On Windows 10, a partition (or volume) is a logical division of the space available on a physical storage drive with a specific file system and settings that the system presents to the user as a separate drive.
Since a drive can hold many partitions, and sometimes, you may need to organize them, Windows 10 includes multiple tools to ease the process to remove those you no longer need to make more space available to increase the size of another partition. Or you can also use the available tools to clean the storage to prepare it with a different partition scheme and file system.
In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to delete a partition on an internal or external drive using Disk Management, PowerShell, and Command Prompt.
Reasons to Delete Partition on Windows 10
Here are some possible reasons why you want to delete partition on your computer which runs Windows 10 operating system:
1. There are too many partitions on your PC that runs Windows 10 OS.
It is the most common reason for many people to delete partition on their computer. If your computer contains too many partitions, it might be difficult to efficiently find the data you need. Therefore, there is no need to remain too many partitions on a computer.
2. Disk partition is corrupted or damaged
Disk partition might be corrupted or damaged due to many reasons, in which situation somebody would like to delete the corrupted partition to resolve the problem.
3. System partition runs on low disk space
You may delete a partition to crate some unallocated space in order to add it to another partition when system partition is full and reports low disk space warning message.
How to view partitions in Windows 10
It is really easy to view partitions on a Windows 10 PC. You can do it from the built-in GUI tool, or you can use Command Prompt.
View partitions with Disk Management
Connect the drive/disk that you want to view partitions for to your PC.
Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the run box.
In the run box, enter ‘diskmgmt.msc’, and tap Enter.
The Disk Management tool will open showing you all drives that are connected to your PC, and their partitions.
View partitions with Command Prompt
Windows 10 ships with a command line utility called Diskpart that can create, delete, and list partitions.
Connect the drive to your PC.
Open Command Prompt.
Run the following command to start the Diskpart tool.
A new Command Prompt window will open.
In the new window, run the following command and it will list all the disks i.e., drives connected to your system.
Select the disk that you want to view partitions for with the command below. Replace the number with the number for the disk returned in the previous command.
View partitions with the following command
How to Remove or Delete Partition Windows 11/10: 3 Ways
All methods mentioned will erase the data stored in the partition. Back up your important data before proceeding. Then, follow the step-by-step guide to remove any unwanted partition and reallocate your Windows 11/10 disk space.
Method 1. Remove Windows 11/10 Partition with Disk Management
Applies to: remove data storage drive like D, E, F in a Windows 11/10 computer; delete one partition each time, To remove partitions in Windows 11/10 using Disk Management, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Search “Disk Management” at the Start Menu.
Step 2: Right-click the drive or partition by clicking “Delete Volume” in the Disk Management panel.
Step 3: Select “Yes” to continue the removal process. Then you’ve successfully deleted or removed your Windows 11/10 disk.
After doing so, the deleted partition becomes unallocated space. You can apply further operations to the unallocated space.
Method 2. Delete Partition Windows 11/10 in Diskpart
Applies to: delete data partition, recovery partition, or EFI partition in Windows 11/10 (require a recovery disk); delete all partitions one time, Here is the step-by-step guide for deleting partition in Diskpart:
Step 1: Press the “Windows” + “R” key simultaneously to bring up the Run box. Type cmd and hit Enter.
Step 2: Type the following commands each after to delete a partition from your computer.
- diskpart
- list disk
- selected disk #
- list partition
- select partition #
- delete partition
Step 3: Type exit to close the Command Prompt window.
Method 3. Delete Partition Windows 11/10 with Free Hard Drive Partitioning Software
Applies to: delete data partition, recovery partition, or EFI partition in Windows 11/10; delete all partitions one time.
If you delete the partition in order to expand other partitions. Then the free hard drive partitioning software – Partition Master would be a better choice. It is an all-in-one partition management tool that supports users to delete and resize partitions with ease. Compared with the diskpart method, it’s able to delete one or more partitions at a time, yet is more user-friendly, without requiring a solid computer skill.
Tips for Windows 10 Partition Deletion
- 1. You have to log in as an administrator when you want to delete a partition on your Windows 10 computer.
- 2. Windows 10 Disk Management grayed out if you attempt to delete a primary partition or system partition. In addition, you are not allowed to delete partition when there is only one partition on your computer.
- 3. You should know that all data on this partition will be deleted accordingly when you perform delete option, so you should backup all important data before deleting.