Delete Hard Disk Partition Without Deleting Files: The technician in the shop will usually help someone who buys a new laptop or computer by installingsome important software and making other arrangements.
Perhaps, one of the arrangements made is to divide the space on the hard disk into several partitions. Some of the partitions are for example: drive C for computer systems, drive D for data, and drive E forentertainment.
How to Delete Hard Disk Partition Without Deleting Files
The three partitions are made with the intention that the user can organize their data neatly. Even so, some people feel that two partitions are enough. One for the system and programs, while the other one for storing files. Therefore, they want to delete one partition on the hard disk.
Having fewer hard disk partitions isn’t really a matter of taste. However, there are other reasons worth noting why you should reduce hard disk partitions? Here is the signal to summarize it from several sources.
Reasons Why You Need To Reduce Partitions
There are many reasons why a computer doesn’t need to create multiple partitions. However, we will only explain some basic and frequently encountered things. The following is the explanation:
1. Not a Dual-OS User
Haven’t youmoved onfrom Windows 7 yet? Or, you are one Linux fan. If not both, having so many hard disk partitions is redundant.
A user of two operating systems on one computer needs at least two partitions. Because, one operating system can only run effectively if it is installed on one partition.
2. Already Using SSD
Partitions are widely believed to speed up the performance of magnetic hard disks (hard disk drives) in finding and reading files.
This happens because the way the hard disk works tends to findthelargerfilesfirst and their location in adjacent blocks. Because of this, hard disks take longer to find one small file on a partition that contains multiple contents.
On the other hand, the same benefits will not occur if you are already using anSSD(Solid State Drive) as the main storage medium on your computer.
Even though the SSD you are using is still a 2.5-inch SATA type, its speed is many times faster than a magnetic hard disk.
This is because SSDs are flash-type memory and have other ways of handlingfiles. Unlike hard disks, which are actually disks and need to rotate to find or read afile.
3. Risk of Reducing Maximum Capacity
Each time you create a partition it means that a partition will be created on the hard disk. The bulkhead may take up space which reduces the overall volume. That’s the analogy when creating partitions on a hard disk.
The capacity of the hard disk that we are using right now is always less than the label. For example, on a hard disk with a capacity of 500 GB, you can use less than that.
Maybe the maximum space that can be used is around 460-470 GB. Why did it happen? Because there is some space used for the memory management system.
4. Not free to save files
The hard disk installed on your computer may have a fairly large capacity. For example 512 GB with a maximum usable capacity of 476 GB. About 100 GB of which you have allocated for the operating system and programs.
So, there are still 376 GB left. It’s just that you allocate 376 GB to five partitions, each of which is about 70 GB. If the files you have are only Full HD resolution movies, one partition can store more than 50 movies. However, if the file you are trying to save is a game, 70 GB for one partition is a mistake.
The reason is, today’s games have a really large size (after installation). Examples are Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare (101 GB), Gears Of War 4 (112, 3 GB), and Final Fantasy XV (148 GB). Therefore, make a small partition so you can more freely store data.
5. It is easier to experience fragmentation
Fragmentation has become a common disease of a hard disk. Hard disks will definitely experience a decrease in performance as they are used more often and more files are stored. The solution is easy, just do a periodic defrag when there is enough fragmentation.
However, because of the many partitions, you become more frequent defragging. You see, a lot of partitions increase data splitting to remote locations (memory blocks). This makes the hard disk take longer to search for a single full file, when the processor gives it a command.
How to Delete a Partition
From the explanation above, of course you already know some notes on why partitions don’t need a lot. Now is the time to discuss how to delete partitions.
Of course it is safe and will not delete the files contained in the old partition. There are two ways we can do this:extendormerge.
The principle method ofextending isdeleting old partitions to create unused free space. The space is then added to the remaining partitions.
This method can be done without additional applications. However, you needanexternalhard diskor other storage media toback updata from the partition to be deleted.
Meanwhile, the principle of themergermethod is to directly combine two or more partitions into one. This method does not requireanexternalhard diskor other storage media toback updata.
However, what is needed is an additional application from a third party. Because this feature is not provided by Windows.
Delete Partition Without Additional Application
Consider the following steps to delete partitions with theextendmethod from the default Windows application, Disk Management:
1. Press theWindowskey,then type ”Disk Management” in the searchfieldandenter.
2. There you will see the partitions of the storage media stuck in the computer and their capacity.
3. Point the cursor to the partition that you want to delete. In this example, We will delete the partition of drive D. Attention! Before deleting, back up the data from the partition you wish to delete.
4. Afterbacking up,right-click on the destination partition and select “Delete Volume…”.
5. Now you have created the unallocated free space.
6. The next step is to allocate free space to an existing partition. The free space in this example will be added to the C drive partition. How to add it is by right clicking the C drive, then selecting ”Extend Volume …”
7. After entering the ”Extend Volume” menu , Windows will detect the presence of free space that has not been allocated to any partition: drive 0. Make sure the space you want to divert to partition C is included entirely. Then, click ”Next“.
8. ClickFinishto complete the process.
9. Done. drive C which originally had a capacity of 218, 12 GB has now become 223 GB.
Removing Partitions Using Additional Applications
There are many useful third-party applications to help with storage management. Such as EaseUS Partition Master Free, Mini Tool Partition Wizard, GParted Disk Partition, and Paragon Partition Manager.
For the signal, choose one that is free, namely MiniTool Partition Wizard. We will use this application to combine two partitions on an external hard disk. Here’s how to use it.
1. Download the application on the official site or can be accessed fromhere.
2.Installuntil finished, then open the application. Once open, the application will display all information about the drive along with its capacity.
3. In this example, we will try to combine drive F and drive D on Disk 2. To do this, point the cursor to one of the drives (between F and D) and then right-click. Then, select ”Merge“.
4. Then, select the primarydiskand partition you want to keep.
5. Then, click the partition that will be melted into the primary partition. After that, click ”Finish“.
6. Check first whether it is correct. If so, run the process by clicking ”Apply” in the lower left corner. Wait for it to finish.
7. Now the two partitions have been merged into one. The files in the melted partition are not lost, because they are stored in a folder called “merged_partition_content”.
This is an explanation of the benefits of using a little partition and how to delete excess partitions on thehard disk. Regarding partition deletion, the second way to use additional applications is indeed more practical. Because, you don’t need toback updata from the partition you want to delete.