Windows 7: Install Windows 7 with Sata Hard Drive and IDE DVD ROM Drive

Hi, Is this possible? I have tried numerous times on my PC to install Windows 7 onto my Sata Drive to no avail. Yet as soon as I plug in my IDE HD it installs fine.

I have unplugged all external peripherals USB and internal Card Reader. Set my Bios ok as it sees both the Hard Drive and DVD fine (Both in the bios and during selection of hard drive during windows 7 installation). Yet when I come to install it, it craps out at a random percentage saying cannot read from source or worse yet it crawls so slow through the percentages (I really don't think Windows 7 should take 6 hours to get to 15%!!) Yet both the hard drive and dvd are fine and the disc works great on my other PC without the sata drive in. I'm pulling my hair out here!!!

My motherboard is a Biostar G31-M7 TE with latest bios now what is odd is that I recently updated the BIOS to the latest one so does my problem come from here or was it always going to be a problem on this board? Also when I do have Windows 7 installed on the IDE drive when I plug in ther sata drive inside the whole system goes belly up (from freezes when transferring large files to just not seeing the drive)

Help!!

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One of my favorite tips is to pre-format the HD on another computer to the partitions that you want for the new install on the new computer. Sometimes SATA drivers are required during install either from Disc or USB flash drive containing the correct Sata drivers needed.
Also check your Bios setting for AHCI, SATA, IDE.

If you are sure the SATA drive and the IDE optical drive are fine and no failing, then your problem is something to do with the BIOS and configuration. It isn't due to formatting, and there's no need to take the drive to another computer. You always want to try and start your Windows install with a blank drive, especially with Windows 7, or else you may not like what your drive letters are assigned as, among other issues.

At this point, I would probably run a diag test on the SATA drive to make sure it doesn't have any errors, and you could also try loading your SATA drivers on a flash drive and forcing them to be used, as Doc Brown suggested. Your BIOS may also have an option to reset to defaults or something like that.

Thanks for the replies!! How do I get Sata drivers this drive? I always thought the sata drivers were really for the problem of the drive not appearing during install

In the past, yes that was the case. However, given that you are having install issues, it doesn't hurt to try and get the controller drivers on a flash drive and give them a shot. You would need to find the drivers for whatever controller your motherboard uses, such as Intel's, and then have them extracted and saved to a flash drive.

I suggested testing the drive out first, just to make sure that is fine. A damaged or failing drive will have the issues you are experiencing.

If you can't find a dedicated download for your sata drivers download the chip-set drivers for your motherboard and look though the folders. If you see a folder named SATA, thats the one you want on your flash drive. There should be SATA drivers on the CD that came bundled with your motherboard. They would likely be outdated but should work to get you going. I think its hit or miss depending on what chip-set your motherboard has. I just did a clean install to my new SATA drive from an IDE DVD-ROM drive with out a hitch. Windows must have had a driver for my system on the DVD.

Hello Bladeforce.



Have a look at this tutorial at the link below to see if doing a wipe to the HDD will help out, sometime it helps with issues like this, just create a single partition to do the install to; be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.




SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Sorry I forgot to say I already had gone the process of formatting the drive as describe in your link. My chipset drivers do indeed have a SATA driver on them, the problem is they are inside an exe file that I cant extract from. Tried numerous things but to no avail. They must be installed on my system haing run the exe now trying to use double driver to see if it can save them to a flash drive

Install the trial of WinZip, and you should be able to extract them.

If your SATA drive shows up on the "Where do you want to Install Windows" screen then it doesn't need the SATA drivers, which are all in the installer. You could try loading them at the "Load Drivers" link below the window but the drive wouldn't show in windows if they're needed. To find the drivers, find the file the chipset .exe unzipped to, probably in the C: root. It is okay to run it again.

Reset the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

What is the SATA controller setting in BIOS? Try AHCI first.

The DISKPART "Clean all" steps given in BarefootKid's tutorial do not format the HD, they overwrite all code with zeroes which is often needed in cases like this. Did you do this? Add to the commands in Step Two to Create partition the following commands after Create Partition Primary:
Select Partition 1
Format
Active

As a last resort, delete partitioning on SATA HD, plug in IDE and clone it to SATA using free Acronis cloning software on your HD model's Support Downloads webpage if you have WD or Seagate. Otherwise save a backup image externally from IDE, swap drives, boot DVD to reimage SATA.
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery