# Can't install FreeBSD 9.1 on second harddisk



## abrasax333 (Aug 9, 2013)

Hello,

I want to install FreeBSD 9.1 from a USB stick on my second harddisk. But the harddisk is not recognized from the installer program. ThereÂ´s only da0 (USB stick) and ad0 (first harddisk). The second harddisk is visible under Windows 7 and Linux, so I donÂ´t understand why FreeBsd FreeBSD doesn't recognize the harddisk.

Thanks!


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## wblock@ (Aug 9, 2013)

How is the second disk connected?  It may be on a controller which needs a kernel module loaded to be recognized.  Please provide as many details as you can on the system, disk controllers, disks, and connection type.


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## youngunix (Aug 10, 2013)

As an extra precaution, take all the hard drives that you are not going and do not want to erase and replace with another operating system. Then leave only the hard drive that you are going to need for the installation and the Live(USB, CD or DVD). This way, you know exactly which drive to choose without confusion. Also, try erasing the drive without reformatting it and see if it gets recognized.

Best of luck.


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## abrasax333 (Aug 10, 2013)

That is difficult now. I have used only Windows so far. Therefore, as good as no FreeBSD or Linux knowledge exists. But I will try.

I have a Toshiba Satego X200 Notebook. The harddisks are two Seagate Momentus 7200.3 ST9320421AS 320 GB SATA. I try to attach some Linux information about my system.

@youngunix, I've even formatted both hard drives. But the second hard drive is still not recognized from FreeBSD. Linux and Windows 7 can recognize the harddisk.


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## abrasax333 (Aug 12, 2013)

No one there, who wants to help me? I had read that FreeBSD should also be suitable for beginners. But if it already fails at such a thing, that is very frustrating. Because I can not even install FreeBSD, I'll probably have to use Linux first and then later times migrate to FreeBSD.  I thought it would go without this intermediate step.


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## kpa (Aug 12, 2013)

abrasax333 said:
			
		

> I had read that FreeBSD should also be suitable for beginners.



Where did you read this? In my opinion FreeBSD is more of a hobbyist/enthusiast/IT-pro operating system that has its rough edges and the learning curve can be rather steep for beginners.

Drop into a shell when you have booted from the install medium and see if there's anything odd looking in the output of `dmesg`.

The first HD you have and is working should show as ada0 and the second one as ada1.

This type of hardware compatibility problems are a direct consequence of a much smaller user base compared to Linux for example, both Linux and FreeBSD are essentially tested by users for hardware compatibility and Linux has the edge in there because of a massively larger user base.


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## wblock@ (Aug 12, 2013)

What does "not recognize" mean?  What is in the list of drives shown by the installer?  If you include text files, please just put them on pastebin.com and post the link here rather than making them attachments.


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## abrasax333 (Aug 12, 2013)

kpa said:
			
		

> Where did you read this? In my opinion FreeBSD is more of a hobbyist/enthusiast/IT-pro operating system that has its rough edges and the learning curve can be rather steep for beginners.



I can not find it unfortunately, where *I* read this. Maybe I should briefly explain why I came to FreeBSD. After years of using Windows, I wanted to try something different. So either Linux or BSD. I saw the presentation OpenBSD vs. Linux on YouTube. It said that BSD is more stable and consistent than Linux. Therefore I decided me for BSD. I want to learn as much as possible about BSD, especially working in the console I find fascinating. But until then it's probably still a long way. I did not think that BSD is more difficult to learn than Linux, because both are Unix derivatives. So I should really start then probably first with Linux?

@wblock
I wrote it in my first posting. What the installer shows is, da0 (USB stick) and ad0 (first harddisk). Sorry for the attachments. Next time *I* know what to do.


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