# 240gb unusable!!!



## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

hi all i reinstalled win7 recently, but somehow there is 240gb unalocated space i tried to format it in win7 and in dos, but it won't format no matter what i do... normally i would backup everything and format the entire disk, but i just don't have that much backup space available
anyone know a way around this.. i posted a screen below of a error message when i try to format in win:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/703/formaterror.jpg/

oh i forgot, for the ones who are not dutch . the error message says that there is not enough space on the hdd to complete this action.... THE PARTITION IS EMPTY.....
EDIT: i tested both hdd's with diagnostic utillity's, and they are both in fine condition
thanks in advance!!!


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## Dent1 (Dec 9, 2012)

KapiteinKoek007 said:


> hi all i reinstalled win7 recently, but somehow there is 240gb unalocated space i tried to format it in win7 and in dos, but it won't format no matter what i do... normally i would backup everything and format the entire disk, but i just don't have that much backup space available
> anyone know a way around this.. i posted a screen below of a error message when i try to format in win:
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/703/formaterror.jpg/
> 
> ...



There is two ways to solve this.

You need to turn the unallocated space into a new drive, this means formatting it as NTFS.

Or you can make either drive H: ) or drive C: ) or Drive I: ) larger by 240GB to use up the unallocated space. 

If you're unable to do it within Windows you will need a more powerful tool like Partition Magic.  - Remember to backup because these tools can go wrong and you can lose everything!


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Dent1 said:


> There is two ways to solve this.
> 
> You need to turn the unallocated space into a new drive, this means formatting it as NTFS.
> 
> ...



well yeh i tried all of the above including using partition magic.. but even with partition magic it gives me a weird error message... just a red cross. and no message at all. just blank...
and that message pops up at both formatting and merging. also i rememberd right before installing win7 i disassembled my entire pc to the bone disassamble all fans from heatsinks, apply new paste cpu/gpu... that sorta thing, and i accidently switched my hdd boot order.. and i got the exact same message when formatting at installing windows 7... not enough space.. but if i switch the boot order now it won't boot... get my drift ? so the real question here is can i fix this without reinstalling F***** Win7 AGAIN


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## de.das.dude (Dec 9, 2012)

ugh. it must be frustrating for you.

do what i do when i am frustrated. do a complete reinstall of Windows. dont forget to delete all partitions and make them from scratch.

btw, have you tried the inbuilt  disk manager. for it go to start-> hover over computer->rightclick, manage-> disk management


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## megaflegmi (Dec 9, 2012)

Try with using linux live distro ... you can easily put one on a flash drive with LiLi. Ubuntu has gparted by default inside ... try that or if you feel more comfortable some of the command line tools ... if they can't help ... prolly something wrong with your partition table info ... better to repartition, and try not to use so much logical volumes ... the ones in green in the windows storage manager they always give me trouble(personal experience - had 1.5Tb drive with logicals fail on me ... 3 days of pulling stuff out of there, very frustrating. After reformat with primary partitions everything is peachy ...)


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

de.das.dude said:


> ugh. it must be frustrating for you.
> 
> do what i do when i am frustrated. do a complete reinstall of Windows. dont forget to delete all partitions and make them from scratch.
> 
> btw, have you tried the inbuilt  disk manager. for it go to start-> hover over computer->rightclick, manage-> disk management



yeh it is verry frustrating haha. cuz the worst part is i just reinstalled win7 like  a week ago... -_-, and yeh i tried the inbuild, check the screen above .



megaflegmi said:


> Try with using linux live distro ... you can easily put one on a flash drive with LiLi. Ubuntu has gparted by default inside ... try that or if you feel more comfortable some of the command line tools ... if they can't help ... prolly something wrong with your partition table info ... better to repartition, and try not to use so much logical volumes ... the ones in green in the windows storage manager they always give me trouble(personal experience - had 1.5Tb drive with logicals fail on me ... 3 days of pulling stuff out of there, very frustrating. After reformat with primary partitions everything is peachy ...)



well i doubt linux live will do the trick cuz if windows fails, and dos fails to format i doubt that will work. unfortunately i need that partition, all of them cuz i like to keep things sorted. so i know where to find it if, i need it  the worst part of all.... i dont have 1 tb of free space to backup the entire disk (like 4 partitions)...


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## Dent1 (Dec 9, 2012)

I can only sugguest using a different partition manager application.

EaseUs Partition Manager is free http://www.partition-tool.com


Acronis Disk Director is worth a try, you have to pay for a licence, but I'm sure you can find  a torrent.




KapiteinKoek007 said:


> yeh i already used partition magic, wich is like the best I know , but im gonna give that acronis disk director a try , and the intahnet is infinite m8 haha
> if it works out with ADD i will let u guys know




I've actually messed my HDD with Partition Magic, I actually think it's over hyped.

Try EaseUs Partition Manager first. In my experience some free tools are better than licenced ones.


