fakeraid 0 dualboot installation woes...

[TheHammer101]

So I have a pretty decent computer with a Core i7 2700k, 8GB DDR3, and two 320GB HDD in a RAID 0 "fakeraid" set up. I was told from several locations across the web that installing Ubuntu in dual boot despite this would be a breeze, but getting grub to work would be a pain. Clearly incorrect.

I boot into x64 Ubuntu LiveCD, load the installation program, and see..... NOTHING! Just plain unformated raw disks in /dev...


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev
alarm loop2 ram9 tty2 tty52 ttyS26
ashmem loop3 random tty20 tty53 ttyS27
autofs loop4 rfkill tty21 tty54 ttyS28
binder loop5 rtc tty22 tty55 ttyS29
block loop6 rtc0 tty23 tty56 ttyS3
bsg loop7 sda tty24 tty57 ttyS30
btrfs-control loop-control sda1 tty25 tty58 ttyS31
bus mapper sda2 tty26 tty59 ttyS4
cdrom mcelog sda3 tty27 tty6 ttyS5
cdrw mei sdb tty28 tty60 ttyS6
char mem sdc tty29 tty61 ttyS7
console net sdc1 tty3 tty62 ttyS8
core network_latency sg0 tty30 tty63 ttyS9
cpu network_throughput sg1 tty31 tty7 uinput
cpu_dma_latency null sg2 tty32 tty8 urandom
disk oldmem sg3 tty33 tty9 usb
dri port shm tty34 ttyprintk vcs
dvd ppp snapshot tty35 ttyS0 vcs1
dvdrw psaux snd tty36 ttyS1 vcs2
ecryptfs ptmx sr0 tty37 ttyS10 vcs3
fb0 pts stderr tty38 ttyS11 vcs4
fd ram0 stdin tty39 ttyS12 vcs5
full ram1 stdout tty4 ttyS13 vcs6
fuse ram10 tty tty40 ttyS14 vcs7
hidraw0 ram11 tty0 tty41 ttyS15 vcsa
hidraw1 ram12 tty1 tty42 ttyS16 vcsa1
hidraw2 ram13 tty10 tty43 ttyS17 vcsa2
hidraw3 ram14 tty11 tty44 ttyS18 vcsa3
hidraw4 ram15 tty12 tty45 ttyS19 vcsa4
hpet ram2 tty13 tty46 ttyS2 vcsa5
input ram3 tty14 tty47 ttyS20 vcsa6
kmsg ram4 tty15 tty48 ttyS21 vcsa7
kvm ram5 tty16 tty49 ttyS22 vga_arbiter
log ram6 tty17 tty5 ttyS23 vhost-net
loop0 ram7 tty18 tty50 ttyS24 zero
loop1 ram8 tty19 tty51 ttyS25
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev/mapper
control

Alright, that's dumb, something must have gone wrong with dmraid since apparently that's what's in charge of fakeraid by default in Ubuntu...


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmraid -a yes
RAID set "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy" was activated
RAID set "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy1" was not activated
RAID set "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy2" was not activated
RAID set "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy3" was not activated

That... kinda worked, I guess? So, we check /dev, and /dev/mapper again, right?


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev
alarm hidraw3 ram2 tty15 tty5 ttyS25
ashmem hidraw4 ram3 tty16 tty50 ttyS26
autofs hpet ram4 tty17 tty51 ttyS27
binder input ram5 tty18 tty52 ttyS28
block kmsg ram6 tty19 tty53 ttyS29
Boy kvm ram7 tty2 tty54 ttyS3
Boy1 log ram8 tty20 tty55 ttyS30
Boy1-part1 loop0 ram9 tty21 tty56 ttyS31
Boy2 loop1 random tty22 tty57 ttyS4
Boy2-part2 loop2 rfkill tty23 tty58 ttyS5
Boy3 loop3 rtc tty24 tty59 ttyS6
Boy3-part3 loop4 rtc0 tty25 tty6 ttyS7
bsg loop5 sda tty26 tty60 ttyS8
btrfs-control loop6 sda1 tty27 tty61 ttyS9
bus loop7 sda2 tty28 tty62 uinput
cdrom loop-control sda3 tty29 tty63 urandom
cdrw mapper sdb tty3 tty7 usb
char mcelog sdc tty30 tty8 vcs
console mei sdc1 tty31 tty9 vcs1
core mem sg0 tty32 ttyprintk vcs2
cpu net sg1 tty33 ttyS0 vcs3
cpu_dma_latency network_latency sg2 tty34 ttyS1 vcs4
disk network_throughput sg3 tty35 ttyS10 vcs5
dm-0 null shm tty36 ttyS11 vcs6
dm-1 oldmem snapshot tty37 ttyS12 vcs7
dm-2 port snd tty38 ttyS13 vcsa
dm-3 ppp sr0 tty39 ttyS14 vcsa1
dri psaux stderr tty4 ttyS15 vcsa2
dvd ptmx stdin tty40 ttyS16 vcsa3
dvdrw pts stdout tty41 ttyS17 vcsa4
ecryptfs ram0 tty tty42 ttyS18 vcsa5
fb0 ram1 tty0 tty43 ttyS19 vcsa6
fd ram10 tty1 tty44 ttyS2 vcsa7
full ram11 tty10 tty45 ttyS20 vga_arbiter
fuse ram12 tty11 tty46 ttyS21 vhost-net
hidraw0 ram13 tty12 tty47 ttyS22 zero
hidraw1 ram14 tty13 tty48 ttyS23
hidraw2 ram15 tty14 tty49 ttyS24
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev/mapper
control isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy2
isw_dfahbjjjad_Little isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy1 isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy3

