Question Erase External HDD ?

[spinningstill]

Have a 5TB external drive and in the disc management console it is split. I cannot delete the unallocated space, its all grayed out. Somehow shows an MBR. Its 5TB external. Need to erase the whole thing for a 5TB external only allows 1.9TB. Half is unallocated. : (
This in Windows 11.

 

[Lafong]

If the space is "unallocated", it is effectively "erased"......nothing on it.

A picture of your Disk Management would help.

 

[spinningstill]

Right but cannot erase and use. Thanks for the help.

Misc - Zion Photography

Photojournalistic photographer with a focus on family friendly events, products, and services. Events that edify and build our community. Products that support healthy livelihoods. Services that meet tangible practical needs.

www.zionphotography.org

 

[USAFRet]

Have a 5TB external and in the disc management it is split. I cannot delete the unallocated space, its all grayed out. Somehow shows an MBR. Its 5TB external. Need to erase the whole thing for a 5TB external only allows 1.9TB. Half is unallocated. : (
This in Windows 11.

Please show us the Disk Management window

Ah, I see it in your link.

Is this drive formatted as MBR?
If so, there can be only a 2.2TB partition on it, as you see.
The rest is unallocated and unusable.

 

[spinningstill]

Please show us the Disk Management window

Misc - Zion Photography

Photojournalistic photographer with a focus on family friendly events, products, and services. Events that edify and build our community. Products that support healthy livelihoods. Services that meet tangible practical needs.

www.zionphotography.org

 

[Lafong]

You can't "delete" or "erase" unallocated space.

But you can add it to an existing partition....in your case, to partition E.

Is that what you need?

Should be doable with a right click on partition E.

What choices do you see when you do that?

As a last resort, you could use a third party tool.

 

[USAFRet]

Delete the E partition, and reformat it as GPT.
This will allow the full use of the 5TB space.

This will, of course, wipe out whatever data is on it currently.

 

[USAFRet]

You can't "delete" or "erase" unallocated space.

But you can add it to an existing partition....in your case, to partition E.

Is that what you need?

Should be doable with a right click on partition E.

What choices do you see when you do that?

As a last resort, you could use a third party tool.

It is currently MBR, which only allows a 2.2TB partition.
It needs to be reformatted as GPT.

 

[spinningstill]

It is currently MBR, which only allows a 2.2TB partition.
It needs to be reformatted as GPT.

Thank you. How do I reformat it to MBR it does not show up t be able to do that. Only the other part shows up. Do I reformat the other part to GPT and then it will be able to accept the unallocated space?

 

[spinningstill]

Thank you. How do I reformat it to MBR it does not show up t be able to do that. Only the other part shows up. Do I reformat the other part to GPT and then it will be able to accept the unallocated space?

I see the GPT is not available.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you. How do I reformat it to MBR it does not show up t be able to do that. Only the other part shows up. Do I reformat the other part to GPT and then it will be able to accept the unallocated space?

Delete the existing partition, the "E".
That should leave one blank space.

 

[spinningstill]

Delete the E partition, and reformat it as GPT.
This will allow the full use of the 5TB space.

This will, of course, wipe out whatever data is on it currently.

I am not seeing the option to reformat to GPT.

Delete the existing partition, the "E".
That should leave one blank space.

Now I have two unallocated spaces.

 

[spinningstill]

I found the option for GPT. Thank you so much!

 

[USAFRet]

I found the option for GPT. Thank you so much!

When done, please show us the resulting Disk Management window.

 

[spinningstill]

When done, please show us the resulting Disk Management window.

Misc - Zion Photography

Photojournalistic photographer with a focus on family friendly events, products, and services. Events that edify and build our community. Products that support healthy livelihoods. Services that meet tangible practical needs.

www.zionphotography.org

 

[spinningstill]

Misc - Zion Photography

Photojournalistic photographer with a focus on family friendly events, products, and services. Events that edify and build our community. Products that support healthy livelihoods. Services that meet tangible practical needs.

www.zionphotography.org

And should it be dynamic or GPT. Its for a backup.

 

[spinningstill]

It wouldn't let me, not messing it anymore. Thank you so much.