Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

New HDD's won't allow 7HPrem Install

Jul 26, 2015 9:28AM PDT

Laptop MSI A6005, with crashed Seagate 320 GB. I ordered a WD 320GB, installed/diskpart the WD HDD 24x, always said "...can't install to this HDD".
Purchased a 2nd WD HDD 250GB, same message "...can't install to this HDD".
2nd WD HDD tested with WD Data Lifeguard passed, but properties say WARNING. Nothing else but warning. Case opened with WD, no solution-just RMA.
Is it possible to have 2 new HDD's be defective? Ordered 2nd one from TigerDirect, the first one from Amazon.
Any ideas? I think there's a simple reason why both won't work.
Thanks...

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Clarification Request
(NT) You're asking the same question multiple times :-(
Jul 26, 2015 9:38AM PDT
- Collapse -
REply to clarification
Jul 26, 2015 11:40AM PDT

Only 1 question asked with detail I felt was needed...Why won't Win7 HPremium install on my new WD HDD's (a 320GB and 250GB). Just wanted any ideas or previous experience from some tech out there.
Thank you.

- Collapse -
(NT) Did you format the drive NTFS?
Jul 26, 2015 11:51AM PDT
- Collapse -
re: NTFS
Jul 26, 2015 1:39PM PDT

Yes, using diskpart.

- Collapse -
(NT) I'd suggest using a Windows supplied program to format.
Jul 26, 2015 1:45PM PDT
- Collapse -
re: format
Jul 26, 2015 6:58PM PDT

Diskpart is a Microsoft Windows Command-Line Utility.

In case you're not familiar with Diskpart, you select the disk (0), then clean all (erases entire disk incl partitions), then format fs=ntfs, then active (to mark the partition active so boot files can be copied to it), then exit.

You can't get any more Microsoft Windows than that. Like I originally posted, I installed and diskparted when the installs failed. Many, many, many times.

Any other ideas anyone? Still looking for a reason or fix for installing Win7 HPremium failures on this laptop.

Thanks

- Collapse -
(NT) I'd ask WD. I've installed Win 7 on many HDs 100 GB & up.
Jul 26, 2015 7:13PM PDT
- Collapse -
re: ask WD
Jul 27, 2015 9:58AM PDT

I have an open case number with WD, and am still waiting for answers from their end other than RMA's. Like I said before, I don't think its possible to get 2 defective WDs in a row, and neither do they. The WD HDD tests passed, but status reads WARNING. I am about ready to RMA, and this morning I ordered a Seagate (which I'm not fond of) to see if that will work.

I have been doing this for 24 years, BW (before Windows), and have never seen this problem until very recently.

Thanks.

- Collapse -
Answer
Leave the drive blank next time.
Jul 26, 2015 8:00PM PDT

No partitions, blank. Zerofill if need be. The Windows install DVD will ask what to do with it. Doing this ahead of time with diskpart can trip up the install.

- Collapse -
re: blank drive
Jul 27, 2015 9:52AM PDT

I only used diskpart after I had a Windows folder and a Windows.old folder installed. At that point is only made sense to diskpart to clear it all out back to mfg default. WD also suggested doing that.

Thanks.

- Collapse -
Does not sound blank.
Jul 27, 2015 9:59AM PDT

It could have information in the boot or partition table areas which can trip up the Windows installer. Again, we don't need to partition before we boot our Windows 7 DVD. You can but the rules are such that I don't do this because it's too easy to create an issue.

Zerofill the drive and try again. If that fails it's rare but could be a BIOS support issue. Or the drive is not on port zero of the SATA ports.