I've been trying to install Ubuntu 14.04 on two 30GB SSDs (OCZSSD2-1AGT30G) with an ASUS motherboard (ASUS DSBF-D). I tried installing on both of the drives separately and it seemed to work fine. The problem happens when I try to RAID the two drives together and install. The main installation completes, but I'm never able to install GRUB.
error:
Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sdc
Executing 'grub-install /dev/sdc' failed
This is a fatal error.
I've tried installing GRUB on different drives as well as both drives in the array at once, but haven't had any luck.
partitions:
I can't post an image here, so here's one on imgur.
fdisk output:
fdisk /dev/sda
Disk identifier: 0x00078d2a
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 54149119 27073536 fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sda2 54151166 62531583 4190209 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 54151168 62531583 4190208 fd Linux raid autodetect
fdisk /dev/sdc
Disk identifier: 0x0007faba
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 2048 54149119 27073536 fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdc2 54151166 62531583 4190209 5 Extended
/dev/sdc5 54151168 62531583 4190208 fd Linux raid autodetect
The RAID arrays all say: /dev/mdx doesn't contain a valid partition table
I have had Ubuntu installed with RAID on these drives before.
Best Answer
I'm battling with the same issue for a different linux OS. Just some brief comments: note that my 'experience' (ha!) is with RAID 0; if you are mirroring from first to second disk (RAID 1) then some of what I suggest below may not apply - others much more experienced than me may help better.
mdadm
ordmraid
to assemble the raid array, and present the RAID device in /dev/mapper/(something)
.dmraid
is older and reportedly barely /not maintained, but some folk need it if dual-booting with MS-Win on the same RAID.mdadm
is the supposedly preferred modern alternative (but won't work on my hardware). From my reading of Ubuntu discussions, I think U usesmdadm
behind the scenes for your install./dev/mapper
you should see a file called 'control' and then a file with a name like md (the whole raid device), plus md1, md2, md3 representing any partitions in the whole raid device. The names might be much longer but should resemble each other with different numeric endings. If you've only got the 'control' device and one other device, then I guess you've not created any partitions on the RAID yet./dev/mdx
doesn't contain a valid partition table". I suspect that means just what it says; either the raid array has not been assembled (bymdadm
) or more likely you haven't created a partition within the RAID on which to do the install. (or you're trying to look on the individual drives rather than looking at the RAID in/dev/mapper
)/dev/mapper/9something
). Don't go near/dev/sda
or/dev/sdb
; they are not the raid device and basically don't exist if you are in RAID 0.Hope that much perspective helps, and is not out-of-keeping for how Ubuntu does it. Tonyb