Kubuntu does not see my HDD that I formatted as lvm2

[Spiv13]

Hello all,

After having problems with my 20.04 install, I decided to start afresh.
I copied all files in my HDD to an external HDD and set about installing 20.10.

I have a Samsung Ultrabok with 12GB RAM, a 24GB SSD and a 500GB HDD.
After reading here and there I decided to use lvm file system for both my internal drives.
From the live disk, I used Prtition Manager to wipe both drives and create partitions like this:
sdb (SSD) deleted all and left 1x 24GB full partition unallocated.

sda deleted all existing ext4 partitiona and created:
1x 99GB lvm2 pv partition
1x 137GB lvm2 pv partition
1x 230GB lvm2 pv partition.

Then installed 20.10 on sdb (guided, entire disk) lvm2 pv.

After restart, all seems ok, but I cannot see the HDD from Dolphin, only the SSD.
Partition Manager sees both and a third called vgkubuntu .

The terminal also doesn't seem to see the HDD:
spiv@spiv-ultra:~$ sudo vgscan
[sudo] password for spiv:
Found volume group "vgkubuntu" using metadata type lvm2
spiv@spiv-ultra:~$ sudo vgscan --mknodes
Found volume group "vgkubuntu" using metadata type lvm2
spiv@spiv-ultra:~$ sudo lvs
[sudo] password for spiv:
LV VG Attr LSize Pool Origin Data% Meta% Move Log Cpy
%Sync Convert
root vgkubuntu -wi-ao---- <20.91g
swap_1 vgkubuntu -wi-ao---- 980.00m
spiv@spiv-ultra:~$ ^C

Can anyone please help me to get hold of my HDD so that I can then copy back all my files?

[oshunluvr]

I've never used lvm so I can't comment about the functioning of that, but your partitioning scheme seems wildly complicated for a laptop. It seems to me you gained a layer of complexity for no benefit. It's not like you can add more hard drives to the laptop and why make three physical partitions then logically join them into one? Why not a single, simple partition?

Dolphin is a file manager, not a drive manager. It "sees" mounted file systems and will using auto-mount any file system properly defined in fstab and has the ability to access USB drives, etc. The point is it seems likely that you have not mounted the lvm partition or maybe didn't put a file system on it yet.

[Spiv13]

Hi @oshunluvr,

reading about lvm, they say that they are much better than the older system, you can:

"You can think of LVM as "dynamic partitions", meaning that you can create/resize/delete LVM "partitions" (they're called "Logical Volumes" in LVM-speak) from the command line while your Linux system is running: no need to reboot the system to make the kernel aware of the newly-created or resized partitions." https://askubuntu.com/questions/3596...-for/3833#3833

Since I was going to reformat both my drives, it made sense to me to use this 'wonder' system...
i created three partitions on my HDD so that I could put videos on one, pics on another etc, be able to resize at will and maintain an additional safety in not loosing all my files if something went wrong with one partition.
I have for many years used to partition my HDD in order to have an additional layer of safety, having several partitions with just a few folders in them or 1 partition with lots of folders, at the end makes little difference to me.

Yes,you are right, I did not mount them, I cannot use the 'mount' option, it is grayed.


And no, I did not assign any filesystem to any partition, I do not know if it can be done or should be done...
Kubuntu did assign a fat32 to the /boot/efi partition, but left the rest as lvm2 in my 24GB SSD drive:


I am very keen to mount them (and or assign an ext4 filesystem if necessary), but I do not know how to do that... I would be very grateful is someone could help me.

[jglen490]

I think oshunluvr may have a heart attack on this one, but I believe you can get the same result without the complexity of lvm2. But with the more manageable complexity of btrfs.

oshunluvr can tell you all about it!