Removing partitions on external hard drives?

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  1. Willabong
    Posts : 271
    Windows 10 pro x64
       New #1

    Removing partitions on external hard drives?


    I have several laptop hard drives that I access on my desktop PC via a usb hub, I have managed to format them and they work perfectly.
    My problem is that 2 of these hard drives have 2 partitions which I have also formatted, but the partitions show up as separate drives in Windows 10. What I want to do is consolidate the drives into just the one primary partition on each drive.
    Can anyone please tell me how I can achieve this in Windows 10?

    Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

    Windows 10 version 1909 fully up to date 32 gig ram.
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  3. Matthew Wai
    Posts : 7,607
    Windows 10 Home 20H2
       New #2

    Download Magic Free Partition Manager Software - AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard
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  4. Try3
    Posts : 16,949
    Windows 10 Home x64 Version 22H2 Build 19045.4170
       New #3

    You can use a host of different partition managers to do this job including the built in Disk management utility [C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc] See Overview of Disk Management - MSDocs

    A popular third-party tool is MiniTool Partition Wizard which includes a host of helpful articles on its website. Lots of TenForums members use this so there's plenty of help available here aswell.
    - Make sure you do not just let it install. Follow each step carefully and skip the step that wants to install other tools [such as Avast antimalware]. WD currently flags this up upon download because of this bloatware.
    - It also has a 'portable' version that you can use without installation and which avoids the bloatware issue completely.

    Denis
    Last edited by Try3; 17 Mar 2020 at 09:42.
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  6. Matthew Wai
    Posts : 7,607
    Windows 10 Home 20H2
       New #4

    AOMEI Partition Assistant 8 with Portable Free Download - PC Wonderland
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  7. Kyhi
    Posts : 4,144
    Windows 3.1 to Windows 11
       New #5

    Plug in External USB Drive > then open Command Prompt (Admin) > Type
    Code:
    DiskPart
List volume
Select volume X （where X is the External USB drive volume letter.)
Clean 
convert mbr
Create partition primary
Format FS=NTFS quick
Exit
    Last edited by Kyhi; 17 Mar 2020 at 06:56.
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  8. Matthew Wai
    Posts : 7,607
    Windows 10 Home 20H2
       New #6

    Clean will erase all the data.
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  9. Kyhi
    Posts : 4,144
    Windows 3.1 to Windows 11
       New #7

    I have managed to format them and they work perfectly.
    What I want to do is consolidate the drives into just the one primary partition on each drive.
    Clean will erase all the data.
    Exactly - thus use Diskpart
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  10. jumanji
    Posts : 11,627
    Windows11 Home 64bit v:23H2 b:22631.3374
       New #8

    Hi @Willabong

    Please clarify. All partitions will appear as drives. Universal truth     .

    Do you mean to say that those two partitions appear as two seperate disks?

    Please post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management showing that external drive. Then let the experts here crack their heads     .
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  12. Kyhi
    Posts : 4,144
    Windows 3.1 to Windows 11
       New #9

    really ????
    An External Disk with separate partitions will be assigned a Drive Letter for each Partition..
    Thus appear as 2 drives
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  13. Matthew Wai
    Posts : 7,607
    Windows 10 Home 20H2
       New #10

    An example below:

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