Windows 7 - Windows 7 installation doesn't detect hard drive

gregrocker · 06-05-2010

Remove all but 2gb RAM to try install. Swap your RAM. Test your RAM.

Are you unzipping the drivers to stick before browsing to find them?

When you ghosted to SSD, did you attempt Startup Repair to repair or rewrite the MBR which sometimes doesn't copy? Did you select to "Copy the MBR" during imaging? Try also using Windows 7 backup imaging, or Macrium Reflect.

You may need the firmware update for your mobo to detect SSD.

BigPete7 · 06-06-2010

negative. I have tried to install Windows 7 by connecting the Vertex 2 to a working system (both internally and via a usb caddy), and putting in the Windows 7 install DVD. Still didn't detect it.

BigPete7 · 06-06-2010

ram is fine, tested that.

yes I unzipped the drivers to a USB thumb drive. It loaded the drivers but still couldn't see the OCZ Vertex 2.

I'm gonna leave out the ghosting idea from now on because I want a fresh install.

I have updated the motherboard bios to version 206 (from 204).

baarod · 06-06-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by BigPete7

ram is fine, tested that.

yes I unzipped the drivers to a USB thumb drive. It loaded the drivers but still couldn't see the OCZ Vertex 2.

I'm gonna leave out the ghosting idea from now on because I want a fresh install.

I have updated the motherboard bios to version 206 (from 204).

Try imagex from Win7PE? Install Windows like the pros! If it doesn't work at least we can see what's going on...

Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB device

theog · 06-06-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by BigPete7

ram is fine, tested that.

yes I unzipped the drivers to a USB thumb drive. It loaded the drivers but still couldn't see the OCZ Vertex 2.

I'm gonna leave out the ghosting idea from now on because I want a fresh install.

I have updated the motherboard bios to version 206 (from 204).

What mobo do you have?

What sata controller is fitted?

BigPete7 · 06-14-2010

okay this is weird. I thought I'd try something different:

I put the original drive back in;

installed Paragon Partition Manager;

made the partitions smaller by deleting the "storage" partition (which was empty), deleting the "recovery" partition, deleting as much stuff as possible, then shrinking the remaining "OS" partition to eliminate all the free space;

Restarted and booted the Norton Ghost CD;

Ghosted from the original drive to the SSD;

of course it didn't boot because the boot.ini (or equivalent) would have been stored on the "recovery" partition, which was the first partition on the drive, so I put in the Windows 7 DVD and went through the options to fix the startup, where it detects your Windows 7 OS and creates / fixes your Boot.ini.

So now it works, but it's still the standard bloated OS that comes with your average Asus laptop, utterly dripping with fat and free trials and superfluous applications.

So I tried booting windows from a USB disk (again). I tried this before and it didn't detect the SSD, but this time I formatted the USB disk accidentally, forgetting that I already had the Windows 7 install disc on it (perhaps I formatted it in NTFS this time, instead of FAT32?) and now it detects.

yay.

(finally!)

so...I'm not sure which part actually made it detect!

gregrocker · 06-15-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by BigPete7

so...I'm not sure which part actually made it detect!

BIOS update is my guess.

JMonty42 · 06-19-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by ignatzatsonic

Dave;

Are you just trying to format an empty disk?

Try this:

run diskpart command from a prompt.

Then each of these commands, followed by the enter key after each one.

list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)

select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)

clean (this deletes all partitions)

create partition primary size=80000 (creates a partition with 80 GB space; to use the entire disk as one partition, omit the “size=value” parameter switch; use a similar command to create more partitions if needed or create in Windows 7 after installation)

select partition 1

active

format fs=ntfs quick

exit

I registered on here just so that I could say that this method worked great for me. I had tried using the format command from the command prompt earlier, but that didn't work at all. These steps you outlined worked great. After I restarted, the drive showed up in the list to install on without a problem. Thanks a lot!

FYI, my setup is:
ASUS P7H55-M Pro LGA 1156 mobo
Western Digitial Caviar Black 640 GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" HD

claaaay13 · 11-17-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by ignatzatsonic

Dave;

Are you just trying to format an empty disk?

Try this:

run diskpart command from a prompt.

Then each of these commands, followed by the enter key after each one.

list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)

select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)

clean (this deletes all partitions)

create partition primary size=80000 (creates a partition with 80 GB space; to use the entire disk as one partition, omit the “size=value” parameter switch; use a similar command to create more partitions if needed or create in Windows 7 after installation)

select partition 1

active

format fs=ntfs quick

exit

WOW... this answer is a godsend. I've been working at this problem ALL day. ignatzatsonic, you are my hero!!!

Bare Foot Kid · 11-17-2010

Hello claaaay13, welcome to Seven Forums!

Have a look at this tutorial at the link below.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Windows 7 - Windows 7 installation doesn't detect hard drive

Windows 7 installation doesn't detect hard drive problems?