Installation of Ubuntu 16.04 on M.2 SSD

Question

After reading this blog https://delightlylinux.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/ubuntu-16-04-xubuntu-16-04-and-the-samsung-950-pro-256g-m-2/, I tried to install Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit on my desktop PC. I now encountered some problems.

When I try to install Ubuntu my SSD is not recognized as /nvme but only as /sdb.

I thought nothing about it and installed it nonetheless. After restarting my PC, Ubuntu won't boot.

Like the blog mentioned I tried Setting SATA to IDE, but this didn't either recognized my SSD as /nvme.

I also couldn't find an option to set Boot to legacy BIOS BOOT.

My specs are

• Intel i5-4960K
• Asrock z97 extreme6
• SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 256GB

Solution

There are a few things, which can be done. First, check, if your BIOS has AHCI enabled. (I have it little unlogically named RAID Mode in On Chip ATA devices tab.). Option IDE is slow and my computer does not recognize this a new Memory. This is fundamental. Then use Gparted from Ubuntu live. You should see the /nvme0n1 drive. If yes, you can begin with installation. It should be as usual. If not, try to create partitions using Gparted in Live Ubuntu and try it again. Partition table should be GPT or MSDOS type. If UEFI not functioning or you prefere reliable way , than use MSDOS.

Generally, GPT is used for large devices using UEFI. First partition should be in FAT32 format, size is about 500MB.

I advice using older, but more conventional MSDOS. First partition should be primary partition based on Linux File System (e.q. ext4) with size about 1GB mapped on /boot.

For exaple, I decided to split partitions into 3 plus SWAP partiton (you can use Swap File for now, but I don't see advantage). Tested on Ubuntu 18.04 - the both manners - UEFI and MSDOS. You can see below, what I finally choose.