OMG WHY DOES ANYTHING NEED TO BE NAMED SO CRAZY?! This isn't freaking raw drive names or anything... Seriously, was "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy" neccesary... alright, learning experience, whatever... so I'll just try to have some patience... I set out to rename these devices since this is clearly going to wreak havoc if I try to install with the device names like this, which turns out was easy enough after some tough hour in Google land...


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmsetup rename "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy" LittleBoy
The node /dev/mapper/isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy should have been renamed to /dev/mapper/LittleBoy by udev but old node is still present. Falling back to direct old node removal.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmsetup rename "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy1" LittleBoy1
The node /dev/mapper/isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy1 should have been renamed to /dev/mapper/LittleBoy1 by udev but old node is still present. Falling back to direct old node removal.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmsetup rename "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy2" LittleBoy2
The node /dev/mapper/isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy2 should have been renamed to /dev/mapper/LittleBoy2 by udev but old node is still present. Falling back to direct old node removal.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmsetup rename "isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy3" LittleBoy3
The node /dev/mapper/isw_dfahbjjjad_Little Boy3 should have been renamed to /dev/mapper/LittleBoy3 by udev but old node is still present. Falling back to direct old node removal.

Awesome, looks like it cleaned it up.


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev/mapper
control LittleBoy LittleBoy1 LittleBoy2 LittleBoy3
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ls /dev
alarm fuse oldmem sda2 tty19 tty44 ttyS10 ttyS8
ashmem hidraw0 port sda3 tty2 tty45 ttyS11 ttyS9
autofs hidraw1 ppp sdb tty20 tty46 ttyS12 uinput
binder hidraw2 psaux sdc tty21 tty47 ttyS13 urandom
block hidraw3 ptmx sdc1 tty22 tty48 ttyS14 usb
Boy hidraw4 pts sg0 tty23 tty49 ttyS15 vcs
bsg hpet ram0 sg1 tty24 tty5 ttyS16 vcs1
btrfs-control input ram1 sg2 tty25 tty50 ttyS17 vcs2
bus kmsg ram10 sg3 tty26 tty51 ttyS18 vcs3
cdrom kvm ram11 shm tty27 tty52 ttyS19 vcs4
cdrw log ram12 snapshot tty28 tty53 ttyS2 vcs5
char loop0 ram13 snd tty29 tty54 ttyS20 vcs6
console loop1 ram14 sr0 tty3 tty55 ttyS21 vcs7
core loop2 ram15 stderr tty30 tty56 ttyS22 vcsa
cpu loop3 ram2 stdin tty31 tty57 ttyS23 vcsa1
cpu_dma_latency loop4 ram3 stdout tty32 tty58 ttyS24 vcsa2
disk loop5 ram4 tty tty33 tty59 ttyS25 vcsa3
dm-0 loop6 ram5 tty0 tty34 tty6 ttyS26 vcsa4
dm-1 loop7 ram6 tty1 tty35 tty60 ttyS27 vcsa5
dm-2 loop-control ram7 tty10 tty36 tty61 ttyS28 vcsa6
dm-3 mapper ram8 tty11 tty37 tty62 ttyS29 vcsa7
dri mcelog ram9 tty12 tty38 tty63 ttyS3 vga_arbiter
dvd mei random tty13 tty39 tty7 ttyS30 vhost-net
dvdrw mem rfkill tty14 tty4 tty8 ttyS31 zero
ecryptfs net rtc tty15 tty40 tty9 ttyS4
fb0 network_latency rtc0 tty16 tty41 ttyprintk ttyS5
fd network_throughput sda tty17 tty42 ttyS0 ttyS6
full null sda1 tty18 tty43 ttyS1 ttyS7

Wow, that got cleaned up nicely.. So, now I still have the messiest list ever when I'm in the Installation program..

http://denieru.no-ip.org/pics/lolfail.png

I go ahead and format the 2nd partition with ext4 as the root "/" and continue with the install without a swap to the most appropriate copy of /dev/mapper/LittleBoy2 that I can see, and get no errors.. what a pain in the butt.. I restart my computer, boot into windows, install EasyBCD, and tell it to find a Grub2 automatically. All seems well at this point, and so I restart once more. When I get back into the Windows 7 bootloader I have my Ubuntu option, and I try to boot that, but it just gives me some random code....


Try (hd0, 0): NTFS5: No ang0
Try (hd0, 1): EXT2:

What the heck do I do now? I am so lost.. do I need to rebuild Grub2? Do I need to reinstall? Why did my system fail so miserably to come up with a RAID array that even Windows XP can find without additional drivers?

[oldfred]

Does EasyBCD even work with fakeRAID?

Normally you just install grub to the root of the RAID or /dev/mapper/LittleBoy and it works.

With Linux you soon learn not to use spaces. You have to escape them \040 or put every entry in "quotes". Just easier to use CamelCase, under_score, or justonename.

Are you sure you want RAID 0. Failure of any drive destroys entire system, so very good backups to another device is essential.

How to restore the Ubuntu/XP/Vista/7 bootloader
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestoreUbuntu/XP/Vista/7Bootloader


"fakeRaid" with nVidia
sudo mount /dev/mapper/LittleBoy2 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/mapper/LittleBoy


Don't bother with RAID 0 unless you have a specific need for speed without data redundancy, since if one drive goes out, you lose the whole array.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

[TheHammer101]

Does EasyBCD even work with fakeRAID?
It's a Windows program, which handles fakeRAID far better than Linux so far.. so, yes.

Normally you just install grub to the root of the RAID or /dev/mapper/LittleBoy and it works.
From everything I have heard that's exactly what you DON'T want to do with a fakeRAID... it makes sense too since you can mess with the metadata and lose your data pretty easily.

With Linux you soon learn not to use spaces. You have to escape them \040 or put every entry in "quotes". Just easier to use CamelCase, under_score, or justonename.
Yeah, except I didn't really think "Hey, maybe I'll install Linux later on so I should not make a more pleasant name for myself since Linux is a pain in the butt." when I set up the RAID. Last time I checked humans used computers, and spaces are incredibly common in human languages.. seems like someone needs to do a little better.. not to mention I've seen RAID controllers that don't easily allow you to create a name of your own, and those may have spaces, or Linux unfriendly characters in them.

Are you sure you want RAID 0. Failure of any drive destroys entire system, so very good backups to another device is essential.
I have a Ubuntu server set up that holds all of my important data on a ZFS array, so I am not worried. Cheap, speedy storage was my intent. I'm going for a pair of RAIDed SSD drives later on.

How to restore the Ubuntu/XP/Vista/7 bootloader
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestoreUbuntu/XP/Vista/7Bootloader


"fakeRaid" with nVidia
sudo mount /dev/mapper/LittleBoy2 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/mapper/LittleBoy


Don't bother with RAID 0 unless you have a specific need for speed without data redundancy, since if one drive goes out, you lose the whole array.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
The Windows 7 bootloader is fine, as I just said I was able to boot into Windows 7 after the installation process. I have no desire to mess up my new install of Windows 7 by messing with that grub install.. you know, since Windows 7 actually works... It passes into grub, and then grub fails.. I supposed I need to go into recovery console and somehow force it to find the drive, but I have no idea where to begin on that. Plus I've got no idea how to make those changes persistent..

[oldfred]

I think that may be an EasyBCD question. You can force grub2 to install to a PBR - partition boot sector. But it then uses blocklists or hard coded addresses to find the rest of grub in your install. An update to grub may change location on drive and then you have to reinstall grub to PBR with new addresses. So have Ubuntu live version available to fix it.

http://neosmart.net/blog/
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Linux
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu

[TheHammer101]

I think that may be an EasyBCD question. You can force grub2 to install to a PBR - partition boot sector. But it then uses blocklists or hard coded addresses to find the rest of grub in your install. An update to grub may change location on drive and then you have to reinstall grub to PBR with new addresses. So have Ubuntu live version available to fix it.

http://neosmart.net/blog/
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Linux
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu
Ummmmm......

Windows 7 actually works... It passes into grub, and then grub fails..