How to Delete a Partition on Windows 10/11? Learn from Here!

If your disk is running out of space, you may consider deleting unnecessary files, folders, and programs to release free space. However, deleting a partition as a whole is more efficient. Windows allows users to manage partitions (create partitions, delete partitions, extend partitions, etc.) by themselves easily.

What Is a Partition (or Volume)

A partition refers to a section (a logical division) of the disk separate from other parts. A partition is also called a volume in a Windows operating system. Each partition has its file system which controls how data can be stored and retrieved.

What Does Disk Formatting Mean

Disk formatting is a necessary process to prepare your storage device (hard disk, SSD, USB drive) for initial use. You can divide a hard disk into several logical parts to store data by category. A storage drive must contain at least one partition before it can be used for data storage.

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How to Delete a Partition Windows 10

To delete a volume in Windows 10, you need to ensure that there is no file in this partition or that the files are no longer needed. Otherwise, you should transfer your data to other partitions or devices.

Method 1: Delete a Partition Windows 10 Using Disk Management

This is the most convenient way for you to delete a partition. Disk Management is a Windows snap-in tool to help manage computer partitions and disks. You can use it to resize partitions, format drives, change drive letters, etc. But you should be careful when using this tool since it will make changes to your computer immediately and you have no chance to revert the decision.

Step 1: Press Win + X and select Disk Management from the WinX menu.

Step 2: Find the partition you want to delete and right-click on it.

Step 3: Select Delete Volume from the context menu.

Step 4: Select Yes in the popup window to confirm your decision.

After the partition is deleted, its occupied space will show as unallocated space. You can extend the capacity of the adjacent partition.

Method 2: Remove a Partition Windows 10 Using Command Prompt

Windows Command Prompt, abbreviated as CMD, is utilized to execute various command lines. Thanks to the different functions of different commands, you are able to use Command Prompts to zip files, troubleshoot computer errors, etc. You can keep reading to delete partitions with diskpart commands.

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How to Delete a Partition with Volume Command?

Step 1: Press Win + S and type Command Prompt into the search box.

Step 2: Choose Run as administrator on the right pane.

Step 3: Type the following commands and hit Enter after each command.

• diskpart
• list volume
• select volume x (You should replace x with the number the of partition you want to delete)
• delete volume

You can also use the partition command to remove partitions. The command lines are as follows and hit Enter after each command.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk x (You should replace x with the number of the target disk.)
• list partition
• select partition * (You should replace * with the number of the partition you want to delete)
• delete partition

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Method 3: Delete Partition Windows 10 Using PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is a Windows command-line shell. This tool combines the functions of the old Command Prompt and the system’s built-in administration. Thus, you can apply Windows PowerShell to delete partitions as well.

Step 1: Press Win + X and select Windows PowerShell (Admin) from the WinX menu.

Step 2: Type Get-Volume and press Enter.

Step 3: Type Remove-Partition -DriveLetter x and hit Enter. (x refers to the letter of the partition you want to remove.)

Step 4: Type Y and hit Enter to confirm.

Where are Your Data after Deleting Partitions

Different from deleting files from the hard drive, all your data will be erased after you delete a partition. You will lose access to these files and won’t find them in the Recycle Bin. But these files are not cleared completely. You can recover them with professional data recovery software. If you have deleted a partition that contains useful files, keep reading to find out how to recover files from the deleted partition.

Recover Deleted Data or Partition on Windows

In this part, I will introduce you to how to recover data from the deleted partition and how to restore the deleted partition with MiniTool software.

Recover Data from a Deleted Partition with MiniTool Power Data Recovery

As a professional data recovery software, MiniTool Power Data Recovery is capable of recovering deleted files from various data storage devices, including deleted partitions, formatted SD cards, unrecognized external hard drives, and so on.

You can use this free file recovery software to retrieve photos, documents, videos, and audio. Additionally, it provides feasible functions to shorten the scan time. For instance, you can choose to scan a specific location, like a Desktop, Recycle Bin, or a selected folder. Besides, you are able to set Scan Settings to select certain types of files or file systems before scanning.

Now, let’s start recovering files from a deleted partition with the following guidance.

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

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Step 2: Launch the software. If you need to restore data from a removable device, you can connect the drive to your computer first or click on the Refresh button to display the drive.

Step 3: Select the deleted partition under the Local Drives section and click on the Scan button. The deleted partition usually displays as a Lost Partition on the software’s main interface.

