Hard drive not detected during install

[ZacS]

I am trying to install Ubuntu 12.05 on a separate partition on my new Sony Vaio S Series. I am installing from a bootable USB flash drive.

When I get to the "Installation Type" menu no devices are listed. If I quit the installation and run Ubuntu off of the USB stick. I can see that both of my partitions are listed as devices and are mounted. If I go back to the installation, they are still missing.

Does anyone know what I can do to find these during the installation?

[oldfred]

Welcome to the forums.

Post this from your liveCD/USB terminal:

sudo fdisk -lu
sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print

Does this system have RAID or anything else that makes it special? Has it used all 4 primary partitions. Output from above may help answer some questions.

[ZacS]

I got the following output for those two commands.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xee0fce67

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 27934719 13966336 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda2 * 27934720 28651519 358400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 28651520 517232639 244290560 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 517232640 976769023 229768192 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 517234688 976769023 229767168 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0 GB, 32017047552 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3892 cylinders, total 62533296 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8defa4da

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2048 23519231 11758592 84 OS/2 hidden C: drive

Disk /dev/sdc: 4041 MB, 4041211904 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 978 cylinders, total 7892992 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x04dd5721

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 63 7892991 3946464+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54505 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 976773168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 2048s 27934719s 27932672s primary ntfs diag
2 27934720s 28651519s 716800s primary ntfs boot
3 28651520s 517232639s 488581120s primary ntfs
4 517232640s 976769023s 459536384s extended lba
5 517234688s 976769023s 459534336s logical ntfs

[oldfred]

What is sdb? Its partition table does not look correct.

Is that one of the new Intel Smart Response SSDs? They usually appear as some sort of RAID?

[ZacS]

I think this may be some sort of system recovery drive. It appears that the boot loader is installed there, and it was the only option I was given for where to install the bootloader for Ubuntu. I was trying to look up and see if this drive has RAID, but I didn't have much luck. Here is some more info on that drive:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted /dev/sdb unit s print
Model: ATA SAMSUNG MZMPC032 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 62533296s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 2048s 23519231s 23517184s primary

[darkod]

Yeah, it's probably Intel SR. Notice that fdisk said sdb is 32GB which sounds right for 32GB SSD using Intel SR together with the HDD.

[oldfred]

You do not seem to be showing any RAID? These did. But if it had RAID settings the drives have internal meta-data that gparted sees & then will not work on RAID drives.

Intel Smart Response Technology & Dell XPS
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2036204
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2020155
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121

[ZacS]

The thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2020155 worked well. It seems to be up and running now. Thanks.