linux Linux Mint help please :D

[Chameleon]

  Okay, so here is the deal.. I am trying to install Mint on a separate hard drive in my pc.  I went through the instilation easy as can be, restarted the pc and boom, booted windows, and the drive I put Mint on was not visible anymore in windows.

 

Went through a few steps, got the HDD back (While losing all info on that drive) but still Mint-less..

 

Now I know what some of you are saying, "Why not run it from a flash drive or something?", but I want to rid myself of windows, I want Mint to be my only operating system..

 

Anyone who knows their way around this OS, your help would be much appreciated....    (For some reason Heretic, I am thinking you have the plan) hehehe..

 

Thanks in advance

[SunLight]

I never used that specific Linux distro (Mint) but what do you mean when you say 'was not visible anymore in windows'?

 

Linux generally uses different filesystems than Windows, and Windows cannot read them (afaik), so it's normal that you cannot read the partition with Linux from Windows, unless you use some software that can read ext4 (or whichever filesystem you used when you installed Mint). And usually these utilities can only read Linux files but not write.

 

From Linux, on the other hand, you should be able to read Windows partitions without problem.

 

Why do you need to read it from Windows? What did you want to do exactly?

 

edit:

Or you mean you wanted to boot straight into Linux Mint and not Windows?

Edited July 15, 2015 by SunLight

[kami]

Basically what SunLight said.
If you want to boot straight into Linux Mint you might need to change the boot order in your BIOS to go to the HDD with the Linux install. You might need to reinstall it on the HDD as the steps you took to get to show up again in Windows might have botched it. Then it should work without a problem. You should be able to access your windows install through the grub bootloader if everything worked as it should.
Hopefully most of this made sense.

Happy *in'

PS: Are you running a AMD or Nvidia GPU?
PPS: Currently there is no evolve client for linux (https://www.evolvehq.com/guides/faq#section-11) just so you know

[Chameleon]

These are AMD chipsets, when I installed mint and then rebooted, the drive that held the instilation just vanished. I have 2 1tb drives, I tried to do a clean install while deleting windows in the process.

 

WHen I rebooted I found that the drive which Mint was installed was my second 1tb drive, and not on the windows HDD.

 

So when I booted the PC back up I booted into windows, and the second HDD was no longer visible.

 

I had to go back into Disk Management and re-assign the drive so windows would recognize it again..

 

Does linux only see certain size HDDs or do I need to format the drive into a different file system like fat32 or ntfs?

 

I can't see why after installing the drive was no longer there hehe

[SunLight]

I can't see why after installing the drive was no longer there hehe

it was there, but Windows can't read Linux disks, and doesn't assign any letter to them. Linux can read/write Windows, though.

 

Does linux only see certain size HDDs or do I need to format the drive into a different file system like fat32 or ntfs?

The HD size is not a problem. Linux uses different file systems for the OS (not fat32 or ntfs, even though you can use them for data partitions, if you want to share one with Windows, because Windows can't read ext4 unless you use specific drivers/software).

 

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I use ext4 and I think it's the most common, but I don't know if you can format as ext4 from Windows. You would need one of those bootable Linux live CDs with gparted, but it's not necessary.

 

In fact , in most Linux distros there is a guided procedure for the install, where you have to pick the partitions you want to format, install the boot manager, and/or set some other things like network and time zone, setting home folder in a separate place (if you want, but for a beginner I don't recommend it), etc.

 

You should pick ext4, maybe it will also create a swap partition for you. Then all you need to do is booting from that hard disk (if it's the second drive, you should probably do it from your bios)

 

As regards the installation, on Linux hard drives are usually called sda, sdb, sdc, etc. the second hard drive should be sdb, but it's not guaranteed

 

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edit: and I think if you don't go to the advanced options, and you just want to format the whole HD instead, you are not even asked for partitions and filesystems, it will probably create one big ext4 partition with the OS plus a small swap partition.

