#899
Post
by bazola » Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:42 pm
I really think we need a subforum for installations onto compact flash SSD drives. My suspicion is that there are a wide variety of installation problems happening, and having to search through a 30 page forum post is not easy for anyone. If we had topics for each individual model type, and possibly for different adapters and cards, it would be easier not only to search out information but also to post it in the relevant place. The wiki for installing to CF basically points out no problems related to Linux. Let me tell you, there are plenty of potential problems floating around.
Key info is bolded for easy reference.
Here is the background. I researched installing to SSD on the X41t after I realized that the hard drive was only 4200 rpm and that the difference was way more than negligible. Keep in mind that I've never tried a 4200 rpm drive, and my only comparable experience is on a 5400rpm drive in an X31. I stopped in at Fry's while waiting for the tablet to be shipped, and I got a Patriot 233x UDMA5 CF card for 25 bucks. At the time I felt it was definitely worth the risk. I was right, but that card was a disaster.
Here is as close to a complete explanation of events as I can come. I should have recorded logs along the way but this should be satisfactory. I wanted to test the card, so I formatted it ext2 in my X31. No problems at this point. I went with the Addonics dual CF adapter. It took me a couple of tries to get the seating right. With the dual adapter, the master goes on the bottom and the slave spot faces up when you insert it into the X41t. Now at this point I realised there was no real reason to format ahead of time (obviously I've been a windows user for too long) because the Ubuntu 9.10 install wants to format the drive anyway. I went with ext4 at first, and the install from LiveUSB failed at 74%. Tried it again, failed at 74%. The error had to do with an inability to write to a certain partition on the drive. I then tried with ext3, and it installed with no problems. Rebooted, and the drive gets partway through booting and then starts giving me I/O errors. I can't get it to boot. I try the install again on ext2, figuring this was the problem. It lets me install and then I get I/O errors after reboot. I tried a few different variations of partitions, and I tried installing the MBR onto the primary partition rather than the device. During boot, I would either receive an error with I/O, or it would start booting and then reboot randomly.
At this point I figured the card might be bad, but doing hdparms (sudo hdparm -i /dev/sda) told me that it was a fixed drive and it was in UDMA5 mode. In various places I read that if the OS detects a drive at all, then it's installed properly. I tried PuppyLinux but during reboot I had the same kinds of I/O errors and random restarts. Just to be on the safe side I removed and reseated everything and did some more research. I found a lone forum post stating that this was an Ubuntu problem and that nobody is working to try to fix it. I decided to try Fedora 12.
Fedora 12 LiveUSB created through Windows with the latest distro would only allow me to install ext4. This is totally stupid by the way. I go ahead and let it try to install, and during reboot I get I/O errors. I tried this a couple of times. I tried Ubuntu 9.10 again. When it would work, I would get I/O errors. Just for reference, there were probably 6 different errors or more of different types. Infinite loops, all kinds of stuff.
So I go back to Fry's today and return the card. I decide not to do an even exchange, because I have a feeling that the card may be somehow responsible. Again this was the Patriot 233x UDMA5 card, 8gb. I bought a PNY 266x UDMA 8gb card for 50 bucks. I was originally thinking of going with the Delkin 305x but I didn't want to pay the few bucks more just to wait on shipping and have no easy option for return if it didn't work. I install the card and adapter, and I try Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. Installs and boots successfully on the first attempt. Also shows up as Removable, and UDMA4.
I test the boot up time vs an X31 with Ubuntu 9.10 and the X31 is a few seconds faster. I decide to try a LiveUSB of Ubuntu 9.10. During install, it tells me that it can't access the current partition, and it won't even let me try to install. I borked the Ubuntu 8.04 install in the process. I try the 8.04 version again, and it installs and boots successfully on the first attempt. At this very moment I'm trying a chain upgrade to 9.10. I'm approaching 40 manhours on this project but hey, I'm a Linux newbie so it's fine.
TLDR:
Patriot 233x 8gb UDMA5 card is probably worthless as an SSD drive. But hdparm reports it as Fixed and UDMA5.
PNY 266x 8gb UDMA runs as a removable drive at UDMA4. Probably still faster than the 42000rpm drive but I don't know for sure.
There has to be some kind of problem with Ubuntu 9.10 installs on compact flash.
It seems like mostly no on else is having this problem, and that's why I think there should be a subforum for CF SSD drives. At least one other guy on the internet had this problem. When 8.04 worked the first time with a new card, I figured he was just using a junk card. After 9.10 failed, I started thinking that he might be on to something. Maybe the better cards don't have this problem with the new Ubuntu but the crappy retail cards I've tried definitely do.
Finally I'd like to apologise that I wasn't more methodical in the process along the way. However I think this information will probably help somebody, at least.