Windows 7 Windows 7 will NOT recognise my OCZ Vertex 2 120Gb SSD at the "Where do you want to install Windows"

RoddyJones

New Member
Hi all

My computer is 6months old

ASRock z68 Extreme4 MOBO
i52500k
OCZ Vertex 2 120Gb SSD - Main drive
Samsung 1 Tb drive - storage drive

initially i installed a legit copy of Windows 7 Professional and was able to select both drives at the
"Where do you want to install Windows" screen. I installed Windows 7 64bit on the SSD and things have more or less worked out since then. This weeked upon restarting the screen went to black and asked for the installer CD, inserting it and attempting to choose Repair did nothing.

I thought fine, a fresh install is okay and progressed to the above screen but I can not find my SSD as an option only the Samsung. When i hit F11 of F2 during the boot process I can see within the ASROCK UEFI setup Utility that both SATA drives are there. The SSD displayed i think as " ATAPI iHAS324' is set as the default boot drive. It has a ' B ' next to it. The Samsung is also there.

The only strange thing is despite the Samsung only ever being used for storage somehow the computer is booting off the 1Tb drive now. Not that this solves my problem. Maybe the few time i inputed the installation disc and hit Repair it somehow installed W7 on the Samsung drive. Either way when I log into the desktop on it, and go to Disc Management or Device Manager I can only see the samsung drive.

Please advise
 
Yep that's exactly what happened. You can turn off, unplug, pull out 1tb drive, leave in SSD, reboot and install 7 on SSD. The turn off, uplug, re-install 1tb drive and boot up...you should have an option to boot from both drives. If so, choose SSD and it should load normally, once up and running, reboot this time tapping F8 key untill you get "Windows advanced option window" and from there you should be able to remove the OS partition on the 1tb drive.
 
Hi Thanks for the response

I should have added, as my computer is under warranty and the warranty i think is broken by opening up the case, I might take to the computer shop first.

As I am concerned given the SSD suddenly dropped and does not appear when I search for it at desktop via Device Manager that its caput though it does appear in UEFI..

Given my findings do you think the SSD is fine? shouldnt it show up in Device manager or the like?

PS. I just rang the computer store and they said they will happily look at the drive, the guy on the phone seemed to think the fact the UEFI still detects it doesnt mean its not broken. He said something about the ' MBR ' part of it failing..

So I will go down this route first and let you know.
 
If you have a UEFI install, in the bios you need to set the Windows boot manager are primary boot device, not the drive itself.

But if you installed the OS, you would know if you installed as UEFI or MBR.

Different bios handle some things differently, so your owner's manual might be a good place to start.

Since you installed the OS you obviously have the install DVD. Are you just letting it boot, or selecting a UEFI boot?

Depending on your drive configuration when you installed the OS, the boot files may be on the Samsung drive.
 
I think Bassfisher is right. When you installed your Win7 originally, you probably did not unplug the HDD and on top of that the HDD was probably at a lower port than the SSD. Then the Win7 installer grabbed it to install the bootmgr.

You must have done something on the HDD that corrupted that bootmgr. You can use the bootable CD or USB stick of Partition Wizard to inspect your disks. I am pretty sure that one of the HDD partitions is marked as "Active" - that is where your bootmgr is or was.

If you do not want to open the box, you can reinstall Win7 the way you have done before (make sure you save your data first - e.g. with a live Linux CD). But then you have to move the bootmgr from the HDD to C (using EasyBCD). That may sound difficult, but is actually pretty easy. If it still does not boot, make C active using the bootable Partition Wizard. The controls are in the partition tab > Modify. You can update the MBR at the same time.

Alternatively, you can try to repair the bootmgr by running Startup/Repair 3 times with your installation disc. It will probably end up on the HDD again. But then you can move it to the SSD (C) with EasyBCD.
 
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Hi, update

I got the machine back and they have swapped out the SSD for another one.

They used Norton Ghost 2003 to clone the old semi working SSD to place data onto the new one.

Some strange things though..

1
wen i arrive home and startup the machine and then check Computer - I notice my storage 1TB Samsung drive is now named C/: and the new 120Gb SSD is named F @111Gb but also another drive called E titled 'System Reserved' @104mb. The F drive has all my old programs and the new one has nothing in it, I tried setting show 'Hidden Files'. Its annoying as the old setup did not have the SSD split into 2 partitions, the F drive seems to waste space
2
C drive is the HDD Samsung - Can i rename these without effectin something?
3
C drive also has Windows folders on it with about 14gb worth, probably still there from the intial setps confirmed above during initial fail and repair attempt
4
UEFI seems to show the HDD as the main boot drive
5
all my programs like Avast or COmmodo or Paint shop do not show up in Control Panel yet i can navigate to them manually to double click the .exe 's to make them run. They DO NOT show up in my start menu now either

Everything just seems wrong now.
 
It is hard to say exactly what you have done with out a picture of your Disk Management. Apparently you have your running system on the 1TB drive. Something that you were not planning has happened. I suspect the old Ghost played an act on you. For Windows 7 you need Ghost V15.

But there are better programs. Try free Macrium. That will do the job. But do not forget the bootmgr. It is best you transfer it to C before you image C. Also make sure that the SSD has an aligned Partition, else you get a serious performance hit on the SSD.
 
I agree that Ghost 2003 could very well be a sticking point. I wonder if they used that to image the first drive.

We really need a Disk Management picture of your setup. The graphical portion shows the partitions and how they are listed which really helps. Use the Snipping tool to take the picture then attach using the paperclip in the Advanced reply window.
 
