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#1 2012-10-06 15:29:39

Edward E. Edwardson
Member
Registered: 2011-11-01
Posts: 36

[solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

I got me a Samsung Series 5 Ultra, which has a 500GB disk and an addidtional 24GB "SSD cache". From Linux this cache looks like a regular SSD. So I figured I just install the system into it. The problem, though, is that the BIOS doesn't treat it as a disk it could boot from. In the Ubuntu forum I read, people where able to boot from it by just putting the bootloader onto the regular disk, which then boots from the SSD. But I didn't have any luck with that so far.

What I did is install everything onto / and /boot partitions on the SSD, mount them, arch-chroot into it and run

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

Any hints?

Edit: Rebooting just leads to an endless loop of the BIOS startup and a short disk noise. Not sure if it even gets to grub.

Last edited by Edward E. Edwardson (2012-10-13 13:08:59)

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#2 2012-10-06 15:36:55

graysky
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Posts: 10,595
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Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

Does your grub.cfg correctly identify these partitions?  In what order does Arch reconize the two devices?  People will need more info in order to help you.

Last edited by graysky (2012-10-06 15:37:59)


CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packagesZsh and other configs

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#3 2012-10-06 15:43:07

Edward E. Edwardson
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Registered: 2011-11-01
Posts: 36

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

grub.cfg has the right uuids, grub-mkconfig says it found the kernel image and the initramfs. grub-install didn't report any problems.

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#4 2012-10-06 15:46:37

WonderWoofy
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From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

What if you put just /boot and the bootloader on the HDD, and then do it that way?  Also, if you have UEFI going, can you drop yourself into a shell and see the drive from there.  If so, I would assume you could set it up to UEFI boot.

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#5 2012-10-06 16:39:49

Edward E. Edwardson
Member
Registered: 2011-11-01
Posts: 36

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

Putting /boot onto the HDD didn't help. It still looks like grub isn't even reached. UEFI is disabled in the BIOS and I would like to avoid enabling it and having to set it up.

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#6 2012-10-06 16:45:00

WonderWoofy
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From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

Okay, well if the bios does not recognize it, and you are unwilling to try out other possibilites, I guess you are SOL.

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#7 2012-10-06 16:45:59

graysky
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Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

graysky wrote:

In what order does Arch reconize the two devices?


CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packagesZsh and other configs

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#8 2012-10-06 16:55:10

Edward E. Edwardson
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Registered: 2011-11-01
Posts: 36

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

sda is the HDD, sdb is the SSD.

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#9 2012-10-06 17:39:33

aurelieng
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Registered: 2010-02-02
Posts: 104

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

Hi,

You might want to check out this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2020155

Especially the 8th post. I confirm it works well on Ubuntu and see no reasons why it should not work with Arch :-)

A.

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#10 2012-10-07 09:03:41

Edward E. Edwardson
Member
Registered: 2011-11-01
Posts: 36

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

@aurelieng: dmraid says it doesn't find any RAID metadata.

This seems to be the exact same problem I have. But the solution is just what I did without any success:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/179736/h … -ultrabook

Edit: I am able to boot into the Arch live system from USB and boot the on-disk OS from its bootloader... That's at least something, innit? -.-

Last edited by Edward E. Edwardson (2012-10-07 10:03:25)

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#11 2012-10-07 10:31:01

Moviuro
Member
Registered: 2012-06-03
Posts: 73

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

Be assured it works, because I also have got a Samsung 5 Ultra (NP530U4B-S01FR) and the same config (/, /boot on mSATA SSD, grub on /dev/sda, /home & /var on HDD).

Did you make sure in BIOS that you disabled EFI boot support ? perhaps that'll do the trick wink

If you ever run into energy issues and solve them, plz consider helping me get out of mine, here.

Thanks and enjoy your Ultrabook wink


bspwm, BTRFS over LUKS
Archlinux a lot, FreeBSD more and more...
Murphy's rule: The day you need a backup, you tell yourself you should have created some.

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#12 2012-10-13 08:58:27

Edward E. Edwardson
Member
Registered: 2011-11-01
Posts: 36

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

I definitely have EFI disabled. What did you do before you installed Arch? I started the preinstalled Windows once. Then I configured the BIOS, formatted the disks and installed Arch. Maybe the Windows start did something EFI related. Not sure what that could be, though.

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#13 2012-10-13 12:38:02

R00KIE
Forum Fellow
From: Between a computer and a chair
Registered: 2008-09-14
Posts: 4,734

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

Check if you have any partition marked as bootable in the HDD, if I'm not mistaken some bios don't boot from disks where there isn't a partition marked as bootable.

Also make sure you disable the pretty boot screen so you can see if the bios is detecting the disks properly and any error messages that it may spit out.


R00KIE
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#14 2012-10-13 13:08:31

Edward E. Edwardson
Member
Registered: 2011-11-01
Posts: 36

Re: [solved] Installation into "SSD cache"

Of course. The boot flag. Totally forgot about that. m)

Thanks.

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