[Mikazukinoyaiba]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8433742#post8433742
Received no support from Ubuntu forum, maybe Dell Mini 9 modders can help me out.

I recently installed a 32GB SSD from SuperTalent, it seems to have been installed correctly so I don't think it is the harddrive that is at fault. But when I tried installing Ubuntu 9.10 netbook remix from a USB drive (prepared by Unetbootin), I always face an issue in partitioning.

Involvine the file type ext4, I tried installing the desktop version, using ext3, and even Fedora. Each time during installation a similar issue.

Is it my harddrive that is the problem?

[reflex]

You also may wish to choose "check disk for errors" in the USB system's boot menu to check the install media, maybe your installer got corrupted. But it's also possible that your SSD is the problem.

I'd try formatting the drive manually, instead of through the installer. It still might not work, but the errors might be more definitive.

So, boot off the USB drive, then run partitioning and formatting software. The friendliest GUI software is probably GParted (I think it might be called "Partition Editor" under "Administration" or "System Tools"). Personally, I prefer to use terminal tools, like "fdisk" for partitioning and "mkfs.ext4" for filesystem creation. It's up to you.

Start up the partition editor and setup the necessary partition(s). If you're only going to be booting Ubuntu, I'd go with a 4-6GB system partition, and the rest as a user partition, mounted at "/home". You could also throw in a swap partition of a gig or two, but I prefer running without swap.

If the partitioning/formatting succeeds, you can proceed with the installation. Just point the installer to the partitions you created, instead of letting it do it's own thing.

Good luck.

[onewheel]

I installed UNR 9.1 yesterday and there appears to be a bug where the system generates false positive disk error messages. I doubt that my SSD is bad because I've run multiple linux distributions over the past week and UNR 9.1 is the only one that flags these errors. I am installing on a stock 4GB STEC.

FWIW, I also installed Easy Peasy 1.5, but it does not support the Broadcom wireless card without manual configuration after the install.

--tom

[Dunhamzzz]

Try something else with the SSD.... if you can, try a windows install disk and see if it lets you pass the partitioning stage.

I would definitely do the disk-check on your installation disk/stick, it's not rare for these to be setup wrong.

[Mikazukinoyaiba]

Thank you for the help guys, in the end it turned out that yes the SSD was bad.

Got a new one from Super Talent and it installed perfectly this time around.

Now trying to get DBAN on a USB to delete the Dell Stock SSD.

Once again, thanks.

[reflex]

A hardware failure means that you might not be able to (completely) erase the drive. But good luck.

[Mikazukinoyaiba]

Well that was a different SSD that was failing, one that was never used yet since no installation was even possible.

I'm not worried about any personal information on that one.

[reflex]

Oops. I should've (re)read your posts more carefully.