Vista Install Won't Recognize Hard Drives

[Terry Smerling]

I am having a very hard time installing Vista Home Premium to a new hard
drive -- I have tried on three different SATA hard drives. For example,
although my BIOS recognizes the drive (a 500 GB Maxtor), Vista's install
program says: "Windows is uanble to find a system volume that meets its
criteria for installation" and "This computer's hardware may not support
booting to this disk. Ensure tht the disk's controller is enabled in the
computer's BIOS menu." I had no trouble previously installing Vista on this
computer on a different SATA 500 GB drive. In fact the previous
installation was a breeze. I formatted each of the new drives in Vista
before swapping them in for installtion. Anyone have an idea what is going
on?

 

[Richard G. Harper [MVP]]

Does your SATA controller require loading drivers in Vista so setup can see
the drives attached to it? Some newer controllers do. Check your
motherboard or system manufacturer's support site to see if this is so.

 

[andy]

I am having a very hard time installing Vista Home Premium to a new hard
drive -- I have tried on three different SATA hard drives. For example,
although my BIOS recognizes the drive (a 500 GB Maxtor), Vista's install
program says: "Windows is uanble to find a system volume that meets its
criteria for installation" and "This computer's hardware may not support
booting to this disk. Ensure tht the disk's controller is enabled in the
computer's BIOS menu." I had no trouble previously installing Vista on this
computer on a different SATA 500 GB drive. In fact the previous
installation was a breeze. I formatted each of the new drives in Vista
before swapping them in for installtion. Anyone have an idea what is going
on?

Have you tried partitioning and formatting the drive within Vista
setup, as opposed to swapping it in already formatted?

 

[philo]

I am having a very hard time installing Vista Home Premium to a new hard
drive -- I have tried on three different SATA hard drives. For example,
although my BIOS recognizes the drive (a 500 GB Maxtor), Vista's install
program says: "Windows is uanble to find a system volume that meets its
criteria for installation" and "This computer's hardware may not support
booting to this disk. Ensure tht the disk's controller is enabled in the
computer's BIOS menu." I had no trouble previously installing Vista on this
computer on a different SATA 500 GB drive. In fact the previous
installation was a breeze. I formatted each of the new drives in Vista
before swapping them in for installtion. Anyone have an idea what is going
on?

At the beginning of the install
you are asked if you need to install additional drivers

at that time you must "feed" the installer the SATA drivers.

You can put them on a USB stick. (unlike XP, Vista does not require a
floppy)

 

[John Barnes]

I agree with andy, you should use the advanced button in the where do you
want to install Vista to delete any partitions, create a new partition(s)
and format (will do a quick only).