On a Dell, Windows 10 Home cannot create partition on SanDisk SSD Plus 120GB

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paulb104

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I have a Dell 3647 with a SanDisk SSD Plus 120GB running Windows 10 Home. It was running smoothly for about two years until last week when Windows started to reboot randomly. I decided to reset Windows. It didn't go well.

After a while, (on another computer) I went to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and created a flash drive with Windows 10 Home installation media.

Once I was able to install Windows on the Dell. After an hour of doing updates it crashed and I never saw Windows again.

Using the Windows 10 Home installation, eventually I deleted all the partitions on the drive.

Then I used diskpart and deleted any partitions as well, the ones created by the Windows installer. This left the ssd completely clean.

Last night the drive had no partitions on it.
Drive 0 Unallocated Space Total size 111.8GB Free space 111.8GB

I had the Windows installed create Windows on that space. It eventually gave the error message "We couldn't create a new partition. [Error: 0xac430380]."
Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 450.0MB Free space 450.0MB
Drive 0 Unallocated Space Total size 111.3GB Free space 111.3GB

Google yields no result for that error message.

Right now I have it trying to install to that 111.3GB, but it takes many hours to come back with an error message, which I expect it to do.

Originally, I thought this was a Windows problem...
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3305694/dell-desktop-windows-died-issues-fixing.html

I still think I'm missing a step, or an option. This shouldn't have been a four day project that still has me with a doorstop, not a functioning computer...
 
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Good, it look's like you should have a viable OS by the time you see this. Let's hope so.

Now harking back to your "original" problem...As you put it, "It (the system) was running smoothly for about two years until last week when Windows started to reboot randomly. I decided to reset Windows. It didn't go well."

And that's what triggered this whole subsequent episode, right? The difficulties in installing the OS recently had its genesis in a completely different problem (other than the "original" one), i.e., the partitioning scheme of the installation media.

What bothers me is that unless you (or somehow the system without user intervention) made some untoward configuration changes in your OS just prior to the "original" problem, the...
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paulb104

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Last night I used the Windows installer and deleted the 450.0MB partition. Then the ssd again had 111.8GB unallocated space.

Then I selected that space and clicked NEW. It gave me a message about Windows possibly creating more than one partition for the system to work, and then almost instantly it is done and then I have this
Drive 0 Partition 1: Recovery Total Size 450.0MB Free Space 436.0MB Type: Recovery
Drive 0 Partition 2 Total Size 100.0MB Free Space 95.0MB Type: System
Drive 0 Partition 3 Total Size 16.0MB Free Space 16.0MB Type: MSR (Reserved)
Drive 0 Partition 4 Total Size 111.2GB Free Space 111.2GB Type: Primary

Once that was done I began to install Windows onto the 111.2GB Primary partition. Immediately the process began. Copying Windows files got the green checkmark, the Getting Files Ready For Installation went to 1% and stopped.

It has been at 1% for over three and half hours now. I'm not shutting it down because I'm wondering if the eventual error message will offer some glimpse of light, if it even gives an error at all.

I put the SanDiskSSDDashboardSetup.exe file on a usb flash drive. Once the install is finally kaput, one way or the other, and I boot off of the Windows 10 Home installer flash drive, can I then put in the drive with the Dashboard and run the exe from the command line?
 
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ArtPog

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First of all, I would shut down the installation process (currently?) going on with Win 10. Something is obviously awry and it looks as if it may be the SSD. It's possible, of course, that other factors are at work here.

But the main thing at this point is to test the SSD. You obviously have a working PC at hand. Can you not install the SanDisk diagnostic program on that machine and connect the SSD as an internally-connected secondary (or USB external) drive and use the program that way to test the SSD?
 
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paulb104

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Already ahead of you ArtPog. I was just waiting to have enough info for me to post....!

So I have a usb/sata cable so I popped the ssd onto my computer. Dashboard gives me green checks across everything.
Capacity Total 111.79GB
Free 110.17GB
Used 1.06GB
Unallocated 0.00GB
Other 0.55GB

Life Remaining 100%
Temperature 79F/26C

Firmware is up-to-date.

The S.M.A.R.T. short test was successful. No problems were detected.

The S.M.A.R.T. extended test was successful. No problems were detected.

Then I used Dashboard to create a usb drive and I Sanitized the ssd on the Dell.

After the Sanitize, it was this:
Capacity Total 111.79GB
Free 0.00GB
Used 0.00GB
Unallocated 111.79GB
Other 0.00GB

I put the ssd back on the Dell, booted from the Windows 10 Home install flash drive.

The Windows install began. When I told it to install into the 111.8GB Unallocated Free space, it gave the message about Windows possibly creating more than one partition for the system to work, I clicked and then seems to have hung.
 
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ArtPog

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1. Well at least it's good news that the SSD is non-defective. Just as a shot-in-the-dark, partition/format the SSD before undertaking the installation process. I assume the drive will be MBR-partitioned.

2. Another possibility is that there's some corruption going on with the Win 10 setup files on your Windows Media Tool. (I assume that's what you're using to install the OS). So re:download the Win 10 OS setup files from the Windows website. If you have another flash drive hanging around, use it for the downloaded files.

