2nd SATA internal HDD, after partition, I cannot see it in OS.
 

I have Ubuntu 10.04 LTS just installed on my IDE 41Gb HDD.
After installation, I plugged in a SATA 320 Gb HDD. I ran gparted, I partitioned the HDD in 3. It was recognized as sda1... I could see the 3 partitions in my "Places" renamed as I wanted, could see my IDE HDD and my external 1TB HDD. But after one day, computer was not turned off, I come back to it and... couldn't see what I previously had done (my 3 partitions on SATA just vanished?). I reset the PC and go in BIOS - nothing there. Turn off PC, reboot>BIOS> HDD SATA 2 recognized. Press F10 save, Ubuntu is up, but still no SATA hard disk. I go to gparted... no option with SATA. What can I do to have it back? I didn't mount anything since during partition I didn't have this option.
This is what shows up now: (the 41 Gb HDD is now sda, before was sdb - I guess because it is smaller?)

bogdan@LORD:~$ sudo parted -l
[sudo] password for bogdan:
Model: ATA HDS728040PLAT20 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 41.2GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 39.4GB 39.4GB primary ext4
2 39.4GB 41.2GB 1734MB extended
5 39.4GB 41.2GB 1734MB logical linux-swap(v1)
Model: WD 10EAVS External (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 1000GB 1000GB primary fat32 lba

Warning: Unable to open /dev/fd0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/fd0
has been opened read-only.

Error: /dev/fd0: unrecognised disk label
bogdan@LORD:~$


I hope this is a mount issue. I am VERY newbie, please help. I want to use my 2nd internal HDD for non-linux software and photos, videos, music (so a second storage) Thanks.

What is the output of

This is what I get:

fdisk: invalid option -- '1'

Usage:
fdisk [options] <disk> change partition table
fdisk [options] -l <disk> list partition table(s)
fdisk -s <partition> give partition size(s) in blocks

Options:
-b <size> sector size (512, 1024, 2048 or 4096)
-c switch off DOS-compatible mode
-h print help
-u <size> give sizes in sectors instead of cylinders
-v print version
-C <number> specify the number of cylinders
-H <number> specify the number of heads
-S <number> specify the number of sectors per track[/QUOTE]

Thanks for answering, Smoker.

I feel like I just woke up from a dream with me partitioning my HDD. However, I did partitioned the SATA o time in reality. It came up in BIOS as SATA 2, my internal clock was just like the one on the wall :) - I saved the BIOS with F10 and Ubuntu loaded. I partitioned the SATA with gparted, I saw it in OS, I saved a JPEG on the partition labeled photos just to test, I deleted the JPEG from partition and went to bed. I don't know if I should blame the Ubuntu OS or...what? I shut down the PC now, I switched the SATA from port 2 to port 1, press power>BIOS>and... no SATA, and my internal clock was 22:22 when The one on the wall was 19:22. I loaded Ubuntu and of course no second internal HDD. Restart again and still nothing.
What could have happened?? This SATA HDD I just got it back from warranty exchange after my 3 years old SATA started to make "tap noises" and stopped loading XP. All SATA in BIOS are saved with AUTO option for detection. HDD SMART monitoring is disabled. I didn't change anything inside BIOS. Need help on this one. Could it be from the partition I made? If I remember well I chose: one partition NTFS and the rest FAT32. Does it count? The mo is ASUS P5N - E SLI, intel, I have nVidia... and 2 Gigs of RAM. :(
thanks.

That's an "l"...

It looks like a "1" but is the small letter between "k" and "m". You are not the first to be confused.

http://linux.die.net/man/8/fdisk

Try to run "sudo fdisk -l" from Ubuntu as a live-cd.

If your BIOS recognizes, then doesn't recognize the SATA HDD, the problem is doubtfully your installation of Ubuntu or its partitions.

Are you sure you are saving your BIOS settings when you use the "F10" key? That is not how any BIOS I have encountered works. You might check your motherboard manual. You may be closing the BIOS without saving the changes.

Can you change the BIOS setting for HDD recognition from "Auto" to specify "AHCI" or "SATA" for the SATA HDD?

Are you sure of the SATA cable connection? How old is your CMOS battery?

If you divide your posted text with blank lines, your post is easier to read.

Why do you swap the sata drive from one port to another after partitioning ?

What happens if you put it back where it was ?

BTW, on most of my machines to date, F10 is "save and exit" in the BIOS.

After reading all those posts I've come to the conclusion that it's not Ubuntu's fault.
First issue that came to mind was "contact problems at SATA connector and/or drive's power connector".
Check carefully all power and data cables and connectors, THEN power up, go to BIOS Setup and see if all internal drives appear in the right places... I think thorkelljarl is right about "SATA connection"...
First get your drive recognized in BIOS, then we can start from there if there are more problems.
What puzzles me is something you wrote in your first post: Try what smoker says: put the SATA connector back to SATA2 (and don't forget to make sure that connectors are well plugged).

I have switched the ports of my SATA based on other posts... which I don't remember them well, but I had smth in my mind.

Check this out. I switched back my SATA to port 2 this morning (just in case) and is all good now. (last night I switched it to 1) with no success. I don;t think I am supposed to switch it every time I boot :( :).

So, what could it be? BTW: fdisk -l didn't do anything for me from the first time, even when the SATA was in port2. That's why I assumed I was misreading and typed fdisk -1 the second time. F10 in my case IS "SAVE AND EXIT".

All my SATA options are on AUTO (the other option is MANUAL). I cannot specify AHCI.

Again, fdisk -l doesn't do anything even now with SATA recognized. How long am I supposed to wait after this command?

This is what shows up now:

bogdan@LORD:~$ sudo parted -l
[sudo] password for bogdan:
Model: ATA ST3320620AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 320GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 105GB 105GB primary ntfs
2 105GB 225GB 120GB primary fat32
3 225GB 320GB 95.1GB primary fat32


Model: ATA HDS728040PLAT20 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 41.2GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 39.4GB 39.4GB primary ext4
2 39.4GB 41.2GB 1734MB extended
5 39.4GB 41.2GB 1734MB logical linux-swap(v1)


Model: WD 10EAVS External (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 1000GB 1000GB primary fat32 lba


Warning: Unable to open /dev/fd0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/fd0
has been opened read-only.
Error: /dev/fd0: unrecognised disk label

Thanks for your responses. Let me know what other info you need. I am still guessing is from Ubuntu 10.04 not from my hardware, but what do I know? If it's because of my install or partitions... let me know please.

Alright, if it's a connection problem I will switch the cable, I have one more SATA cable. But I did push the cable in pretty good, now I dont wanna crack the mobo thou. Ayway, is there a way to check my CMOS battery life? I made this PC in Aug 2007.
Any other thoughts? thanks to all. Thanks bro!

I present two claims for consideration...

1) You tell us that there is no other BIOS setting for your SATA HDD than "Auto/Manual". However, is that not the BIOS setting for HDD device configuration? In addition, is there a way to set the SATA mode? There should be one.

On my motherboard the BIOS has a post on the first screen to configure the HDD and a post on a later screen "Onboard SATA Mode" with IDE/AHCI/RAID as the choices to configure the controller chip for HDD function.

Change the SATA cable and go out and buy a new CMOS battery. They are cheap. Nonetheless, neither the cable nor the battery may be the problem.

2) If after you have checked that the HDD and its controller is set up correctly in the BIOS, try to POST, open the BIOS, close the BIOS, push the Reset button, then POST again, going through the cycle a few time to see that the BIOS is stable.

Then, if you cannot boot a live-cd of the newest Ubuntu, open a terminal, type "sudo fdisk -l" and have the command "fdisk" immediately see and read whatever exists as disk and partitioning information for one or both HDD, I think you have faulty hardware. Perhaps you motherboard is shorting to the case through a misplaced riser, or you have a bad controller chip. If the command does not execute, the problem is not your installation nor likely to be your SATA HDD.

If the command executes quickly, but does not see the SATA HDD, the SATA HDD is probably defective. "fdisk" should normally return at least disk information about the SATA HDD.

The IDE/AHCI/RAID setting should be somewhere in "Advanced Settings" in BIOS...

