Question Some huge trouble installing Windows 8.1 from Windows 7

May 21, 2019
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Hello, Guys. I need a big help from you guys. This is the list of events, is long but I’ll try to be precise:

My gf give me her Hard Drive Disk (Seagate 1000gb) with a lot of important data on it and with Windows 7 (64 bits) installed. We recently change the motherboard because a powercut (frequent in my country) destroyed the previous one. Of course we put the HDD in the new motherboard and Windows 7 opened and
we use it for a while but then the blue screen started, due the change of the motherboard…
The plan was of course backup the data of that disk to another and then format the whole disk to install the new Windows, in this case Windows 8.1. For several reasons we couldn’t find a place to backup old the data (700 gb) and buying one meant at least 4 months of our salary (yes…like you read…inflation is a b*** in my country)

So instead we said well…there is an option to update from windows 7 to 8.1 (64 bits) without losing data. And that’s what we did. I have done installations of several windows OS before, but usually with a formatted disk, this was my first time “upgrading” without losing data.

In the Windows 8 installation menu, I went too advanced options select the hard drive and then a warning windows show up saying basically that all my old windows file will be in a directory called windows old. So I press enter and windows 8.1 started to install.

Everything Went right until the last part when the “installing updates” green check was done. installing windows
In that point when I was hoping the finish the process but then an error occurred…saying basically something like this: “Setup cannot continue due to a corrupted installation file. Contact the vendor of the windows installation disc or your system administrator for assistance.” This is the image

Then i read: any change made to your computer won’t be saved. So, i clicked all the x in the Windows to close everything to exit but it wouldn’t let me do it so i shut down the computer. I Turned it on and of course I was hoping the find my old windows 7 startup menu but it didn’t appear instead this appeared: File: \boot\BCD Status: 0xc000000f Here is an image of the error

I went to the internet for information and all the results were basically almost the same: using a CMD in the windows instalation disk and use a command called bootrec: that repairs the boot file in order to start again. So I pulled a windows 7 instalation CD, use the cmd and then I started the put all these commands:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /scanos
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

In the first one I get this: “device not ready”. Then I tried the rest with Windows 8.1 disk…and nothing…the same results.

then I was like” screw this” and I used a SATA USB transformer to connect the HDD to another computer to see what happened with all the files. The computer read the disk but when a try to open a windows from it the computer takes too much time and the windows freeze so i have to close the explorer.exe all the time. this is how it looks and then

I connected the HDD in the new motherboard again but the Other problem is that Commands like “diskpart - list disk – list volumen” doesn’t show my HDD, no letter, nothing is like doesn’t exist. I Tried to use EASUS partition master boot disk to see if I can do something from there but it doesn’t appear. here is an image of it too

And the motherboard sometimes detect my HDD, and sometimes doesn’t. Weird thing is that when I start the pc with the HDD in the priority of boot device it shows again the \boot\BCD Status: 0xc000000f error. It’s like the computer recognize the HDD with failed installed windows but I don’t know what to do if nothing works. the HDD in the bios

And that´s it for now. The most important thing for me is the data inside.
So there’s is something I can do to fix this, to go back to the old windows or finish installing the new one?
And in the worst case scenario, how I can recover all the data inside?
I trying to do this on my own. Like I said the situation in my country (I’m from Venezuela) is so bad that I can’t afford going to a technician. That´s why i´m here.
Sorry if this is long but I wanted to explain this detailed as possible. If one you guys can do something to help me, I’ll be really grateful. Greetings from here. I'll be reading you guys! (y)

PD: Sorry if you don’t understand me clearly, English is not my first language.
 
Hi, Not sure if helping, but: if booting from an Win7 install device (USB, or DVD), is the drive listed when "Where do you want to install Windows" box appears? If yes, what are the numbers for total size and free space? If not listed there, no other idea, unfortunately.
 
May 21, 2019
3
0
10
Hi, Not sure if helping, but: if booting from an Win7 install device (USB, or DVD), is the drive listed when "Where do you want to install Windows" box appears? If yes, what are the numbers for total size and free space? If not listed there, no other idea, unfortunately.
No, it doesn’t show any Hard Drive. It’s just a blank space.
 
As I said, no idea, then. Without professional tools, I don't think that it can be recovered, but let's hope that you will get better ideas from other users of this forum. As an advice, to prevent such issues, even if using single HDD, try splitting it in two partitions before installing Windows. Use one partition for the OS, and the other one/s for data. This way, you won't risk loosing all data if Windows corrupted and needing to reinstall.
 
May 21, 2019
3
0
10
As I said, no idea, then. Without professional tools, I don't think that it can be recovered, but let's hope that you will get better ideas from other users of this forum. As an advice, to prevent such issues, even if using single HDD, try splitting it in two partitions before installing Windows. Use one partition for the OS, and the other one/s for data. This way, you won't risk loosing all data if Windows corrupted and needing to reinstall.
Yes. I tried that before all of this but for some reason the HDD only let me cut like 12 gb to make a partition even when It said that it was like 100 gb, and it wasn’t enough to install the OS.
Don’t worry, thank you for your time, I just hope the find a solution soon (y)