Alternate Installing Ubuntu 12.04 on new Vaio svz (RAID0)

Question

I am attempting to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64-bit on my brand new Vaio SVZ laptop. I am using alternate installer, since the machine has a RAID0 SSD (fake raid?).

After activating ATA RAID, Partition Disks step show correct Windows 7 partitions, and some free space I have produced in Windows 7 partition tool for Linux, as follows:

Serial ATA RAID isw_cagi....Volume0 (stripe) - 512 GB Linux device-mapper (strip
#1 primary   22.1 GB       ntfs
#2 primary  367.0 MB  B    ntfs
#3 primary  355.2 GB       ntfs
   logical  125.8 GB       FREE SPACE
#5 logical    8.6 GB

I then create /boot, / and swap space, resulting in:

#1 primary   22.1 GB       ntfs
#2 primary  367.0 MB  B    ntfs
#3 primary  355.2 GB       ntfs
#6 logical  499.9 MB     F ext4      /boot
#7 logical  121.0 GB     F ext4      /
#8 logical    4.2 GB     F swap      swap
   logical  325.2 MB       FREE SPACE
#5 logical    8.6 GB

After that, installer goes into "Installing the base system", "Configure the package manager", without problems. When it gets to "Select and install software", it reports "Installation step failed". Even though there is the option of skipping it, I am not sure this is a good idea.

BTW, I was intending on directing installation of GRUB boot loader on a separate partition, but don't want to proceed skipping the failed step.

Interesting thing is that after I abort, and come back again to re-try installation, the partition tool sees:

#1 primary   22.1 GB       ntfs
#2 primary  367.0 MB  B    ntfs
#3 primary  355.2 GB       ntfs
#6 logical  499.9 MB     F ext4      (Use as: do not use; no mounting point)
#7 logical  121.0 GB     F ext4      (Use as: do not use; no mounting point)
#8 logical    4.2 GB     F swap      swap (Use as: swap area)
   logical  325.2 MB       FREE SPACE
#5 logical    8.6 GB

That is, /boot and / root partition are marked as "do not use"; only swap partition remains as it was created.

Can somebody help me getting through the installation process?

Answer 1

A system disk can have a maximum of 5 partitions, 1 boot and 4 other.

On the SVZ with Windows you have one recovery (that I recommend you keep), one boot, one windows, leaving space for two partitions. (incl. any linux partitions). Hibernate uses one partition also - which means there's room for only one more. To top it off, you can have a maximum of three primary partitions.

If your going to install linux on the SVZ I recommend the following:

-Keep your vaio recovery partition -Remove your hibernate/rapid wake partition and function and allocate enough space here for linux (20GB or whatever you need)

When installing Linux you stick with only one partition, the root (/) partition. Thus not having a separate swap partition (you can add a swap file to the root (/) if you need swap. Your /home will be a folder on the root (/) partition.

When partitioning the drive, write down the mapper-name of the raid-disk (isw_xxxxxx_xxxx) as you'll need that information later when setting up the GRUB bootloader.

When you get to the GRUB installation, install it under /dev/mapper/isw_xxxxxxxx_xxxx

Good luck!