Windows 7 installation doesn't detect hard drive part 1

Rapmaster

Install everything, the bios detect the hard drive (it's a new hard drive, never been use) but when installing the Win7 64, the hard drive list is empty.

Here my spec

Phenom II 940BE | Gigabyte 790X-UD4P | Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB | XFX HD4770 512MB | OCZ StealthXStream 600W | NZXT Tempest

thanks

Anthony

You need to format new hard drives. no?

Orbital Shark

Hi Rapmaster, welcome to the forums.

Do you have anything listed at all? The drive may be showing as 'Unallocated' which will require you to create a 'New' partition.




Jeff

bigdave9576

I'm having the same problem. My question is, how do you format it without the Windows Install? Can you do ti in BIOS or something?

Help!


Dave

acdcfan

�� Quote: Originally Posted by bigdave9576

I'm having the same problem. My question is, how do you format it without the Windows Install? Can you do ti in BIOS or something?

Help!


Dave

Go to see my attachment



slelct computer management, in the left hand pane select disk management .... in the right hand side, select the disk you wan to format, right hand click on it and select quick format



hope this helps

Barman58

You should be able to format the drive during the actual install process however you may want to set things up before hand to get things exactly how you need.

For this have a look at partition wizard and their bootable disk here ....

Partition Magic Alternative - Partition Wizard is a magic partition software for Winidows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 Server and Windows 7.

The software is a lot more advanced than that built into win7, it works, and it's totally free

acdcfan

�� Quote: Originally Posted by Rapmaster

Install everything, the bios detect the hard drive (it's a new hard drive, never been use) but when installing the Win7 64, the hard drive list is empty.

Here my spec

Phenom II 940BE | Gigabyte 790X-UD4P | Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB | XFX HD4770 512MB | OCZ StealthXStream 600W | NZXT Tempest

thanks

Is your hard drive connected to SATA controller

theog

�� Quote: Originally Posted by bigdave9576

I'm having the same problem. My question is, how do you format it without the Windows Install? Can you do ti in BIOS or something?

Help!


Dave

You can use Command Prompt in Repair my Computer.

bigdave9576

Ok thanks for all the replies guys.

My problem is that I can't access Disk Management as I haven't installed Windows 7 yet.

My Hard Drive is recognized in BIOS, and I have set up BIOS to read it as both AHCI and RAID to see if it would make a difference. I have the latest Drivers for my MB (on both the MB CD and a flash drive), but when I select the driver, it just hangs for awhile then goes back to the Window screen saying there are no Drives located.

Would this be an HD installation problem? a MB problem?

I suck at this!

Thanks again,

Dave

theog

�� Quote: Originally Posted by bigdave9576

Ok thanks for all the replies guys.

My problem is that I can't access Disk Management as I haven't installed Windows 7 yet.

My Hard Drive is recognized in BIOS, and I have set up BIOS to read it as both AHCI and RAID to see if it would make a difference. I have the latest Drivers for my MB (on both the MB CD and a flash drive), but when I select the driver, it just hangs for awhile then goes back to the Window screen saying there are no Drives located.

Would this be an HD installation problem? a MB problem?

I suck at this!

Thanks again,

Dave

Load your SATA controller drivers here.

bigdave9576

theog,

Thanks! But thats what I have been trying. I click on load drivers, then I locate the relevant driver and select it. The loading bar moves for a while, and then it returns to that page with no driver in sight.

Do I have to do the whole F6 thing on boot? Or set any jumpers on the actual HD itself?

I'm pulling my hair out!


Thanks!

Dave

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

bigdave9576

Where do I run the command prompt? At what point in boot up?

Thanks for the help!

ignatzatsonic

If you are booting from the Windows 7 install disc, you hit SHIFT and F10 keys at the first screen (where you are asked about language and location).

Those keys in combination drop you into a command prompt, where you then issue the commands.

When you finish and type exit, you will be dropped back into the Windows 7 install.

But I'm not sure you are simply trying to partition, format, and install?

theog

�� Quote: Originally Posted by bigdave9576

theog,

Thanks! But thats what I have been trying. I click on load drivers, then I locate the relevant driver and select it. The loading bar moves for a while, and then it returns to that page with no driver in sight.

Do I have to do the whole F6 thing on boot? Or set any jumpers on the actual HD itself?

I'm pulling my hair out!


Thanks!

Dave

Are these the drivers you loading?

If not, download from here:

GA-MA790XT-UD4P (rev. 1.0) - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver

dyce1120

I have the exact same problem as Dave.

Stats:
HP Touchsmart iq506
Intel 2.16 Core Duo
Chipset: Intel Mobile GM965 Express
500GB Seagate drive
Motherboard - Pegatron IMISR-CF

Doing a clean install of windows 7 (tried a recovery of vista as well), so it is not an OS issue. PC had worked fine prior, so there is no wire and or physical drive issue.

During the install it does not show the drive I have (Seagate 500GB), yet in the BIOS it shows up.

However, when I run You cannot select or format a hard disk partition when you try to install Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 (step 8) - diskpart
The drive shows up as Disk 1 but as offline (with zero's for size/capacity)

In the Windows 7 Install - when it asks for which drive do you want to load the OS on, I do not have an selections and it calls for the Mass Storage Device driver (
I have loaded the original intel mass storage drivers.
Intel� Rapid Storage Technology 64-bit Intel� RST Driver Files for F6 Install
to a USB drive and try to load during the process.

So my questions are:
1. How do I confirm which drivers I need based on my computer info?
2. If the diskpart results are showing as they are showing the disk is not online, this I assume is the issue because the storage drivers are not available, thus the drive cannot be detected as online except for when it shows in the BIOS.

I have been struggling at this one for a bit, so thanks in advance for your help!

dyce1120

Adding to my above thread

I just ran diskpart to view the disks
and it comes up as Disk 1 Status No Media Size = 0
type det disk
and shows no media, no id for the disk, location path unavailable and says no volumes.

So my guess is that the controllers for the drive have either become corrupt during one of the reinstalls. so now the drive does not show.

But again in the BIOS it does show up as being there with the storage size of 500GB.

Thanks for your help!

theog

Check with a hard drive diagnostic tools.

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

BigPete7

I am having the same problem - Windows install won't detect my new OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. I have tried the following:

Downloading drivers from Asus website and clicking the "load drivers" button in the install.
Downloading drivers from Intel website and clicking the "load drivers" button in the install.
Updating the bios of my notebook.
Updating the firmware for the SSD (no new firmware release as yet, apparently it was due on 1st June 2010.)
Ghosting the original drive to the SSD - just a normal "disk to disk" ghost. I'm not sure exactly what happened, if it copied fully or it didn't, but there were no error messages. "Missing operating system" (still) after doing this and trying to boot from the SSD.

There are virtially no options for anything in the BIOS apart from boot order. No "ide mode" or "AHCI mode".

There is only 1 HDD bay in this laptop, there is usually two but this model has extra ram slots in the second hdd bay (hence the 8gb ram - 4 x 2gb).

The hdd detects in the bios and is useable if plugged into another working machine, either internally or via a usb cadddy.

pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase somebody help!

nickc

if you are unable to even install windows 7 this idea may help.
get ubuntu from another computer
Download | Ubuntu
put it on a flash drive
Universal USB Installer � Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux
run linux from the flash drive. once your running from there, open a program called administration>gparted. in gparted you can format any hard drive. it sounded like you couldn't format it because you were using it and you didnt have the os running. im not really sure. i hope this helps! : )

BigPete7

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 WIn7 backup imaging, or Macrium Reflect.

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

BigPete7

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.

baarod

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).

theog

�� 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

BigPete7

�� 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?

JMonty42

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 Win7 DVD and went through the options to fix the startup, where it detects your Win7 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 Win7 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!

claaaay13

�� Quote: Originally Posted by BigPete7

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

BIOS update is my guess.

Bare Foot Kid

�� 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

Guest

�� 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!!!

Guest

Hello claaaay13, welcome to Seven Forums!



Have a look at this tutorial at the link below.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

thivankakw

This really helped... Thanks a lot for the information...

juleswithoutaim

That did it! Brillant, thanks a lot!

P.s.: Still wondering why Win7 doesn't detect unpartitioned drives

edit: If one doesn't find a command prompt, you can find one somewhere behind that "repair windows blabla...." after booting from a win7 setup disk. (or does this shift+F10 thing still work in win7)

theog

�� Quote: Originally Posted by juleswithoutaim

That did it! Brillant, thanks a lot!

