No access to internal SSD, when outside Win10 on an Acer Swift 5 SF514-54T

Kristian_A
Kristian_A Member Posts: 4 New User
edited November 2023 in 2019 Archives
I have a brand new Acer Swift 5.
I need to install a second OS (linux). 
I have a SSD as C: in Win10.

I try to access the SSD when booting a USB live with Kubuntu18.03, but the SSD does not appear in the command line by the df command. 
I only see the USB drive and other external drives.

The same thing happens when i try to backup the whole SSD drive via Clonezilla(on USB live). 
The internal SSD does not appear there either.

I have entered a Supervisor password.
I have disabled Secure boot, to be able to boot a live USB.
I have tried both enabled and disabled TPM(TCM) state in bios.

So how can I access the internal SSD outside Win10?

i7-1065G7
Bios version 1.02 InsydeH20
Gop Version Intel(R)GOP Driver[14.0.1023]
SSD(WDC PC SDAPNUW-512G1014) 512GB
16GB 
Serial No/product no NXHHYED001
Product name Swift SF514-54T
W10 home.

Best Answer

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Yes leave in AHCI mode. Did you put isos on GPT partition FAT32 format USBs for UEFI bootstrap or Legacy BIOS using Rufus? Jack E/NJ  

    Jack E/NJ

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Please check what SATA modes are set in BIOS information and main tabs. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Kristian_A
    Kristian_A Member Posts: 4 New User
    Thank for your answer.
    Original settings was
    Bios Information tab: 
    Sata mode: Optane without RAID

    Bios Main tab:
    Sata mode: Optane without RAID

    I tried ACHI mode, but it gave basically the same result. The main SSD(512GB) is missing when running:
    -Kubuntu installer on USB Live
    -Clonezilla on USB live
    - Kubuntu live on USB.

    I have tried different Linux commands: df, lshw, fdisk -l and they all confims no detection of the internal SSD.

    But the internal SSD works well inside Win10

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Yes leave in AHCI mode. Did you put isos on GPT partition FAT32 format USBs for UEFI bootstrap or Legacy BIOS using Rufus? Jack E/NJ  

    Jack E/NJ

  • Kristian_A
    Kristian_A Member Posts: 4 New User
    JackE, Thank you very much. It made the trick!!!
    Lessons learned for USB Live use:
    use Rufus 3.8 + GPT + UEFI(non CSM = non legacy) settings.
    use BIOS SATA mode="ACHI" in Laptop(InsydeH2O BIOS)

    Win10 needs Laptop Bios SATA mode ="Optane without RAID" to boot properly into Win10.



  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,330 Trailblazer
    Congrats. Optane memory should be semi-useful with a mechanical drive, and fairly useless with a SSD. Your Win10 setup probably was also used for machines with mechanical drive. Jack E/NJ   

    Jack E/NJ

  • therma
    therma Member Posts: 2 New User
    Hi Kristian,

    Just got my Acer Swift 5 and got same issue installing Ubuntu: SDD is not visible.

    May I ask you how you changed Optane for AHCI?
    I don't see any modifiable parameter for that in the BIOS.

    Following screenshots of my bios







  • Kristian_A
    Kristian_A Member Posts: 4 New User
    HI thema, see pcs for my bios settings.
    I see the SSDs are different.
    I have a bootable USB attached. It is prepared as described above.
    I see you are missing the Sata mode in the Main tab.
    The Bios and the GOP version are different.
    I don't know if the Intel VTX does matter in the Advanced tab.
    I do not understand your computers behaviour.
    /Kristian_A


  • Press ctrl+s in main tab @therma
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
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  • therma
    therma Member Posts: 2 New User
    Thank you guys for your support,

    Pressing ctrl-s in the main tab of the bios make the SATA option to magically appear.
    Don't know why Acer is hiding this configuration in the latest version of the bios.
    Anyway changing it to AHCI allowed me to see the SSD drive from the live USB.

    I just finished the installation of Kubuntu 19.10 and it seems to work very well.
    Note that I tried to boot Clonezilla and KDE Neon from live USB but both failed with black screen on startup.
    Only (x)Ubuntu live USB seems to be bootable on this machine.

    If I want to boot on windows I need to go in the bios first to set the SATA option back to Optane.
    Not a big deal for me since I'm not planing to use windows very often.

    Note that I had to install package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics in order to be able to use the trackpad correctly

  • First I recommend that you back up the image to acer care center as a precaution:
    Then try formatting ssd.
    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • ZheYing
    ZheYing Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Did you mount the drive on your Linux? If you didn’t you won’t be able to use it.