Ubuntu installer doesnt see SSD, Windows and Debian Do

[Jayock]

After a couple of great builds with an SSD/platter drive combo, I decided to upgrade my home machine with an SSD. I got an A-Data S599 on a great sale. If it makes a difference it uses the Sandforce SF-1200 controller.

On this particular machine, the Ubuntu installer refuses to see the SSD, but only the spinning disk. I can see the SSD in BIOS, and in the disk utility, but GParted and the Ubuntu installer refuse to see it. I have successfully installed WIndows and Debian to this drive, so it is accessible in this machine. Anyone have any ideas for fixing or additional troubleshooting of this issue?

I have tried both the server and desktop media, 32 and 64 bit. All 10.10. None work.

[ronparent]

I have the same problem with an ssd. Since I'm not using it for Ubuntu I haven't bothered to chase it down. But I believe from some other post that the issue is that ssd's often need to be aligned for use in installing Ubuntu/Linux. My understanding is that if properly aligned the drives are perfectly usable with Linux OS's.

[Reginuse]

I had a similar problem today. I installed ubuntu 10.10 to a conventional drive. Then used it to partition a SSD drive with fdisk and formatted ext4. Then tried a fresh install to the partitioned SSD. The install failed trying to get to the partition screen. Seemed to be a parted_server failure. If I remove the SSD from the machine the install can advance.

I can mount and read/write to the drive partitions using the ubuntu 10.10 that is installed on the convention disk but the install can't handle it.

I am going to try reformatting the SSD using cfdisk and/or gparted if they offer some alignment control. Failing that will try with all the partitions/data removed from the drive. If that works, decide whether to live without the partitions being aligned or just run off the conventional drive.

[Reginuse]

After rereading the original post, I think it is describing a different problem, but just to follow up.

My issue was the way I had formatted the SSD before install that was not acceptable even though the disk seemed okay being used in a previously installed ubuntu. I think it was causing problems with the partitioning software because the cylinder size was too large. Testing outside the install using gparted seemed to indicate the default 63*255*512 is the maximum. That might be what caused the failure in the install.

I repartitioned using fdisk -H 64 -S 32 this time using cylinder units and not doing anything special for alignment except to start on cylinder 2 to get the first used partition on a 2048 sector boundary.

[efflandt]

I have not had any problems with an Intel SSD using sudo fdisk -H 32 -S 32 initially and starting on cylinder 2. You can format partitions with gparted or install iso, but if you change any partitions with gparted, it changes partition table geometry to 255 heads, 63 sectors and however many cylinders that works out to. I had maverick on it before, currently running natty because updates go more than 10 times faster than on cheap 8 GB USB stick.


sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
32 heads, 32 sectors/track, 152638 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1024 * 512 = 524288 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006a571

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2 152638 78150144 83 Linux


sudo fdisk -lu /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
32 heads, 32 sectors/track, 152638 cylinders, total 156301488 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: 0x0006a571

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1024 156301311 78150144 83 Linux
It is ext4 with journal disabled. If your drive has TRIM, the discard option in fstab enables that for ext4 in 2.6.33 or later kernel:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=e70810eb-379d-4f9f-9087-54c2f1cd96f9 / ext4 noatime,discard,errors=remount-ro 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0

[Reginuse]

Thanks for that, especially the reminder about the trim. 32x32 seems to be most recommended and 224x56 is proposed. When I partitioned the drive under Windows 7 it aligned the first partition on a 2048 sector so I used 64x32.

Disk /dev/sdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 114473 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1edebd86

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2 514 525312 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 515 20995 20972544 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 20996 72196 52429824 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 72197 114473 43291633 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 72197 82437 10486768 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 82438 92678 10486768 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 92679 114473 22318064 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 114473 cylinders, total 234441648 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: 0x1edebd86

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 1052671 525312 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 1052672 42997759 20972544 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 42997760 147857407 52429824 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 147857438 234440703 43291633 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 147857440 168830975 10486768 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 168831008 189804543 10486768 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 189804576 234440703 22318064 83 Linux