10.04 desktop installer doesn't see all partitions

[frantid]

are you going directly in the installer?

can you boot the cd into try Ubuntu, see if you can mount the drives. unmount them and use the install ubuntu launcher on the desktop. I would do the manual install rather than auto partition.

[heiko_s]

I removed the bootflag on sdb1 (the second drive) which didn't show up in the partitioner. Makes no difference - I still can't see the drive (sdb) in the installer when selecting manual partitioning.

Frustrating!

[heiko_s]

So, I ran the Linux Mint 8 installer once more, but this time I checked to see what utilities are running. Once I selected "manual partitioning" and pressed the Forward button, there is some message that it scans the partitions. Here the ps -A output:

...
14178 ? 00:00:06 palimpsest <defunct>
14298 ? 00:00:00 gksudo
14300 ? 00:00:00 devkit-disks
14303 ? 00:00:02 ubiquity
15066 ? 00:00:01 debconf-communi
15068 ? 00:00:00 log-output
15069 ? 00:00:00 sh
15072 ? 00:00:00 partman
15178 ? 00:00:00 parted_server
15192 ? 00:00:00 udevd
15202 ? 00:00:00 udevd
19310 ? 00:00:00 80manual_partit
19563 ? 00:00:00 do_option
19954 ? 00:00:00 do_option
19962 ? 00:00:00 ntfsresize
19963 pts/0 00:00:00 ps


I wonder what ntfsresize is trying to accomplish because after a while it disappears.

[heiko_s]

are you going directly in the installer?

can you boot the cd into try Ubuntu, see if you can mount the drives. unmount them and use the install ubuntu launcher on the desktop. I would do the manual install rather than auto partition.

Sorry, I somehow missed your post.

I can boot the USB stick.
I can boot the CD.
I can mount any drive I want in both USB or CD boot.
I have ALWAYS selected manual partitioning! I don't want Ubuntu touch my partitions.

So my problem, as far as I can see, only relates to manual partitioning. It simply ALWAYS misses one drive, usually sdb (depending on how many drives I have connected, sdb may refer to a different disk).

It's always n-1 (read n minus one). Go figure.

[heiko_s]

are you going directly in the installer?

...

I tried both booting into Ubuntu and going directly into the installer. I also tried the --partman/alignment=cylinder option, but it makes no difference.

[frantid]

really sounds like a bug in the installer. Have you tried the alternate cd? or even the release candidate cd?

[frantid]

I just noticed this:

gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/mint/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=mint)

in your mount print out.

it would be interesting to see this mount is preventing you from installing. I'm not sure if you need gvfs-fuse-daemon to run an install. Is one of your externals a maxtor one touch - causing simplebackup to run?

umount /home/mint/.gvfs

umount -f /home/mint/.gvfs

[snappy46]

Sorry, I somehow missed your post.

I can boot the USB stick.
I can boot the CD.
I can mount any drive I want in both USB or CD boot.
I have ALWAYS selected manual partitioning! I don't want Ubuntu touch my partitions.

So my problem, as far as I can see, only relates to manual partitioning. It simply ALWAYS misses one drive, usually sdb (depending on how many drives I have connected, sdb may refer to a different disk).

It's always n-1 (read n minus one). Go figure.

Same here exactly the same; I believe that the bug is related to gparted. Have you try gparted when you boot up ubuntu 10.04. On my system it says that sda unallocated although I have some partition on it.

I think that gparted or at least the same libraries are used during the installation. If someone can identify which library we might get close to a solution.

By the way my Ubuntu partition on sda is now ubuntu 10.04 since I upgraded from ubuntu 9.10 but I really need a clean install at this point I have been upgrading since ubuntu 6.10 and all kinds of weird problems are starting to sneak in.

Thanks

[heiko_s]

I just noticed this:

gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/mint/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=mint)

in your mount print out.

it would be interesting to see this mount is preventing you from installing. I'm not sure if you need gvfs-fuse-daemon to run an install. Is one of your externals a maxtor one touch - causing simplebackup to run?

umount /home/mint/.gvfs

umount -f /home/mint/.gvfs

I tried your advise and umounted /home/mint/.gvfs - it makes no difference with regard to the install. Still same n-1 problem (missing my sdb drive).

One more thing - when I have all drives connected it reports "no operating system found" (or so). When I disconnect drives and only leave the 2 I need it sees my Ubuntu 8.10, but not the Windows XP installation.

[heiko_s]

Same here exactly the same; I believe that the bug is related to gparted. Have you try gparted when you boot up ubuntu 10.04. On my system it says that sda unallocated although I have some partition on it.

Thanks for the input. I booted up Linux Mint 8 and ran gparted - it detects ALL drives and partitions. So this is not the problem here.