Have unallocated space on F: Need to convert to one NTFS drive help.

gregrocker said:

Waiting for the screenshot to help you further.

You'll want to use free Partition Wizard bootable CD which has now been linked twice in the thread. Use Win7 tools with Win7, not Linux which you just got rid of.

You need to do a partition-specific wipe of the old Ubuntu partition by rightclicking it from PW CD, since GRUB can corrupt Win7 until it is wiped from the HD.

gregrocker,

Sorry, it wasn't my intention to offend you. I did try the tutorial you suggested & that did help. I wasn't ignoring your other suggestion but held out for, in my mind, a simpler solution as I'm not sharp with computers. Bootable CD made me a little nervous, thinking one wrong click & I'd mess-up my whole system. Whs suggested MiniTool Partition Wizard which worked from the desktop & fixed things.

Not offended at all.

We need to see the Disk Management screenshot because often there are unknowns revealed with unintended consequences if not taken into account.

The PW bootable CD is the same program but more stable and offers rescue capability if needed in the middle of critical partitioning operations.

If you had GRUB you also need to wipe your former Linux partition of all code which is done from the CD version.

It's also an important Win7 tool to have around, after the Repair CD.

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

OK. I'll make one & see what's what & report back later.

As I have used MiniTool Partition Wizard to reclaim the unallocated space, the hard drive shows a bar graph that is a solid 280Gb NTFS. I think you wanted the screen grap before using the mini tool.

But, prior to 1st using DiskPart the graph showed 3 sections with the 1st being 69Gb of unallocated space, the 2nd as 198Gb of NTFS & 3rd as 11Gb of unallocated space. Using DiskPart reclaimed the 3rd partition but couldn't do anything with the 69Gb, 1st partition. This was a METHOD TWO contition according to the tutorial but still wouldn't work, probably because of the linux partitions (?). Just a guess. Disk Management said a Dynamic Disk would be created using that funtion & that appearently isn't good.

MiniTool Partition Wizard seems to have fixed at least part of the issue but I will make the CD as you suggested to see what else is going on.:)

Thanks again.

If there's no data on the drive, I'm not sure what the confusion was about. You could have just gone into Disk Management, deleted the existing partition, and then recreated a partition the entire size of the drive. By not having any data on the drive, you made the process extremely simple.

If the HD had GRUB on it then either that partiton or the entire HD needs to be wiped of all code, as GRUB can corrupt even if deleted or formatted.

The screenshot is needed to see if there are any Active or System flags incorrectly set on the non-OS HD as frequently happens. If so, making changes may make Win7 unbootable.

Grub will hardly corrupt anything. If the grub-code in mbr is left intact, you just lose the ability to boot into your linux.

This is a large HDD & Ubuntu didn't need a lot of space. But, I tried several versions of Linux which probably caused multi partitions & put NTFS sandwiched between them. Long after installing Ubuntu on F: , Windows 7 was a clean installed over XP Home on C: (74Gb). With F: now reading a full 280Gb @ NTFS could there still be issues? Everything boots perfectly into Windows 7 with no signs of GRUB @ startup.

gregrocker - what screenshots are you're asking for? Disk Management, DiskPart or with the Partition Wizard bootable CD? Currently Disk Management & DiskPart are indicating the HDD as 100% NTFS. -Thanks-

pallesenw said:

Grub will hardly corrupt anything. If the grub-code in mbr is left intact, you just lose the ability to boot into your linux.

All Linux code must be deleted.

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


How to Remove Linux and Install Windows XP

You don't need to wipe a harddrive after you have had a Linux on it. You just need to overwrite the parts you want to use for your new Windows-installation.

Linux is not some ghost that will reactivate itself and come to life from some unreferenced sectors.