Sata HDD - Vista

[ThaiUK]

I brought a HDD from pcworld that was discounted as it was once used and returned. When installed, it shows as two partions of equal size'ish making the 250GB total. How do I delete the partion with Vista. How big a partion does Vista need if I instal on there? Thanks in advance

[PeteA]

In the search bar type "computer management" and hit enter

then double click on "Storage"
then double click on "Disk Management (Local)"

It should then show all your HDD's and partitions. From there you can right click on the drive and delete partitions, format them etc.

[ThaiUK]

Thanks Pete, Vista virgin here! I gave up on my previous ideas and brought this new'ish drive. Could not instal Vista on it last night due to the error code so robbed an even older IDE drive from another pc. Now I want to sort this new sata drive out and get Vista on there. Im just glad I never tried to use my good pc HDD or I would really be ripping my hair out.

[PeteA]

NPS here to help.

Personally I'd never buy a second hand HDD because you never know what's been on it and a standard format is never good enough. Some one a while back did a test, bought a returned HDD from PC world and recovered the apparent formatted data. If you ever get rid of a HDD use a shredder. Easy to do and works really well making it next to impossible. The person trying to get the data would have to take the hdd apart and use a hard drive copier (taking the disks out)

http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/06/h ... efore.html (http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-securely-erase-hard-disk-before.html)
Intersting stuff.

I've ran that same command before. Takes ages but its worth it (security wise)

[ThaiUK]

I knew the risks, but at least I can get my money back easily. Anyway, after all that, I still can not instal Vista on this new Sata drive. I have proved the disk, system and that it will work on a IDE drive. Is there something in the BIOS I am missing regarding SATA drives?

[PeteA]

Apart from boot priority.

You could try updating the bios

[ThaiUK]

Ok, it is driving me bonkers now. Have tried alot of tricks, but I still can not get Vista on this SATA drive without it creating the error code 0x8007045D.

I think it may be a drive issue. In drive managment the SATA shows 6.83GB Healthy (EISA Config). This I can not change, nor find any information regarding what it is for. The rest of the drive I can partion, make active etc. Could this EISA be preventing me from installing an OS?

[PeteA]

Have you deleted all the partitions using the vista disk?

[ThaiUK]

No, mainly because I have not seen that option available. XP was so easy in comparison. When I install Vista, I select the partion I created on the drive.

[PeteA]

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winvist ... mage17.gif (http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winvista/images/Image17.gif)
click on "Drive Options (advanced)". If I remember correctly you can do it from there

tutorial found here (http://vistaenterprise.windowsreinstall.com/installnewhdd/installnewhdd.htm)

Try deleting all partitions and creating a single one again

[ThaiUK]

In disk management, I deleted all the partions (apart from the EISA that will not budge) which made it unallocated space (not recognized by Vista install). Then I created a simple partion without formatting. This turns the partion into a Primary Drive. Start the Vista install, and selected the new partion. There are no advanced 'drive options' for the partion. I believe they are only available if you formatted the partion prior to install.

I am now running the install again, though I do not hold much hope for it as I really feel like I have already tried this ... time will tell!!! Still curious about this unassigned EISA drive bit though

[PeteA]

Never heard of EISA apart from Extended Industry Standard Architecture which I thought had something to do with IBM computers and a expansion slot on IBM compatible boards.

I'd take it back to PC world.

Have you tried making a boot disk and trying to format it via a boot disk?

[ThaiUK]

The definition is correct, and the return to PC World is going to happen I think. I never shop there, just that I was walking by to get to another store. Thought it would be quicker then doing a next day delivery! More fool me!!
Just tried another install and it went past the extracting files to the install features stage. It then stopped with 0x80FE0000. That may have been because I had my external DVD and memory stick in, I will try again. So annoying that it fails after 1 hour.

[system7]

ThaiUK, you'd be far better off downloading Manufacturers setup utilities for that drive and doing a quick zero fill on it, followed by partition and format.

These setup utilities, once put on a bootable CD-R, allow you to copy an existing install to a new drive and have considerable help features. There are also testing utilities downloadable.

Look in your bios for compatibility mode for the drive if any furthur issues. Also boot order to CD before HD and disable anything else. The manual should cover this.

[ThaiUK]

Thankyou System7, the western digital utility has been great. Although WD programs do not support Vista! I had to place the drive in my other XP machine to do the business. Basically just deleted all the partions and started again. I have now placed it back in the new setup and waiting for another hour to see if it works.

[system7]

Glad it worked. I see WD don't specifically make SATA setup disks. I use a Seagate SATA setup CD-R on my Seagates, burnt from an image with isorecorder. In fact I wouldn't touch any other brand, because Seagate support is the best.

Couple of things you might check, because it's always hard to guess how confident people are with bios settings.

1) Go into bios and make sure date and time is set, which is related to the 0x80FE0000 error, also CD before HD in boot order, as mentioned. Save changes and exit.
2) Keep it simple. SATA as sole hard drive for your Vista install at this stage.
3) I just checked my motherboard manual, the correct setting for IDE controller is "Enhanced" mode with XP and Vista.

What's the motherboard and rest of the spec., if this problem persists?

[ThaiUK]

Still not going right! Just a curious question about Sata and Vista 64 .. Do you need to load the 64 bit sata driver before you install Vista?

System:

Intel Quad Core QX9650 Extreme "Yorkfield" 4 x 3.00Ghz 12Mb Cache 1333 FSB Quad Core Processor
EVGA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB Black Pearl Water Cooled (626MHz Core Clock) (2000MHz Memory Clock)
Asus Strike II Formula nVidia 780i DDR2, SATA II Raid, Dual GB LAN, Firewire Motherboard
ThermalTake Khandalf With Liquid Cooling System Black Case
ThermalTake Toughpower Series Cable Management 850W Active
Corsair TwinX 2GB Kit (2x1GB) 240Pin PC2-8500 Dominator 1066MHz Dual Channel
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk
Western Digital Caviar 250Gb 8Mb Cache Hard Disk Drive SATAII 300MB/s <8.9ms 7200rpm (The one item that was pre-owned!)

[system7]

Still not going right! Just a curious question about Sata and Vista 64 .. Do you need to load the 64 bit sata driver before you install Vista?
Looks like you might. :evil:

Western Digital SATA help HERE. (http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1499&p_created=1170348551&p_sid=LJ4SrXWi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX 3Jvd19jbnQ9MTcxLDE3MSZwX3Byb2RzPSZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY 9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9c2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3BhZ 2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXJhcHRvciBkcml2ZXIgZm9yIHZ pc3Rh&p_li=&p_topview=1)

This is a general guide for NForce boards, so you can judge for yourself if it's necessary. You put the RAID and SATA 64 bit drivers on a USB or Floppy. They should be on the Asus disk, which is probably bootable. Installing 64 Bit Vista SATA, RAID drivers. (http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/vista-and-nvraid-installation-guide-and-troubleshooting-vt66299.html)

I know nothing about 64 bit, but it seems to make sense. :?

[ThaiUK]

I think we may be winning, have to wait another hour for the extraction though. It is making sense as I have managed to instal Vista on the SATA drive by starting the instal from Vista running on the IDE drive. That had all the updates and drivers installed so I am guessing the SATA took the drivers from there. Of course, if you then disconnect the IDE drive, Vista will not boot because the bootfile is on the IDE.
I did not know, or think to boot the Asus disc. Never even occured to me that the drivers are on there. This is my first major build btw. I guess if I paid the extra couple of hundred for the retail Vista 64, it may have said to load the drivers first! (not worth it though).
I will let you know what happens!

[ThaiUK]

To update, there was a simple solution. Took it back to PCWorld! All attempts failed. In the end I was trying to install WinXP .. failed. Tried to install it on my other computer .. failed. No idea what the matter with the drive was, apart from faulty. Bells should have rung when it was taking over an hour to install Vista. Now I have a working Sata drive, I was very pleased that it took less then 20 minutes. Thanks for the help trying to solve the problem Pete and Steve.

[PeteA]

nps

and the moral of the story kids .................. never buy from PC world :P

[matz]

an other thing is :) buy from novatech!