Windows 8.1 Corrupt Installation File

[Speedy95121]

I've recently bought a second 250GB SSD (Samsung 850 EVO 250GB) for my desktop with the intention of using them into RAID 0, I formatted both SSD's and successfully set them up as a single drive in raid 0. however when i tried to install Windows 8.1 PRO 64bit onto the newly created drive windows gave me this message:

"Setup cannot continue due to a corrupt installation, contact the vendor of your windows installation disc or your system administrator for assistance"

I have tried booting off both a bootable USB and a Microsoft retail DVD of windows 8.1 and tried different windows 8.1 installs from different sources all give me the same result of a "corrupt install file". If anyone could help me out it would be greatly appreciated.

System Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-4790K
MB: ASUS Maximus VI Extreme
RAM: 16GB G.Skill RipJaw Z 2133Mhz
SSD: Samsung 840EVO 250GB SSD
Samsung 850EVO 250GB SSD
GPU: 2x EVGA 780Ti's in SLI

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is probably a problem with your storage controllers or the RAID configuration. I'd disable the RAID configuration and install in a normal AHCI configuration, AFTER checking first to see that RAID is enabled for the storage controller the drives are connected to, in the bios. If you still have the controller set to AHCI it will continue to fail to install.

Returning it to the default configuration, IF that WAS set correctly, and trying to install windows, will at least tell you if the problem is related to your RAID array or something else.

 

[smorizio]

if one of them was the os disk there may be boot info left on the mbr that windows installer is seeing. try using secure erase then diskpart tools to make sure the drives are empty.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Very true. Just formatting the primary partition on the old drive won't necessarily wipe out the hidden boot partition. You need to entirely remove ALL partitions on the drive. Good call Smorizio.

 

[Speedy95121]

Not only did i format the previous boot drive but i also deleted any old recovery and system partitions using command prompt. I already thought of that.. Im really stuck as to why its not working.

if one of them was the os disk there may be boot info left on the mbr that windows installer is seeing. try using secure erase then diskpart tools to make sure the drives are empty.

 

[Mark_1970]

Installs and boots windows by installing RAID drivers and setting BIOS to RAID and CSM support to enabled

 

[Darkbreeze]

His BIOS has NO CSM settings, I've already looked through it. Pretty strange for a UEFI BIOS to not have CSM, but I don't see it there in any of the sub-categories.

RAID is rather pointless with SSD's anyhow and using RAID 0 with your operating system makes even less sense, despite having some speed benefits, since there is no fault tolerance in RAID 0 and data is striped across both disks. If either disk fails or has issues, all of your data on both drives is done. Modern SSDs are so fast, in many cases faster than the SATA lane can handle already, there is not a lot to be gained by it at least not when balanced against the potential for disaster.

It makes a lot more sense to simply use the SSD as it was intended and use the other SSD for creating backup images of the primary against the possibility of a drive failure or OS corruption. Some secondary controllers that use RAID are very fickle anyhow and often a particular secondary controller tends to either not work at all or be entirely temperamental.

You may also want to check to see that you have the latest BIOS version installed. I'm pretty sure this is probably a case of something we're missing in the BIOS, but it's hard to say what since it doesn't look like some of the necessary settings are even present. Honestly, regardless of which way you go, I'd probably recommend using your Windows 8.1 Pro key to install Windows 10 Pro anyhow.

 

[Speedy95121]

I have found a solution and it was quite simple. the error was due to my own mistake of trying to use two different SSD's to make this work.
I have tried the raid with 2 of the same Samsung 840 EVO's and it worked without an issue, also test with 2 850EVO's and it also worked. I now have windows 8.1 installed and working.

**so a note to anyone else that may have the same issue, you cannot use Samsung's 840 and 850 EVO's in a raid configuration they are not compatible with each other,you must use drives that are the exact same.**
Which is basics of RAID really. thank you for everyone who tried to help me out.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Samsung does not recommend the use of RAID on their SSDs. I've never had much success with them, nor have many others as seen here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2540837/creating-raid-850-evo-840-evo-250-ssd.html


Chances are good even if you get it working, the array will break. I've found many, many threads related to RAID arrays that could not be configured to work or that broke when using Samsung SSDs.