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Former Linux boot drive, want to use as external in Windows 7

Tags:
  • Windows 7
  • Formatting Problem
  • External Hard Drive
  • Storage
  • Linux
Last response: in Storage
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October 15, 2014 10:46:09 AM

Hey all, first post here but I plan to help and post when I can.

I consider my self semi-computer savvy but I came across a frustrating issue.

I have a few machines running Linux but at this point I am over it until Linux is worth the trouble for me (don't mean to start a flame thread but lets face it, if you need powerful profession software, Linux is not on the menu).

So I pulled hard drives from two Linux machines and planned on using them as external drives. The first one showed up as two partitions and I deleted both, formatted and then re-allocated the drive and assigned a new drive letter, shows up in Windows just fine. The second has one partition visible in Windows disk management I try to right-click to delete the partition and format but to no avail. It does not show up in windows, although a audio indication shows I have connected it via USB. Any ideas to why this drive doesn't want me to fiddle with it? It has Linux Mint installed but I just want to format it and use it as an external for Windows.

Any help is appreciated.

More about : linux boot drive external windows

a b $ Windows 7
a b G Storage
October 15, 2014 10:49:38 AM

Best software to wipe Linux drives is Gparted itself. Boot off it, wipe drive, and format.
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October 15, 2014 11:01:51 AM

NM. I figured it out. The best way was this:

Run "diskpart"
Enter the following commands:

"select disk X" X = disk with partition you want to delete
"list partition" = this lists all partitions on the selected drive
"select partition X" = this selects the partition you want to override protection on
"delete partition override" = this overrides disk partition protection and creates an un-allocated partition

Now that you have deleted the override you can use Windows Disk Management to do whatever you want with the drive or partition. In my case there was only one partition, which then I formatted, assigned a drive letter and was not able to use it as an external.
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October 15, 2014 11:15:27 AM

runswindows95 said:
Best software to wipe Linux drives is Gparted itself. Boot off it, wipe drive, and format.


Thanks for you reply. I appreciate it.
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