SliTaz Forum

Ceel

Administrator

Registered: 2011-04-02

Posts: 1,424

SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

Hello,

I ran SliTaz (Rolling 20180930 and Next lxqt 20180107) from LiveUSB on a Lenovo E480 and I noticed that SliTaz doesn't see the SSD disk (238 GB). Do I need to install a particular package or is it something with the kernel?

On the same computer, GRUB 2 cannot read the NTFS partitions :

grub> ls
(hd0) (hd0,msdos1) (hd1) (hd1,gpt3) (hd1),gpt2) (hd1,gpt1)

grub> ls (hd1,gpt3)
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/zfs.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/tar.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/sfs.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/nilfs2.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/afs.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/affs.mod' not found
        Partition hd1,gpt3: No known filesystem detected - Partition start at 398336KiB - Total size 249660416 KiB

I installed the missing modules from http://cook.slitaz.org/next64/grub2/browse/taz/grub2-efi-modules-2.02/fs/boot/efi/grub/x86_64-efi/ and reboot. No error messages about modules now but:

[c]grub > ls (hd1,gpt3)/
error: unknown filesystem.[/c]
No problem to access to the FAT32 partition:

grub> ls (hd1,1)
        Partition hd1,1: Filesystem type fat - Label 'SYSTEM', UUID A26C-9724 - Partition start at ....

grub> ls (hd1,1)/
efi/
grub> ls (hd1,1)/efi
Microsoft/ Boot/

gpt3 is NTFS. I've "insmod" ntfs and got the same result

I read again all the GRUB 2 manual but didn't find anything that could help me; no more success with searches on internet. I really don't know what to do more.

Can that be something special to the Lenovo?

Did anyone ever use SliTaz from gpt/ntfs partition on a SSD drive?

SliTaz running from the same LivesUSB on hp / acer computers with a similar configuration (W10 installed) has no problem to access to gpt3; same for GRUB 2. Both have a mechanical HD.

Ceel

Administrator

Registered: 2011-04-02

Posts: 1,424

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

Hello,

I come back to this problem (SliTaz part).

I did a test on a Dell Latitude E5470 that has a SATA SSD disk; no problem to read the partitions. I think SliTaz doesn't see the Lenovo's SSD because it is a PCIe SSD.

In Rolling, [c]CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PCIESSD_MTIP32XX=m[/c]

Can someone tell me where is this module and what is its name? I didn't find it.

In Next, [c]# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PCIESSD_MTIP32XX is not set[/c]

And probably the NVMe support is necessary but in Rolling and Next

[c]# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NVME is not set[/c]

alanyih

Administrator

Registered: 2011-04-02

Posts: 532

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

Hi,

In Rolling, CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PCIESSD_MTIP32XX=m

Can someone tell me where is this module and what is its name?

The Linux kernel configuration item CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PCIESSD_MTIP32XX:

https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/BLK_DEV_PCIESSD_MTIP32XX.html

prompt: Block Device Driver for Micron PCIe SSDs

    type: tristate

    depends on: CONFIG_PCI

    defined in drivers/block/mtip32xx/Kconfig

    found in Linux kernels: 3.3–3.19, 4.0–4.19, 4.19+HEAD

    modules built: mtip32xx

Ref:

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PCIESSD_MTIP32XX=y

http://hg.slitaz.org/wok/rev/9caf7966225d

New kernel

$ grep  mtip32xx /lib/modules/3.16.55-slitaz/modules.builtin

kernel/drivers/block/mtip32xx/mtip32xx.ko

Ceel

Administrator

Registered: 2011-04-02

Posts: 1,424

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

Hi alanyih,

Thanks for the new kernel. Unfortunately, SliTaz still doesn't see the disk.

I recompiled the kernel with the NVMe support but :

long bla bla bla and

  CHK     include/generated/compile.h
  BC      kernel/timeconst.h
/bin/sh: bc: not found
kernel/Makefile:127: recipe for target 'kernel/timeconst.h' failed
make[1]: *** [kernel/timeconst.h] Error 127
Makefile:909: recipe for target 'kernel' failed
make: *** [kernel] Error 2
That the first time I get this error. What do I need more to compile the kernel?

bellard

Administrator

Registered: 2011-03-28

Posts: 657

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

# tazpkg get-install bc

see http://hg.slitaz.org/wok/file/tip/linux/receipt#l15

Ceel

Administrator

Registered: 2011-04-02

Posts: 1,424

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

Sometimes I feel really stupid... thank you to remember it to me Bellard.

Well after I've installed bc I can finish to compile the kernel.

And finally only NVMe support was usefull; setting

[c]# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PCIESSD_MTIP32XX is not set[/c] and

[c]CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NVME=y[/c]

SliTaz can now see the disk

# fdisk -l
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 500118192 sectors, 2534M
Logical sector size: 512
Disk identifier (GUID): 324ef864-7efa-45be-b0b0-c70122bdf99c
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 500118158

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size Name
     1            2048          534527  260M EFI system partition
     2          534528          796671  128M Microsoft reserved partition
     3          796672       500117503  238G Basic data partition
Disk /dev/sda: 246 MB, 257949696 bytes, 503808 sectors
91 cylinders, 92 heads, 60 sectors/track
Units: cylinders of 5520 * 512 = 2826240 bytes

Device  Boot StartCHS    EndCHS        StartLBA     EndLBA    Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 *  0,32,33     31,91,60          2048     503807     501760  245M  c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical start (non-Linux?):
     phys=(0,32,33) logical=(0,34,9)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical end:
     phys=(31,91,60) logical=(91,24,48)
but...

I know now why GRUB 2 says [c]unknown filesystem[/c]:

[attachment=46841,2744]

BitLocker is turned on. As it is my work computer, I'm not admin. So I won't be able to turn BitLocker off.

End of the story for me. What a pity to have a so modern computer and to be able to use only the RAM.

Hope this topic will be usefull for others.

As NVMe SSDs are not yet very popular maybe it is enough to have nvme (and mtip32xx) compiled as module in SliTaz's kernel?

lexeii

Administrator

Registered: 2012-03-21

Posts: 1,853

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

Hi Ceel,

BitLocker is turned on.

I've just ported dislocker (and it's dependency mbedtls) from SliTaz Next to SliTaz Cooking for you.

Can you try it, please?

Actually, I have a couple of PCs with BitLocker "up and running" at my work, but I not tried DisLocker on them. Hope, manpages will help you.

Beware, keep your data, and good luck!

UPD:

From this DisLocker manual (in Russian):

[c]dislocker -V /dev/sdb1 -uSECRET /mnt/dislocker[/c]

where [c]/dev/sdb1[/c] is encrypted partition;

[c]SECRET[/c] is user's password (?);

[c]/mnt/dislocker[/c] is mount point. It will be a virtual NTFS partition, so we can mount it.

alanyih

Administrator

Registered: 2011-04-02

Posts: 532

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

full support fat32

# tazpkg -gi dosfstools mtools

[attachment=46853,2745]

GParted -->  View  --> File System Support

[attachment=46853,2746]

Ceel

Administrator

Registered: 2011-04-02

Posts: 1,424

Re: SliTaz (and GRUB2) with SSD disks

@ Aleksej

Thank you for dislocker. I hope to test it but nothing sure; after looking through Windows menus, I saw that BitLocker is not really turned on but "waiting for activation".

It seems something went wrong during the installation of Windows. The IT support assured me they never active BitLocker on our computers. I have to bring them back my PC next week. So, maybe a happy end for me.

I'll ask them to create a small encrypted partition on the disk and give me access to the encryption key. I let you know.

@ alanyih

Yes, dosfstools and mtools are required for FAT32 but it wasn't my goal. Thank you anyway.