Windows 7 (Cant see HDD to install)

twicksisted · May 7, 2009

as the title implys...
I have just downloaded windows 7 to check it out and have a spare WD 320gb drive which I know is working fine. I used device manager to format the drive and unplugged my main hdd, plugged in this drive and went through the windows 7 setup... it cant see any drives attached!!!
It shows up fine in the bios and if I load up my other drive with vista i can browse this drive in windows fine....
Am I missing something here

Deleted member 24505 · May 7, 2009

It could be the sata driver for your board is not loaded as default in win7,have you tried it with another drive,just to see if it picks it up?

I tried it on an old 160gb maxtor,and it installed fine.

twicksisted · May 8, 2009

yeah i was thinking it could be that but not sure where or what driver to load...
you know where i could find a sata driver for it to use in the installation:
Western Digital Caviar Raid edition 320gb drive (WD3200 RE16)

Mussels · May 8, 2009

the driver is for the SATA controller, not the HDD

P5K-E is ICH9R, which should work as i installed it on my DFI board here, which uses the same SATA controller.

What mode do you your SATA ports set to in the BIOS, AHCI, RAID, or IDE?

Shou Miko · May 8, 2009

u should only need the SATA driver if u use AHCI or RAID, i use all my SATA's as IDE i doesn't need to install any SATA Drivers then i installed Windows 7.

i got a Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 it also got ICH9R.

Mussels · May 8, 2009

win 7 build 7100 has inbuilt drivers upto ICH10R, on the intel side. Mine installed with no drivers, in AHCI mode.

I never needed to supply drivers for vista SP1 either, when i had the same board as him. That may be different in RAID mode, i never tested.

twicksisted · May 8, 2009

Mussels said:
the driver is for the SATA controller, not the HDD

P5K-E is ICH9R, which should work as i installed it on my DFI board here, which uses the same SATA controller.

What mode do you your SATA ports set to in the BIOS, AHCI, RAID, or IDE?

Im using SATA IDE mode.... still pretty stumped by this... very strange... anyways ill try the vista disk in that machine when im home later and if that dosent see the drive either then something must be up.

Mussels · May 8, 2009

twicksisted said:
Im using SATA IDE mode.... still pretty stumped by this... very strange... anyways ill try the vista disk in that machine when im home later and if that dosent see the drive either then something must be up.

change it to AHCI.

Why would you bother with IDE mode?

twicksisted · May 8, 2009

Mussels said:
change it to AHCI.

Why would you bother with IDE mode?

I tried that too but it diddnt work... specially when i plugged my other hdd back in with windows vista on

lisburnni · May 8, 2009

so thew other drives dont appear in MY COMPUTER

try hitting start , in the search progs and files box in the bottom , type " computer management" , enter , select storage, select disk management , then under the action scan select " rescan disks"

stephen

twicksisted · May 8, 2009

no the drives work fine when i use them in my vista 64bit build... they also show up fine in the bios of my motherboard...I Think I may have explained it a bit wrong so here goes:

1) Have Vista 64bit installed on 1 drive, 2nd drive I want to install Windows 7
(I dont want a dual boot, but rather want to plug in and unplug to swap between OS as I just want to test it out)

2) Disconnected Vista 64bit drive, plugged in the 2nd formatted drive using same sata cable
3) Inserted the Windows 7 installation CD.. boot up from CD
4) Follow the install instructions (choose language, keyboard input etc...)
5) Click on Install
6) No drive is showing up to install to in the selection box

This is where i keep going round and round in circles lol... have tried different modes (IDE compatible, Enhanced) AHCI etc... have tried formatting the drive in various different ways using my vista 64bit build to no avail.

alexp999 · May 8, 2009

Pop your Vista DVD in and boot from it and get to the same stage.

See if Vista Install can see it. Then you will know if its a Win 7 thing or not.

Mussels · May 8, 2009

delete all partitions and leave it totally blank, then try. maybe you're formatting it in a way 7 cant use.

twicksisted · May 8, 2009

alexp999 said:
Pop your Vista DVD in and boot from it and get to the same stage.

See if Vista Install can see it. Then you will know if its a Win 7 thing or not.

yeah im going to give that a bash when i get home this evening... last night i stayed up late tinkering with this and had to go to bed so i diddnt think of trying that... pity it takes so long to load up and get to the point where you find out that it cant see any drives! :ohwell:

twicksisted · May 8, 2009

Mussels said:
delete all partitions and leave it totally blank, then try. maybe you're formatting it in a way 7 cant use.

I did try that.... in device manager in windows, did a format and deleted the partition... thats why i thought perhaps there was a type of format that I wasnt doing correctly.. aaah well ill give vista a try on that disk and if it sees the drive then ill know a bit more i guess

Mussels · May 8, 2009

all i know is that OS's past XP SP2 require a 4KB cluster size or smaller, to allow compressed files (they compress the backups/uninstallers, and wont boot/wont install if it doesnt work)

twicksisted · May 8, 2009

Mussels said:
all i know is that OS's past XP SP2 require a 4KB cluster size or smaller, to allow compressed files (they compress the backups/uninstallers, and wont boot/wont install if it doesnt work)

aaah thats interesting... i wasnt sure what cluster size to use so when i did the format i tried using default settings...
There was an option for "Restore device defaults" which would format the drive to what it originally was when I first had it I guess...

Mussels · May 8, 2009

i only found that out, cause i always run my drives as 64KB. Apart from my OS drive, no files i have are any smaller than that, so i'd rather have the larger cluster size to reduce defragmentation.

twicksisted · May 9, 2009

hey guys.... well what do you know... I got home to try the install again, but this time put in 2 hdd's and the installer sees both this time...
so strange, like it couldnt see one drive no matter what sata port it was plugged into, but i could put 2 drives in and it saw both

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Processor	i7 9700KF
Motherboard	MSI Z390 A PRO
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Storage	2X Crucial MX500 2TB SSD, Samsung 850 pro 512gb SSD
Display(s)	DELL C34H89x 34" Ultrawide
Case	Corsair Obsidian 550D
Audio Device(s)	Audioengine A5+ Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair RM750
Mouse	Logitech G403
Keyboard	Corsair Vengeance K70
Software	Windows 10 64bit

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System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
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Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
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Windows 7 (Cant see HDD to install)

twicksisted

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