P.s.: Still wondering why Win7 doesn't detect unpartitioned drives

New HD's need to be set up first.

juleswithoutaim

�� Quote: Originally Posted by theog

New HD's need to be set up first.

HD's where you just manually overwrote your partition table, that is ;-)

Danmaan

�� 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

Worked for me as well - THANK YOU!

Note that I did have to reboot for it to take affect.

toughbook

Well this is nuts. I have a Intel 80 Gb SSD with W7 on it. Boots fine, no problems at all. It is an old install and want to do a fresh install.

I am getting the 'No Disc Found" when it tries to install. I tried the diskpart and it says my drive is Invalid. How can it be Invalid when I can take the disc out and boot into an OS?

baarod

�� Quote: Originally Posted by toughbook

Well this is nuts. I have a Intel 80 Gb SSD with W7 on it. Boots fine, no problems at all. It is an old install and want to do a fresh install.

I am getting the 'No Disc Found" when it tries to install. I tried the diskpart and it says my drive is Invalid. How can it be Invalid when I can take the disc out and boot into an OS?

You said, "take the disc out". Out of what? Was the SSD in another computer where 7 was installed?

FogartyFOTO

Where did you get Win7 DVD? Have you used it to successfully install before? Did you burn it yourself?

Run Disk Check from Win7, then boot the DVD and try install again, post back the verbatim error message and the exact step shown here where it occurs: Clean Install Windows 7.

crimzonred

Holy crap - what a pain. Could Microsoft make it any more difficult to do a fresh install of Win7 on an older PC? The POST sees my drives. The BIOS sees my drives. DOS utilities see my drives. An older OS (WinXP) see my drives. But Win 7 cannot, or could not, until I did the following (in no particular order). What a pain!!!

1. unplugged all unnecessary drives. In other words, I unplugged a 2nd CD drive. I unplugged a striped RAID array. I unplugged my floppy/CF card reader. I left just the primary CD drive (where my Win 7 install disc was) and a single 500 GB WD SATA drive.
2. tell the BIOS that the 500 GB SATA drive is SATA, not IDE (as I had tried before, unsuccessfully).
3. run DISKPART from a DOS command window, from within the Win 7 Install environment ( <shift-F10> ), as described by ignatzatsonic above


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

***********

Loading drivers from a USB drive from the motherboard manufacturer didn't help at all.

After finally getting Win 7 Ultimate installed and running, my power supply quit, and the PC wouldn't start at all. Nada. Replaced the power supply, now all I have to do is purchase a full version of Win 7, or re-install WinXP then re-install Win 7, 'cuz the re-partitioning and reformatting of my drive killed my XP installation, nullifying my Win 7 Upgrade license.

FUN!

Guest

Thank you so Much the above command prompt diskpart worked perfectly. I just had to change my drive from IDE to AHCI.

Darryl Licht

�� Quote: Originally Posted by FogartyFOTO

After finally getting Win 7 Ultimate installed and running, my power supply quit, and the PC wouldn't start at all. Nada. Replaced the power supply, now all I have to do is purchase a full version of Win 7, or re-install WinXP then re-install Win 7, 'cuz the re-partitioning and reformatting of my drive killed my XP installation, nullifying my Win 7 Upgrade license. FUN!

WinXP isnt part of the direct upgrade path for Win7, only Vista can do a direct upgrade... you always must format when moving from XP to 7! See these tutorials for more info:

Clean Install Windows 7

Upgrade Install - XP to Windows 7

ntwynn

�� Quote: Originally Posted by Danmaan

�� 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

Worked for me as well - THANK YOU!

Note that I did have to reboot for it to take affect.

Created an account just to thank you for this. Was getting so frustrated. Thank you again. Anyone having this problem needs to skip hours of frustration and just do this.

karncx

�� 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 am a lot thankful to this thread and you. I have my win 7 running now with few more
tweaks left.

Blackguard4

Thanks a lot man. Like the others, i just made an account to thank you for this. I tried basically everything before I read your post. After I created the partition, formatted to NTFS and restarted the computer, my HDD was visible in the windows setup. Worked like a charm!

Guest

Windows 7 Installation Failure - Overcome