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windows installation wont sense my hdd

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hi guys, im at my wits end on this problem
i'm trying to install windows vista 64-bit on a wd2500aaks. i have installed windows on the hdd several times in the past. for some reason, the installation process will no longer sense this hdd. currently i have windows installed on my 2tb hdd, and want to make a back-up install on this 2500aaks(this drive used to be my main drive). both hdds use the same driver so im at a loss as to why the installation process will not see it. i've tried installing from inside windows as well as from boot up. my current windows installation sees the drive just fine. i have tried putting the sata drivers on a cd, but the installation process just says that the drivers dont apply to any installed hardware. i have also tried letting windows get updates from online during the install process, to no avail. i've reset the cmos, undone my oc, tried installing with onlyl 2gb of ram, swapped cables, swapped ports on the mb, all to no avail.

any suggestions?

EDIT: the current windows installation see's and uses this drive just fine.
i have tried deleting the partition and reformatting
i have tried un-plugging my current main drive.
 
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Try this (IIRC the Vista computer management is a bit like the W7 one):
Computer->Right Click->Manage->Storage->Disk Management
Delete all partitions on the 250GB drive (obviously all data there goes splat), then reboot and try to install.

Something else that might help (helped me get W7 on my RAID0): Disconnect the larger drive, boot with only the DVD (or a USB stick with your installation) and the 250GB drive.
 
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well, i just deleted the partition, and tried to run the install from inside windows but the installation process till does not see it.

i have tried the second option already. sorry. i've been workin on this for hours and its hard to remember everything i've tried :(
 
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Hmm. Okay. Try downloading GParted. Burn it to a disk, boot off it, use it to wipe everything off the drive, then create a single NTFS partition and try again...

This usually works for me (at least in conjunction with the disconnect everything else trick...).
 
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is that any different than doing a full format on the drive from inside windows? i did a full format before trying the first install as this drive was coming off a raid0 array
 
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GParted wipes everything, including any left-overs from the RAID partitions or whatever else there might be dirtying up the first blocks on the drive.

Give it a go, GParted is a nice tool to have anyway.
 
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ok, i downloaded gparted. i will give it a try later on in the week. im fried for right now. i've even been browsing microsoft tech support threads!
 
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ok, i downloaded gparted. i will give it a try later on in the week. im fried for right now. i've even been browsing microsoft tech support threads!

Good luck, and if it works, please reply here so that other people Googling this a year from now could find the solution. :toast:

If it doesn't, then reply so that everyone knows I'm clueless :cry:
 
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yukikaze, i dont know what gparted does that is different than windows, but after doing a quick format in gparted the windows installation saw the hdd and i was able to get it successfully installed! thx dude!
 
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yukikaze, i dont know what gparted does that is different than windows, but after doing a quick format in gparted the windows installation saw the hdd and i was able to get it successfully installed! thx dude!

Glad to know it worked. Cheers! :toast:
 
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