Question for Hard Drive Expert

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solaris54

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I just bought a used 320GB hard drive to add as a 2nd hard drive to my Dell Studio 17.

I installed it no problem and it works no problem. Apparently whoever had it before me had it as an OS drive. So it had a 2 partitions with WIndows in one of them and then Recovery in the other.

So I formatted the drive and got rid of WIndows but the Recovery partition still remains. I tried delketing it but no help. I tried extending the newly fomatted area but it wont let me do it something about Dynamic storage.

I have been doing all ot this through the Administrative Computer Management area.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Delete the partitions outside of Windows. There are a few free partition manager tools available that will let you boot to a CD and wipe out the disk structure. I like Hiren's Boot CD as an all-in-one tool. Also look into the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.
 
So now if I go to Computer Management I have the New Volume F: which shows 298GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Parition) I still have the 78MB that used to be the Recovery and it is labled Healthy EISA. It wont let me do anything even if I right click.
 
If you use solaris you can just use dd on the raw device to overwrite the first 1 megabyte with zeroes, destroying the partition table and any beginning data that resides on previous filesystem.

To do this, execute as root:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<DEVICE> bs=1m count=1

Make sure you get the device right. ;-)
As precaution, disconnect any disks with important data.
 
If you'd have used Hiren's, you could be done by now. ;)
 
Gparted.

Download it, burn the iso to a disc, boot up with the disc, and you can delete or copy any partition. You can also, shrink, expand, and see hidden partitions (sometimes).

I've used it many times, works great.
 
King Icewind said:
Gparted.

Download it, burn the iso to a disc, boot up with the disc, and you can delete or copy any partition. You can also, shrink, expand, and see hidden partitions (sometimes).

I've used it many times, works great.
Click to expand...

Beat me to it - this is probably the easiest way to go.
 
Seriously guys, Gparted and boot CD's just to nuke a stubborn system-protected partition? j/k :)

@solaris54: here's what you do.

1. Click Start -> Run -> diskpart <enter>
2. At the DISKPART> prompt you type "list disk"
3. Assuming your C-drive is disk 0, and your new 320gb drive is disk 1, you type "select disk 1" <enter>
4. Then you type "clean" <enter> and then "exit" <enter>

When you go into Windows Disk Management (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc) you'll see an empty drive ready to initialize like it just came from the factory. And don't worry, you can't accidentally wipe out your C-drive if you select the wrong drive in diskpart - it won't let you.
 
Last edited:
odditory said:
My god you guys, Gparted and boot CD's just to nuke a stubborn system-protected partition? j/k :)

@solaris54: here's what you do.

1. Click Start -> Run -> diskpart <enter>
2. At the DISKPART> prompt you type "list disk"
3. Assuming your C-drive is disk 0, and your new 320gb drive is disk 1, you type "select disk 1" <enter>
4. Then you type "clean" <enter> and then "exit" <enter>

When you go into Windows Disk Management (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc) you should see no partitions on an empty drive. And don't worry, you can't accidentally wipe out your C-drive if you selected the wrong drive to work on in diskpart - it won't let you.
Click to expand...

and uh.. just how does he tell which drive is disk 0 and which one is disk 1? (yes yes, sizes and all that, but it's easy to screw up) DBAN is really the safest route. unplug the drive you DON'T want nuked, boot from the cd and let it go at it for a few seconds. Eject the disc, shut off the computer, and plug back in your original drive to get back into Windows.
 
solaris54 said:
So i donwload to the computer first and then download to disc?
Click to expand...

Yes download it then use Imgburn. Once you open the Imgburn program, load the gparted iso in imgburn, and burn it to a blank disc.

To a recent poster; Gparted has been useful in many situations. It's a GUI program, and I've always hated messing around with text commands. I have no doubts that you will use it at some later time.
 
ryan_975 said:
and uh.. just how does he tell which drive is disk 0 and which one is disk 1? (yes yes, sizes and all that, but it's easy to screw up) DBAN is really the safest route. unplug the drive you DON'T want nuked, boot from the cd and let it go at it for a few seconds. Eject the disc, shut off the computer, and plug back in your original drive to get back into Windows.
Click to expand...

?? He said he's adding a second drive, not to mention the "clean" command won't run against the system drive (C:\) - I've tried. If anything, booting from a CD is more dangerous since that WILL allow you to wipe out the system drive by accident if the wrong disk is selected, not to mention his internal drive may not be easily removable. So unless he has more drives connected that he hasn't mentioned this is impossible to screw up with diskpart.
 
Last edited:
odditory said:
Seriously guys, Gparted and boot CD's just to nuke a stubborn system-protected partition? j/k :)

@solaris54: here's what you do.

1. Click Start -> Run -> diskpart <enter>
2. At the DISKPART> prompt you type "list disk"
3. Assuming your C-drive is disk 0, and your new 320gb drive is disk 1, you type "select disk 1" <enter>
4. Then you type "clean" <enter> and then "exit" <enter>

When you go into Windows Disk Management (Start -> Run -> diskmgmt.msc) you'll see an empty drive ready to initialize like it just came from the factory. And don't worry, you can't accidentally wipe out your C-drive if you select the wrong drive in diskpart - it won't let you.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info but it didnt work
GIves me a message the the selected dis is necessary to the operation of your computer and may not be cleaned
 
I see, its one of THOSE partitions. Revised instructions:

1. Click Start -> Run -> diskpart <enter>
2. At the DISKPART> prompt you type "list disk"
3. Assuming your C-drive is disk 0, and your new 320gb drive is disk 1, you type "select disk 1" <enter>
4. Type "list partition" <enter>
5. Type "select partition x" where x is the partition number, i.e. "select partition 1"
6. Finally, type "delete partition override" <enter>

To reiterate, the above command will not work against your system drive (C:\) so you aren't risking accidental deletion if you select the wrong disk.
 
Last edited:
odditory said:
I see, its one of THOSE partitions. Revised instructions:

1. Click Start -> Run -> diskpart <enter>
2. At the DISKPART> prompt you type "list disk"
3. Assuming your C-drive is disk 0, and your new 320gb drive is disk 1, you type "select disk 1" <enter>
4. Type "list partition" <enter>
5. Type "select partition x" where x is the partition number, i.e. "select partition 1"
6. Finally, type "delete partition override" <enter>

To reiterate, the above command will not work against your system drive (C:\) so you aren't risking accidental deletion if you selected the wrong disk.
Click to expand...

Ok when I first installed this hard drive it was showing as Disk 0 so when I went to diskpart and list disc that is the one I selected. When I went back to Computer Management it had changed to Disk 1 for some reason. So I went back to your instructions and did Disk 1 and now it seems to be working. I had to initialize it and now Im formatting the hard drive again. I will see how it turns out.

Thanks for the help
 
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