Windows 10: why do 2 Local Disks get isolated?

You have no EFI (EFI system partition, or ESP) partition because you have an MBR layout disk versus a GPT disk layout. However, following the above procedure to get rid of those two 2 GB mystery partitions should work (partitions 3 and 4).

After that, you can extend the C: drive into the unallocated space remaining to reclaim it.

"Tool - smtg" ? You lost me there....

 

Did as you suggested >






.... and the winner is >






I hope I didn't kill anything by doing this, but I now have the Media Creation Tool for WinX v1709 as an option later

 

That was what the Media Creation Tool was called in (G: ), just a name (forgot the exact name that was there, why I wrote the abbreviation for "something")

So how do I extend C: drive into that space now?

Follow exactly WHICH above procedure ....?

 

Go back into disk mgmt., right click on C: drive, the graphic box representing it, and select Extend Volume.

For future reference and reference of other readers of this thread, many TenForums members, including myself, recommend MiniTool Partition Wizard to manage partitions, it's free version can be downloaded here: https://www.partitionwizard.com/free...n-manager.html . It can do much more than Windiws' disk management console and is much more user friendly than diskpart.

 

only have these to click on

Open
Explore
Mark Position as Active
Change Drive Letter and Paths ....
(Format) can't click on this
(Extend Volume) can't click on this
Shrink Volume
(Add Mirror) can't click on this
(Delete Volume) can't click on this
Properties
Help


when I try to shrink was used to be D: and G: I get this >

 

Can you please post a screen shot of how Disk Management looks now?

Note - I edited my prior post to point you to a more powerful tool for this type of work.

I hope you have a backup of this disk - what say you?

I am operating under the assumption that you've already deleted D: and G: from within diskpart. Correct me if that is not the case.

 

No, only the Media Creation Tool from the Clean Install

 

OK, well, if you're not going to delete those partitions, then you have no space to reclaim. You're done.

 

How can I delete them?

As it is now does it mean that those Local Disk spaces are now available for other uses?

Is it then smarter to let the 4GB be "lost"? I have a 500GB SSD and don't play video games etc. What is on the C: drive is the result of a few years of use (documents & other files) in 2 computers and 3 hard drives (transferred), so I can inexpertly guess that 4.02GB won't be critically missed

 

To be clear, do you mean I should download that MiniTool Partition Wizard to delete those now unnamed spaces?

 

Missing the 4 GB is solely a value judgment for you to make but I see your point since you have gobs of room on C: drive.

MiniTool was just something I thought I'd mention as something much more effective in managing partitions than the limited user interface in disk mgmt.

If you are logged into Windows on a user id that has administrator privileges, you should be able to delete those two partitions with disk mgmt. or diskpart either one.

Unless you have a reliable image/backup of your disk to fall back on, you may want to leave well enough alone for now.

 

Felt brave. Did I do it right? >

 

Yep, sure looks like a good job to me. *Thumbs

Now you can expand C: into the unallocated space if you want.

 

Apparently the Tool and I reached the same decision, to leave 515MB unallocated (I had to do that last operation 2x, each time approximately halving that unallocated space; finally we both quit at 515MB)













So going from C: having 391.53GB free space before these actions to now 394.91GB free space in C: , my nice HP EliteBook has gained almost 3.4GB with which to play

Will now re-boot to confirm I haven't totally wrecked something critical. Assuming not, thanks!!

 

OK, now I can really say (write) "Thank You"!

Not only did the above operations add space, but after successfully re-booting as I was now downloading some short video backup files from a 32GB USB stick, look what WinX v1709 decided was in now-D:






It seems to have gotten over its silly dizzy spell. OK, I am sure there were rational reasons why those drives became that way, but am very happy to see it all works as one expects it to!