New
#1
Format unused space on primary disk
Some time ago I had to format my hard drive (a nominal 1 TB spinner) and re-install Windows 10. At the time I was considering setting up a dual-boot configuration, so I left about 290 GB unallocated for later use by the alternative OS. Since then I have changed my mind, and now I run Linux as a guest within a virtual machine in the Windows 10 host. Thus the 290 GB is still unused and unformatted.
What is the safest way to bring it back into use, either as an extension to the C: drive or as a new D: drive?
Disk Management shows a breakdown of the 931.51 GB storage as:
System reserved 100 MB NTFS,
638.01 GB NTFS for boot, page file, crash dump & primary partition,
450 MB recovery partition,
292.7 GB unallocated.
I see that if I right click on the last entry, I have the option to create a new simple volume. Presumably this would become my D: drive. Is this the best solution? I am hesitating because this is a feature that I have never used before, and the consequences of a mistake could be most unpleasant.