 

edit2:

If later you want to clone your OS partition with software like Clonezilla etc. (I always do periodically, this way in case something goes wrong, I can restore the whole OS in a functioning state) it would be best to have one big partition for the data, and a small one for the OS itself + the software, otherwise you would have to clone the data as well and the cloning process would take too much time/space, but it's up to you if you want to partition the HD or not. I also have an ntfs partition shared with Windows.

Edited July 15, 2015 by SunLight

[Chameleon]

The HD size is not a problem. Linux uses different file systems for the OS (not fat32 or ntfs, even though you can use them for data partitions, if you want to share one with Windows).

 

I use ext4 and I think it's the most common, but I don't know if you can format as ext4 from Windows. You would need some of those bootable Linux live CDs with gparted, but it's not necessary.

 

In fact , in most Linux distros there is a guided procedure for the install, where you have to pick the partitions you want to format, install the boot manager, and/or set some other things like network and time zone, setting home folder in a separate place, etc.

 

You should pick ext4, maybe it will also create a swap partition.

I have a boot flash drive for Mint, I saw in the install what you were talking about as far as whit file system to use, but was unsure, and there was an option to just move ahead and I did, so that may have been the problem..

 

So do you think if I booted into Mint from my flash drive, used gparted to change to ext4 and then did the install to that drive I may be okay?

[SunLight]

So do you think if I booted into Mint from my flash drive, used gparted to change to ext4 and then did the install to that drive I may be okay?

You can format during the install procedure I think. If you want to do it manually you should also create a swap partition at the end (I think about 1-2 times the amount of ram you have), but I would go with the automatic procedure.

 

But if it's not the main hard disk the BIOS won't boot from it regardless.

[Chameleon]

You can format during the install procedure I think. If you want to do it manually you should also create a swap partition at the end (I think about 1-2 times the amount of ram you have), but I would go with the automatic procedure.

 

But if it's not the main hard disk the BIOS won't boot from it regardless.

I am going to five this a shot, and I will post results as soon as I get some.. Thanks for the help  Wish me luck hahaha

[Vanaraud]

So as I understand what happened is that in BIOS the 1st bootable HD was set the Windows HD and on the second HD was Mint installed. After installation was completed and PC restarted it booted to BIOS selected 1st HD  which had Windows on it. So if you wish to get Mint bootable you could:

a) change boot order in BIOS to 2nd HD

install GRUB bootloader to 1st HD and choose Mint as first option to boot to. How? Google comes in handy, there should be tuts for manual GRUB2 installation or even some GUI programs for it. Depends if Mint is with Gnome desktop or anything else?

[SunLight]

I'm not sure if he wants to keep Windows or not

[RedBaird]

Dual-boot sounds like the best option to me.  When you want to go to Linux completely, you can change the boot-order in BIOS and still have the Linux-readable data on your old Windows HD.

 

The Linux installer should be able to setup dual-boot with Windows.

 

This link is actually to install it on the same HD:  http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/07/how-to-install-linux-mint-alongside.html  which I would prefer to not do.  

The next step is very important. You basically get three choices when it comes to installing Linux Mint:

a. Install Linux Mint alongside Windows
b. Erase disk and Install Linux Mint
c. Something else

It looks like you can also run Mint from a DVD or USB key.  I think that I will do that myself.

 

NOTE:  I have not done any of this myself, of course!  

[Chameleon]

I haven't actually tried to install it again yet, we had a major power outage and internet outage so I have been forced to wait.

 

But everything is back on now and I am going to try a new install right after I make this post haha..

 

 

So as I understand what happened is that in BIOS the 1st bootable HD was set the Windows HD and on the second HD was Mint installed. After installation was completed and PC restarted it booted to BIOS selected 1st HD  which had Windows on it. So if you wish to get Mint bootable you could:

a) change boot order in BIOS to 2nd HD

install GRUB bootloader to 1st HD and choose Mint as first option to boot to. How? Google comes in handy, there should be tuts for manual GRUB2 installation or even some GUI programs for it. Depends if Mint is with Gnome desktop or anything else?

It wasn't that the windows drive was just selected, the other drive its self just plainly was not visible.. This is my first go around with Linux since way back and I am sort of in new ground all over again haha..

 

From what I can tell from reading, turning my fs to ext4 from ntfs will fix the issue, and I am pretty sure after choosing clean install, I will still get this option.

 

Since I have to boot from a flash drive into Mint, to be able to use the install option I have chosen also to use gparted on that same drive to make sure I have the option of changing the fs.

 

I did a test run moments ago, and everything seems like it should line up. If I can get my camera to give me a good shot of my monitor, I will do a recording of my next attempt, and swim or sink I will post that video here. That way if I am successful maybe it will help others, if I fail, then maybe one of you can see where I went wrong and help me fix it lol

[SunLight]

the other drive its self just plainly was not visible..

it depends on what you mean with 'visible'. it will be visible, I guess, if you go to 'disk management' but the partition is not readable by Windows.

It doesn't assign any letters, etc. and you can't read nor write files.

Using some utilities you can *read* its contents (I'm not aware of Windows software that can write ext4 but I didn't search)

 

edit:

by the way, why do you need to 'see' the drive from Windows? You need to transfer files?

 

From what I can tell from reading, turning my fs to ext4 from ntfs will fix the issue

you can't use ntfs for Linux main partition, because ntfs can't store file permissions and other things Linux needs. You can still create an extra ntfs partition for data, but all 'Linux' files you move there will lose their attributes (owner, permissions, etc.)

Edited July 17, 2015 by SunLight

[Chameleon]

it depends on what you mean with 'visible'. it will be visible, I guess, if you go to 'disk management' but the partition is not readable by Windows.

It doesn't assign any letters, etc. and you can't read nor write files.

Using some utilities you can *read* its contents (I'm not aware of Windows software that can write ext4 but I didn't search)

 

edit:

by the way, why do you need to 'see' the drive from Windows? You need to transfer files?

 

you can't use ntfs for Linux main partition, because ntfs can't store file permissions and other things Linux needs. You can still create an extra ntfs partition for data, but all 'Linux' files you move there will lose their attributes (owner, permissions, etc.)

Yeah I meant I was changing the FS to ext4 from ntfs hehe I may have worded that wrong lol

 

 OKay so here is the deal....

 

While installing you have several options, install beside window, fresh install and a "Something else" literally it says Something else..

 

I chose fresh install, choosing to delete all of windows, and wipe the drive completely..

 

When I came to the drive select portion, I got a ton of options, but after the last time, I took my time in choosing this go around.

 

I selected the drive I wanted, when you do a little option box pops up giving you the option to format the drive, and also what fs you want to format to.

 

The last time I was here, I didn't make a choice, which in turn didn't format to ext4, and I don't know if it stayed ntfs or what, but I do know after reboot I had lost the drive, which in turn led to this topic hehe

 

This time I chose to format the drive and chose the option ext4. Now as a person who has used windows for way to long, I had no idea about setting /home and all that to specify drives (I am sure I am saying that wrong, but I do not know the terminology yet hehe )

 

After some trial and error, I got it, and was able to proceed with the install, which is fast, way faster than I am use to with windows.

 

Oh I forgot to mention, I had put the Mint ISO on a flash drive to use for installation, which in your BIOS you have to make it the bootable drive so you can even get to the install screen. I know most people know that, just thought I would throw that in hehe..

 

When the installation was done I was prompted to remove the flash drive and reboot.

 

I had made it this far last time (Minus formatting the drive to ext4) and needless to say was very nervous as to whether it was going to boot.

 

After a short wait, it started to boot, and yes I probably woke the whole house up with my celebration haha.

 

I booted into Mint 17.2 and now start a new journey with a different OS.

 

I am sure I will make many more topics looking for help, but it should be fun in the process..

 

So over all Sunlight, I do think the mistake was not changing the fs to ext4 because once I corrected this I had no more issues. 

 

Thanks a ton to everyone who jumped in to help, and hopefully you all will be willing to help later when I will surely get stuck haha..  <3

 

So here are a couple of screens from my pc, nothing major, just wanted to show that I got there lol

 

This is the desktop

 

Desktop with menu up

 

And once I got google installed haha