Remove hard drive partition

nietzescher · 29 May 2011

Hey guys, I hope this is the right forum for this question...

I have a 1TB hard drive. Roughly 700GB of it is devoted to my Windows partition, and the remainder is an Ubuntu partition that I created when I was having problems with my Windows installation. I'm no longer having problems with my Windows install, and I can't see myself using Ubuntu again.

Is there a painless way for me to "delete" the Ubuntu partition, and reassign that space as free space on my Windows partition? I don't want to have to reformat the whole drive. I'd also like to remove the GRUB bootloader, of course, so that my computer boots straight into Windows without me having to select it from a menu.

Thanks for your help!

Bare Foot Kid · 29 May 2011

Hello.

Before we make any specific recommendations will you please post a snip/screen-shot of the entire disk management drive map with a full description as to which drive/partition is which, so we can see what you have going on as there may be a fairly simple way to resolve the situation.

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a maximized snip of that.

How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

TheReaper · 29 May 2011

Hello there.
You will have to remove Ubuntu & Grub, then mark the Win 7 partition
as active(if it's not already) & run 3 separate startup repairs with system restarts between them. Then just restore the Master Boot Partition.

These tutorials will be helpful:
Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD
Restore windows 7 master boot record
Startup repair run 3 separate times

nietzescher · 29 May 2011

Snip is attached. The 651GB partition is the Windows partition, and the 264GB partition is the Ubuntu partition that I'd like to erase and tack on to the Windows partition as free space.

Bare Foot Kid · 29 May 2011

Do you get a Windows 7 boot loader or a Grub boot loader at PC startup?

nietzescher · 29 May 2011

It's a GRUB bootloader.

Bare Foot Kid · 29 May 2011

Few here have a lot of experience with Grub; I personally don't see the attraction to Linux.

I have no idea how Windows 7 will respond but as the Windows 7 partition is the "System" ( system volume ) partition you could try to right click, delete the Linux partition to 'remove' Linux from the mix but I'm not at all sure Windows 7 will boot if you do as it's tied to the Grub boot loader.

Keep checking back as I'm sure someone with more (some) Linux experience will be along shortly.

theog · 29 May 2011

I personally beleive your best bet would be to backup the data & do clean install.

All Linux code must be deleted.As you have had linux on the HD you need do a Clean all & full format.

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (win HD)
CLEAN ALL
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT fs=NTFS
ASSIGN
EXIT
EXIT

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Bare Foot Kid · 29 May 2011

I see my mate theog has a good idea, but first I would wipe secure erase just the Linux partition using the free bootable Partition Wizard CD to see if that will do the job, it may be a lot better than simply deleting the partition in Windows 7 disk management.

Have a look at Option Three of this tutorial at the link below ...

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

Then be sure to get the PWBD and not the installed version; scroll down to see the download link for the bootable CD ISO file at this link below.

Partition Wizard Free Bootable CD

Then use ImgBurn to burn the ISO to a CD, at no greater than 4x speed with a verify; it was designed for use and works best from a CD rather that a DVD then boot the created CD to run the wipe.

ImgBurn Free ISO Burning Software

mjf · 29 May 2011

Before you start wiping everything. Do you have clean install Windows 7 installation disks or did the OS come preinstalled.
In any event you may be able to try an alternative before the absolute start from scratch approach.