New
#1
HDD not detected during re-install, but operates fine on boot
Summary:
During Windows 7 re-install the installation process does not detect the new, larger hard drive and claims I should "load drivers" in order to find it. The hard drive manufacturer and PC manufacturer don't appear to offer HDD drivers (or SATA controller drivers) that I have been able to find so far.
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Long Version:
I had to locate a valid windows iso file since one was not provided with my refurbished OEM machine. After locating one, based on the advice of this thread, I checked SHA1 hash from the image and compared it against the hash values on this site to make sure my iso was valid (I actually found and discarded 2 other images that had been modified before finding one that matched).
After finding a valid iso, I started up the install and ran into the new-hdd-not-found problem. The existing smaller hard drive that has my current install of windows on it is detected. The new hdd is also showing up fine in the BIOS, and if I allow the current Windows install to boot up the drive shows up and I can use it normally (move files to/from it, reformat, etc).
According to this page from the HDD manufacturer, I actually need SATA controller drivers instead of hdd drivers for this step. I know that's a Seagate page. Apparently these Samsung drives are manufactured by Seagate? The closest I've come to finding SATA drivers is from this page although it seems as though its for a completely different machine, but I was going to try the drivers out anyway since I'm so tired of working on this problem. But for some reason they made it mandatory to copy the files directly to a FLOPPY disk. I wasn't able to pry the files out, so I scrapped the idea.
Notes:
I hadn't identified the exact model motherboard I have yet. The computer is a small form-factor case and I'm not excited about pulling the whole thing apart to find out. Am I able to see the motherboard model from device manager instead? I didn't see it there but maybe I'm looking at the wrong spot.
I don't know if I mentioned this already, but the install process DOES recognize the existing smaller hdd... but not the newer one.
I'm starting the install from a bootable iso image on USB.
The product page for my PC is here but there don't seem to be any SATA drivers or firmware updates that I can find. The hdd drivers here are for the existing drive, and not the new one I've installed.
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Conclusion:
I just need the windows install to recognize the larger drive so I can reinstall Windows onto that disk. Either manufacture drivers or generic drivers are fine... I don't care... for whichever will allow the install to see the disk which I am fairly sure will probably be the SATA drivers (although the fact the install process sees one drive but not the other is a little confusing).
Ok, hopefully that was enough information. I'll try and clarify any points if something was unclear. Thanks all.