[Wol]

My "main" C Drive has three partitions: an "old" HP XP Recovery partition (Which I keep just in case), the logical C partition on which my Windows Seven now resides, plus all my data etc, and a logical D partition which is the much reduced XP partition.

I have deleted almost all of the D partition - the only files left are I assume old XP undeletable files - and I really want to delete the whole partition so as to tidy up the drive and make a bit more space available for the Seven partition.

GPartEd won't let me delete it - perhaps because it still has remnants of XP on it, perhaps because it lives on the same physical drive as the Seven partition.

I thought that by formatting it (just the D partition) it might make it "available" to GPartEd to delete. Will this work? And how to do it under DOS? I am very rusty on DOS and can't even remember how to move to that partition on the command line!

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I would be inclined to use something like KILLDISK which will completely overwrite the partition, and then you should be able to do whatever you want to with it.
http://download.cnet...4-10188745.html

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Cheers.

[Rowal5555]

I would be inclined to use something like KILLDISK which will completely overwrite the partition, and then you should be able to do whatever you want to with it.
http://download.cnet...4-10188745.html

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Cheers.

[Wol]

I would be inclined to use something like KILLDISK which will completely overwrite the partition, and then you should be able to do whatever you want to with it.
http://download.cnet...4-10188745.html

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Cheers.

Thanks.

Two questions: can the program do just the one partition, or doesit attack the whole physical drive?

Secondly, I notice that the C partition is listed as "Boot" and the D partition (the one I eventually want to delete completely) is listed as "System". Will I lose anything by deleting this "system" partition which, so far as I know, isn't actually used?

TIA

[Rowal5555]

I have only used KillDisk on a dead computer so will leave the answer to the gurus. Don't want to put you crook.
Cheers

[Wol]

It's the "dead computer" bit that I would, preferably, like to avoid <g>.

[peter99]

Are you using disk management in win7 to delete or format the partition

[diabillic]

You can format a logical volume without affecting any other partitions on the disk.

The C: partition labeled as "Boot" just means the MBR is pointed at that.

[Wol]

Are you using disk management in win7 to delete or format the partition

Here's a screenshot of the discs - the physical C Drive in the computer has the logical C D and E drives. The logical D is the one I want to delete, since I have already deleted all the files on it that *are* deletable.

Attached Thumbnails

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[Wol]

You can format a logical volume without affecting any other partitions on the disk.

The C: partition labeled as "Boot" just means the MBR is pointed at that.

Thanks.

I would imagine I can format the D partition from the command line? I can't remember however how to change to the D partition to give the "format" command - I can get to the C prompt but not to the D prompt.

[FNP]

Wol-

When you're in the command prompt, just type the name of the drive. I.E., if you open the prompt and you begin in C:\Users\Wol, just type D: and you will be directed to the D: drive.

Also, in disk management, you can right-click on the D: partition and select format. Easier than hassling through the command prompt, in my opinion.

Edited by FNP, 09 June 2010 - 11:47 AM.

[Wol]

Wol-

When you're in the command prompt, just type the name of the drive. I.E., if you open the prompt and you begin in C:\Users\Wol, just type D: and you will be directed to the D: drive.

Also, in disk management, you can right-click on the D: partition and select format. Easier than hassling through the command prompt, in my opinion.

Just typing "D" in the command window does nothing except bring up "D is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file".

And the "format" command is greyed out in disk management right-click, so no go there either!

I suspect that the fact that the D partition is marked as as system partition is the problem - as I said above - and I can't see a way around it apart from formatting it from the command prompt - but I can't get to the d partition from that!

[Rowal5555]

You can use KILLDISK to wipe a partition-

http://www.killdisk....separtition.htm

When you install Windows, a tiny very well hidden space is created and you need an app like KillDisk to write over it.

Cheers

[FNP]

And to clarify- you have to type D: (colon included).

[Wol]

>>And to clarify- you have to type D: (colon included). <<

Yes, of course! I had forgotten - in fact I've forgotten most DOS and the only DOS book I have deals with floppies ad mentions that BIG hard discs are *now* available with as much as 10Mb capacity. Dates it....

[Wol]

You can use KILLDISK to wipe a partition-

http://www.killdisk....separtition.htm

When you install Windows, a tiny very well hidden space is created and you need an app like KillDisk to write over it.

Cheers

Wonderful!

I ran KillDisk (with trepidation...) and it wiped the D partition to "unallocated": I then ran Partition Master and increased the C logical to take up that space. All worked like clockwork.

Many thanks: I now have a "tidy" C physical drive!