Anybody succesfully installed Ubuntu on intel matrix Sata Raid?

[J-man]

I have a dell desktop configured for sata raid 0 with intel matrix technology. Problem is that when I try to install Ubuntu but it doesn't recognize my raid properly. I enabled extra repositories and installed dmraid, it recognizes the raid system but it can't read the disks.

Intel has releases iswraid, but that's only for 2.4 linux kernel and not the 2.6.
Some articles and people on the internet suggest patching it into ubuntu 8.04. That's rather complicated unfortunately an I never patched a kernel, i am a bit of a linux noob.

Anybody got answer to my problem?

 

[taper]

You might have better luck asking on www.ubuntuforums.org. What version are you running now? I recently did a clean upgrade from drake to hardy, and it was definitely worth it.

Also, do you really need RAID? In my opinion, RAID for the home isn't really needed. Backups are very important, but RAID only protects against HD failure, not fire, lightning, theft, etc..which might be more likely. An external drive kept ideally offsite or at least in a fire safe is a more reliable method.

 

[J-man]

i'm running RIAD 0 and yes I know it isn't really necessary but it came with my computer. I can disable raid but it will destroy ALL data and then I will have install every thing again. i don't want to do that.

I'll try the ubuntu forums.

 

[Comraddict]

Hi... package called dmraid provides support for intel, nvidia, etc onboard RAID

Although most Linux distro come with this package, only few have OS installer using it.

Following distros support this out of box:
Fedora Core
SUSE 10.2 and later
Red Hat and its clone CentOS
and most likely Mandriva

everything else... PITA to set up
For ubuntu here's link
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto

But in reality- it is not worth it to deal with Ubuntu.
Give a try to SUSE 11.0, it came out week ago.

 

[J-man]

@comraddict: I have installed dmraid but ubuntu still can't read the disks (did you read my post?)

If dmraid doesn't work properly on ubuntu I doubt it will work on SUSE.

 

[Comraddict]

J-man, like I said OS installer support is not there... having dmraid package is not equal as being able to use it during Linux installation, most Linux distros just provide dmraid package once you install Linux.

Also I can confirm that SUSE 11.0 will recognize RAID drives properly and lets you install OS on them - I just installed it on my ICH9R with two Raptors in RAID0. SUSE (and RedHat) has modified installer and GRUB boot loader so it can support dmraid very well.


I've tracked Ununtu's support for 'fakeRAID' for a while - and it is really not worth it. Even ones who manage to make it work after spending days in console have many issues, posts like this one are common:

FakeRAID on 8.04 @ unbuntu forums

Originally Posted by Global_Inferno
Even when I did finally get the RAID working, it wasn't as intended, and I had loads of problems with random non-mountable drives appearing, etc.. In the end I got so fed up with it I went back to Vista! (Now that IS desperate!)

...

Yeah, I wasted my entire Friday trying to fix this mess. Then I found that this bug was reported in launchpad...back in January! Moreover, it was deemed not worth fixing! I'm giving up on Ubuntu for a couple years until it gets its act together. I'm not wild about Fedora, but I never had these many problems just trying to get a basic install working. This kind of crap has really given me a loathing for Linux evangelicals.

 

[J-man]

After googling (is that a verb?) and some searching on the ubuntu forums I think I'll stick to a single boot Vista PC. Perhaps I will give it one more try. Perhaps I will try SUSE, thanks for the help everybody.