Linux Mint Install Won't Recognize Hard Drive?

[theofficialbyrum]

Hello all,

I wanted to get accommodated with Linux due to future work I have lined up, however, I have been having trouble dual booting Linux Mint to Windows 10. I have followed online instruction/guides to the best of my ability, however, I really can't seem to find much useful information that I can actually... understand

Whenever I open up the installation program on the home of Linux Mint, I go through everything, until I get to the "partitions" section. It seems that my system cannot recognize my main hard drive that I have on my computer (I booted up linux through USB), and thereby, I cannot dual boot linux to my HDD.

I'm confused as to what I've done "wrong"... I partitioned a part of my hard drive beforehand, downloaded Linux Mint from the website, verified it, got it onto the USB drive, disabled Safety Boot, etc.

I've been trying to look for commands or places to point my in the correct direction to figure out what's going on, but it's a bit beyond my pay grade :/ perhaps I should study a bit before venturing into LInux? Thanks for the advice

[catweazel]

I have been having trouble dual booting Linux Mint to Windows 10

Please start a live session and open a terminal. Copy/paste the output of this terminal command in your reply:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

Enclose the results in code markers, which you can select from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply.

[pbear]

My hunch would be that you didn't disable Fast Start in Windows. As a consequence, the internal hard drive is in a hibernation-like state, rendering it inaccessible to the Mint live session. To disable, go to Control Panel: Power Options: Power Button; click Change Settings, then uncheck fast start.

You don't say which guides you're looking at. Two very good ones are the official Installation Guide and this tutorial by forum member gold_finger.

[jimallyn]

perhaps I should study a bit before venturing into LInux?

Nope, no need for that. You will almost certainly get advice here that will help you complete the install, and then you should just start using it.

[theofficialbyrum]

I have been having trouble dual booting Linux Mint to Windows 10

Please start a live session and open a terminal. Copy/paste the output of this terminal command in your reply:

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inxi -Fxz

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mint@mint ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: mint Kernel: 4.10.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Precision 5520
           Mobo: Dell model: 0R6JFH v: A00
           Bios: Dell v: 1.5.0 date: 08/30/2017
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-7820HQ (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 23232
           clock speeds: max: 3900 MHz 1: 900 MHz 2: 900 MHz 3: 931 MHz
           4: 3003 MHz 5: 883 MHz 6: 2153 MHz 7: 899 MHz 8: 899 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Device 591b bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA Device 13b6 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau
           Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Kabylake GT2
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device a171 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-38-generic
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath10k_pci bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Atheros usb-ID: 001-003
           IF: null-if-id state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: NA (-)
           ID-1: USB /dev/sda model: Cruzer_Glide size: 64.0GB temp: 0C
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 41.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 258 Uptime: 4 min Memory: 936.0/15897.0MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 
mint@mint ~ $ 

My hunch would be that you didn't disable Fast Start in Windows

I did disable Fast Startup but thanks for the suggestion. I have been using the official Installation Guide, and I'll take a look at the tutorial soon.

[pbear]

Just to be clear, Fast Startup is different from Fast Boot. The latter is a UEFI setting (and not important in this context, AFAIK). The former is in Control Panel.

Assuming that indeed isn't the issue, I think you'll find the tutorial helpful, as it goes into greater detail.

[FreedomTruth]

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Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Precision 5520
           Mobo: Dell model: 0R6JFH v: A00
           Bios: Dell v: 1.5.0 date: 08/30/2017

One thing you could try is update the BIOS. The latest is v1.7.1 available at https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER048412 ... _1.7.1.exe
Note that the exe file will have to be run from within windows.
It looks like your laptop can have a PCIe drive and/or SATA drive, do you know which yours has?

[michael louwe]

@ theofficialbyrum, .......

...

.
Likely, your problem with disk detection is related to ... http://www.dell.com/support/article/my/ ... ds?lang=en

The XPS 9560 and Precision 5520 ship with Intel Rapid Storage Technology RAID mode activated by default in Windows.

