Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 16:55:35 -0400 From: Joel Maxuel <j.maxuel@gmail.com> To: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD Installer not recognizing existing partition tables Message-ID: <1547844935.2361.1.camel@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20190118121130.81080d2b.freebsd@edvax.de> References: <1547790911.2471.3.camel@gmail.com> <20190118121130.81080d2b.freebsd@edvax.de>
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On Fri, 2019-01-18 at 12:11 +0100, Polytropon wrote: > On Fri, 18 Jan 2019 01:55:11 -0400, Joel Maxuel wrote: > > Looking to set up FreeBSD as part of a dual-boot with Debian > > Stretch > > (already installed). The drives I will be using includes an SSD > > (ada0/sda) for rootfs and an HDD (ada1/sdb) for swap and /home. > > Such kinds of setting are possible. > > > > > When I ran the FreeBSD installer, everything went fine until I got > > to > > partitioning - I chose the semi-manual option, and only ada0 & ada1 > > appeared - no existing partitions below. > > > > dmesg revealed: > > > > ada0 at ahcich0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0 > > ... > > ada0: Command Queueing enabled > > ada0: 262321MB (537234768 512 byte sectors) > > ada1 at ahcich1 bus 0 scbus1 target 0 lun 0 > > ... > > ada1: Command Queueing enabled > > ada1: 953869MB (1953525168 512 byte sectors) > > ada1: quirks=0x1<4k> > > GEOM_PART: integrity check failed (ada0, BSD) > > GEOM_PART: integrity check failed (ada1, BSD) > > That is correct so far - two physical devices. > So the GEOM_PART fail (with the wrong table type) is normal? Double checking that because trouble threads I have looked at have come up with this error before, but not the mismatched partition table identity (from what I have seen). > > > The parted details (I had pre-made the partitions for FreeBSD): > > You should not pre-make anything for FreeBSD, just supply > unused disk space. The installer will create the required > partitions on its own. Experience tells us to leave the > installation tasks to the installer of the OS we want to > install. ;-) > FWIW, initially I didn't, but yeah, that "free space" was inside extended partition(s) - good point you made nonetheless. > > > ~> sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print > > Model: ATA Crucial_CT275MX3 (scsi) > > Disk /dev/sda: 537234768s > > Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B > > Partition Table: msdos > > Disk Flags: > > > > Number Start End Size Type File > > system Flags > > 1 2048s 117229567s 117227520s primary ext4 > > boot > > 2 117229568s 537233407s 420003840s extended > > 5 117231616s 419311615s 302080000s logical ext4 > > 6 419313664s 419315711s 2048s logical freebsd-ufs > > 7 419317760s 537233407s 117915648s logical > > And this reveals your problem: > > Within the MBR partitioning scheme (as opposed to GPT which > doesn't require any further discussion here), FreeBSD needs > to be installed into a slice. A slice is a DOS primary (!) > partition which the installer cannot allocate here - disk > space insufficient. > > FreeBSD cannot be installed into a logical drive inside a > DOS extended partition, which is what you're trying to do. > > If you free up disk space, the installer - in "MBR mode" - > will create a slice (another DOS primary partition), and > inside this slice, will create partitions / labels. > > Example: > > /dev/ada0s1 -> ext4 > (extended and logicals omitted) > /dev/ada0s2 -> FreeBSD slice > /dev/ada0s2a -> FreeBSD boot partition (or "everything") > /dev/ada0s2b -> FreeBSD swap partition > > Depending on how you want to set the system up, you will > at least need ada0s2 with ada0s2a; everything else is optional > or can be located elsewhere. > <SNIP> > > Same problem here: No free disk space, and only a logical > drive within a DOS extended partition which FreeBSD cannot > natively use, at least not for booting. > > It _might_ be possible to initialize this one with newfs > manually, and use it as /home (with "newfs" command and > maybe "tunefs" if needed). The corresponding /dev/ada1s<?> > will be a mystery for now. :-) I suppose here is why I am replying as such - /dev (in the FreeBSD installer environment) is not splitting out ada0 and ada1 into their partition nodes. As mentioned before, `gpart list` (my mistake for quoting `gpart show` earlier) returns nothing, and with the added `-a` switch, the only returned data is related to the optical drive. > Sorry, I have never been using heavy DOS partitioning in > combination with FreeBSD, and even for dual-booting systems, > I've only been using primary partitions. I never needed > more than 4 "drive letters"... :-) > Understood. > Sidenote: > > For /home, if I understood you correctly, you don't even > need to add a label to the slice. Let's say, /dev/ada1s2 > will be the DOS primary partition on the 2nd disk where > you want to place /home. You now _could_ add a 'd' label > ('a' reserved for boot partition, 'b' for swap, and 'c' > for "the whole thing, whatever it is"), and then run > "newfs /dev/ada1s2d" on it. That's not needed, you can > "newfs /dev/ada1s2" as well, and then use /dev/ada1s2 > for the /etc/fstab entry. If you wanted to use the entire > disk as "FreeBSD data" (i. e., not to boot from), you > could use "newfs /dev/ada1" to initialize it. This approach, > not using any partitioning at all, is called "dedicated", > because only FreeBSD can use it. The omission of partitioning > information will make it unusable for other operating systems, > even if they have UFS file system support. > > However, if you use the typical FreeBSD partitioning approach, > you should get things up and running without further problems. > > > > > `gpart show` returns nothing, and because the GEOM error > > automatically > > assumes the partition tables are BSD when they are really MBR > > (msdos), > > I don't believe the thread I found will be of assistance: > > > > https://www.mail-archive.com/freebsd-geom@freebsd.org/msg01424.html > > > > ...nor would I want to really risk blowing everything away (even > > with > > backups) for the possibility that my partition tables have gone > > weird > > over the years. > > Try to remove the logical drives you prepared. See if the > installer picks up the free disk space. You have sufficient > DOS primary partitions left (you only need 1), that should > be okay. The installer seems to be a little confused here, > don't make it harder for it than it needs to be. :-) > To add some detail as to what the partition editor (continues to) read back (in case this jars an idea for someone): ada0 256GB ada1 932GB IIRC, if the partitioner considered the drives as initialized, a third column with "MBR" would be present. Instead, it seems that the partitioner considered the drives as uninitialized or corrupt? > > > AHCI is turned on in my BIOS, but I am wondering if due to my other > > BIOS settings (noted above; IME disabled as well as it can be) if > > that > > is making FreeBSD expect something different from the controller > > than > > what is really happening. I feel it is going to be something silly > > such as a slightly different process for non-UEFI. > > I don't think so. The drives seem to be detected correctly > without any errors. It's just the confusing partitioning. > With unused disk space, things should work better. > I did grep dmesg against GEOM as well, and there are two extra GEOM_PART errors for the drive UUID's this time, instead of just the /dev nodes. I suppose I could check for different kernel modes - there may be an option at the cd-loader that covers this. Thanks for the tips thus far.
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