couple of windows etc. Am i missing something here?

And to boot osx i need to press the F12 key on my keyboard at the bios, and select the SSD drive partition on which osx is installed, and then boot to El Cap from there.. is there a straightforward way of letting my machine default to clover without having to press f12 then select either windows or osx from the clover GUI.

I also wish there was a way to only show HFS formatted drives on my desktop, but to still have the option to easily mount my windows drives to copy information between them. i know i can hide drives and partitions by editing stab in terminal, but it would be a right pain to have to resort to that whenever i wanted to hide/unhide windows disks.. same in clover i will have to edit the config to only show the Windows 10 disk, and the 2 OSX drives.

Forgive these pathetic newbie questions, but compared to setting up my old hackingtosh with a core2duo, chameleon and mountain lion, every things changed and moved on and left me somewhat behind.

 

[linuxrox]

modify your config.plist , under Boot section put a check mark next to nvda_drv=1

 

[ammulder]

I have installed the NVIDIA Web Drivers for OSX El Capital 10.11.3, but whenever i select the NVIDIA drivers and reboot, it defaults right back to the Built in OSX Graphics driver (so it says on the pref pane) and there is definitely no acceleration and some artefacts start to appear if i try to open more than a couple of windows etc. Am i missing something here?

As linuxrox said, this is often down to your boot arguments. You want to remove nv_disable=1 and instead use nvda_drv=1. Typically you want to do this in config.plist Boot / Arguments so it will apply on every boot.

And to boot osx i need to press the F12 key on my keyboard at the bios, and select the SSD drive partition on which osx is installed, and then boot to El Cap from there.. is there a straightforward way of letting my machine default to clover without having to press f12 then select either windows or osx from the clover GUI.

Normally you can go into your BIOS and somewhere there's a list of boot devices and priorities, and you just want to make sure "UEFI:YourSSD" is first on the list. Then it should boot to the Clover menu automatically.

If you want it to go into OS X (or Windows) without additional user interaction, you can set Boot / DefaultVolume in config.plist.

 

[Cerberus73]

ammulder, i managed to get the web drivers working, it picks up both my cards, and also installed the Cuda drivers. only niggle graphics wis is now even though i know they are working, and i have full acceleration. it still shows as "osx native driver" in the pref pane..and the notification area of the task bar. other than that its great.

I had to change the smbios area of the config.plist in efi, from iMac 17,1 to iMac 14,2. that fixed a black screen issue on boot, and ensured nvda_drv=1 was set in boot args.

I now still have to get audio working (alc 1150), and create a SSDT for power management, and test all the usb ports are working at the correct speed. hopefully it will all check out. i know there is no TB3 support yet, but hopefully when or if apple puts out a suitably equipped mac, there will be a workaround.

I will check out the bios settings you mentioned to enable booting straight to clover.i also have to hide non system drives in clover, so it only shows my windows 10, Mac drive and the recovery drive. and likewise on the desktop, i only want my mac drives to show. and hide my windows drives and partitions.

It is slowly coming together, and so far i am a happy camper. Thanks for the input.

 

[DrDri]

Just wanted to say, in case it helps someone:
I had the same "the target disk is too small for the operation, quit the installer and try again" issue when trying to install El Capitan on an existing installation of Mountain Lion on a 512GB SSD.

Erasing the partition did not help, but erasing the whole drive, as suggested by Ammulder, did.