Windows 7: trying to install 7 on IDE Maxtor drive NTFS formatted

Im trying to install 7 on an empty IDE Maxtor drive NTFS formatted drive, IDE cable, no partitions, and the only drive installed. Even if I use the Windows 7 setup to delete/reformat/create a partition, I keep getting "Windows cannot install. hardware may not support booting to this disk - ensure disk controller is enabled in the BIOS" and "Unable to create new system partition or locate existing partition".



My Maxtor drive has always worked fine in installing every other version of Windows, except for 7. Perhaps 7 needs Maxtor drivers for this drive to install, but I cannot find the website, as Maxtor has been bought over by Seagate, and Windows 7 cannot find any drivers it can use from my Maxtor CD/DVD I got with the hard drive itself. Can anyone suggest what the problem might be, how I can get the drive to work, or where I can get compatible drivers, if this is what I need?

My hard drive is an IDE connected Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160Gb ATA/133 HDD, and set as a master. thanks

What are the System Specs?

Biilrates, welcome to Windows 7 Support forums.
If you would please go to your system specs within your profile and fill them out we would be able to better assist you in trouble shooting your issue. Also we need information on the type of OS you will be installing such as are you going to install X86 or X64 ? Also are you installing Windows 7 over an existing windows OS?
As soon as you provide us with this info we can begin.

Regards,
Adrian
Windows 7 Support Forums.

yes, im getting a new system soon but at the moment im testing 7 on an old system from 2002, lol - but its over the requirements, and just keeps stating that Windows does not support booting to this type of disk, so it didnt seem as if my specs were just too low to continue-i thought the ms message would be related to that if it was. Its a 32-bit system (x86?) athlon 1.6 Ghz, 1 gig ram and directx 9 compatible graphics card and sound card. The hard drive itself is supposedly completely empty, its been used before but I formatted it in xp. No partitions on the disk, just 120Gb of empty space, as far as I can tell. It just keeps stating the messages from my first post, that 7 does not support booting to the disk, and I cant find compatible Maxtor drivers online for the above model, if thats whats really preventing it from installing. IDE connected as master

thanks

You have 120g of 160g empty space, what is on the 40g?

sorry, im typing too fast, my mistake, its a 160 GB hd, after formatting its 152 GB. I AM sober, lol. i tried letting 7 do the format, no change. I found my Maxtor windows cd that i thought might have the hard drives controller drivers (that 7 might need) but it does not find anything that it believes is compatible. Its the only thing i can think of that might be causing the problem, but I do not know of any unofficial Maxtor hd driver websites - i cant find what i might need on the official one. browsing the Maxtor cd-rom i got with my hd, the driver folder suggests that my hd uses a 'Promise Ultra 133 IDE Controller', although im not sure if i need a more updated one to get 7 to recognise my hd, if i am understanding this correctly. I can select the xp one straight from the disc (the Promise driver files only actually pop up if I browse on my Maxtor disc to the driver folders, but they are only for 95/95/ME/XP). The Promise website however seems to suggest that only Vista has updated controller drivers at the moment. perhaps i simply need more updated controller drivers that may never happen, or a different IDE hd altogether? http://www.promise.com/support/downl...0&productID=87 any ideas? thanks..

Are you doing a Dual Boot Installation?

If NO,remove the IDE Raid PCI Card, than plug your HD into mobo.

IDE Raid PCI Card - does every motherboard have one? if so im guessing u mean without it, the hd will then be plugged straight into the mb with no possible problems from any other components? im thinking its just a case of a very old hard drive with no current support for win 7 (or 7 being so early anyway, no support in 7 for an older ide hd, not being able to recognise it). i would try my other newer hd (with xp) but i havent backup up my files from that yet, and would probably still have problems, as its another Maxtor! i do have a 3rd hd, a 500gig external, so that wont b much use in a Windows 7 test for my elderly system, lol. thanks anyway