Hard drive partition

orphen974 · 22-Jun-2008, 12:11

Hi,

When i try to install opensuse, i got strange information when i reach the partition window. I got 1 hard drive and OS said when it propose a partition configuration a very strange name for my hard disk.
Instead of being sda1, sda2 and so on, he name it like /dev/mapper_device/Sil_0123...1, /dev/mapper_device/Sil_0123...2 and so on.

Why he name like that?? With ubuntu, i don't get this problem and have sda1, sda2.

I don't activate raid bios.
Any help will be greatly appreciate.

Thx

**jantman** · 17-Jul-2008, 18:33

This is normal with OpenSuSE 11.0 and most newer distributions. You still actually have /dev/sda1 (or hda1) and whatnot, but this is using /dev/disk/by-id. I don't know the full logic of it, but I know that it uses *unique* disk IDs, so even if you change the drive cabling everything stays the same.

If you're just having confusion figuring out which disk is which, `fdisk print` should handle that.

**Magic31** · 17-Jul-2008, 23:09

Originally Posted by jantman

This is normal with OpenSuSE 11.0 and most newer distributions. You still actually have /dev/sda1 (or hda1) and whatnot, but this is using /dev/disk/by-id. I don't know the full logic of it, but I know that it uses *unique* disk IDs, so even if you change the drive cabling everything stays the same.

True they are switching to device by id, but as far as memory severs, the partition tool presented during install should show the traditional names (sda, sdb, etc..)?

**jantman** · 18-Jul-2008, 06:43

I agree that it really should show the translation. This had me a bit unnerved the first time, too.

But I guess we should all just be happy that it's not BSD and we don't need a calculator for the install...

orphen974 · 31-Oct-2008, 15:15

thx for the reply.
So if i read correctly, it's normal that opensuse use the hard drive's ID?

Here what i got when i tried to install opensuse:

NB: i got only 1 hard drive

**mingus725** · 01-Nov-2008, 12:20

Using "device-ID" (/dev/disk/by-id/.....) is indeed the new default naming convention for disks, as it provides a more unique identifier than "device-name" (/dev/sda) and does not change when other disks are removed/added, as can happen with device-name.

Having said that, /dev/mapper/sil..... is not device-ID. That is the kernel device-mapper layer which sits on top of a bios RAID device. In this case, you have a Silicon Image device, and openSUSE is detecting it as being enabled for RAID. This is what you are seeing in the openSUSE install partitioning window (that you posted above), that is, the drive is "BIOS RAID sil . . ." and each of the partitions are "DM Raid", that is, device-mapper RAID.

In the other report you posted, you see the drive recognized twice, once as "raw" and the other as the bios RAID device. That is typical.

Double-check your bios settings for the Silicon Image device. You said above that you did not active the RAID setting. Perhaps there is another, like "SATA-only". If you are certain that the bios is correct, then open a new thread with a title like "Install sees RAID but there is not" and perhaps someone with more experience with this will respond.