Drive is not showing the delete option in disk management, how to dele

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  1. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #1

    Drive is not showing the delete option in disk management, how to dele


    i am having a 150 gb hdd with windows 7 64bit on it, i have 3 partitions in it,now i baught a new hard disk so i want to make one single volume from the full 150 gb, i was able to delete one partition but another one is not showing the delete option please help :)
    thank you
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Drive is not showing the delete option in disk management, how to dele-912b530265b849ce9188af280f6f6db0_a.png  
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  2. Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
       #2

    To be clear: you bought a new hard disk. Did you install Windows 7 on that new disk?

    Now you are working on the old hard disk (150GB). Is there any data on that disk that you want to save?

    The first partition that you deleted (101MB) - was that the System Reserved partition?
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  3. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    there is a long story
    i installed windows 8.1 on the system, active partition and windows 7 on another one then i did not want to use windows 8.1 so by inserting the windows 7 dvd i formatted the partition in which windows 8.1 was installed after that the installed windows 7 did not show up ( it was showing BOOTMGR is missing) so i installed another windows 7 in another partition and then the old windows 7 also booted then from the old windows i formatted the partition in which the new windows was installed "the system reserved partition was not allocated from first, and was empty", now i want to use only one partition which has the total 150gb rather than using three different partitions with 50-50 gygs
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  4. Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
       #4

    Mmmm. You've seemed to created a bit of a mess.

    Here is what I see: The partition "Local Disk" - the one that is highlighted in your screenshot above - is the ACTIVE partition, and contains SYSTEM files.
    You can't delete the only ACTIVE partition from a disk running Windows - particularly while Windows is running.
    This is also the partition the BIOS looks for when looking for a hard drive to boot.

    Further complicating things is the partition "Win7x64(recovered)" contains the BOOT files and the PAGE file for the system. The BOOT files are the files that actually start Windows when the BIOS hands off. If there are no BOOT files then the operating system will not start.

    So the question is: do you want to try and keep the current W7 installation, or would it be just as easy (for you) to do a fresh clean install to clean up the mess?
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  5. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    this is kinda silly but i want to keep the current installation bcoz i have installed so many os,s on my pc and i end up removing them again and again i thought this would be one permanent one so i have updated it completely and installed hell lot of stuffs, and the one which shows local disk with no letters, i removed its letter just to see whether it would get removed in that way , i know i can fix this by installing a new windows in the system,active partition but still i thought if there was any way to do it the way i want
    and thank you for your reply
    (so is there any other way to delete the system active partition without removing the current windows?)
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  6. Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
       #6

    Yes.

    You can do this using Diskpart (a Windows Utility) that you run from a bootable repair disk or Windows 7 installation disk.

    Or, if you are familiar with, or want to use a third party program like Partition Wizard from a bootable disk.
    Point is you can't do this procedure while Windows is running.

    Using Diskpart or PW the procedure would be to select the W8 partition and remove the ACTIVE flag. Then select the W7 partition and make it ACTIVE.
    That's it.
    Then you should be able to delete the W8 partition, either while you are in the bootable disk program or after.

    To run Diskpart from a bootable CD/DVD: System Recovery Options

    To Remove the ACTIVE flag: Partition - Mark as Inactive

    To mark a partition as ACTIVE: Partition - Mark as Active

    Some info on Partition Wizard: Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD
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  7. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #7

    will it format the drives?
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  8. Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
       #8

    No. It only changes the flag. The data and partition table remains intact.
    Just be very careful selecting the correct partitions in Diskpart.
    That is why a lot of folks like Partition Wizard instead: the graphical interface is easier and friendlier.
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  9. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #9

    after making the drive active i restarted my pc now it shows "An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system".
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  10. Posts : 6,292
    Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium SP1
       #10

    So right now the Partition "Win7x64(recovered)"is marked Active, and the partition "Local Disk" is no longer marked Active?
    Did you delete the "Local Disk" partition yet?
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