Windows 7 installation disc doesn't see SATA hard drive

With internal/external hard drives being as low in price as they are, I'd recommend the easiest solution as follows: Buy the SSD you want and an external sled for mounting the drive. Clone your current HDD to the sledded SSD. This would allow you to navigate through to see if there are indeed two partitions on the device.

While not having used it in a few years, there are two apps that I've had success with: Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper! The key in the instance of cloning would be to make sure that your clone is bootable... otherwise, it's a massive exercise in futility!

Hope this info helps!

SuperDuper
Mac Backup Software

Windows XP doesn't support SATA. You will need to use a program such as Nlite to integrate sata drivers into a new Windows XP disc. Once you have a disc with sata drivers just boot to the disc and follow the prompts to format the drive.

Transfer an Operating System to a New Hard Drive

When replacing an old hard drive, a process known as cloning is the easiest and most thorough method for transferring data between the old and new hard drives.

A cloning utility takes a snapshot of your current hard drive and then re-creates that snapshot on your new hard drive.

The process clones everything, including the operating system, installed applications, settings and personal files.

Create a system restore disk so that you can return your system to its previous condition if an error occurs.

You can use a backup and restore utility provided with your operating system, or find one for free or for purchase on the Internet.

Many cloning utilities can also create system restore disks.

Shut down the computer and remove power.

Physically install the new hard drive.

Restore power and boot up the computer.

Ensure that your operating system recognizes that the new hard drive has been installed.

Pick the cloning utility that works best for you. (See Below for some options.)

http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy

http://www.clonezilla.org/

http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

All freeware

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage

http://www.symantec.com/norton/ghost

Purchase

Base your decision on your operating system and the cost and complexity of the utility.

Install and launch the cloning utility on your old hard drive.

Follow the instructions included with the cloning utility.

Keep the old hard drive as a backup, or reformat it for additional storage space.

Cloning a Notebook Hard Drive

Create a system restore disk so that you can return your system to its previous condition if an error occurs.

You can use a backup and restore utility provided with your operating system, or find one for free or for purchase on the Internet.

Many cloning utilities can also create system restore disks.

Pick the cloning utility that best fits your needs. (See Above for some options.)

Base your decision on your operating system, the cost and complexity of the utility, and whether the utility can clone notebook hard drives using bootable media, such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs or flash drives.

Install and launch the cloning utility on your old hard drive.

Follow the instructions included with the cloning utility.

Keep the old drive as a backup in case the new hard drive fails.

or
Copy an OS to Another Hard Drive

Copying an OS or operating system to another hard drive can serve several functions.

Some simply want to move their current operating environment to a new PC, while others are replacing an old system hard drive with a newer one and want to avoid the hassle of updating and reinstalling.

The process of copying your operating system to another hard drive is a very easy one, in fact, and can be accomplished by anyone with nothing more than some software and some time.

Install Acronis True Image and launch it from its installation icon.

A link is provided below for the Acronis free 15-day trial.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/

http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/

Support free software or g4u WILL die!

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Macrium has a free also pay options

Click the "Utilities" button from the left menu bar.

Click the "Clone Disk" button from the right pane of the main program window.

This will cause a dialog box to appear.

Click the "Next" button on the bottom-right corner of the dialog box.

Select the disk with the operating system you wish to copy from the drive list and click the "Next" button.

This will begin an examination of your hard disk that will finish in a few minutes.

Select the destination disk from the hard drive list and click the "Next" button.

Choose the "As-is" option for how you would like to handle your partitions.

This option merely lets you decide whether to keep all partitions on the drive or copy just the data onto one blank partition on the new drive.

Click the "Finish" button, and Acronis will prompt you that your system needs to be restarted to begin the cloning process.

The restart will happen automatically when you click the "Finish" button.

Allow the computer to restart, and Acronis will launch prior to the operating system and begin the cloning procedure.

This process may take several minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the operating system and whether there are any installed applications.

Restart you computer once again after Acronis has completed the cloning procedure.

The software will notify you when the cloning has finished.

Boot into your operating system and use your new operating system installation as normal. You may now remove your old operating system drive or format it as you desire.

Hope this helps.

not sure exactly what you are referring to
there are ways of cloning an entire disk to another disk or copy the contents of a hard drive to another hard drive

How to Copy Contents of One Hard Drive to Another

There can be several reasons for needing to copy data from one hard drive to another; for instance, if you are migrating data to a new computer or hard drive or if you just want to make sure you have a working backup.

The simplest method is to just drag and drop the contents from one hard drive to the other. But this method will not work well for copying complicated things like operating systems.

