How to Unpartition a Hard Drive
Partitioning a hard drive is a computer management task users do to maximize their hard drive space. Sometimes, though, the file system type needs to be changed or the current partitions need to be resized, removed or changed, which means having to unpartition the hard drive. It’s a simple and easy process, as long as you know what to do.
What You’ll Need:
PC with Windows Operating System
Procedure:
Back up important files on the drive you’re planning to unpartition. These will be deleted after the procedure, so make sure you have a copy before you begin the process.
Go to your Windows desktop and click the Start button on the taskbar. When the menu appears, click on the Run icon found at the lower right corner. You’ll get a text box that allows you to enter text commands.
In the Run text box, type in compmgmt.msc /s. This causes the Windows computer management utility to start.
In the left most frame of the program window, you’ll find the Disk Management heading. Click it, to open the drive management service that lists your hard drive. Be patient with this, as it might take several minutes to load. The speed depends on how many disks there are and how you use them.
In the computer management’s middle frame of, find the hard drive that you want to unpartition. Right click it, so you’ll get a context menu.
There’s a Delete Volume heading in the context menu. Click it, so the unpartitioning procedure will begin.
A dialog box will pop up, warning you that unpartitioning the volume you chose will result in all data on it to be deleted. After you clicked on OK, the unpartitioning procedure starts. Depending on the hard drive size, this can take several minutes or hours.
The drive is now unusable, unless you repartition it again with a system file.
You don’t need to be a computer genius to unpartition your hard drive. With these easy steps, you’ll get this task done in no time. Just remember to be patient while waiting for the procedure to finish.