Disk Management displays unknown/unmanageable 1Mb free space

golem · 26 Dec 2012

This just popped up today and the only thing I can think that I had done since not seeing it was activated AHCI. As can be seen in the attached snip there is a very small partition to the left of the "SSD Common" logical partition. It is bounded by the same green box as the "SSD Common" partition. Hovering over it provides details of it being Free Space 1Mb in size. Right clicking on it provides a menu with everything greyed out except for HELP which simply opens the Disk Management user guide. Should add that both the "SSD General" & "SSD Trade" are W7 bootable partitions with AHCI activated.

Any insight is appreciated.

*edit* -- Oops, meant to place this under Performance & Maintenance.
*edit #2* -- there is also no reference to this 1Mb free space anywhere else on the disk management console (additional info since I failed in posting the full snip. ).

whs · 26 Dec 2012

You could play around with it an extend partition F to the left with Partition Wizard. But why bother. It is such a small sliver.

AddRAM · 26 Dec 2012

That would bother me to no end. Is there no way you can copy the contents to C: format F: then replace the files ?

What is F: Common anyway ? Something that has to stay on the ssd ?

golem · 26 Dec 2012

Thanks for the replies!

Yeah, it's just a small sliver but totally begs for one to question how and why it appeared.

The bootable partitions are for separation of work and personal but I do have a few items I like to cross over such as mail and other documents. I originally created the "SSD Common" drive to hold items like the PST et. al.. In hind sight I likely could do without it as, unlike my misconception, the non-active partition IS accessible while booted into the other. This should allow me to direct paths to just one of the bootable primaries allowing for deletion of the "SSD Common" partition (as long as it permissions).

Barring the above (which I'll likely do), I may attempt partition juggling to see if that 1Mb can be absorbed since it doesn't seem to be of any operational importance.

AddRAM · 27 Dec 2012

Get the files off, delete the partition then reformat it. It should then be perfect. Put your files back on it.

golem · 27 Dec 2012

Since you sig reads "..just keep asking"

Figured I'd give a format/rebuild of that partition a quick try prior to seeing if making a user folder on one of the bootable partitions common to both is possible. Well, to my surprise, and I'm sure yours, formatting that "SSD Common" partition did not consume the 1Mb partition. I then deleted the partition and that DID consume the miniscule partition making one large unallocated partition. Upon reformatting, bingo, that itty bitty partition reappears as before. Btw, just thought of one more thing I did earlier today and that was to use the Intel SSD Toolbox on the new SSD. Ran the optimizer and the tweaker. I believe the optimizer basically did trim while the tweaker prompted to adjust superfetch/prefetch which I allowed. Not sure if any of these would have influenced the creation of a persistent 1Mb partition.

I'm also going to give it a try but, since you're here, do you think it possible to point Outlook to a user's folder on another bootable partition to access the PST?

AddRAM · 27 Dec 2012

Did you delete it until it was unallocated space ? ( black )

What is this other bootable partition you are talking about ? I only see 1 on your drive.

And it`s not a 1 MB partition, it`s 1 MB of free space in an extended partition. Look at the color chart below it in disk management.

Have you installed Partition Wizard yet ?

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-...n-manager.html

I always recommend making and using a partition wizard boot cd to make or manipulate partitions, it`s easier, faster and safer than using disk management. But that is strictly my opinion.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/parti...otable-cd.html

golem · 27 Dec 2012

Delete to unallocated space was the only way to get rid of the 1Mb partition. Not sure if you can see but in the original snip of disk management I had clicked on the 1Mb partition and it is hashed while the larger one (also bound in the same green box) is not. Conversely if I click the larger partition it is hashed while the smaller is not. Thay act independent in that scenario but deleting just the larger takes them both out and into one unallocated partition.

"SSD General" and "SSD Trade" are both bootable partitions. I have EasyBCD installed on the "SSD General" partition.

golem · 27 Dec 2012

Yikes, not sure how that happened but only your first two sentences were showing when I responded. I look now and you have more.

I really must get to bed now so I'll put to use your insight and suggestions in the morning. And yes you are correct, I keep calling it partition instead of the Free Space that it is (I did call it that in my first post, not sure why I reverted.)

Thanks again. Will reply tomorrow.

AddRAM · 27 Dec 2012

2 seperate areas will not hash at the same time. That just means you are highlighting it. I have no idea what you mean by them being bootable. These are the methods I use, maybe someone else may have a clue. It may have something to do with the ssd drive alignment.

Sleep well :)