3. Naturally you've re:checked the SSD's SATA data connection right? Think it might be useful if you used another SATA data port (assuming one is available)?
 
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paulb104

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Creating the Windows 10 installation media on a flash drive takes time, like twenty minutes.

While that was going, I thought I'd try something different. Using the usb/sata cable (love that thing, I really do) I put the ssd on my computer (Windows 10 Pro), used diskpart to clean it, then to create a primary partition. Then I went into Disk Management and named the volume and formatted it. Now it's NTFS 111.79GB Primary Partition.

Then happened to notice that the new volume didn't show up in Windows Explorer, which just happened to be open. I disconnected the ssd, then reconnected. Still not there. Using Disk Management I went into Change Drive Letter, then it asked me if I wanted it to have a drive letter. After clicking ok, it got a letter and acted like any other external drive.

On the install, I couldn't install Windows *because* of the MBR. It needs a GPT partition.
 
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paulb104

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I took the ssd back to my computer, opened diskpart, cleaned it, then ran "convert gpt". In Disk Management I created a partition, named it (SanDisk) and formatted it.

The Windows install showed this
Drive 0 Partition 1 Total size 128.0mb Free space 128.0mb Type MSR (reserved)
Drive 0 Partition 2: SanDisk 111.7gb Free space 111.6gb Type Primary

Windows couldn't install to the Primary partition so I deleted it. Then when I selected the free space it gave a message about the partitions being out of order but let me continue anyway. I didn't record that error message. Right now the install is actually installing...
 
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ArtPog

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Good, it look's like you should have a viable OS by the time you see this. Let's hope so.

Now harking back to your "original" problem...As you put it, "It (the system) was running smoothly for about two years until last week when Windows started to reboot randomly. I decided to reset Windows. It didn't go well."

And that's what triggered this whole subsequent episode, right? The difficulties in installing the OS recently had its genesis in a completely different problem (other than the "original" one), i.e., the partitioning scheme of the installation media.

What bothers me is that unless you (or somehow the system without user intervention) made some untoward configuration changes in your OS just prior to the "original" problem, the fact that the boot disk was GPT-partitioned rather than MBR-partitioned at that time should not have caused the "original" problem you described. Something else was (is?) at play here it seems to me.

I hope I'm wrong and your OS runs smoothly from here on out.
 
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paulb104

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I'm thankful for your help, and impressed with your curiosity with the origin of all this.

So this all started waaaaay back on January 14th, when the computer started to reboot randomly. My wife could be typing, or not even near it.

I honestly don't remember all the nitty gritty, but on my computer I had started doing searches for isapnp.sys, then I was trying to put Windows 10 Home into safe mode. Then at some point I know there were errors running some programs, which had to do with side by side. I did a sxstrace, then parsed the logfile, and then everything went downhill fast after that. I know I looked at that log, but I don't know if I was able to get a copy of it before that version of Windows fried.

At this point, Windows 10 Home is indeed up and running on that computer. All the updates have run.

In Dashboard, the S.M.A.R.T. short test was successful. No problems were detected. The S.M.A.R.T. extended test was not successful. It gave an error code 27. I haven't been able to find that.

Unbeknownst to me, the updates were running in the background while the extended test was running so that might have been the cause of the code 27. After rebooting I started the extended test again, which is running now, but it's been at forty percent for a LONG time now...

 
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ArtPog

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I have the uneasy feeling that something is not "right" with the installed OS on the SSD and/or the SSD itself (acknowledging that the SanDisk diagnostic has apparently given the disk a clean bill-of-health).

Assuming that the "extended test" either satisfactorily completes its operations (or you simply cancel out if it doesn't), humor me for a moment and download the HD Sentinel program from...http://www.hdsentinel.com/
We've used this program for many years and have confidence in its ability to diagnose any problems with HDDs. It seems to be equally effective with SSDs based on our experience.
 
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paulb104

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The second S.M.A.R.T. extended test was successful - no issues. I've since loaded some software, done all the updates, and am honestly just waiting as long as I can to see how it performs.

I am unfamiliar with HD Sentinel. After read a bit from them, and a bit about them from other sources, I downloaded Hard Disk Sentinel Trial v4.71 and installed it on that Dell.

HD Sentinel does say that there are six bad sectors on the ssd. Other than that, it doesn't seem to have any testing available in the Trial version.

 
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ArtPog

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Hopefully you now have a bootable fully functional drive at this point that will continue to operate as such indefinitely. Let's hope so.
But don't neglect to backup the system from time-to-time so that you're able to maintain a reasonably up-to-date comprehensive backup of your system.
Consider utilizing a disk-cloning program for this function or whatever your favorite backup program is.
 
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paulb104

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We had everything backed up. Well, almost everything. We keep two drives in our systems, one with "our stuff" and the other for the OS. "our stuff" gets backed up. However, somehow, it turns out that my wife's Chrome was never logged in. Ever. So all her bookmarks were never saved since August 2015. I kept telling her that her desktop Chrome and her tablet Chrome should have been synced, and I showed that to her on mine, but she never thought to correct it and I never knew it wasn't logged in. She'll be fuming at me about this for a while.

Thanks again for your help!
 
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