Hi

they said they used Norton Ghost to image the half broken original OCZ SSD and then put that image on the new replaced SSD. 1Tb storage HDD I dont think they touched.

see Disk Management screenshot (click to make bigger)

Disc Management Screenshot 30.1.2012.png
 
Well from the screen shot, clearly the OS is on Disk 0, which is the C: drive and is the primary drive which is your 1Tb drive. Some body messed up some where.
 
As bassfisher6522 notes, it appears you current install is on the 1 TB drive.

I notice your SSD is partitioned the way a Windows 7 install would partition it and even shows an active partition.

Can you tell if the old install is still on the SSD?

Maybe some of the rules will help you decide what you need to do.

A Windows 7 install will put its boot files on the primary drive in the system. The OS will go where you tell it to go.

Windows will boot to the first active partition it comes to during the boot sequence, starting with the primary drive.

Only the drive sequence in the bios makes a difference, not the disk management drive number.

If you want to make sure something does not get messed up during an install, then disconnect the second drive.

You now seem to have a decision to make. Do you want to use the SSD for you system drive, or leave it on the 1 TB? Let us know. Disconnecting the 1 TB drive might restore your original install and you can use a startup repair to restore the boot, if possible.
 
I don't know what these guys did. The are apparently some morons that do not know what they are doing.

All you got on your SSD is an active system partition. But C on the spinner is also active. Question is whether that active partition on the SSD has any function.

Boot into Win7 and go to Disk Management. Right click on the little 100MB partition and see whether it lets you change it to 'inactive'. If yes, do so. If no, disconnect the SSD and reboot. If the boot works, then it has no function and we can start setting up your SSD correctly. Post back.
 
Just another question. There is a nifty program by Paragon - but it costs $19.95. With that you could transfer your OS with 3 clicks to the SSD (after we cleaned up the mess on the SSD). That would be the easy solution.

Else we also can do it 'manuelly'. But that will be a bit involved.
 
Hi , thanks for the responses, I am in no need to save the information on either drive particularly the SSD. Prior to it dropping I was having another issue with it being unresponsive upon waking whereby programs would just spin their wheels and not do anything. I also had a bunch of programs I dont really need to bring back.

Hence Iam actually thinking to simply re install Windows 7 Pro as a clean install on the new SSD.

If so, is it just a case of inserting that windows CD and going from there? making sure i choose the SSd to install to of course?
Or should I do some prior wiping of data something you think will do a better job then Windows itself?

With the 1Tb drive and its Windows install - what should I do there - simply delete all the Windows files? There is no issue in clean wiping that drive either as I had very little on it thus far.
 
If you have an installation disc, you can just reinstall with that on the SSD. But disconnect (e.g. Sata cable) the 1TB HDD, else your bootmgr will land on it. No real need to wipe, but it may be advantageous for Trim to do so. The commands in elevated Command Prompt (run as admin) are:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)
Clean
Exit

After the installation on the SSD, you have to change the bootsequence in the BIOS. The SSD must be first (or second after the CD/DVD reader.

For deleting the OS partition on the big HDD, go to Disk Management (once you are booted from the SSD and the HDD is reconnected) and delete the OS volume and the partition there.
 
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If you have an installation disc, you can just reinstall with that on the SSD. But disconnect (e.g. Sata cable) the 1TB HDD, else your bootmgr will land on it. No real need to wipe, but it may be advantageous for Trim to do so. The commands in elevated Command Prompt (run as admin) are:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)
Clean
Exit

After the installation on the SSD, you have to change the bootsequence in the BIOS. The SSD must be first (or second after the CD/DVD reader.

For deleting the OS partition on the big HDD, go to Disk Management (once you are booted from the SSD and the HDD is reconnected) and delete the OS volume and the partition there.

okay, so the Diskpart and clean etc above, you are saying i should do this to the SSD first before i then insert the installation disk (after disconnecting the HDD).

If I wanted to wipe clean the entire 1TB HDD can i use those instructions as well? though probably it can be left as is as long as once i reconnect it (post SSD Win 7 install) I can successfully remove any trace of a windows installation on it.

PS. When you say disconnect the SATA HDD, do i need to disconnect both the Data and power cables, or just the data.
PPS. Earlier posts talked of the HDD being installed at a lower port than the SSD. Should I also have a look on the motherboard and see what spots the SATA data cable snakes back to? Mobo is

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme4

Mobo Z68 in colour.png

even so how do you know which of the apparent 8 SATA connector ports rates as 'highest' and what does 'highest or lowest' imply
 
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Sure, you could use the clean command on the 1TB HDD too. Just be aware that you lose all your data.

But I would keep the HDD installation around (at least for a while) - as a backup. By switching the temporary boot sequence (e.g. tapping ESC on a HP or F12 on many other makes), you can always boot into that system. After 30 days though you may have to get rid of it - because of the system activation.
 
1. Disconnect just 1 cable. Sata or power. That's enough

2. If you disconnect the HDD, the ports do not matter.

The problem you refer to is that when multiple disks are on the mobo and running, the Windows7 installer always grabs the disk on the lowest number port to install the bootmgr. That can usually be fixed very easily if you have only 1 OS. But in your case you will end up with 2 OSs and then it is more difficult. That's why I recommend to detach all disks and only leave the disk to which you want to install.
 
Hi thanks

if you look at my inserted image and the listing of parts, the SATA ports are list numbers 11 through 18. How do I determine which of these ports is the 'lowest port number'?

Ie it lists

Sata 3 M1
Sata 3 M2
Sata3_0
Sata3_1
Sata2_2
Sata2_3
Sata2_4
Sata2_5
 
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