Windows 10: Merge 3 partitions on exVista recovered Hard Disk - for storage only

I recently recovered the "Samsung" Hard Disk (HD) from my old Vista Laptop [RIP*Sad ], and want to use it as a general "Temporary Admin/Work Folder", that is, NOT for archival purposes.

The HD is currently sitting in a "Winstars Communicator D3" USB 3.0 HD Docking Station, after having just completed a series of Formats to "clean" all files from the 3 partitions on the HD (and yes, I did recover the files I wanted to keep first).

This is how the three Alpha assigned partitions appear now (* note that the Recovery Partition/Volume also seems to be available for this merger exercise - see below)





I want to merge all three HD Partions - (J: ) (K: ) and (L: ) into a single partition, with one main "Temporary Work" Folder, and with its own assigned Drive letter.

Advice please - how to achieve a merger of the 3 partitions?*

I'm curious to know if there are any valid reasons why I cannot/should not include the Recovery Partition volume (about 20GB) in the merge, to finish up with a *merger of all 4 partitions?

Cheers,
Tony (yes, I am still in the land of the living - soon to be in Somerset too, I hope *chuckle )




:)

 

Re-allocaing Hard Drive Storage

This will allow you to resize/move - merge/split partitions - recover partitions

Use EaseUS Partition Master - Free

EaseUS Partition Master - Free Partition Magic alternative, Partition Manager Software for Windows PC and Server

There are a lot of good free ones out there.

10 Free Disk Partition Software Tools

https://www.lifewire.com/free-disk-partition-so...

 

Windows 10 Disk Management

Hello

I have a problem with Windows 10 disk management.

My 1Tb hybrid hard drive is getting full and I noticed that there is a 20Gb Healthy (Recovery Partition).

After checking some websites I assumed that this had been provided by the OEM (Asus).

I converted it to Unallocated Space and attempted to merge with Healthy (Primary Partition).

The Unallocated Space “disappeared” but there was no increase in size of any other partitions.

How can I recover this Unallocated Space?

Regards

Brian Gledhill

 

As there's nothing you want to keep, wouldn't it be simpler to just delete all the partitions and create what you want as a new partition?

 

Mate...*Rolleyes

I was completely unaware of such a simple solution.

Is this something I achieve through Disk Management?

Sand shoes ..

 

In theory, yes. 'Delete volume' is one of the options if you right-click on a partition. Disk Management may not allow you to delete the Recovery partition though. If that's the case, you can use Diskpart from the command line in a Command Prompt (Admin) to remove all partition information from the disk.

Be very careful to select the right disk number before cleaning it! Use the LIST command first to find out the correct number to use. Once cleaned you'll have a blank disk and can create whatever partition(s) you require in Disk Management. In this example my Disk 2 is a 16GB USB drive.

Code: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15063] (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\WINDOWS\system32>DISKPART Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.15063.0 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: TOSHIBA DISKPART> LIST DISK Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 465 GB 0 B Disk 1 Online 931 GB 0 B Disk 2 Online 14 GB 0 B DISKPART> SELECT DISK 2 Disk 2 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> CLEAN DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk. DISKPART> EXIT Leaving DiskPart... C:\WINDOWS\system32>[/quote]

 

Thanks Bree for your clear, concise and easy to follow advice and instructions.

All sorted without too much difficulty, and "post-operative" testing has confirmed that my old Vista HD will once more serve a useful purpose, rather that sit around looking like a spare paperweight in a paperless office.

I followed your instructions to a tee ....




... and have the following "new" HD





Thanks for your help - much appreciated.

Cheers, Tony

 

*Thumbs

Glad to have helped.