[SOLVED] Uninstalling a redundant Windows system configuration

Mar 9, 2022
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0
10
Some explanation. I have a laptop with an SDD (where Windows is installed) and an HDD. A few weeks ago my computer stopped detecting my SDD entirely and I had to install a fresh Windows 10 intallation on the HDD to continue working (eventually it was upgraded to Win 11 when they rolled that out). But since then, and not wanting to just leave the SDD not working (and since everything was a lot slower now), I was given the advice to just open up the laptop and make sure there isn't any dust blocking the motherboard from reaching it.

Luckily the SDD was in working state again but now I have one Win 11 install on one drive and a Win 10 install on the other, two different entries on the boot menu, and also all the other software I had reinstall (Chrome, Acrobat Reader, etc.)

I'm not tech savvy at all so I don't know what's the best way to delete of the newer Windows install (HDD) and the other software I had to reinstall. Can anyone help?
 
Solution
A laptop does much better with a ssd as the C drive.
Perhaps you can clone your current C drive HDD to the ssd.
The key requirement is that the target ssd drive is large enough to hold the used parts of the hdd.
Macrium reflect can do this.
If your ssd happens to be samsung, you can use their ssd migration app.

Cj-tech

Admirable
Jan 27, 2021
534
67
8,940
Some explanation. I have a laptop with an SDD (where Windows is installed) and an HDD. A few weeks ago my computer stopped detecting my SDD entirely and I had to install a fresh Windows 10 intallation on the HDD to continue working (eventually it was upgraded to Win 11 when they rolled that out). But since then, and not wanting to just leave the SDD not working (and since everything was a lot slower now), I was given the advice to just open up the laptop and make sure there isn't any dust blocking the motherboard from reaching it.

Luckily the SDD was in working state again but now I have one Win 11 install on one drive and a Win 10 install on the other, two different entries on the boot menu, and also all the other software I had reinstall (Chrome, Acrobat Reader, etc.)

I'm not tech savvy at all so I don't know what's the best way to delete of the newer Windows install (HDD) and the other software I had to reinstall. Can anyone help?
You can go to Disk Management and delete all the partitions on the HDD drive. After that, if you plan to keep the HDD for storage, you can create one new partition (or however many you want) for files or backups.

Edit: Make sure you are booting from the SSD and not the HDD when you delete the partitions.
 
Last edited:
Mar 9, 2022
2
0
10
You can go to Disk Management and delete all the partitions on the HDD drive. After that, if you plan to keep the HDD for storage, you can create one new partition (or however many you want) for files or backups.
Hello, thank you for your response
When I open Disk Management I can't choose the option to delete the system partition or the recovery partition.
View: https://i.imgur.com/MkNAsOO.png
(it's in french but you get the idea)
 

Cj-tech

Admirable
Jan 27, 2021
534
67
8,940
Hello, thank you for your response
When I open Disk Management I can't choose the option to delete the system partition or the recovery partition.
View: https://i.imgur.com/MkNAsOO.png
(it's in french but you get the idea)
In this case, you can try to format it with diskpart. This requires some basic commands on your computer, but if you follow this guide, it should be easy:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/format-hard-drive-command-prompt,37632.html
 
A laptop does much better with a ssd as the C drive.
Perhaps you can clone your current C drive HDD to the ssd.
The key requirement is that the target ssd drive is large enough to hold the used parts of the hdd.
Macrium reflect can do this.
If your ssd happens to be samsung, you can use their ssd migration app.
 
Solution

Cj-tech

Admirable
Jan 27, 2021
534
67
8,940
A laptop does much better with a ssd as the C drive.
Perhaps you can clone your current C drive HDD to the ssd.
The key requirement is that the target ssd drive is large enough to hold the used parts of the hdd.
Macrium reflect can do this.
If your ssd happens to be samsung, you can use their ssd migration app.
From the screenshot the OP shared, it looks like the SSD is the C drive. I think the OP is trying to format the HDD drive.