Windows 10: Deleted partition off external HD

I have an old 500GB external hard drive that I wanted to use for storing music masters. When I plugged it in, two drives showed in the "My PC" panel. One for 50GB and the other for 400+. I tried to delete the partition and just have all the space on one drive but I'm guessing my father in law (who gave it to me) had it partitioned. Now, when I plug the HD in my PC it only shows WD ELEMENTS and has only the 50GB space available. I looked in disk management and the other HD space is in there but I have no idea how to get it back. Basically, I don't need to recover any files off of the HD at all, I just want it wiped clean and have the whole storage available. Any help appreciated.

:)

 

External HD Connection Problem

I have attached an external HD to my computer running Windows 10 and it will not show up in my drive list. The properties shows it as Seagate.ink - what is an ink file and any suggestions as to how I can get it to work?

 

External HD Partition Issue

I was trying to partition an external HD in Disk Management. The HD is 3TB, and I wanted to create a new drive letter with 500 GB. After clicking on shrink, 500 GB appear
unallocated in black color. The external HD shrunk 500 GB less, but I do not see a new 500 GB drive letter anywhere, nor did I have the option of selecting a drive letter.

How can find the 500 GB that was lost and add a drive letter to it? When right clicking on the 500GB that appear
unallocated in Disk Management everything is grayed out except for the last two options (Properties & Help).

Thanks in advance.

 

Help With Partition Management


If you really want your Windows to look like as if you do a fresh install and without losing what you currently have in C: Drive. Here's my suggestion:

1. Make a complete backup image of your current HD including all partitions to an external HD using Macrium Reflect Free . Once done, disconnect all USB devices from the PC. Assuming now you only have one HD connected to the PC which you will be installing Windows.
   IMPORTANT: Also create a Macrium Rescue disk to boot from later on.
2. Boot up your Windows installation USB/DVD. On the first screen, Hold SHIFT + F10 to open Command Windows then type:
   Diskpart
   select disk 0
   clean
   exit
3. Click Next, Choose Custom, select the unallocated partition then click Next (Do not format), when asked for Product ID key, click on "Skip this step"/"Do it later". Continue the Installation.
4. Once done. With the external HD connected, Reboot your PC with the Macrium Rescue disk, select the image that you created in step 1 as the Source.
5. Select your current HD/SSD as Destination disk
6. Restore only C: Drive to it. ie. overwrite the new C: Drive with your backup C: Drive.
   NOTE: See screen shot on how to perform this step
7. Disconnect all the external devices. Reboot. Windows should perform a startup repair.

Once finish, you should end up with the partition scheme as follows:

1. Recovery partition - 450MB
2. EFI System partition - 100MB
3. MSR Reserved partition - 16MB (Hidden from Disk Management but seen by Macrium or diskpart)
4. Your old Windows C: Drive with all the installed software.

Screen shot: Click once on #1 (C: Drive), click "Delete Existing Partition" on #2, Click & Drag #3 and drop to #1. Click Next->Finish