How do you install ubuntu on an ssd drive and maintain windows caching?

[swagz101]

Hello,

I wanted to install ubuntu on my laptop. It's a lenovo u310 and it has a 32 gb ssd drive for caching windows and a 500 gb hard drive.

I want to know if its possible to partition the sdd drive and install ubuntu on about 10 gb of it and keep the rest of the ssd for the windows caching process. Im a college student and we use windows, so I must keep it. And I want it to run as fast as possible, can't really afford the loss in productivity. But I also want to install ubuntu though and want it to run as fast as possible.

Is it possible to do this?

Specs
-Lenovo u310
-Core i5 ulv 1.7 ghz
-500 gb hdd plus 32 gb ssd
-Windows 7

[darkod]

I'm not sure, but in any case this would be a windows question, not ubuntu. You might have better luck posting it on the windows forums too. You need to know if the caching process (is it Intel RST?) can use partition instead of the whole disk. If it can, you will split it into two partitions and use one for caching the other for ubuntu.

If it can't, it doesn't look like you can use it the way you intend.

[swagz101]

yea it is rst. okay i guess ill just check elsewhere thanks.

[oldfred]

Some info on Intel SRT.
Intel Smart Response Technology
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support...ts/chpsts/imsm
Some general info in post #3
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2071242

Some info on re-instating details in post #9 Dell 14z
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2070491

[swagz101]

As much as I want to install ubuntu on an ssd. It looks to risky. I have very important applications installed on my windows system that i can't afford loosing. I guess I'll have to settle for a slower ubuntu. Do you know if the wubi installation will work with the various raid, irst, configurations?

[oldfred]

A few Windows 7 systems were installed in UEFI mode with gpt partitioning. Wubi does not work with gpt partitioning. If you have BIOS/MBR it should work.

HOW TO Avoid Wubi & Install Ubuntu on USB Drive -
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1650699


https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wubi

[pfeiffep]

I have 2 internal drives, 1 SSD for Win7, and 1 HDD for Ubuntu. Grub is installed on SSD, while Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 (daily) is installed on HDD. I haven't run benchmarks but I believe that Ubuntu from HDD is pretty much as fast as Win 7 from SDD.
If you decide on partitioning HDD for Ubuntu keep a portion as NTFS so you can easily share data between the 2 OSes.

[darkod]

As much as I want to install ubuntu on an ssd. It looks to risky. I have very important applications installed on my windows system that i can't afford loosing. I guess I'll have to settle for a slower ubuntu. Do you know if the wubi installation will work with the various raid, irst, configurations?

What looks risky? The ssd is only for caching, it doesn't hold your data in most cases. You can "break" the RST configuration and use it for ubuntu. Windows will keep working and your data will still be there. You will only lose the caching capability. It's up to you to decide if it's worth losing it in return of having ubuntu working from ssd.

[swagz101]

darkod, how would I do what you just said? (If it is possible do what you just said, im more than willing to try it, as long as my windows partition is not broken)

also can ubuntu run with the sata controller set as Raid? Because if I set it to AHCI. My windows partition will not boot.

Additionally, the reason I said it was risky, was because when i booted ubuntu 12.04 from my usb drive and tried to install it, no drives came up. From what i read, in order for them to show, you must disable raid. if i disable raid, i cannot boot into windows.

Additional info

-the only thing the installer will let me do is install the bootloader in /dev/sda

[darkod]

I don't have RST so I can't be 100% sure, you will need to investigate a little bit. But in general it goes like this:
1. In windows disable the RST.
2. In BIOS disable the RST also. You might need to change the sata mode to AHCI from RAID.
3. Boot with the ubuntu cd and delete the meta data from both disks with:

sudo dmraid -Er /dev/sda
sudo dmraid -Er /dev/sdb

That will make the disks completely separate. After that simply install ubuntu to the ssd and that's it.

Oldfred had many links about RST, you might have more details in some of his links above.

And make a full backup of your windows + data before you start this, just in case.