Remove hard drive partition

[nietzescher]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[nietzescher]

It's a GRUB bootloader.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

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]

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


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

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]

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.

 

[gregrocker]

First I'd try deleting the Linux partition in Disk Mgmt to see what happens.

if Win7 won't start boot the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD to run Startup Repair
up to 3 separate times with reboots to see if Win7 will start.

If not do the partition-specific wipe BFK suggest to be fully rid of GRUB, then try the Repairs again.

If Win7 won't Repair, then you'll have to wipe the HD to clean reinstall.

 

[mjf]

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.

To elaborate- you appear to have a Recovery partition which you may not want to delete! If it is then make Factory restore DVDs if possible.

A factory restore could be an option
or

You have a 101MB unallocated partition which probably used to be the system reserved partition. It looks like it was deleted to allow another primary - your linux partition.
(You can only have a max of 4 primaries.)

Then
1) delete the linux partition
2) extend C: using Partition Wizard to take up this space again.
3) To get back the original system reserved create a primary 101MB primary partition marking it active.
4) Set all other 3 partitions inactive.
5) Run the startup repair from the system repair disk 3 times.

 

[Al Fairclough]

Having used Linux for years and run many dual boot systems, I have found the best result is obtained by doing a fresh install of Windows. Failing that, before you delete any partitions, use your install DVD to run a repair, go to a command prompt and enter bootrec.exe /fixmbr which should allow you to boot with the Win 7 boot device. Assuming success, you can use the partition manager of your choice to delete the Ubuntu partitions (3) and either expand C: or create a new NTFS partition, leaving C: alone.