Anyway, if you are not familiar with linux devices, volumes and partitions, you should not "switch" disks from one interface to another after install :P You better add some (if you have them).

Oh, and there is a nice tool called "Disk Utility" available in Ubuntu... It's pretty graphical and thorough. It will give you even S.M.A.R.T. info and test (if enabled in BIOS). Quite handy when you suspect HDD imminent failure.

Console based tools are neat for the more seasoned *nixers, but for a freshman they can be confusing (I often feel like a freshman myself).

After BIOS recognized all my hard drives I ran fdisk command and everything was in place. I left the PC on a couple of days, I restarted the sys few times with no problems, until yesterday. What I did: Power off the PC. After 8 hours > POWER on and this is what I get:

and so on 2 more line as above (different #)
last line:
and Ubuntu loaded (of course without recognizing my second HDD)
Power off and wait a few min again and:

Since I wasn't able to do anything from here (fdisk, not recognized, sudo partition -l, nothing worked. I restarted the PC and Ubuntu loads ok, of course from now on I didn't expect SATA to be seen. It loaded just with my IDE master recognized. No SATA HDD in BIOS either (to be more precise).

Can it be BIOS? Would I need a BIOS update, I have no idea how to do it. I don't even know my BIOS version, I will try to find out. Since Aug 2007, never had a problem so I didn't update BIOS at all.
I know I have an EZ FLASH in bios, but never used it.

thorkelljarl: I did what you said @ 2) POST > reset. And was fine then. I even changed CMOS battery. I don't quite understand how to change the choices to configure the controller chip. All I know is I have on the first bios screen 4 SATA (among sys time...)options and if I access them I get auto or manual, large, small...

(if I would only have the money!)The thing is, I started to like Ubuntu :) thanks, all!

The next thing I come to suspect is a thermal issue and perhaps (again) contact and/or power problems.
Also, if your PS (Power Supply) is under 400VA (Volts*Amps) and older than 3 years, it might be failing due some passive components (capacitors and/or resistors) changing parameters from overheating and/or aging. PS failing can and will do render your whole system unstable... at least. Insufficient power from PS will have the same effects.
Modern hard-drives have high spin rates and that requires some extra power... Also, the consumer-level units are less efficient at thermal dissipation and, if not assembled properly (enough air flow, no cable clutter etc) they tend to overheat rapidly.
If you can borrow a known-good PS of 450VA or above, you could test your system the same way you did with the old one. If the problem(s) persist, then it's not the PS and it might be the controller or even the HDD itself...
The HDD can be tested by mounting it into an external drive enclosure (most often an USB rack or something) with a very good power source and using it (as external drive) for as many hours/days as before, then powering it off for half a day and trying to use it again... If you experience a very slow start of the unit, then you found the culprit: your SATA drive doesn't work as it should.
Sadly, with old hardware it's very difficult to find out what is causing the problem(s). I know that from my own experience.

Yeah. It might be my supply. I have a 420W PS and I am thinking to upgrade to 550W, maybe next month or so.

I checked both HDD with seatools for DOS. SATA PASSED short AND long test. The master IDE hard disk (not see*ate) was checked only with short test, but also passed and I didn't consider a long test for this one. (Was "lucky" changing to SATA 1 again and the HDD was recognized. Then I went to sea tools and used an ISO image to test it). After a day ... SATA disappeared :)

Since it passed, I don't consider HDD failure nor Ubuntu installation. Maybe 420W is not enough PS for 2 HDD, a DVD-ROM and video. (!?)
I will play a bit more with the system to see if I have any issues without SATA. BTW: I think the errors from my last post are due to
SATA being connected. After I disconnected SATA, I didn't get any. Will test without SATA connected and hope for no errors. :)

I will get back on this thread when I'll have a new powerful PSU next month, so far is not solved.
Thanks to all.

Touch all the bases...

If you have a SATA controller, you should have a BIOS setting to regulate its mode. What is the make and model number of your motherboard? Maybe you can find a motherboard manual and at least find out how to flash your BIOS.

The mode setting for the SATA HDD, if there is one, may not be the solution to your problem, but it could be a contributing factor to its existence.