I hope this isn’t considered spamy, as I wrote about it in another topic but mentioned it in other topics too. This is a major issue which worries me a lot, as it prevents some users from being able to install OpenSuse at all.
I made a topic a while ago about an issue I’m experiencing with my 2TB Hard Disk not being detected by OpenSuse 11.2 64bit. Today I found the issue also happens in 11.3 RC1, and users with 2TB hard disks may not be able to use 11.3 either when it comes out.
OpenSuse does not seem to detect hard disks larger than 2 Terabytes and / or SATA3 hard disks. Ever since I got my 2TB drive (see the linked topic for more detail) OpenSuse does not see it, and if it occasionally happens to it sees partitions on it as corrupted. I tried anything imaginable to fix the issue, and my hard disk and other hardware are working perfectly so this is not a hardware failure (I use Windows from this hard disk daily, and never had the slightest issue).
I’m certain this is something on OpenSuse’s side, since it’s the only application or OS which has this problem with my disk. I hope it can be identified and fixed urgently, or 2TB users will have to wait for 11.4. I’d be glad to help with more tests, but safe tests only as I can’t risk loosing any Windows data from this disk.
I understand. How can it be fixed in a patch, as I am slightly confused about that? Are the download versions updated before the next release comes out? Eg. If 11.3 is released with a major issue, but it’s fixed a bit later, is 11.3 updated on the download page or it’s just 11.4 coming out when it’s time for it?
And I’m looking forward to hearing about your experience with the new hard drive. The one I’m having this problem with is a Seagate 2TB Baracuda XT, SATA3, 7200rpm, 64MB. If yours will be detected then the problem is likely not the 2TB size but perhaps another issue, though I suspect the size most.
[EDIT] Also, I remember OpenSuse does actually see and mount the NTFS partitions, so that may work. It’s only the partitioner I know to have these issues, and not see the hard drive, which I find very odd (installer partitioner and Yast partitioner). Hope I’m not wrong here…
On Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:56:01 +0000, MirceaKitsune wrote:
> I understand. How can it be fixed in a patch, as I am slightly confused
> about that? Are the download versions updated before the next release
> comes out?
I couldn’t say for certain, but it seems to me that an issue that
prevents installation would (at least in my mind) be something that
they’d want to fix. With only ~20 days to go before release, a fix may
not be in place before it goes Gold, but I can’t imagine that anyone
would think that waiting another 18 months for a fix is a viable option,
either.
But it also depends on the root cause of the problem.
> Eg. If 11.3 is released with a major issue, but it’s fixed a
> bit later, is 11.3 updated on the download page or it’s just 11.4 coming
> out when it’s time for it?
>
> And I’m looking forward to hearing about your experience with the new
> hard drive. The one I’m having this problem with is a ‘Seagate 2TB
> Baracuda XT, SATA3, 7200rpm, 64MB’ (http://tinyurl.com/2vn7kst). If
> yours will be detected then the problem is likely not the 2TB size but
> perhaps another issue, though I suspect the size most.
>
> [EDIT] Also, I remember OpenSuse does actually see and mount the NTFS
> partitions, so that may work. It’s only the partitioner I know to have
> these issues, and not see the hard drive, which I find very odd
> (installer partitioner and Yast partitioner). Hope I’m not wrong here…
The drive I have isn’t going to be installed to (it’s an external USB
drive), so my test may show that for USB drives it’s not an issue - but
that’s a data point as well in terms of identifying whether it’s an issue
with the size of the drive or perhaps a problem with compatibility with
the controller in your system.
I am questioning why there should be a problem when the ext2/3/4 filesystems of Linux are supposed to support 3TB per partition. So if the Linux design is supposed to have this support, it would be a big issue if the partitioner can’t handle a drive of 2TB in size. I wonder how on earth they figure to use a 3TB partition if even a 2TB drive can’t be structured!
In case it’s not going to be installed to, try accessing it with the Partitioner in Yast as that has the same issue. If the Partitioner just shows the HDD and its current partition(s) correctly, it means the issue doesn’t happen with that hard drive, and another spec might be the problem. But just to be sure, I would also recommend starting the installer and letting it get to the partitioner part just to see if it detects the HDD properly, then closing it without any change being made.
I seen some replies in the other topic that it might be the HDD having sectors larger than 512 bytes. I’m not sure if mine has that as it’s not mentioned on the web site, so I need to see this info from Windows or bios.
Not sure if large partitions are supported by Linux. I split my 2TB drive in several partitions, biggest one having 1.2TB which I use for data (NTFS though).
Just to be clear however… in my situation it’s not a problem with partitions theirselves. One proof is that the partitioner still told me “partitions are corrupted” after I wiped the HDD to 0 using a wipe tool, and it had no partitions, partition table or anything left on it.
On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:56:02 +0000, MirceaKitsune wrote:
> In case it’s not going to be installed to, try accessing it with the
> Partitioner in Yast as that has the same issue. If the Partitioner just
> shows the HDD and its current partition(s) correctly, it means the issue
> doesn’t happen with that hard drive, and another spec might be the
> problem. But just to be sure, I would also recommend starting the
> installer and letting it get to the partitioner part just to see if it
> detects the HDD properly, then closing it without any change being made.
I’ll do that - I didn’t have a chance to fully test this weekend, but I
got RC1 installed and if I have a few minutes during the week, I’ll try
it out. Shouldn’t take long to verify - the hard drive is just on
another system and is in use (I’m having to recover from a hard drive
crash).
I have used several 1TB and 2TB drives of SATA type with ext2 and ext3 under Linux Mandrake and openSUSE 11.1 32bit/11.2 32bit. They were run as whole partition data back-up and also as multi partition designs.
The one big selling point was at a time where Windows filesystem was limited to 2TB (XP) per drive Linux specs from Linus Torvald’s blog stated “the maximum of 3TB per partition would soon be breached in newer kernels. It went on to state the average desktop which now can command only a maximum of 216TB broke down as 4 physical hdd’s of 54TB x 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition with 15 Logical’s of 3TB each could see 4TB, 6TB or even 10TB partitions. It is hoped that such a substantial increase would put an end to having to link multiple PC’s together via a network just to handle storage problems.”
I took that to read that at least the Linux kernel is supposed to support 54TB drives as long as they can be partitioned such that each partition does not exceed 3TB. Using simple math, if they do release a 4,6 or 10TB filesystem, the maximum drive size would be 72TB, 108TB, and 180TB. The problem now comes that no-one makes a drive as large as 54TB. Today, the largest is 2TB:’(
On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:06:01 +0000, techwiz03 wrote:
> I have used several 1TB and 2TB drives of SATA type with ext2 and ext3
> under Linux Mandrake and openSUSE 11.1 32bit/11.2 32bit. They were run
> as whole partition data back-up and also as multi partition designs.
Well, yes, but the issue is that MirceaKitsune is seeing a problem in the
11.3 prereleases. It should support it, but he’s seeing problems with
that support, which might be a bug.
Yes, I don’t see why it doesn’t support it either. This makes me suspect more and more it may be something other than the 2TB limit, but would like to hear a clear confirmation from someone that the partitioner sees a 2TB drive.
As I said previously, I remember folder explorers (like Dolphin or Konqueror) can mount my NTFS partitions and see them properly. It’s only the partitioner, including the installer, that doesn’t appear to see them. Last time I booted the Live CD OpenSuse, I could access my NTFS partitions and see them, but the partitioner in Yast didn’t see my hard disk or said the partitions are corrupted right next to it. Perhaps I shall try that again just to be sure.
I tested again with an older 11.3 Milestone 4 Live KDE DVD. To my surprise, both the partitioner and My Computer window showed my hard drive properly this time, which I find extremely weird. If I start any OpenSuse installer however (non-live CD), my hard disk is not seen. So this might be an installer only issue perhaps?
On Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:36:01 +0000, MirceaKitsune wrote:
> I tested again with an older 11.3 Milestone 4 Live KDE DVD. To my
> surprise, both the partitioner and My Computer window showed my hard
> drive properly this time, which I find extremely weird. If I start any
> OpenSuse installer however (non-live CD), my hard disk is not seen. So
> this might be an installer only issue perhaps?
>
> Partitioner in Yast, 11.3 Milestone 4 LiveCD KDE 64bit:
> http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8881/snapshot1ifz.png
>
> 11.3 RC1 64bit installer:
> http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/7968/snapshot2h.png
What is the geometry on your drive and reported total formatted space?
I’m wondering if my drive is even large enough - it’s sold as a 2 TB
drive, but many manufacturers use 1000 byte “KB” instead of 1024 byte KB,
so mine actually is slightly smaller than 2 actual TB.
On Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:34:26 +0000, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:36:01 +0000, MirceaKitsune wrote:
>
>> I tested again with an older 11.3 Milestone 4 Live KDE DVD. To my
>> surprise, both the partitioner and My Computer window showed my hard
>> drive properly this time, which I find extremely weird. If I start any
>> OpenSuse installer however (non-live CD), my hard disk is not seen. So
>> this might be an installer only issue perhaps?
>>
>> Partitioner in Yast, 11.3 Milestone 4 LiveCD KDE 64bit:
>> http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8881/snapshot1ifz.png
>>
>> 11.3 RC1 64bit installer:
>> http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/7968/snapshot2h.png
>
> What is the geometry on your drive and reported total formatted space?
>
> I’m wondering if my drive is even large enough - it’s sold as a 2 TB
> drive, but many manufacturers use 1000 byte “KB” instead of 1024 byte
> KB, so mine actually is slightly smaller than 2 actual TB.
I just tried it out a few minutes ago, and my “2 TB” drive was recognized
in the YaST partitioner.
I seriously doubt there’s any problem in size, but I suspect SATA3 controller producing failures. Does it have some modes settings in BIOS or software RAID or smth. like that?
I tried running it on a SATA2 port as well, and on IDE AHCI or RAID. Still didn’t fix the problem, so I still think it’s something with the hard disk itself.
On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:06:01 +0000, MirceaKitsune wrote:
> Minton;2182948 Wrote:
>> I seriously doubt there’s any problem in size, but I suspect SATA3
>> controller producing failures. Does it have some modes settings in BIOS
>> or software RAID or smth. like that?
>
> I tried running it on a SATA2 port as well, and on IDE AHCI or RAID.
> Still didn’t fix the problem, so I still think it’s something with the
> hard disk itself.
That’s quite possible - are you seeing any issues with the disk with
other installs? (I seem to recall you might’ve mentioned something about
that before).
You might update your bug with information on the controller as well just
in case it’s controller compatibility with the kernel drivers.
