[SOLVED] How do I partition a 8 Gb disk safely?

[Andrew_Werber]

I have an 8 Tb disk in my Windows 10 machine. The OS is safely installed on the C: drive. I want to partition the 8 Tb disk into 3 partitions of 1, 3.5 and 2.5 TB. I downloaded a program to do this. When I tried to click on 'convert to GPT' on the 8 Tb disk it said I have my OS on a separate disk and I might not be able to boot my machine. So, what can I do to partition my 8 Tb disk like I want?

I'm using the Demo edition of AOMEI Partition Assistant. Do I just delete the partition on the 8 Tb dive that says 'System reserved'?

 

[Andrew_Werber]

You can also do it without reinstall. But this requires creating bootloader on 500GB drive manually.

To create bootloader on 500GB drive, execute from elevated command prompt. Regular command prompt will give error on last step.
(if you get any errors, then stop immediately)

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 1​

list partition​

select partition 2​

(select 505MB partition)​

delete partition override​

create partition primary size=500​

format fs=ntfs quick​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot c:\windows /s H:​

After that shutdown and try to boot with only 500GB drive connected.
If all goes well, then reconnect 8TB drive, clean it, convert to GPT, partition and format it.

How to open elevated command prompt in Windows 10

Describes how to open an elevated command prompt (cmd.exe) as Administrator in Windows 10.

winaero.com

Thank you again for taking the time to help me.

My 500 Gb drive is a M2 drive, so I cannot connect a SATA cable. I tried disconnecting the 8 Tb drive with the 500 Gb selected as the first device selected to boot from and it did not boot.

I also tried setting the DVD as the primary boot device with the 8 Tb disconnected and the machine did not boot.

It will boot to Windows 10 if the 8 Tb is connected, even when the DVD is selected as the primary boot device (BTW, I have 2 DVDs connected).

So, do I connect the 8 Tb and follow the directions above?

Thanks again,
Andy

 

[TerryLaze]

Thank you again for taking the time to help me.

My 500 Gb drive is a M2 drive, so I cannot connect a SATA cable. I tried disconnecting the 8 Tb drive with the 500 Gb selected as the first device selected to boot from and it did not boot.

I also tried setting the DVD as the primary boot device with the 8 Tb disconnected and the machine did not boot.

It will boot to Windows 10 if the 8 Tb is connected, even when the DVD is selected as the primary boot device (BTW, I have 2 DVDs connected).

So, do I connect the 8 Tb and follow the directions above?

Thanks again,
Andy

You have to get into bios and set it up so that your 500Gb disk shows up as disk 0, first boot device, otherwise anything you do will have the same result as now.

I think there are some mobos that can't boot from m.2 though but I might be wrong there.

 

[Andrew_Werber]

You can also do it without reinstall. But this requires creating bootloader on 500GB drive manually.

To create bootloader on 500GB drive, execute from elevated command prompt. Regular command prompt will give error on last step.
(if you get any errors, then stop immediately)

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 1​

list partition​

select partition 2​

(select 505MB partition)​

delete partition override​

create partition primary size=500​

format fs=ntfs quick​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot c:\windows /s H:​

After that shutdown and try to boot with only 500GB drive connected.
If all goes well, then reconnect 8TB drive, clean it, convert to GPT, partition and format it.

How to open elevated command prompt in Windows 10

Describes how to open an elevated command prompt (cmd.exe) as Administrator in Windows 10.

winaero.com

Thanks again for helping me. A few things before I go ahead with the steps above:

The system will not boot into Windows with the 8 Tb disconnected.

ThHe 500 Gb drive is a M2 drive, not a SATA drive.

If the 8 Tb is disconnected, and DVD selected as primary boot device, and I put the Windows 10 (Home) DVD in the DVD drive, all I see is a blinking cursor.

So, can I go ahead as recommended above?

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Andrew_Werber]

I apologize for my confusion, I posted the same reply twice because I reloaded the page after the post, and did not realize I had to select the 2nd page.

 

[Andrew_Werber]

So, the Diskpart stuff did not result in any errors, but the system would not boot with the 8 Tb disconnected. So, I changed the primary boot device in the BIOS to DVD, disconnected the 8 TB and am now doing a complete (re-install) of Windows 10. Bummer. But I expect this to work. I appreciate everybody's help. Unfortunately, my understanding is that I can only assign 'points' (a.k.a. Best Answer) to one person. So I will choose the first person who suggested the clean installation.

 

[Andrew_Werber]

It finally works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After I said I did not have a key when I installed Windows. But now a new problem, for which I will create a new thread in Storage.

PS when I did the reinstall, I had to indicate that I did NOT have a product key. Filling in the product key made me reinstall again.