Weird problem with installing Windows 7 onto my SSD

Hey all,

I'm currently having a huge problem trying to install windows 7 on my SSD. First off, it's a Samsung 840 250GB SSD, and I installed it in my laptop together with my WD Scorpio 500GB HDD. The first thing I tried was to simply install the OS alongside the one already present on the HDD. Boot setting was on RAID, started installing, everything seemed to be going fine - however, when the laptop restarted so as to complete installation, an error came up (I don't remember exactly what it said, but it wouldn't let me go any further - this is the only error I don't remember, so bear with me)

Next, I tried to reinstall it, but this time when at the setup screen it asked me to choose the disk, this error came up at the bottom:

windows cannot be installed to this disk. this computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu.

I tried formatting the main HDD, thinking that some conflict was being caused - nothing happened, same issue remained there. I cleared the disk used cmd prompt, and let windows assign a partition to it - no can do. Next, I tried to change the boot setting to AHCI, but this time another error showed up during installation - the disk couldn't be formatted. I restarted the installation, and then the SSD didn't even show up in the setup drive list! I tried a manual format through cmd but list disk couldn't find the SSD. I went into BIOS and the SSD was listed and recognized fully there - so I changed the boot setting once again to RAID, and this time it appeared in List Disk. Cleaned, Partitioned and Formatted it, and the "hardware not supporting boot" error showed up once again. So I switched to AHCI once more, and again the SSD was not found.

I tried switching to another SATA port, to no avail. UEFI fast boot and secure boot were disabled by default, I didn't try them yet. I installed no software or anything on my SSD, as I don't think this is necessary when you are merely trying to install an OS on it. Mr. Fox did suggest " have you tried loading Intel RST F6 drivers during Windows setup?", but I don't know how this can be done. He was kind and patient enough to guide me through the installation of the SSD, both manually and software-wise, but it seemed I'm stumped at this one, and I've spent over 8 hours in total fiddling around with this SSD. It's important that I get my machine up and running ASAP as it is my workstation and every day lost is crucial to me. I'll be installing the OS back onto the HDD tomorrow, and maybe try installing the Magician software, but as I said, I don't think that'll help. Thanks and I hope you can help me!

 

You could have tried something simple

1. Reinstall the OS onto the WD scorpio
2. Complete windows setup
3. clone via Samsung SSD Magician Downloadable from SAMSUNG's Digital World
4. do the cloning via a USB to SATA cable/enclosure
5. Unplug the WD Scorpio
6. Boot up with with the Samsung 840, let the system understand what's the actual OS Disk because you had 2 OS Disks
7. Put your WD scorpio onto the USB to SATA connector (USB 2.0 ports have enough power to power up a HDD)
8. Format the WD, now you got a blank secondary storage.

If your Windows Disk is a Recovery disk by OEMs like HP, Dell/Alienware etc, the recovery disk most likely restrict the user from using hard disks (+SSDs) that are smaller in capacity than those of the original HDD shipped with the system. (Happened to my HP)

For that, I'll have to first reinstall the OS via recovery disks on the factory shipped HDD, setup windows, clone it via Data Migration, shutdown the laptop, connect the 840 to the primary SATA Connector. (as mentioned above)

This may not be the "cleanest" method, it is still one of the cleanest imo. At least for the fact that the Samsung Data Migration utility doesn't break your windows MBR and you don't have to repair it with a stupid windows repair disks with utilities like Norton Ghost, EaseUs data migration etc. which does sector by sector copying.

I was a user of Norton ghost and sometimes it has failed me. So far, no disappointments with Samsung/Clonix Data migration, it doesn't break your MBR and copies the disk in just a couple of clicks.

I hope this works out for you if you're attempting a reinstall.

 

Thanks for your help. However, it's not even showing the SSD as an available disk when I log on to Windows now, although it shows up in the BIOS. Could it be a defective interposer cable?

 

I think you could perform a secure erase first to put the 840 back in factory condition.

I wouldn't leave out that possibility but I'd say you should perform a secure erase first before poking further.

1. Get an empty CD/DVD
2. Open Samsung SSD Magician, if you don't have it, download it via SAMSUNG's Digital World
3. Go to the secure erase tab
4. Use the ISO option, create a bootable ISO Disk, it'll load the secure erase tool onto the disk
5. Reboot, from your BIOS menu, boot via CD/DVD optical drive
6. Run the erase tool, confirm

Then you probably can attempt the tips I supplied earlier.

 

Good luck.