Merging Unallocated Space Partitions to Create One Primary Partition

[MaxArk]

I took an old harddrive that had a Windows 7 installation on it and added it to my system as a second drive. I thought formatting would brind it to it's factory default but I was wrong.

Using Windows 7 Disk Management tool, I see the drive has three partitions. 2 is unallocated with 101MB, the second is the primary partition (drive G and the third is also unallocated with 1678.02 GB. How do I merge all together to form one primary partition?

 

[13thmonkey]

do nothing right now. read my next post first

 

[13thmonkey]

The 101MB partition is the system partition, there is a risk that your current windows installation is using it.

To test this, unplug that hdd, if your system still boots then we can proceed.

If that is the case you need to delete the partitions and then you can create a new larger partition, or you can create space by deleting them and then grow a partition, but i'm 99% certain that you can only grow into space at the end of the partition not the start.

If your system does not boot with that disk attached, then the solution is a lot more complex, we'll go there if we need to.

 

[MaxArk]

Hi 13thmonkey ... thank you so much for the prompt support!!
The computer is booting up fine without this drive connected.
Using the disk management utility, I am unable to delete the partitions that are unallocated. How do I proceed as you have suggested?

 

[ArtPog]

The 101MB partition is the system partition, there is a risk that your current windows installation is using it.

To test this, unplug that hdd, if your system still boots then we can proceed.

If that is the case you need to delete the partitions and then you can create a new larger partition, or you can create space by deleting them and then grow a partition, but i'm 99% certain that you can only grow into space at the end of the partition not the start.

If your system does not boot with that disk attached, then the solution is a lot more complex, we'll go there if we need to.

Either I'm misunderstanding the OP's objective because it seems to me this appears to be a very simple, uncomplicated problem (with one caveat). The OP apparently desires to utilize this "old" HDD as a SECONDARY drive in his/her current system (which I assume to be a Win 7 OS since he/she mentions using the Windows 7 Disk Management "tool").

The OP mentions the "old" HDD contains a primary partition but fails to mention the volume of data contained in that partition. More importantly, is there data on that drive that the OP desires to access?

That's the "caveat". If all the OP is interested in is utilizing the HDD as a secondary drive in his/her current system and has no interest in accessing any data on that drive, then all that's really necessary is to either simply format the drive or "clean" the drive using DiskPart. Isn't that so?

Of course, if the drive is > 2 TB the OP will want to initialize the drive to the GPT-partitioning scheme (assuming it's not so currently initialized).

I don't see why the OP has to be concerned with the SR partition on that drive. Presumably the "primary" partition on that drive which the OP refers to will be deleted one way or another I would think.

So what this really comes down to is whether there's data on that "old" HDD that the OP desires. Isn't that so?

 

[MaxArk]

I just want my 4TB drive to be fully opened. There is nothing on it I want / need ... that's why I felt a simple format would have done the trick. My operating system is on drive C and is working fine.

I formatted it (via Windows 7 Disk Management tool), and this was the result. Maybe I didn't formatit properly, but I thought it would get rid of any partitions on it that it had originally.

Sadly, I am very ignorant on many of the terms and acronyms being thrown out, so if anyone want to help ... please understand that I am very green to this and some patience may need to be extended. I am very grateful for any and all help to understanding and resolving the issue.

What I am finding though, I am very limited on the management options being made to me on the two unallocated partitions in both Windows 7 Disk Management Tool, and EaseUS Paartition Master (Trial Edition) to delete, merge, shrink, expand these partitions. (And yes ... I wouldn't know how to use them properly if they ever were available to me LOL)

Thanks all!

 

[ArtPog]

Your best bet is to use the "clean" command of the Windows utility DiskPart to "clean" the 4 TB HDD of all data. DiskPart is a most valuable tool for a PC user and you should be reasonably familiar with using it. I'm assuming you're not. It's certainly not overcomplicated to utilize. Actually your major problem is accessing the DiskPart utility because you're using the Win 7 OS. So we're going to give you a lesson is accessing & using DiskPart...

Creating an "elevated command prompt" (via a Desktop shortcut)...
1. Right-click on an empty desktop space.
2. Click New > Shortcut.
3. In the "Type the location of the item" box enter "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" and click Next.
4. Name the shortcut "Elevated Command Prompt" and click Finish.
5. Right-click on the desktop shortcut and click Properties.
6. Under the Shortcut tab click the Advanced button.
7. Check the "Run as administrator" box and click OK, OK.
8. Double-clicking on the shortcut should open the command "C:\Windows\System32".
9. If desired you can pin to Taskbar or pin to Start menu or just leave it as a Desktop shortcut.

It's worth creating this shortcut because DiskPart is such a valuable utility for PC users. (If you were using Win 10 you wouldn't have to go through all the above nonsense to access DiskPart; it's a lot simpler in Win 10).

1. At the prompt - simply enter diskpart
2. list disk
3. select disk (number) - ensure you select the 4 TB HDD
4. clean
A message should display "DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk"
5. Exit diskpart

Now the 4 TB HDD will be "cleaned". You now have to use Disk Management to "initialize" the drive to the GPT-partitioning scheme so that its entire disk-space can be utilized for storage. Ordinarily when you access DM the "Initialize Disk" window will display and you can select the GPT Partition Table (it will probably be the default in this case). Click OK.

After the drive has been initialized to the GPT-partitioning scheme you can partition (single or multi partitions as you wish) and format same.

That's it. Capiche?

P. S.
And do learn about using the DiskPart utility via a Google search. It's something you should have in your PC tool chest.

 

[13thmonkey]

My only concern is that that second disk is actually holding the system partition that the other drive is using to boot from, i.e. if it happened to be on port 0, and was present when the new installation was created. The risk would be simply that you'd kill the working installation if you deleted that partition.

I must admit I did forget the warning about data loss, i thought it, just didn't type it.

I would have eventually got to diskpart, but it's been a while

 

[MaxArk]

Thank you both for your support, it's all good! Artpog ... thank you for patiently and clearly explaining a working solution.
13monkeys ... also appreciated is your cautious approach to ensure a solution woulkdn't cause further grief.