[theofficialbyrum]

One thing you could try is update the BIOS. The latest is v1.7.1 available at https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER048412 ... _1.7.1.exe
Note that the exe file will have to be run from within windows.
It looks like your laptop can have a PCIe drive and/or SATA drive, do you know which yours has?

I updated the BIOS, tried it again, but to no avail :/ I think I might look into what @michael louwe said:

Likely, your problem with disk detection is related to ... http://www.dell.com/support/article/my/ ... ds?lang=en

The XPS 9560 and Precision 5520 ship with Intel Rapid Storage Technology RAID mode activated by default in Windows.

And also, @michael louwe, what did you mean by that first quote? Did I offend you somehow? If so, I apologize!

[michael louwe]

@ theofficialbyrum, .......

...

.

And also, @michael louwe, what did you mean by that first quote? Did I offend you somehow? If so, I apologize!

It's just so that you will receive a Notification that someone has replied to your post.

I seldom quote someone's post unless necessary and short = do not want to waste bandwidth and web-storage by quoting a wall of texts or embedded codes in my replies.

[catweazel]

Code: Select all

mint@mint ~ $ inxi -Fxz
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Precision 5520
           Mobo: Dell model: 0R6JFH v: A00

You won't be able to dual boot that machine without wrecking Windwoes 10. You have a hybrid SSD/HDD. To get that working, the manufacturer sets the SSD and HDD into RAID mode. In order to install linux, you're going to have to break the RAID setup, which will break Windwoes 10.

[theofficialbyrum]

won't be able to dual boot that machine without wrecking Windwoes 10

From what I've read, this seems to be true, but what would be the best method, assuming I wanted to preserve all the files on my HDD? Do a system backup, then switch the RAID setup to AHCI in the BIOS? Is there a good way to go about doing this, or are all my files kinda screwed if I want to dual boot Linux? Thanks.

[FreedomTruth]

I think the basic process is as follows (someone else can correct if I'm wrong)

1) back up your Windows 10 documents, data, media, etc. to an external drive. Make a list of all additional programs you use.
2) switch from raid to ahci
3) install windows
4) restore your backed-up files, reinstall additional programs you use.
5) install mint

[catweazel]

won't be able to dual boot that machine without wrecking Windwoes 10

From what I've read, this seems to be true, but what would be the best method, assuming I wanted to preserve all the files on my HDD? Do a system backup, then switch the RAID setup to AHCI in the BIOS? Is there a good way to go about doing this, or are all my files kinda screwed if I want to dual boot Linux? Thanks.

If you break the RAID by setting it to AHCI, yes, you will lose the lot. You might want to try Clonezilla live to see if it recognises your RAID device. If it does, you can make a backup to a USB HDD or large capacity flash drive. However you also need to check the size of the SSD before installing linux. If it's 32GB then you're likely to be pushed for space, though some people here will tell you that 32GB is enough, well, it is, for them, but what they do with their machines has absolutely no bearing on what you do.

There are alternatives. Corsair produce a lovely USB 3 SSD and they're not too expensive. You could install linux to one of those. You can also buy a high-capacity (say 64GB) USB 3 flash drive and install linux to that. When I say install, I mean install, not burn an iso image. I've installed Mint on both a Corsair USB 3 SSD and a USB flash drive. They both work very well. This way, you get to experience linux and keep your Windwoes until you decide what to do further down the track.

Finally, if you have a proper install media for Windwoes, you can kill the RAID and reinstall Windwoes in AHCI mode, but I would suggest you avoid this unless you're absolutely certain it will work.

Cheers.

[pbear]

are all my files kinda screwed if I want to dual boot Linux?

FWIW, there's another strategy you might want to consider. You can install Mint to an external hard drive in a way which leaves your internal drive untouched. It's a little more complicated than the standard install, but not much. Let me know if you're interested and I'll post links to the "how to."

[theofficialbyrum]

FWIW, there's another strategy you might want to consider. You can install Mint to an external hard drive in a way which leaves your internal drive untouched. It's a little more complicated than the standard install, but not much. Let me know if you're interested and I'll post links to the "how to."

I'm interested. I have a 64GB SanDisk Cruzer Glider laying around, so I could definitely use that! Any links would be very much appreciated. Apparently there's a way to switch from RAID to AHCI without much hassle, but I'm not too inclined to risk it all in the middle of the semester.

[Pierre]

it may pay to not be too inclined to risk it all in the middle of the semester,,
but you probably should think about whether you are prepared to erase that win-10 configuration,
in order to create a much more useful machine.

the other thing to consider, is in those hybrid drives - - the SSD component is quite small.
- when compared to the size of the HDD component.

[pbear]

FWIW, there's another strategy you might want to consider. You can install Mint to an external hard drive in a way which leaves your internal drive untouched. It's a little more complicated than the standard install, but not much. Let me know if you're interested and I'll post links to the "how to."

I'm interested. I have a 64GB SanDisk Cruzer Glider laying around, so I could definitely use that! Any links would be very much appreciated. Apparently there's a way to switch from RAID to AHCI without much hassle, but I'm not too inclined to risk it all in the middle of the semester.

Notice I said an external hard drive. You can do this with a flash drive, but it won't last nearly as long. No way to know how long, as there are multiple variables and I'm basing this on ad hoc reports from various users, but 500 hours is a reasonable order-of-magnitude estimate. So, this would be a decent way to play around with Mint a bit, but not something you should rely on as a production machine. For that, you'll need an external hard drive.

ETA: On review, I realize that sounds more dramatic than intended. The flash route isn't necessarily a bad one. You can mitigate both wear-and-tear and the fallout from device failure by using the internal drive for all data storage. Very easy, as Mint will be able to access that drive just fine for this purpose. Also, 500 hours (rough estimate) is nothing to sneeze at; that's a year at ten hours actual use per week, enough for serious extended testing. Main downside of this strategy is that eventually you'll have to redo the installation. You'll manage.

As for "how to," there are two strategies. But first I have to explain an issue we need to work around. Mint is primarily designed for installing to an internal drive and was historically designed for the old BIOS firmware. It installs well in UEFI to an internal drive (usually) and it installs well to an external drive in BIOS. There's a bug, however, which makes it inadvisable to install to an external drive in UEFI, because it messes up the internal boot loader.

There are two ways to do this safely. (With a desktop system there's a third, i.e., to disconnect the internal drives during installation then reconnect, but that's not feasible for a laptop.) First, boot the live session in BIOS mode, install to the target drive, then install an EFI bootloader manually from Terminal. Second, boot the live session in UEFI, install to the target drive but without installing the bootloader, then from Terminal manually install an alternate boot manager called rEFInd (importantly, rEFInd is installed only to the external drive, not your internal). I describe in detail how to do Option 1 in this thread, user fabien85 describes in detail how to do Option 2 in this post. I've done both and both work.

Which is better depends mainly on whether you have use for an external drive which boots in both UEFI and BIOS. I do, which is why I prefer Option 1. If you don't, Option 2 probably is a better choice, as you don't have to muck around with switching to BIOS mode for the installation.

Hope that helps. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[michael louwe]

@ catweazel, .......

You won't be able to dual boot that machine without wrecking Windwoes 10. You have a hybrid SSD/HDD. To get that working, the manufacturer sets the SSD and HDD into RAID mode. In order to install linux, you're going to have to break the RAID setup, which will break Windwoes 10.

That is likely incorrect, ie the OP do not have a hybrid SSD/HDD, as per this Dell link ... http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty ... 520-laptop .

[catweazel]

That is likely incorrect

Not necessarily. http://www.aventissystems.com offers "500GB 6Gb/s Hybrid SSD SATA 2.5" HDD [Add $109]" with the Dell Precision 5520.