BitLocker for Second Drive

[Brandon_Byrnes]

According to this link, this machine has only one hard drive???

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/laptops/product-detail.html?oid=7834555#!tab=specs

Irrespective of where this D drive is still would recommend reformat of it.

I got rid of the 500GB hybrid drive that came with the laptop and replaced it with a 1TB hybrid drive, then I installed a 256GB WD Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD M.2 2280. I installed my OS, Windows 10 Pro 64 on the SSD. I use the 1TB hybrid drive for storage. I also upgraded the RAM from 8GB to 16GB.

[Brandon_Byrnes]

do you know of a good program to reformat the drive? and honestly I haven;t had to reformat a drive in a LONG time so I;ve kind of forgotten how to do it.

[jmarket]

You can do it via Windows Install or right click the drive and select “Format”

[Brandon_Byrnes]

You can do it via Windows Install or right click the drive and select “Format”

I formatted the drive earlier today but it didn’t get rid of the old recovery partition or the EFI System partition, those are what I want to get rid of. I did it by right clicking the drive and selecting format, I did quick format because it would have took forever for a regular format on a 1TB drive. Is there a way to get rid of those partitions without having to reformat the whole drive again, I really don’t feel like having to rebackup 300GB of data again since I already deleted the old backup. And put those files back on the drive.

[jmarket]

You should be able to use Windows disk management to delete the unwanted partitions, or just extend your main partition to take out the ones you don’t want.

Or you could use the free version of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Download MiniTool Partition Wizard for Windows PC and Server

[Brandon_Byrnes]

Yeah I tried that but it doesn’t work they are greyed out when I try to delete them and when I right click my primary partition it doesn’t give me the option to extend it.

[jmarket]

Did you also try minitool partition wizard. The partitions maybe locked? You may even need to do it from a boot disc, Minitool used to have one but I dont know if its free anymore. If it isn’t try Aomei partitition

[Brandon_Byrnes]

Did you also try minitool partition wizard. The partitions maybe locked? You may even need to do it from a boot disc, Minitool used to have one but I dont know if its free anymore. If it isn’t try Aomei partitition

Okay I’ll give those a try and update tonight.

[veeg]

Any updates for us?

[Brandon_Byrnes]

Any updates for us?

I tried both those programs but niether gave me the ability to delete those two partition and I couldn’t extend my primary partition because it’s gpt and not a basic partition.

[Brandon_Byrnes]

Please don’t tell me my only option is to backup everything again and wipe the drive with dban or something.

[jmarket]

Well if you have a look at your disk management you’ll see your boot drive is 1 instead of the usual drive 0, not the end of the world but not right either. Due to the way the O/S’s and drives have been changed around a mess has been created. Recommended earlier that you remove/disconnect the D drive and see if the pc still boots ok. If the pc is still ok take the disc out and reformat it externally.

Anyone else got any better ideas?

Backup should be already in place.

[Brandon_Byrnes]

Well if you have a look at your disk management you’ll see your boot drive is 1 instead of the usual drive 0, not the end of the world but not right either. Due to the way the O/S’s and drives have been changed around a mess has been created. Recommended earlier that you remove/disconnect the D drive and see if the pc still boots ok. If the pc is still ok take the disc out and reformat it externally.

Anyone else got any better ideas?

Backup should be already in place.

I removed the the D drive and my laptop wouldn’t boot, it said please install a device with an OS on it. This makes no sense though, I installed Windows on my SSD so why would it make a difference if I removed the other HDD? The only thing I can think of is it’s because that EFI partition is on it. So what should I do now?

[jmarket]

Would suggest reinstall of Windows. Suggest post 7 explains the mess.

[Brandon_Byrnes]

Would suggest reinstall of Windows. Suggest post 7 explains the mess.

God, I was afraid I’d have to do that. What a pain in the @$$. I’m going to have to mull this over for a while. I’ll have to do it this weekend, I am really not looking forward to doing this but I know I have to get it straightened out. I’ll update you late Saturday.