HELP! UEFI GPT partition... Win8 installation won't proceed!

[preckie]

I have never had any problems with my G55VW since I bought it last Sept 2012. It came pre-installed with Win7, but I purchased a copy of Windows 8 and proceeded with a clean install. There are a total of 5 partitions on my 750gb Seagate HDD. System, MBR reserved (something like that), OS (Drive C), Data (Drive D), and Recovery Backup.

I have been on Windows 8 since around Feb 2013. And yesterday, it decided to die on me.

All of my data are on the Drive D partition. I had to proceed with a format of the OS partition today since all kinds of repairs/system restore did NOT work. When I proceeded with re-installation, an error showed up saying that my Disc is GPT partitioned. I don't know why this error occurs since the Boot DVD I use has a .efi file (Win8 non-Pro, btw, the only disc I had lying around; the original boot download is stored at Drive D... with no physical backup).

Unfortunately, I can't just delete all the partitions and repartition everything via MBR since all my data will be lost on the Data partition (Drive D).

Can someone please help me get this laptop up and running... without having to erase all my important stuff on the other partition?

Added problem: My other laptop in the house is a MacBook, deleted a previous Bootcamp installation. No other PC. 😞

Thanks so much!

[preckie]

P.S. I tried to recover my data by putting the HDD on an enclosure-to-USB. Sadly, both PC and Mac won't read Drive D, only the formatted Drive C partition.

[Praz]

During POST call up the boot menu and select the optical entry that shows UEFI.

[Clintlgm]

I think at this point, I would put your hard drive in an enclosure and back up your data to another location.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?28758-GUIDE-G55-G75-Upgrade-Notes&country=&status= this thread explains most of the methods of installing an OS.

It sounds like your boot Install media is set up for a BIOS MBR install? Your hard drive is a UEIF GPT disk you'll need to create a Install media that is set up for a UEIF GPT install.

[preckie]

I found a solution apart from using the enclosure (which failed since the Data partition can't be read by other computers).

I downloded Ubuntu, burned it to a DVD, and booted the Asus from the DVD... Poof! The Data partition can be read. Finally moving thousands of files to my NAS.

I'd make a bootable USB drive to install Windows as mentioned on numerous tutorials in the web. Delete all partitions, repartition to Windows (100GB), Linux (100GB) and Data (the rest). Install Windows 8 on the Windows 8 partition on UEFI, then Linux on the other partition.

That seems like a sound plan, right?

Thanks for the help guys!