[SOLVED] Can I safely delete a partition and zero-fill the space without affecting another partition on my old SSD?

[grjscott1991]

First off let me apologise, as I know there's a lot of questions similar to this one out there already. However, I just want to be absolutely sure in my case that I am not going to lose any data before I make this change.

So I have a 500GB SSD. On this SSD I have 2 operating systems on separate partitions - Windows 10 taking up about 450GB and Ubuntu taking up about 50GB. I just installed a new 1TB storage drive and I have successfully cloned the Windows 10 partition over to the new drive and extended it to use the unallocated space so that I now have Windows 10 using all of the 1TB of space on the new drive - this is now the default boot drive and seems to be working fine.

I now want to remove the old Windows 10 partition on the 500GB drive and use this space to extend the Ubuntu partition so that it can use the whole 500GB. So far I have been using AOMEI Partition Assistant 8.9 which has been working well. However, I'm a bit nervous about deleting the old Windows partition and turning it into unallocated space, as the 50GB Ubuntu partition also appears as unallocated space when using the software in Windows 10. This means that when I select the option to delete the Windows partition, the display in AOMEI seemingly implies that this will merge this new unallocated space with the Ubuntu Partition. Obviously I don't want to lose any of the data that I have on the Ubuntu partition when I perform this operation, so I just want reassurance that I am going about it in the right way?

 

[Ralston18]

Not a direct answer per se.

However, in any case, you should ensure that all data (Windows and Ubuntu) is safely backed up somewhere else at at least two other locations. Verify that the data is both recoverable and readable.

Having that safeguard in place is important because even if you do everything correctly Mr. Murphy may make an unexpected appearance.

As to the partition deletion/recovery process itself I will defer to the Ubuntu community.

 

[TerryLaze]

I now have Windows 10 using all of the 1TB of space on the new drive - this is now the default boot drive and seems to be working fine.

Did you test this by disabling/disconnecting all other drives?

However, I'm a bit nervous about deleting the old Windows partition and turning it into unallocated space, as the 50GB Ubuntu partition also appears as unallocated space when using the software in Windows 10.

Use AOMEI to take an image of the 50Gb ubuntu partition to the 1Tb disk (also good to keep this file for future use)
completely wipe the whole old disk
restore the image to the whole old disk
Or try deleting the windows partition to see what it will do with the reassurance that you do have an image of what you need.
You will probably have to edit either the windows boot manager or the ubuntu one to add the respective other OS to the boot menu or switch between them from the bios boot menu.

 

[grjscott1991]

Not a direct answer per se.

However, in any case, you should ensure that all data (Windows and Ubuntu) is safely backed up somewhere else at at least two other locations. Verify that the data is both recoverable and readable.

Having that safeguard in place is important because even if you do everything correctly Mr. Murphy may make an unexpected appearance.

As to the partition deletion/recovery process itself I will defer to the Ubuntu community.

Thanks for this - good advice, I'll make sure I create a temporary partition on the new drive and clone the Ubuntu partition over to it before trying anything.

 

[grjscott1991]

Did you test this by disabling/disconnecting all other drives?

Use AOMEI to take an image of the 50Gb ubuntu partition to the 1Tb disk (also good to keep this file for future use)
completely wipe the whole old disk
restore the image to the whole old disk
Or try deleting the windows partition to see what it will do with the reassurance that you do have an image of what you need.
You will probably have to edit either the windows boot manager or the ubuntu one to add the respective other OS to the boot menu or switch between them from the bios boot menu.

Thanks for these detailed suggestions - I have tested the cloned Windows partition on the new drive without the other drives enabled and it works. I will make sure I have the Ubuntu partition cloned elsewhere and readable, and then delete the old Windows partition and see what happens. Fingers crossed!