Linux Mint Forums

Posted: **Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:04 pm**

This problem has almost been solved by copying data to a spare drive and creating a Linux raid array.

But I still have one problem which I have posted as a new post regarding auto mount without using password.

'm trying to auto mount at boot a raid drive. I've read what I can find on this topic on the forum but nothing about a NTFS array .
I can mount and unmount with out a problem.
This is what I tried in fstab
/dev/mapper/jmicron_media1 /media/Media
I think I miss some options but no Idea what ???

The two drives show up in the system storage device manager but greyed out. And no info on the raid drive at all.

Can anyone help ?

Posted: **Sat Feb 20, 2010 10:35 am**

What is a NTFS Bios raid drive?
If it is - as I suspect - a fake RAID set up in Windows with a Windows driver it's what's called a fakeRAID
To access it you need to create a fake RAID in Mint and to do that you need to install dmraid
Unfortunately my knowledge ends here - I have long since abandoned fakeRAID as it was useless on at least nforce and HDA with RAID 1 (that was in Windows several years ago)
Please also tell us which version and edition of Mint you use
The one who knows is Fred and I'll ask him for help

Posted: **Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:44 pm**

remove the entry from your fstab.
then install mdadm if it has not been installed yet:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install mdadm

scan with mdadm for raid units:

Code: Select all

sudo mdadm --assemble --scan

if the unit is found, export the settings to the mdadm config:

Code: Select all

mdadm -Es | grep md0 >> /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf

if the scan doesn't find your raid unit, you will have to add it manually something like this:

Code: Select all

sudo mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1

however you will have to know which partitions are part of the unit (i used sda1 and sdb1 as example). if you do not know which are partitions are part of the unit, please download and run the boot info script and post the generated RESULTS.txt.

Posted: **Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:23 am**

Thanks to both of you for your reply.
I meant by Bios raid, that the raid array was a Hardware controller set up from with in it's own own chip or via Mother board Bios . I thought I was being helpful by using one word instead of 15 guess not LOL.
Well I was wrong and you guessed right ( Forgot about the last mother board change (to Gigabyte) which has on board raid controller but Vista needs to install drivers at install which means ........Fake Raid right?

I followed instructions, ran mdadm but no luck (great little script) then generated the report (see below) which reveals all!

I think I'm making life hard for myself and have found another 500GB drive so I can backup the contents of my Raid so can go right back to basics .ie partitions format etc. if needed.

This is what I want so your advice would be very welcome.

A Raid 1 array so I have a single drive containing all my personal data. ( I used to have My Documents in windows here as well but as yet don't know how to move HOME to the new drive ).
And have files backed up to prevent data loss in the event of single disk failure.

The drive is also has number of shared folders with varying read/Wright rights with a number of other Pc's both Windows (2000/XP/VIsta) and Linux (mint 8/Puppy 3) across a network. Hence the requirement to auto mount at boot.

I'm still in the starting phase of transition to Linux so I'm keeping my Vista drive in this PC just in case, but this means vista needs to be able to read the array.

I hope this info is now complete without the use of "strange terms"

My understanding of mint is growing by the hour but it takes time to get your head around things after a journey from BBC B > MSDOS >Windows 3

Thanks again Nick

-Version-
Kernel : Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (i686)
Compiled : #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:04:26 UTC 2009
C Library : GNU C Library version 2.10.1 (stable)
Default C Compiler : GNU C Compiler version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu9)
Distribution : Linux Mint 8 Helena - Main Edition
-Current Session-
Computer Name : server
User Name : nick (Nick)
Home Directory : /home/nick
Desktop Environment : GNOME 2.28.1

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for /boot/grub.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/mapper/jmicron_Media

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed:
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

jmicron_Media1: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: ===========================$

Drive: sda ___________________ ______________________________________________$

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6dc59439

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 2,048 976,744,447 976,742,400 7 HPFS/NTFS

GUID Partition Table detected, but does not seem to be used.

Partition Start End Size System
/dev/sda1 34 262,177 262,144 Microsoft Windows

rive: jmicron_Media ___________________ ____________________________________$

Disk /dev/mapper/jmicron_Media: 500.1 GB, 500095254528 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60799 cylinders, total 976748544 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6dc59439

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/mapper/jmicron_Media1 2,048 976,744,447 976,742,400 7$

GUID Partition Table detected, but does not seem to be used.

Partition Start End Size System
/dev/mapper/jmicron_Media1 34 262,177 262,144 Microso$

blkid -c /dev/null: _________________________________________________________$

vice UUID TYPE LABEL $

/dev/mapper/jmicron_Media1 88863F79863F673A ntfs $
/dev/sda jmicron_raid_member $
/dev/sdb jmicron_raid_member $
/dev/sdc1 0b1dc768-5ad3-4a28-a6fd-41b6e6fa97e5 ext4 $
/dev/sdc5 dbb92c26-e1af-46d4-911e-5cdc53c47a18 swap $
/dev/sdc promise_fasttrack_rai$

=============================== "ls -R /dev/mapper/" output: ================$
/dev/mapper:
control
jmicron_Media
jmicron_Media1

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===================$

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sdc1 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/mapper/jmicron_Media1 /media/Media fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nod$

Posted: **Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:36 pm**

did you setup lvm control on the raid device as well?
install the lvm2 package:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install lvm2

Posted: **Tue Mar 02, 2010 4:43 pm**

Well I tried doing that but can't do anything with it!

So I backuped the data and started by wiping drives..

"I'll just make a Linux fake raid 1 then "

OH DEAR !!!!! Some one forgot to make a GUI for that ( SUsSE has a nice one ) .......

So what now folks????? I've tried to understand mdadm but the help is useless...what is a command and what is text?????

Anyone know a "human way" to create a Raid 1 on Mint that does not to be booted ??

Nick

Posted: **Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:18 pm**

download and install webmin: https://sourceforge.net/projects/webadmin/

Posted: **Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:35 pm**

Thx Leppie I had already found the link and of course I can't install it!

"Just run the script" they say well real GUI people don't do that !!! And if we do we get .....nothing please tell me how to run the script ??

Bt the way I played a bit more with mdadm and know for sure the syntax is correct but just get " failed to create /dev/md0 " ....... !

Nick

I spoke to soon Midnight commander to the rescue !!!!!!!

I must admit I had to laugh when I tried to open the file with "another application" to use the command line and got unknown command when I typed in "run".........

Posted: **Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:49 pm**

i'm sorry it is not as straight forward as it "should be".
have you been able to assemble the raid unit?

Posted: **Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:02 pm**

I have been able to do nothing apart from use Gpart till now...
I go webmin installed but how do I start that up ????
The read me could of had "push here to start" at the end !

Sorry if I'm moaning a bit but I love whats going on in the linux world and have now made the switch from windows because the GUI's are usable for visually orientated people like myself.
I'm not afraid of a few numbers ( thats what spreadsheets are for

) but my brain does not work on a script level.

Posted: **Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:32 pm**

Raid is really badly developed on the Ubuntu side and I think I've tried to convince "you know who" to include some GUI tool (because they exist) but without success

Posted: **Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:32 pm**

Raid is up and running after running webmin ( not real GUI but at least I could just use the mouse

)

The only thing to fix now is to get it to auto mount at boot! ( with out having to enter password of course

)

Thx so far chaps

I did use 64K chunks for my Raid 1 is that smart ?? I read some stuff about the chunks but it is only relevant for reading.

Well getting there I guess . just have to sus my TV card problem and work out how to use Jack and 5 sound cards on one PC

Posted: **Thu Mar 04, 2010 5:33 pm**

I used 64k when I used RAID1 and I think I remember that it's the best general size (not for some special use)
If you need help with the other things (and let's hope you fix it) make new topics for it

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:01 pm**

Automount at boot - could this be the solution?

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:39 pm**

Niks wrote:Well I was wrong and you guessed right ( Forgot about the last mother board change (to Gigabyte) which has on board raid controller but Vista needs to install drivers at install which means ........Fake Raid right?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto

To install Windows onto a RAID device, you must provide a driver (usually on a floppy disk) to the Windows installer in order to access the RAID array. Under Linux, which has built-in softRAID functionality that pre-dates these devices, the hardware is normally seen for what it is -- multiple hard drives and a multi-channel IDE/SATA controller. Hence, fakeRAID.
...
Optional: Resize your Windows partition
If you want to dual-boot windows, you may need to resize your Windows partition to make space for Ubuntu. Most linux-based GUI tools won't properly work with fakeRAID devices, but the unix command-line combination of ntfsresize and fdisk is extremely reliable. Windows Vista users should use the Vista Partition Manager.

Even if it comes with the motherboard, it can still be a software RAID (fake-raid)
--usually hardware RAID devices (PCI cards) like promise exist because they optimise the data throughput for the attached hard drives in a RAID format
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linu ... aches.html
http://www.linux.com/news/hardware/serv ... tware-raid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Software RAID has advantages and disadvantages compared to hardware RAID. The software must run on a host server attached to storage, and server's processor must dedicate processing time to run the RAID software. The additional processing capacity required for RAID 0 and RAID 1 is low, but parity-based arrays require more complex data processing during write or integrity-checking operations. As the rate of data processing increases with the number of disks in the array, so does the processing requirement. Furthermore all the buses between the processor and the disk controller must carry the extra data required by RAID which may cause congestion.

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:54 pm**

DrHu I think you are in the blue here
What's in your answer has already been dealt with
The problem is to automount at boot time

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:28 pm**

Husse wrote:DrHu I think you are in the blue here..

I see, and I suppose all edits are time adjusted so that they wind up sequentially added correctly!!
--to avoid the inevitable problem, that something might have been answered already; or don't you like any information responding to the quoted reply, In windows it is fakeraid if it has a device driver ?

Are we supposed to..

1. Read all replies first before answering any
2. Make sure any part of the question has/has not been partially/fully answered by someone
Wait for the OP to respond to all posted answers with a status it worked/didn't work, now what ?.
--then decide via steps 1 and 2 above, if any other post is justified or not ?

I might be in the blue , but heh, that just becomes way too much work for me to have to do all that before deigning to reply

So Sorry Husse!

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:53 pm**

No need to be upset...
I'm grateful for all help and you are a knowledgeable person
Just skim the topic....
I occasionally answer a bit in the blue as well because I don't have the time to read everything

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2010 4:17 pm**

Gentlemen Gentleman PLease

A quick up date

I had a Windows Vista created Raid 1 using two drives just to store my personal data with the protection of disk failure.
Mint found the raid drive but but I was unable to have it mounted at boot.

This seemed to be quite a problem and with no short term solution in sight and the discovery of a disk of the same I could use to backup up all data outside of the PC I decided it would be better to "start afresh" and create a linux based raid 1.
This turned out to be not as easy as I thought as there is a major lack of GUI raid support in mint and ubnuntu.
With the help of WEBMIN ( and this forum ) I was able to construct my raid 1 array and have just copied everything back however ..........
I still have the same problem I had in the beginning .....how do I get the raid drive to auto mount at boot?
I also have one other problem which is I am now asked to enter the password while mounting drive. One step forward two back

There is lots to read about how to.....when it comes to booting from a raid but not what I'm doing. Which I find strange !

NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT AS I NEED ADVICE ON THIS ONE.

The concept of of splitting system drive and data drive ( raid or not ) is the safest way to work but as in windows I wish to MOVE my documents ( home folder ) / photo's / music / video / to my data drive.
Should I have a failure of the system in any form I can restore a disk image and EVERYTHING up to the last saved personal document is back where it should be!

Now you understand why my Raid drive MUST autoboot !

Is this a good plan with Mint or not????

------------------------------------------

DrHu I find myself reading lots of things over and over again but sometimes you miss things and other times it makes to think again because you have learn t something new in the mean time.
So you could read it all but I think this is an inherent problem with forums.
I will check your links any way for the reasons I mentioned above and If I find the answer to my problem myself then I can "give something back to the community" which is what it's all about!

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2010 6:20 pm**

I must confess that "long ago" I used to have RAID1 in Win98 and later WinXP
Then I discovered that new motherboards were useless - RAID 1 worked, but it was (is?) impossible to use the not failed disk in a disk crash to build a new RAID because building a new RAID destroys all data on both disks
Oh no - you had to buy two new disks and copy to the RAID from the remaining disk
This was both for Intel HDA and nforce
After that my interest in RAID for consumers disappeared and I only recommend real RAID with a proper RAID controller
Backup is the solution for me now
End rant
So I don't really know much about RAID any more, but I really wish Mint had a decent GUI for this

Linux Mint Forums

[SOLVED switched to linux raid]Automount NTFS raid at boot

[SOLVED switched to linux raid]Automount NTFS raid at boot

Re: Automount at boot a NTFS Bios raid drive

Re: Automount at boot a NTFS Bios raid drive

Re: Automount at boot a NTFS Bios raid drive

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