Remove pre-installed Win boot partition without formatting whole HDD?


  1. larrens
    Posts : 46
    Win10 Home 64 bit
       New #1

    Remove pre-installed Win boot partition without formatting whole HDD?


    I bought a new PC which only come with a 2TB HDD with Windows preinstalled. (also has a Windows recovery partition)

    I decided to put in a 128gb SSD and installed Windows 10 on it.
    I kept the 2TB HDD for storage or my documents and photos.

    I made a 1TB partition, keeping the pre-installed Windows on 1 partition temporarily and my documents on the other partition (Reason I kept the Windows boot was just in case something went wrong when I installed the SSD).

    Now that this was done and the SSD boot is fine, I want to get rid of the 1TB partition with the preinstalled Windows boot and incorporate this with the other partition into a total 2TB. (My question does not relate to the ‘recovery partition’ – I am happy to keep that).

    I can’t format the whole drive as I will lose my other data files.
    If I remove the partition where the pre-installed Windows boot is, how do I then allocate this space back into my other partition, effectively resulting in no partition?I bought a new PC which only come with a 2TB HDD with Windows preinstalled. (also has a Windows recovery partition)

    I decided to put in a 128gb SSD and installed Windows 10 on it.
    I kept the 2TB HDD for storage or my documents and photos. I made a 1TB partition, keeping the pre-installed Windows on 1 partition temporarily and my documents on the other partition (Reason I kept the Windows boot was just in case something went wrong when I installed the SSD).

    Now that this was done and the SSD boot is fine, I want to get rid of the 1TB partition with the preinstalled Windows boot and incorporate this with the other partition into a total 2TB. (My question does not relate to the ‘recovery partition’ – I am happy to keep that).

    I can’t format the whole drive as I will lose my other data files.

    If I remove the partition where the pre-installed Windows boot is, how do I then allocate this space back into my other partition, effectively resulting in no partition?
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  3. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #2

    Use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free:
    Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free
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  4. larrens
    Posts : 46
    Win10 Home 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Thanks for the reply. I will try that.

    Wont the inbuilt Windows Disk Management achieve a similar outcome?
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  6. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #4

    Not always.
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  7. AddRAM
    Posts : 4,594
    Windows 10 Pro
       New #5

    Using windows Disk management to work on partitions is a PITA, use Partition Wizard as suggested.

    I think AOMEI is great too.

    AOMEI Partition Assistant: Partition Software & Disk Manager for PC, Laptop and Server
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  8. larrens
    Posts : 46
    Win10 Home 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       New #6

    great - thanks for the advice
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