How do I format an ENTIRE HDD in Windows7?

jmp_78

jmp_78

jmp_78

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I have just transferred my old 160GB 2.5" HDD from a (broken) netbook to my desktop PC - all good. In Windows 7 I have been to Disk Management as the drive has always showed up as 2 x ~70GB drive letters, and for the 2nd partition I clicked DELETE VOLUME.

I can now see the 1st partition showing ~70GB and so I clicked EXTEND VOLUME. I can now see the following:

Total Volume 146,475 MB
Max Available Space 73,726 MB
Select Amount 73,726 MB

All I want to do is have 1 physical drive, showing the whole 146,475 MB... but don't know how!

Please help!
 
I think there probably are easier ways to do this but I use disk part.

Run DISKPART

then type list disk

type select disk # (where # is the number of the drive)

finally type clean and exit.

This will completely scrub the disk of any partitions and data. Then simply reinitialise the drive in Disk Management.

Hope this helps :)
 
I_M_Weasel said:
Can't you just delete both the original partitions and then make one new big one.
Click to expand...

Well, I was going to do this... but then got worried in case they both disappeared in Windows (like the 2nd partiton!) and I wouldn't be able to format anything!
 
richb93 said:
I think there probably are easier ways to do this but I use disk part.

Run DISKPART

then type list disk

type select disk # (where # is the number of the drive)

finally type clean and exit.

This will completely scrub the disk of any partitions and data. Then simply reinitialise the drive in Disk Management.

Hope this helps :)
Click to expand...

All good, done thanks!

When I enter Disk Management I am told to initialize the disk using one of the following - what's the difference?

MBR Master Boot Record
GPT GUID Partition Table

Cheers!
 
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