Ubuntu – way to dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu in a Lenovo Ultrabook (without loosing the SSD cache)

12.10lenovoultrabook

I have seen many people trying to install Ubuntu on laptops like the Lenovo U410 and fail. Sometimes,we have to give up the SSD cache. Have the developers solved it now? Can we install Ubuntu on an Ultrabook like U410 without loosing the SSD cache?

Links to the issue :

Here's one problem :

I recently bought a U410 ultrabook. With the factory settings, the
ubuntu installer does not detect any disks on the system. The problem
is known and has something to do with the SSD, Intel Smart response
technology and the disks' RAID configuration (See
Unable to install 12.04 on a Lenovo U410 Ultrabook
and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1825132)
Is there a way around this problem without having to remove the existing Windows installation? Also in case not, does my warranty get
void if I remove the pre-loaded windows installation? An Ubuntu system
is essential for me so I need to get it installed somehow.
Would appreciate some pointers.

The only solution is to disable SSD cache and install windows to SSD (I don't think 24GB will be enough) :

  1. Disabe RAID (select ACHI in BIOS)
  2. Install windows to SSD.
  3. Move user data and pagefile to HDD. Disable file indexing on SSD. Install most not system programs to HDD to economy free space. It will
    be even faster than cache, but you need to install big programs and
    games on D:. Not every man can do it. Thats why they use cache as
    default.
  4. Boot Ubuntu from CD, type in terminal "sudo apt-get remove dmraid"
  5. Install Ubuntu as usual
  6. If GRUB doesnt appear (it is because of UEFI) use Boot-Repair utility as described here
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

  7. If GRUB appears, but Ubuntu doesn't boot, then you need to break dmraid utility:

    7.1 Boot Ubuntu from CD

    7.2 type in terminal "sudo apt-get remove dmraid"

    7.3 Open "Computer" on the desktop and open the disk where you have installed Ubuntu. On the top of the window will be some letters like
    7bgetgu4uf87wch7wir6. Type in terminal "sudo rm /media/{your
    partition}/sbin/dmraid" where you replace {your partition} with this
    letters

    7.4 "sudo touch /media/{your partition}/sbin/dmraid" and "sudo chmod +x /media/{your partition}/sbin/dmraid"
    Once you have booted ubuntu, remove dmraid in normal way (using apt-get)
    And the easy way is to install ubuntu with wubi. I tried it on ACHI, but there was no problems with dmraid and grub

Here's another problem :

So i bought a lenovo u410 the other day to use with linux along side
my windows pc, problem is when i get to the installation screen the
hard drives dont show up (500gb hdd or 32gb ssd) i also took off
acceleration and put the hard drives in non raid mode but that still
didnt work, i also tried wubi to see if it would run for kicks but
that wont work either, can anyone help me out?

Best Answer

You can use 'wubi' installer given in the ubuntu download image file.

Just extract the downloaded image file of ubuntu (whatever version, no matter) and copy the 'wine.exe' and place it in a folder again with the downloaded image file of ubuntu in the same directory.

Now just double click the 'wine.exe' file. Now it will ask you to allocate some space for ubuntu (Note: ~18GB space is by default selected). Give the password and let it do other for you.

It will ask to reboot. Just reboot and on the next start you will see installing ubuntu. Just follow the on screen steps and you are done.

Now on each start, it will ask you to choose OS to start. Just give your choice as ubuntu (if you want) and use ubuntu. It will work as dual boot OS parallel to windows.

The great thing is that you can remove it whenever you wish just as you remove other installed programs from windows. Just boot into windows, and go to 'Remove/Uninstall Programs' and uninstall 'wubi' and 'ubuntu'. Now you are done..

Enjoy.

Related Question