How to fix: "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria"

I ran in to an odd new error, odd to me anyways, when attempting to install Microsoft Windows Vista Premium Edition (though I believe this is independent of the version):

Problem: "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria"

After googling for an answer, I ran across several complaints from users trying to promote their machine from a Vista release candidate (RC) to the RTM (Release Edition). Nothing clearly pointed at what the problem was for me so I wanted to post this for anyone else who might have run into this issue.

Fix: Insure the hard disk you're attempting to install to is the primary and is the first in your BOOT SELECT ORDER. Some of the MSDN steps to resolve include making sure you are not attempting to install to a DYNAMIC disk, or a disk which has a bad boot loader.

That's it! Hope that helps you, Good Luck!

Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM Crashed

My Western Digital 10,000 RPM hard disk drive called it quits today. It lasted less than 18 months, which isn't real good by just about anyones standards, even for an IDE HDD (Hard Disk Drive). I was quite disappointed when I looked up the warranty status on Western Digital's site and found the drive was no longer under manufacturer warranty.

I browsed my email for the latest Newegg.com "specials" email and found a cheap replacement drive. I decided on a Seagate to replace the WD (model ST3250410AS), and while this spins about 2,800 RPM's slower, (at 7,200), the 16MB buffer and strong user ratings make me think I'll not be disappointed. I noticed that there weren't many 10K RPM SATA/ATA disk drives listed on Newegg's site, it makes me wonder if WD is a bit ahead of things.

Lesson learned. Fortunately I backup my data and system files religiously (using Windows Vista's new "bare metal" restore functionality), now moving on...