Reference number: CH000344

How to delete a partition using fdisk.

Question:

How to delete a partition using fdisk.

Additional information:

Deleting a partition using the fdisk utility will remove all information and media from the hard disk drive. This is generally done when it is needed to remove possible viruses, other operating systems and/or utilities loaded on sectors that cannot be removed using format.

Answer:

Before deleting a partition it is important that you realize deleting a partition will delete all information on the hard disk drive. 

First, before deleting the partition, determine what partition is currently setup on the hard disk drive by displaying the partition information. To do this from the fdisk menu, choose:

4 - Display partition

Once the partition information has been displayed, verify the "Type" of partition defined. This may be PRI DOS or NON DOS:

PRI DOS = Primary DOS partition
NON DOS = Non DOS partition

If an Extended and/or logical DOS partition is defined you will have an option to display that information. Display that information to determine if any logical partition is defined in that extended partition.

EXT DOS = Extended DOS partition

How to delete a primary partition

If you have an extended and/or logical partition, you cannot remove the primary partition until the extended partition has been completely removed. See the next section for information on how to do this.

From the fdisk menu, choose:

3 - Delete primary partition
1 - Delete Primary DOS partition, Select 1 to delete primary partition and enter Volume label as shown above on your screen, if no Volume label is specified just press enter.

How to delete an extended partition

3 - Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
3 - Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS partition, select each
drive letter to delete.
3 - Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
2 - Delete Extended partition