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There are two ways to unpartition a hard drive: manually with MS-DOS® or with third-party software. The traditional method erases all data, while software preserves it. Automated software is easier and faster, but may cost money and have some reported issues.
There are two main ways to unpartition your hard drive: manually or with automatic partitioning software. The traditional method is to use an MS-DOS® diskette to manually unpartition and repartition the drive, although this will erase all data. The other method is to use third-party software that can preserve your data. Both methods have pros and cons, but the latter method is easier for novice computer users and has become increasingly popular, even among computer geeks.
The traditional method requires a startup disk: a diskette with the MS-DOS® system files. This boots your computer into a separate file system from the one on your hard drive, allowing you to operate from the floppy to separate your drive. Since many computers no longer have a floppy drive, but are able to boot from a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device, DOS files can be placed on a memory stick created as a boot device. They can also be on an external drive, a CD, or any other bootable device that isn’t part of the hard drive you’re working on.
When booted from a DOS prompt, the FDISK command is used to access the partition map on the drive. From here, you can select a partition to delete, then repartition the drive as desired. This method is recommended if you want to erase the entire disk, then repartition it. This may be a good time to reformat the drive, although current operating systems offer the option to format the drive before installing.
The benefits of using the traditional method are that it’s free and some people prefer to do things manually for reliability reasons. However, this doesn’t follow if you don’t have much experience working with DOS or the FDISK command. The downsides are that your options are extremely limited and all data is lost on the unpartitioned portion of the drive. In most cases this means reinstalling the entire operating system and all programs, as typical drives have an active partition which contains an extended partition which contains all the logical drives. When you unpartition your drive, you erase all data.
A much easier and perhaps safer method is to use a third-party software program. These programs allow you to easily remove and repartition a drive while saving your data. They open within the main operating system, eliminating the need to boot into DOS, and once you choose how you want to unpartition your drive, the program takes over.
Automated software has many advantages: it is easier, faster, more flexible with many more options and preserves programs and files. This type of software usually costs money, although some freeware and shareware are available (after the trial period, payment is required to continue using the software). Some people have reported problems using some programs. Bugs and inconsistencies in operating systems have likely contributed in some cases, but ongoing improvements and fixes are standard operating procedure for any active software program, and most users experience no issues.
In the end, using automated software to separate a drive should make the task quick and painless. It is especially useful for combining or redistributing hard disk space among logical drives.
