I'd probably hook the drives up to another system and use something like Partition Magic or one of the free equivalent apps to partition and format them first. OTOH, I'm sure the process of doing it duing install is probably improved since the rather clunky (IIRC) command line I remember. With my luck, I'd be worrying about why two drives failed in succession and wondering if it was just coincidence or something with the MB, cables etc. There should be many step-by-step guides to a clean install. I've never done it with 7, but usually just set the optical as first boot device in the BIOS and follow the on screen instructions. Unless it's something odd, Windows should have the drivers for the MB stuff I'd think.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken