Can't Install Windows 8 on Formatted Hard Drive

[zach_35701]

I'm trying to install Windows 8 on a friends computer, who had formatted the hard drive before they gave it to me. When I get to the step in the installation process where it asks me to choose which drive I want to install Windows on, there are two partitions that show up, one 150 gigs and the other 450 gigs. (Which is weird, because it is a laptop. I can't seem to delete and merge the drives either.) When I try to choose a drive and move on, windows tells me "We couldn’t create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files." I've tried the disk part things where you clean the drives, but it still won't work.

 

[captaincharisma]

why not just delete the partitions?

 

[zach_35701]

why not just delete the partitions?

The installer won't let me. Whether I have them partitioned or unallocated, the delete option is grayed out.

 

[captaincharisma]

if you do have access to another computer. download this and put it on a USB drive or DVD. this is a rescue program called windows PE that youcan boot to via USB or DVD disk that has many free disk tools and more with it. it has a few partition mangers you can try:

http://windowsmatters.com/2015/12/29/gandalfs-win10pe-x64-version-12-29-2015/

 

[zach_35701]

if you do have access to another computer. download this and put it on a USB drive or DVD. this is a rescue program called windows PE that youcan boot to via USB or DVD disk that has many free disk tools and more with it. it has a few partition mangers you can try:

http://windowsmatters.com/2015/12/29/gandalfs-win10pe-x64-version-12-29-2015/

Okay so an update on this: I used this on the hard drive, and it turns out, this laptop actually has 2 hard drives. (So I obviously can't merge them) and I tried a lot. I wiped both hard drives multiple times, and put them in an eternal caddy I have for my PC. The caddy showed me that they are both working, as my PC recognized both, and I was able to format, and copy files over to both. I even took one of them, put it in an extra computer of mine, and installed windows on it with no issues. I'm starting to believe the actual PC is at fault... (It's an older Sony Vaio, BTW)