To do that, you need to use a hard-drive cloning program.

The cloning program will copy your old hard, in its entirety, to your new hard drive.

Connect both drives to your computer.

This can be done by installing them both inside the tower or by connecting them via USB external enclosures.

Open your operating system's file explorer utility. Select the hard drive you wish to copy. Highlight all of the contents of the hard drive.

Drag and drop the highlighted files to your back up hard drive.

Allow the files to copy over to the new drive. Depending on the amount of data you are copying, the process could take a couple of hours.

Clone the Hard Drive

Download and install one of the many programs that will allow you to clone a hard drive. Cloning a drive makes an exact copy of the drive on your new drive.

It's the only way to accurately back up operating systems, as none of the data is rearranged at all during the cloning process.

Connect both drives to your computer, either by installing them or connecting them via USB external enclosures.

Open your cloning program. Select the "Clone Disk" function.

Choose the drive you wish to clone and the destination drive for the data and start the program.

Do not do anything else on your computer while the drive is being cloned, as it will change the data on the drive and disrupt the process.

Cloning a drive can take a few hours.

Once it is done, you will have an identical copy of the old drive on your new drive.

hope this helps

http://download.cnet.com/easeus-disk-copy-home/3000-2242_4-10867157.html

Copy and backup hard disks and partitions sector to sector. freeware

http://download.cnet.com/easeus-todo-backup-free/3000-2242_4-10964460.html
Back up and restore photos, music, videos, documents, hard disk and partition.freeware

How to Copy My Operating System to a New Hard Drive

Install the new hard drive into the computer.

Power down the computer completely.

Remove the power cords, the monitor and any peripheral devices.

Unscrew, pop off or slide off the computer case.

Touch the computer chassis

Connect the appropriate cables to the back of the hard drive.

SATA drives take a SATA power cable; IDE (ATA) drives take a power cable and ribbon cable.

If you are unsure of what type of drive you have, consult your manual.

Slide the new drive into an available drive bay, then screw the drive into place.

Make sure all of the cables are secure, then put the case back on the computer.

Connect the power cords, the monitor, and any necessary peripherals.

Power on the computer.

Format and configure the drive as per detailed in the drive's manual.

This process will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Boot to the main drive (the drive with the OS on it).

Download and install a disk cloning software

http://www.downloadcollection.com/lazesoft_disk_image___clone_home.htm

http://download.cnet.com/miniaide-fat32-formatter/3000-2094_4-75701815.html

both freeware

Select your "Source" drive, as well as any partitions.

Your source drive is the drive containing the OS you want to copy.

Check the hard drive data located to verify that you are selecting the appropriate drive.

Select the "Destination" drive, as well as any partitions.

Your destination drive is where your source drive's files will be copied to.

Click "Next." Confirm that your selections are correct. Click "Next" again.

Review the task summary.

If everything is correct, click "Run Now."

Allow the disk cloning software to perform the cloning process.

Do not turn off the computer during this process.

When the cloning process has completed, right-click "Start," then click "Explorer."

Click the destination drive and make sure all of the files have properly transferred over.

hope this helps

You need to create a partition on your new hard disk and the format this partition as a NTFS partition.
You can use your Windows installation CD to create and format the hard disk and then install Windows plus the Acer laptop device drivers or quit Windows installation after formatting and then use your backup discs to restore your laptop.

You will need a seperate program to do that. Do a search for a free partition manager program. Be careful and backup important files before attempting.

there are no drivers required for a hard drive.
Windows 7 should automatically detect the new hard drive and it should show up in disk management to format or prompt you to format.
Check your cable connections again.
Otherwise your new hard drive may be DOA. Return it to the store that you purchased from.

If there still need the data on there computer then you will need to try and recover it.
I would say just install a new copy of windows and start fresh.

Hi,
Create new partition and format ,and install.

Here is your installation guide ,you can create partition through installation.,just click on the bellow link.
XP INSTALLETIONGUIDE http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/install.mspx http://www.windowsreinstall.com/articles/bios/ http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/install.mspx
INSTALLETION http://www.techtalkz.com/windows-7/514412-windows-7-installation-guide-tutorial.html http://mygeekreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/installing-windows-7-step-by-step.html http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139824/Windows_7_installation_how_to_step_by_step http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-7/windows-7-beta-step-by-step-installation-procedure/If you need more information, reply me soon.

Thanks

On Seagate's website, they should have a drive transfer software to transfer everything over to a new drive. There are commercial drive clone applications too, like Paragon Drive Copy which you can find with Google.