How can I remove an unused partition and merge with active primary ?

[chiggah]

Long story short, I cloned my old SSD (Disk 1) into a new m.2 (Disk 0). Is GPT the right way to go ? Or MBR ?

But now I have ended up with a 1.76gb primary partition

I tried deleting it , and also extending my active one, but won't do anything

How can I get rid of this ? I normally prefer one drive without any partitions.

Also, now I have a F: drive which I suspect is the EFI System Partition (Disk 0). How can I remove that ?

 

[Bighorn]

I normally prefer one drive without any partitions.

Every drive requires at least 1 partition created before doing the formatting. Most support forums have posts pertaining about changing a drive MBR to GPT or other way around but I avoid that by doing clean installs, let Windows create the partitions as it needs, usually 2 or 3. Upgrades usually keep the previously created partitions.

 

[chiggah]

Every d

Sorry ?

 

[Bighorn]

Sorry ?

Sorry, working on a Notebook with a very sensitive touch pad.

 

[chiggah]

Every drive requires at least 1 partition created before doing the formatting. Most support forums have posts pertaining about changing a drive MBR to GPT or other way around but I avoid that by doing clean installs, let Windows create the partitions as it needs, usually 2 or 3. Upgrades usually keep the previously created partitions.

Thanks, but what do you suggest in my scenario ?

Clean install ?

 

[Bighorn]

I prefer whenever possible to work with a totally clean drive, as shipped from the factory. It tends to eliminate any corruption or boot record infections.

 

[Snuffy]

Long story short, I cloned my old SSD (Disk 1) into a new m.2 (Disk 0). Is GPT the right way to go ? Or MBR ?

If you clone you have no choice....

But now I have ended up with a 1.76gb primary partition

I tried deleting it , and also extending my active one, but won't do anything

How can I get rid of this ? I normally prefer one drive without any partitions.

Also, now I have a F: drive which I suspect is the EFI System Partition (Disk 0). How can I remove that ?

First off, without knowing how you tried to CLONE and messed up that, I would recommend you start over 100%.
Clone the old SSD to new M2-SSD. reboot and then use a partition manager (3d party) since it seems that your not use to DiskManagment of Windows. The best (IMO) is (1.) MiniToolPartition manager (2.) Excellent is ParagonHardDiskManagement, (3.) is Acronis.
very easy to use all 3 have very detailed noob type tutorials included.

 

[chiggah]

If you clone you have no choice....

First off, without knowing how you tried to CLONE and messed up that, I would recommend you start over 100%.
Clone the old SSD to new M2-SSD. reboot and then use a partition manager (3d party) since it seems that your not use to DiskManagment of Windows. The best (IMO) is (1.) MiniToolPartition manager (2.) Excellent is ParagonHardDiskManagement, (3.) is Acronis.
very easy to use all 3 have very detailed noob type tutorials included.

I used minitool to clone the disk as per

 

[Snuffy]

then open your ssd using -- computer management --> disk manager and see what you actually need. since you never sent a pic of what your ssd partitions look like.
this is what mine look like. You need 1st part 100mb - C: (the OS) and the 465 MB recovery.

same disk shown with minitool and you need all except the unallocated, which i can change and add to or make more partitions.

 

[Clintlgm]

Long story short, I cloned my old SSD (Disk 1) into a new m.2 (Disk 0). Is GPT the right way to go ? Or MBR ?
But now I have ended up with a 1.76gb primary partition
to your New SSD Clone is
Yes UEFI GPT is correct BIOS MBR is legacy and limits your OS drive to 2 TB among other improvements in the current UEFI environment
Actually you have no choice if your Cloned your old SSD
an exact image.
I tried deleting it , and also extending my active one, but won't do anything

How can I get rid of this ? I normally prefer one drive without any partitions.
Use Minitool Partition wizard it will merge the extra partition into your C: volume the other partitions are necessary and are very small only a few Mb
Also, now I have an F: drive which I suspect is the EFI System Partition (Disk 0). How can I remove that?

if you remove the EFI partition your windows will not book up Your running UEFI mode and EFI and two other small partitions are required to start and keep your windows running https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/uefi-vs-bios.html

 

[Clintlgm]

I would do the clone over and use Macrium Reflect, in the process MR allows you to put the partition where you want and adjust the size of each

 

[Snuffy]

chiggah is using FREE software, so i'd think he first needs to post a pic so we can see what he has... and Macrium is not FREE,
and he needs to post back so it can be a pic-walk thru to assist him. he also said

How can I get rid of this ? I normally prefer one drive without any partitions.

and has no idea what the efi is.

 

[Clintlgm]

chiggah is using FREE software, so i'd think he first needs to post a pic so we can see what he has... and Macrium is not FREE,
and he needs to post back so it can be a pic-walk thru to assist him. he also said
and has no idea what the efi is.

I( beg your pardon MR is quite free, the only reason to pay for it is if you want tech support and Incremental back up and Scheduled backups. I agree he needs to post a picture of his set up. I also know if he follows the instructions for Cloning with MR he will solve all his issues

 

[Snuffy]

Yes, I do stand corrected Macrium Reflect is Free. I have several clients (novices) that clone, and ea program that CLONES makes no difference. CLONE is a replica of what the original is. so If i use Acronis , Macrium Reflect, MiniToolPartition, Paragon, AOEMI to clone I get a clone.

This also looks to me like Disk 1 was the original Boot Disk where as the required partitions to boot are located, and to remove that partition is easy... use disk management and remove the drive letter... then use minitool and delete the partition, that turns it into a raw he then can then resize or move. but He stated "

I cloned my old SSD (Disk 1) into a new m.2 (Disk 0).

from what he shows "He did not CLONE Disk 1 to Disk 0. " and if he removes Disk 1 he will not be able to BOOT.

 

[Clintlgm]

Doesn't look like this person is coming back!! It's quite possible that he cloned and did not kill the boot sector on drive 1 so he still has the boot sector on disk 1. This is why I always recommend MR you just don't see a post like this with MR it just works every time. You set up how you want your partitions set before you start the Clone.

 

[Snuffy]

Nope this person is not comming back, and to me it surely looks like he messed up the Original Install. to start i would change C: to no letter, G: to C: then reboot and start all over again, and if his NEW M2 was NEW- which it looks like was a USED. it was never properly Formatted. so who know what all he has... anyway I do hope he gets is fixed and fixed proper.
Merry Christmas to all.