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Dent1 said:


> I can only sugguest using a different partition manager application.
> 
> EaseUs Partition Manager is free http://www.partition-tool.com
> 
> ...



yeh i already used partition magic, wich is like the best I know , but im gonna give that acronis disk director a try , and the intahnet is infinite m8 haha
if it works out with ADD i will let u guys know


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## TRWOV (Dec 9, 2012)

Use diskpart.


Go into the command line (run as administrator) then type "diskpart"

"list volume" will show you all the mounted volumes, in this case you'll select volume H (first partition of the disk).

"select volume XX" where XX is the number that corresponds to the H volume.

"list partition" will show you the partitions on the volume H, even hidden or locked ones. Those 240GB should show up with no drive letter, also check the size just to be sure.

"select partition XX" where XX is the number of the 240GB partition.

"delete partition override" will delete the partition not mattering if it's locked or not. MAKE SURE THAT YOU SELECTED THE CORRECT PARTITION BEFORE THIS.

Now you should be able to format the partition. To exit diskpart type "exit".


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

TRWOV said:


> Use diskpart.
> 
> 
> Go into the command line (run as administrator) then type "diskpart"
> ...



hmm that sounds like a solid program . i try that first


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## FordGT90Concept (Dec 9, 2012)

Just throwing this out there: I noticed there's a lot of partitions on that drive.  You might have too many partitions to create another one--a limitation of the Master Boot Record.  Have you tried deleting one of the existing partitions (losing all data on it in the process) then creating a new partition that consumes the space of the deleted partition plus the 320 GB that is unallocated?


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Just throwing this out there: I noticed there's a lot of partitions on that drive.  You might have too many partitions to create another one--a limitation of the Master Boot Record.  Have you tried deleting one of the existing partitions (losing all data on it in the process) then creating a new partition that consumes the space of the deleted partition plus the 320 GB that is unallocated?



i've bin thinking about that to. but the thing with that is.. if it does has a restriction on how many primary/logical partition on the mbr, then i would not have bin able to create 5 partitions in the first place... so thats kinda the timetravel grandfather paradox haha
and sorry bro i really can't afford to delete any of the other partition on the drive... partition are music, application, boot dir and installed games.... haha i really don't want to lose any of that 



TRWOV said:


> Use diskpart.
> 
> 
> Go into the command line (run as administrator) then type "diskpart"
> ...



tnx man, but the thing is, the 240 gb is free space. so its not a partition.. so it won't show up on the list partition command .. any other commands on how i can partition in diskpart ?

okay... im officially confused right now.. i see 4 partitions in build in diskmanager and 240 of free space, i see 5 on diskpart in cmd. but the 240gb free space is not in cmd..... hard to explain.. screen below..

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/259/diskpart.jpg/

alright so i think i know what the issue is here... turns out that FordGT90Concept might be right. cuz when i wanted to create a primary/logical/extended with diskpart it informed me that on my current mbr, i have a limit of 4 primary partitions. but that just gets me more confused because it worked for like a 8 months with 5 partitions that is 4 primary and 1 logical!... so i think i need to format the only partition that i safely can format without losing stuff. C drive {-_-} - {-_-}... i guess im gonna give that a try now... see u guys in like 45 min or so!!!


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## TRWOV (Dec 9, 2012)

It seems that partition 0 it is but the size doesn't match. Weird. The rest of the partitions do match though, I would try to delete partition 0.

Is it a 2TB drive? The sum of the partition sizes gives me that but diskmanager reports 1.5TB. Double weird. Maybe the first time you set it up as GPT instead of MBR? GPT doesn't have the same limitations as MBR IIRC.


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## FordGT90Concept (Dec 9, 2012)

GPT would be the ideal solution and his motherboard does have UEFI so it is possible.  Doing so means formating the entire drive though.


At the same time, making many partitions for different types of files is silly.  The only reason I make multiple partitions is for multiple file systems (e.g. FAT32 one one and NTFS on another), operating systems, or splitting user data off from the operating system.  Folders would suffice for separating music, applications, etc.


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## agent00skid (Dec 9, 2012)

I really don't understand why you can't just make a partition. Had a small space like that on my hard drive, and it partitioned nicely enough.

Also partition 0 is an extended partition which holds partition 4 and the free space.

An extended partition is a partition with partitions, to overcome the 4 primary limit. (All partitions in the extended partition is called logical.)



If you can't get it to work, you might only need to remove partition 4 to make it work.


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

agent00skid said:


> I really don't understand why you can't just make a partition. Had a small space like that on my hard drive, and it partitioned nicely enough.
> 
> Also partition 0 is an extended partition which holds partition 4 and the free space.
> 
> An extended partition is a partition with partitions, to overcome the 4 primary limit.



well it doesnt matter now any way... im backing up all my shit. including steam folder, i reallyyy don't want to download 272gb of games again  soo i think i'll go with gpt type partition thats why im backing up well over 600 gb


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## natr0n (Dec 9, 2012)

It looks like you went crazy with so many partitions.


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## de.das.dude (Dec 9, 2012)

this guy uses partitons like we use folders.


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## Mike0409 (Dec 9, 2012)

Convert to a Dynamic disk, should solve your issue.  

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731274.aspx

Info on if you want to convert to Dynamic:

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/354e5163-f388-4354-984c-ea4e4206694c


EDIT:

In the future if you plan on making more than 4 Partitions you should use GPT as stated by FordGT90.  Your limited currently by your MBR and the 4 Partitions on the drive.  

FYI - In some cases you can convert an MBR drive to GPT without losing data.. But I wouldn't recommend it.


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

natr0n said:


> It looks like you went crazy with so many partitions.



yeh i did a little. but ey thats just my taste of organizing


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Mike0409 said:


> Convert to a Dynamic disk, should solve your issue.
> 
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731274.aspx
> 
> ...



well im going with the gpt type


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

de.das.dude said:


> this guy uses partitons like we use folders.



yeh thats my swagg nigggah xD


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## Mike0409 (Dec 9, 2012)

KapiteinKoek007 said:


> well im going with the gpt type



Right but you have to format and wipe your data, which you stated you didn't want to do.

Converting to Dynamic doesn't do any harm to your data.  Its a  5 minute process vs a 5 hr restore.

Your choice.. Current solution go Dynamic... if you ever have to reinstall make sure to go GPT.


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## Jetster (Dec 9, 2012)

Format and start over. Stop with the partitioning


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Mike0409 said:


> Right but you have to format and wipe your data, which you stated you didn't want to do.
> 
> Converting to Dynamic doesn't do any harm to your data.  Its a  5 minute process vs a 5 hr restore.
> 
> Your choice.. Current solution go Dynamic... if you ever have to reinstall make sure to go GPT.



turns out my backup only takes about 45 min to 1 hour so im gonna delete all partitions and make 2 750 gb partitions GPT Just in case


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Jetster said:


> Format and start over. Stop with the partitioning



that was the plan  but before i didnt have the required space to backup, and now i do so


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## FordGT90Concept (Dec 9, 2012)

Here's a guide for installing Windows 7 on GPT:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167245

Read it all before doing any of it.


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 10, 2012)

alright i backed everything up and formatted the entire disk. just 1 more question, can i merge 1 partition with a boot partition all on the same hdd ?


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 10, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Here's a guide for installing Windows 7 on GPT:
> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167245
> 
> Read it all before doing any of it.



i did go with the standard mbr only this time with 3 partitions. 1 bootdir, 2 data, 3 backup


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## de.das.dude (Dec 10, 2012)

KapiteinKoek007 said:


> yeh thats my swagg nigggah xD



pigeon disagrees


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 10, 2012)

de.das.dude said:


> pigeon disagrees
> http://img.techpowerup.org/121210/tumblr_m8fpd9VXvN1r90efro1_500.jpg



hahahah i really laughed hard for like 10 sec  nice.

all issues are resolved now..  thanks all, for all the help!!


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## chr0nos (Dec 10, 2012)

If you really like to see different drive letters you could use "subst", it's a integrated windows application that makes a folder appear as a another drive/partition/etc.

SUBST is a command on the DOS, IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems used for substituting paths on physical and logical drives as virtual drives. (Taken from wikipedia)

Technet Article


EDIT:

Technet Link


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 10, 2012)

chr0nos said:


> If you really like to see different drive letters you could use "subst", it's a integrated windows application that makes a folder appear as a another drive/partition/etc.
> 
> SUBST is a command on the DOS, IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems used for substituting paths on physical and logical drives as virtual drives. (Taken from wikipedia)
> 
> ...


yeh i know about v-drives. but my problem is. everytime i reinstall win7 i have to install F***** everything again, its like 4/5 hours work with games and such.. (not to mention Steam wich is over 250 gb download @ 600 kb/s -_-). So if i have seperate drives for like games apps besides the boot dir, then i can safely reinstall windows, and repair most of the apps/games on the fresh install, i've tried that a looong time ago with v-drives but somehow that doesnt work together..... so i have just 3 partition on the 1.5 tb and 1 on the 600 gb. for now im alright with this, but should i reconsider i can always use gpt..
Thanks for the link *FordGT90Concept*


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## Morgoth (Dec 12, 2012)

anny way, im kind of late, try using Paragon Partition Manager™ 11 SE Personal 
its a great tool


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## KapiteinKoek007 (Dec 12, 2012)

Morgoth said:


> anny way, im kind of late, try using Paragon Partition Manager™ 11 SE Personal
> its a great tool[/QUOTE
> 
> thanks for that dude! but like you said your already too late haha , i already formatted and installed win7 with mbr ... that whole gpt thing was a little too much work for me, why work harder when you can get better results with less energy used


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