Hard drive format unallocated space

herolegend · Apr 25, 2014

My question is after replacing my harddrive in Dell xps L502x laptop with a 1TB HGST Travelstar 7K1000 HTS721010A9E630 I notice in Computer>Manage storage disk management, that it shows

Recovery 19gb ish C: drive which is 892gb and strange a unallocated 19.63gb in black colour panel, what is this space, do I need it? Or can I partition and format that small space to be used as say storage? then again is windows using that space for something like recycle bin, system restore?

Chicano · Apr 25, 2014

If the HD is new, the 19.6GB unallocated disk space has not been used so it's unformatted, doesn't have a file system, so it contains no files and you can partition it or merge it to the adjoining partition.

herolegend · Apr 26, 2014

Chicano :

Yeah its a new hard drive, so okay if I merge it into the C: drive how would I do that and would it delete any files on the C: drive?

Chicano · Apr 26, 2014

With Windows XP you have to use a third party program to do it... I use Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition. It's perfectly safe as long as you don't program a number or operations to be done at the same time particularly when it involves the System partition. I abused the number once (5 or 6 operations) and I had a minor problem so when you're doing a modification to the System partition that requires a restart, just program one or two operations at a time and it's perfectly safe. Modifying non system partitions with this program doesn't necessarily require a restart and it's less likely to cause problems.
http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Install and open the program, it should show the graphical view of the partitions in your hard drive... with a right click, select the partition above the unallocated disk space of 19.6GB, and click on "Extend"... you should see a line that reads "Take free space from" and below it a line that reads "How much free space do you want to take" (from the 19.6GB), so move the slider all the way to the right to select the full 19.6GBs and next press OK.. below on the left pane you should read "1. Operation Pending" with the description of what is about to be done, next press the Apply icon on the toolbar and wait for it to finish... If the partition you're extending is the system partition, it will probably prompt for a restart to complete the opeartion during the reboot... Accept and restart the computer, and check with Minitool or the Windows Disk Manager that the unallocated disk space is gone.

herolegend · Apr 27, 2014

Chicano :

With Windows XP you have to use a third party program to do it... I use Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition. It's perfectly safe as long as you don't program a number or operations to be done at the same time particularly when it involves the System partition. I abused the number once (5 or 6 operations) and I had a minor problem so when you're doing a modification to the System partition that requires a restart, just program one or two operations at a time and it's perfectly safe. Modifying non system partitions with this program doesn't necessarily require a restart and it's less likely to cause problems.
http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

Install and open the program, it should show the graphical view of the partitions in your hard drive... with a right click, select the partition above the unallocated disk space of 19.6GB, and click on "Extend"... you should see a line that reads "Take free space from" and below it a line that reads "How much free space do you want to take" (from the 19.6GB), so move the slider all the way to the right to select the full 19.6GBs and next press OK.. below on the left pane you should read "1. Operation Pending" with the description of what is about to be done, next press the Apply icon on the toolbar and wait for it to finish... If the partition you're extending is the system partition, it will probably prompt for a restart to complete the opeartion during the reboot... Accept and restart the computer, and check with Minitool or the Windows Disk Manager that the unallocated disk space is gone.

and with windows 7 same process?

Chicano · Apr 27, 2014

With Windows 7 you can use the same process I suggested or use the Disk manager which has more options than the one in Windows XP.. not as many as third party software but it at least has the way to Extend and Shrink partitions besides the same basic options that the XP Disk Manager has. That may also depend on the Win 7 Edition as the Home Editions don't have all the functions the Pro and Ultimate have or at least I haven't noticed any more than those I've already mentioned... fact is the Win7 Disk Manager looks so austere that I honestly haven't bothered to explore for hidden options it may have... and why should I when third party counterparts have all the necessary options and work safer.

herolegend · Apr 27, 2014

Hope that's the best solution I picked out I'll have to learn that program you linked then to work with windows 7. Or I could just partition it as a standalone drive would be kind of weird to have 19gig though lol

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Hard drive format unallocated space

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