Windows 10: External hard drive partition is missing, and not showing in disk management as unallocated.

I have an external hard disk drive, with 2 partitions D261 GB, E437GB. Suddenly once the local diskE: is missing in file explorer, the local diskD: drive is still there. When I open disk management it shows only the D drive with 698GB as total space which is the total space the drive has. How do I get back the E drive files? I am adding a screenshot of both file explorer and disk management.NB: the local diskC: is an internal SSD

:)

 

problems with formating external hard drive. Drive shows as unallocated drive.

Hello,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

We regret the inconvenience caused to you. We will assist you with this issue.

Let's try to format the external hard drive from disk management and check if it helps. Follow the steps below:

1. Right click on the Start menu and select Disk management.

2. Right-click on a rectangle that represents unallocated space on a hard drive, and select "New Simple Volume".

Note: that the color code that corresponds to the unallocated space vary in different Windows versions; consult the legend in the bottom of the Disk Management window.

3. Click "Next" and then "Next" again to accept the default size of the new partition.

4. Choose the option "Format the volume (partition) with the default settings" and click "Next."

5. Click "Finish" to create a new partition on the hard drive and format it.

Try the above steps and check if it helps. Let us know the status of the issue. We will be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Hard disk partitioning

Step 1: Connect the external drive and make sure it is powered on.

Step 2: press Windows key + X then click Disk Management

Step 3: You will see the external drive listed in Disk Managment.

Right click each partition, starting from the extreme right, then click Delete.

You should only see one unallocated drive

After all are deleted, right click it then click Format

This will start a wizard

Choose NTFS for the file system then label it then click Next to begin the format.

 

remove external hard drive partitions

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft community.

If you are logged in as an administrator, you can repartition your hard disk by using the Shrink feature in Disk Management. You can shrink an existing partition or volume to create unallocated disk space, from which you can create a new partition
or volume.

You may follow the step below and check if it helps:

• 
  Connect the external hard drive.
  
• 
  Press Windows Key and click on Disk Management.
  
• 
  Right-click the volume you want to shrink, and then click
  Shrink Volume.
  
• 
  Follow the instructions
  

You may also refer to the steps below and check if it helps:



Open cmd with admin rights

1. Run Diskpart application by typing Diskpart

2. In the “Diskpart” prompt, enter rescan command and press Enter key to re-scan all partitions, volumes and drives available.

3. Then type in list disk and press Enter key to show all hard disk drive available.

4. Select the disk that contains the partition you want to remove. Normally, with just 1 hard disk, it will be disk 0. So the command will be:

select disk 0

5. Finish by Enter key.

6. Type list partition and press Enter key to show all available and created partition in the disk selected.

7. Select the partition that wanted to be deleted by using the following command, followed by Enter key:

select partition x

where x is the number recovery partition to be removed and unlocked its space. Be careful with the number of this partition, as wrong number may get data wipes off.

Finally, type in delete partition override and press Enter key.



Disclaimer: Be sure to back up any data you want to keep before you begin.



Hope this helps to resolve your issue. If the problem persist please revert back to us we are glad to help you.