Windows 8.1 install over USB3 port

[troemich]

I have a Toshiba Satellite U940-100 Laptop. It doesn't have an optical drive. It has one USB2 port on the left side and two USB3 ports on the right side. Unfortunately the one USB2 port is not working. I need to reinstall Windows 8.1 because of a HDD failure. I can't get the recovery partition off the bad HDD. If I plug an external DVD drive into the USB3 ports, the installation starts, but I'm getting stuck where you normally format the HDD and create partitions. Same happens when I try it with a bootable Windows 8.1 USB flash drive that I created with Rufus. Something with missing drivers.
I had this problem before, but then I just plugged the USB drive or DVD into an USB2 Port and the installation worked.
In this case I can't do that. How can I create a bootable USB flash drive that I can install when it is connected to the USB3 port?

I also tried creating a Windows 8.1 USB3 flash drive with rufus. Same error. Can't select the HDD.
The HDD is recognized in the BIOS/UEFI.

 

[basroil]

Don't use rufus, too many people say it's good when it's unnecessary and hardly useful. Instead use the Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media) with a USB flash stick.

Not all USB3.0 devices can be used to install from, but here the issue seems like you never actually replaced the broken HDD. Are you sure the disk was replaced?

 

[troemich]

Don't use rufus, too many people say it's good when it's unnecessary and hardly useful. Instead use the Windows 8.1 Media Creation Tool (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media) with a USB flash stick.

Not all USB3.0 devices can be used to install from, but here the issue seems like you never actually replaced the broken HDD. Are you sure the disk was replaced?

I replaced the broken HDD. I think I forgot to mention that.
I think I'm gonna try this.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-CLEAN-Install-Windows-8-directly-from-Hard-/

 

[basroil]

I would suggest against doing that because it'll leave you with a useless partition that might prevent you from booting at all in some cases. You should use the media creation tool method from the microsoft website first.