"We couldn't create a new partition....." When Installing

Enigma

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I wish I could make the title more descriptive, but cant since EightForums seems to not allow titles that are sufficiently long enough to descibe problems..........but anyways, my error when trying to install Windows 8 Pro is:

"We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one". I get this error at the screen where the installer creates the partitions (if you choose the custom/clean setup option).

I'll go ahead and disclose all the information needed. This is a laptop with 2 HDD bays, and I just installed 2 brand new HDDs just yesterday (to allay any concerns or questions from users here that the drive might be failing). One is a HGST/Hitachi TravelStar 7K1000 (1 TB, 7200 RPM) and the other is a Western Digital (also 1 TB, 5400 RPM). The Hitachi is installed in the slot where the original OEM boot drive was before it crapped out. The WD is installed in the other slot that was empty when I bought the laptop. I assume the laptop (BIOS?) sees the Hitachi drive as being in the primary slot since that's where ASUS put the original boot drive, and they always put it there by default to my knowledge). Although I do know that an OS can be booted from any internal drive regardless of location as long as it's set up correctly in the BIOS. And of course I want the Hitachi to be the boot drive since it is 7200 RPM whereas the WD is only 5400 RPM. I plan to use the WD mainly for static data storage, the page and hibernation files, some games, etc.

I have things set up in the BIOS so that the PC boots from the Hitachi first, the WD second (even though no OSes are on the WD currently and probably never will be), and then usb flash drives. My BluRay drive is also listed in the boot drive right after the Hitachi, but I rarely use it and prefer installs from USB. I also have AHCI turned on, and in that menu (which is separate from the boot order menu), it "sees" the WD first, the Hitachi second, and the usb drive third. I'm not sure if that's playing a role but I suspect the WD's presence is confusing the installer or something. I can install 8 if I remove the WD and reinsert it afterwards, but I dont want to, since it's just a bit of a hassle to have to open the laptop and always be carrying a screwdriver toolkit around. And I'm pretty sure I could just format the WD but also dont want that because it has Steam game data on it and it numbers in the several hundreds of gigs, would take hours to temporarily transfer off to an external HDD. The point is to not have to reinstall all my Steam games every time I reinstall 8 (which can be quite often), so I just want to leave them there and let Steam reverify the files.

In addition I have also tried creating an empty NTFS filesystem on the Hitachi and still get the error. Have also tried deleting all partitions on the Hitachi so that all space is listed as unallocated, but still the error is there. And have tried manually creating partitions via the Diskpart CMD utility and making sure that the partition is set as primary and active. I just didnt think that Windows would have an issue installing to a drive that is empty, new, unallocated, and unformatted, since I've never gotten this error before. And as I said before I could probably get past this thru other methods like just removing the WD and/or formatting it, but I prefer to get the experience and learning from this so I know how to handle things if something similar/identical happens in the future, which I'm sure it will as long as I continue to use these drives.

Thanks for any help!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64, Windows Server 2012 R2 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G700
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3632QM, 2.20 GHz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    6 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA 720M, Intel HD 4000
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 (max)
    Hard Drives
    1 TB HDD (5400 RPM), 1.5 TB HDD (5400 RPM) installed in a 12.7mm disc drive caddy
    Case
    Lenovo
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Laptop/notebook keyboard/touchpad
    Internet Speed
    It varies, since I'm mobile most of the time
    Browser
    Chromium (the open-source browser which Google Chrome is derived from)
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, Spybot, Privatefirewall
    Other Info
    I will add more information here later
As the ASUS G75VW-TS72 has a UEFI/BIOS firmware, try booting the DVD in UEFI mode.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html

Windows 8 Downgrade-006 SB for posting.PNG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
I know what UEFI mode does. It installs 8 in a UEFI-enabled state with GPT partitions. I dont want that. I prefer to install in BIOS legacy mode, have had problems with UEFI inthe past, like not being able to install Linux afterwards. And when I install from USB the UEFI doesnt appear, only when I install from a disc, which is alot slower.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64, Windows Server 2012 R2 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G700
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3632QM, 2.20 GHz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    6 GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA 720M, Intel HD 4000
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 (max)
    Hard Drives
    1 TB HDD (5400 RPM), 1.5 TB HDD (5400 RPM) installed in a 12.7mm disc drive caddy
    Case
    Lenovo
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Laptop/notebook keyboard/touchpad
    Internet Speed
    It varies, since I'm mobile most of the time
    Browser
    Chromium (the open-source browser which Google Chrome is derived from)
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, Spybot, Privatefirewall
    Other Info
    I will add more information here later

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Good. I am glad Linux can be installed now. The poster had problems in the past. Presumably things have changed with the newer distros.

What Ubuntu build and bit version is that, and are you using secure boot?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Good. I am glad Linux can be installed now. The poster had problems in the past. Presumably things have changed with the newer distros.

What Ubuntu build and bit version is that, and are you using secure boot?

Ubuntu build 12.10, with Secure Boot DISABLED, I believe the new version with Secure Boot support is out this month.


Looks like still on daily build
Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) Daily Build
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Those sound like the error messages I got when I tried to do a Reset from the recovery drive I made. I had replaced the factory hard drive in my ASUS laptop with an SSD. I did a Reset back to factory condition just before I removed the spinner. That worked fine. I made the 16 GB recovery drive and then swapped in the SSD. It failed with a "a required partition is missing" error message. That was with UEFI enabled, I didn't change any BIOS settings other than the boot order. I ended up doing a clean install from a USB thumb drive with regular Windows 8 install media. That was easy peasy.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
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