How do I remove partitions on external hard drive

[Colin stephenson]

Return my external hard drive to manufacturers state

 

[The Original Ralph]

download the easeus partition manager freeware version - it's pretty straightforward http://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/personal.html

delete all but one partition, then simply expand the remaining partition volume size by placing your cursor one one end and dragging it - when you've moved it till no space remains on the unallocated area, go up to top taskbar and clik on "apply"

you might want to backup any files the drives you delete to another drive as that will wipe those partitions clean

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware, Collin!

You can format your external drive from Disk Management as well, without downloading any third-party utility. You just need to make sure that all the partitions and volumes on the external HDD become 'Unallocated' (Black bar).
Here's a tutorial from our knowledge base that you might find useful:
How to partition and format your HDD - http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=DRBwyB

If you want to use third-party utility, you should go to the external HDD manufacturer's website and find their formatting/diagnostic tool. These utilities will help you perform the 'WRITING ZEROS" procedure which would basically erase everything on the HDD to the point of no return.

Hope this was helpful. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD