Ubuntu on BIOS RAID (fake RAID)

Submitted by st on

I seem that "fake RAID" term is not really corresponding to actual motherboard design. Indeed, I don't see the differences between Marvell RAID controller implanted into my motherboard and my old Silicon Image PCI SATA 4-port card.

However, Ubuntu 14.04 cannot be installed "by default" in both cases. Follow these step-by-step instructions.

I downloaded Lubuntu 14.04 because of lightweight desktop requirement but standard Ubuntu installer should not have differences. Personally, I like Ubunty Unity desktop but it use 300-400 Mb in addition of 150 Mb for LXDE.

  1. Configure your BIOS RAID using setup utility. Usually, you can specify RAID name, like "raid1" etc.
  2. Download ISO and create Lubuntu startup disk (1 Gb USB stick is sufficient).
  3. Boot from startup disk and select "Try ubuntu".
  4. Run Gparted, select your "xxx_raid1" and delete all partitions if they exists (all data will be lost so think about backup before).
  5. In Gparted, create new partition table (select GPT) and at least 3 partition:
  • reserved bios area (about 128 Mb, flag it with "bios_grub");
  • swap area according to your RAM size;
  • all remaining space for system and data.
  • Start installation of Lubuntu. Select "something else" on step 4 (disks specifications). Then select:
    • "use as reserved bios area" for first partition;
    • "swap area" for second partition;
    • "use as ext4", map to "/" and format partition for last one;
    • select your "xxx_raid1" as device for boot loader installation.
  • Finish installation and restart.

    • Now, it should boot up from disks.

    In case of troubles, boot from startup disk again and use boot-repair utility in recommended mode.