I am new to Linux. I am a long time Windows user and a former desktop support engineer for the better part of 2 decades. I have an issue that I have searched high and low for an answer and I can't find one.
I have limited space on my Windows boot drive. I am not made of money. I am disabled and I am on a fixed income. Buying anything but necessities is out of the question. So I want to boot from another drive on my system. I want to try my best to transition to Ubuntu because I am sick of windows. I chose Ubuntu because I use Studio One 6.6 and it is now available for Ubuntu 24.X with Wayland. And this is critical for me because I do not want to switch back and forth between Linux and windows. I am telling you all of this to head off some suggested solutions to my issue. As I said I want to transition to Ubuntu as quickly as possible.
That said My largest free space is one a Raid array that I use for my fast storage. It consists of 4 smaller SSDs connected to a hardware RAID controller. Win 11 device manager says it is a Marvell 92xx 6gb controller. It is made by Vantec. I tried installing Ubuntu and when it got to creating the boot partition the Raid controller and those partitions do not show up. I am 1) Looking for a driver to support this device and 2) figuring out a way to install it pre install so that the device is available. I have read in various places that you can't boot from a Raid array but I have seen it done in server environments, so I think that is bogus info.
I have regular HDDs for other storage in my system but they are slow. I want and need the SSD performance. I do graphic work and create music in Studio One. The performance hit is not acceptable for either. I do not play games anymore so that isn't an issue.
SO... can someone please tell me how I can use a partition on that Raid array to boot from. It has to be possible. I am willing to be patient in setting it up. I am tech saavy and can follow instructions. I am just a complete noob with Linux. My sole experience is with some utilities I have used in pre boot environments.
I have limited space on my Windows boot drive. I am not made of money. I am disabled and I am on a fixed income. Buying anything but necessities is out of the question. So I want to boot from another drive on my system. I want to try my best to transition to Ubuntu because I am sick of windows. I chose Ubuntu because I use Studio One 6.6 and it is now available for Ubuntu 24.X with Wayland. And this is critical for me because I do not want to switch back and forth between Linux and windows. I am telling you all of this to head off some suggested solutions to my issue. As I said I want to transition to Ubuntu as quickly as possible.
That said My largest free space is one a Raid array that I use for my fast storage. It consists of 4 smaller SSDs connected to a hardware RAID controller. Win 11 device manager says it is a Marvell 92xx 6gb controller. It is made by Vantec. I tried installing Ubuntu and when it got to creating the boot partition the Raid controller and those partitions do not show up. I am 1) Looking for a driver to support this device and 2) figuring out a way to install it pre install so that the device is available. I have read in various places that you can't boot from a Raid array but I have seen it done in server environments, so I think that is bogus info.
I have regular HDDs for other storage in my system but they are slow. I want and need the SSD performance. I do graphic work and create music in Studio One. The performance hit is not acceptable for either. I do not play games anymore so that isn't an issue.
SO... can someone please tell me how I can use a partition on that Raid array to boot from. It has to be possible. I am willing to be patient in setting it up. I am tech saavy and can follow instructions. I am just a complete noob with Linux. My sole experience is with some utilities I have used in pre boot environments.