[SOLVED] Dual boot install RAID problem (I think?)

[Revhead]

Trying to install 2010.1 to PC.
Have multiple hard drives including two SATA drives joined in a raid array which contain several partitions.
XP is already installed.
When I boot from LiveCD I get to the desktop okay but it doesn't recognise raid partitions.
I have cleared a partition on an IDE drive to which I'd like to install PCLOS.
However, when I try to install I get an error message saying the partition table is messed up (obviously because of the raided discs).
Install gives me the option to fix things and lose my data or leave them alone. After deciding to leave things the way they are, install tells me there is no room to install system.
Has anyone else run into this problem?
Maybe if I disconnected power to raided discs intall would ignore them (XP is on another IDE drive)?

[Revhead]

This is beyond my ability I'm afraid (which is not great when it comes to Linux).
I have cleared and formatted one of my IDE disks so I can install PCLOS to it, but install just refuses to see it (Mind you I can see and partition and format it without any dramas using disk management in the LiveCD control centre).
I keep getting the message cannot read partition table sda (too corrupted). Sda in this instance is the first of the raided SATA disks.
Unless I agree to lose all partition info and contents thereof, install will just not proceed.
Is there a way of getting around this?

[menotu]

I'm not at PClinuxOS machine so can't check but I believe there is some Raid software in the repo's - don't know whether that'll help you at all.

[Revhead]

Okay.
I've solved this sort of . . .
I went back to an earlier version of PCLOS (2009.2) and was able to install it to my empty hard drive using the LiveCD (SATA probe) boot option.
Still came up with the same message at install time about not recognising the boot table, but was still able to format and install to the empty drive regardless.
It installed the boot loader, so now I have the option of booting into XP or PCLOS which I have tested successfully.
BUT . . . there's always a but . . . when I boot from the PCLOS 2010.1 CD it still refuses to install, giving me the same message about not enough room.
Talk about two steps forwards and one step backwards.
Any ideas anyone?

[menotu]

How much free space do you have on the drive/partition you want to install 2010 on?

[Revhead]

How much free space do you have on the drive/partition you want to install 2010 on?

At the moment it is taken up entirely by the new install of 2009.2 ie 12G/ 3.9G SWAP + 58G /HOME?

[menotu]

How much free space do you have on the drive/partition you want to install 2010 on?

At the moment it is taken up entirely by the new install of 2009.2 ie 12G/ 3.9G SWAP + 58G /HOME?

Aahh! You need to free up some space so 2010 has a place to live.

You need to resize one your partitions (probably /home in your case) and then create a couple of new one's for the 2010 install.

The very first thing I would do is backup/copy all the data you want keep (pics / docs / music / movies etc etc) to somewhere safe, like a USB stick or CD/DVD.

Then when that's all done you can decide which method you want to use to do the resizing. Post back if you do need any help on that.

Good luck.

[Revhead]

I hear what you're saying, but I don't think space is really the problem.
Prior to installing 2009 I emptied the entire hard disk and deleted all the partitions on it. It was a blank canvas waiting to be filled. But 2010 would not see it.
I think the issue is the installer in 2010.1. It can't get past the partition table issue.
I thought that having established 2009 it would recognise this installation and ask me whether I wanted to reinstall over it. I was wrong?
UPDATE:
Just tried launching the 2010 installer from terminal.
Error reads: Can't have a partition outside the disk!
What does it mean?

[menotu]

Can you open a konsole and enter:

#fdisk -l

and post the results back here

[Revhead]

I have 4 disks installed
1 x IDE WD 40GB (XP)
1 x IDE WD 80GB (one I am trying to install to)
2 x SATA Hitachi 80GB Hitachi (joined in raid array with multiple partitions. Silicon Image 3112 controller)

I'm just wondering what it is about the draklive installer in 2009.2 that allows it to see and install to this disk where the 2010.1 installer cannot?

[root@localhost root]# fdisk -l
Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 5
Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 5
Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 5
Warning: invalid flag 0x0745 of partition table 5 will be corrected by w(rite)

Disk /dev/sda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x45844583

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        1912    15358108+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            1913       20022   145468575    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5   ?      263828      522109  2074640651   3b  Unknown

Disk /dev/sdb: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdc: 40.0 GB, 40016019456 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd3e1d3e1

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           1        4864    39070048+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdd: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7f787f78

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1   *           1           1           0    0  Empty
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

[Revhead]

Fixed.
The simplest ideas are sometimes the best ones.
I unplugged both of the SATA drives, then booted into XP and let it sort itself out.
Then I rebooted into my 2009.2 installation to make sure everything was still working.
Then I rebooted from the LiveCD (2010.1) and installed 2010 to the hard disk where 2009.2 was installed, letting install reformat the disk completely in the process (this time it didn´t complain).
After that I rebooted first into 2010 and then into XP to make sure both were still working. Then I shutdown the PC and reattached the SATA drives.
Then booted back into XP where I found everything was still intact and then back into 2010 which was still happy too.
One thing I noted.
The disk where PCLOS is installed now sits in front of the two SATA disks, but behind the Windows disk. That must have been where it wanted to install all along - but couldn´t?
Mind you PCLOS still can´t read the RAID partitions though?
UPDATED:
Worked out how to mount Windows raid partitions. See here . . .
http://www.bitburners.com/articles/pclinuxos-2008-minime-tips-and-tricks/4186/