Step 4: Wait for the scan process to complete. For the best data recovery result, you should not interrupt the process in a midway.

You can browse the found files during the process. If there are numerous files on the result page, you can make use of some feasible features.

• Filter: To narrow down the file list by setting file type, file size, file category, and modified date.
• Type: To sort files according to their type, such as photos, documents, videos, audio, and archives.
• Search: To locate a specific file by inputting its full or part of the name.
• Preview: To verify the chosen file is what you want. Please note that the previewed videos and audio should be smaller than 2GB in size.

Step 5: Choose your wanted files by adding checkmarks in front of them, then click on the Save button.

Step 6: In the prompt window, you should choose an appropriate path to save files and click OK to confirm the choice.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery free edition supports you to scan and recover no more than 1GB of files. If you prefer unlimited data recovery capacity, you need to get an advanced edition. You can go to the MiniTool Store to choose one edition that suits you best.

Recover Deleted Partitions on Disk with MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a comprehensive partition management software. It contains a lot of functions, such as merging partitions, deleting partitions, rebuilding MBR, copying disks, and so on. Compared with Windows Disk Management, this software is highly recommended for common users because it allows you to revoke the change if the decision is wrong.

If you need to recover a deleted partition, you can follow the next steps.

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard.

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Step 2: Launch the software. Click on the Registry button on the top right corner to select a suitable edition.

Step 3: Select the deleted partition, which displays as Unallocated. If you want to recover a deleted partition from a removable drive, connect the drive to your computer and wait for the software to recognize your drive.

Step 4: Choose Partition Recovery Wizard on the left sidebar.

Step 5: Click Next and choose the disk that contains the deleted partition, then click Next.

Step 6: Choose a Scanning Range option based on your need and click OK to continue.

Step 7: In the following window, select to make a Quick Scan or Full Scan, then click Next.

Step 8: After scanning, you can browse the found partitions and select the partitions you need, including the existing and lost ones.

Step 7: Click on the Finish button to recover the partition.

Step 8: Click Apply to finish the suspending process.

After recovery, you can assign a drive letter to this partition by right-clicking on it and choosing Change Letter from the context menu.

Can You Delete a System Protected Partition

Generally speaking, you can use the above methods to delete a partition on Windows 10/11. But if you need to delete some “special partitions”, like system-protected partitions, these methods might fail.

• EFI System Partition: Referred to as ESP, it is a small partition (usually around 100MB) on a hard disk drive or solid-state drive. It is formatted with FAT32 and used by computers adhering to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). The UEFI firmware will start to load files saved on the ESP to initialize the installed operating systems and various programs and applications whenever the computer boots up.
• Recovery Partition: The recovery partition is a partition you can find on the system hard drive. It’s able to help you restore the factory settings of your operating system (OS) when a system failure occurs. No drive letter is assigned to the recovery partition, so you can’t see it in File Explorer.
• OEM Partition: The OEM partition is the factory default recovery section. It is similar to the recovery partition. Both of them are designed for system recovery or factory restoration. If system failures occur, the OEM partition can help you restore the system to its original state without using the OS installation disk. You can usually find this partition on an HP, Dell, or Lenovo computer.
• System Reserved Partition: The special “System Reserved” partition will be created when you install Windows on a clean disk. It contains the boot manager, boot configuration data, and the startup files used for BitLocker drive encryption.
• GPT Protective Partition: The GPT Protective Partition is a hard drive partition protected by the GUID partition table, not a system-related partition. You are not allowed to access the GPT Protective Partition or perform any operations on it.

If you want to know how to access GPT Protective Partition, you can read this passage: Can You Access GPT Protective Partition Or Recover Data Off It.

Is It Safe to Delete the Recovery Partition Windows 10

As mentioned earlier, the recovery partition only stores the files necessary for restoring the computer’s factory settings and it is not needed unless any system failures or problems occur. So, it’s safe to delete a recovery partition without affecting the running OS.

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Is It Safe to Delete the Healthy OEM Partition

The OEM partition that usually comes with HP, Dell, or Lenovo is only created by computer suppliers to store some software or one-click factory restore settings. This partition is often not useful, so users can delete it to release more disk space.

Can I Delete the EFI System Partition

The EFI system partition includes 4 main components: boot loaders, system utilities, device drivers, and data files. The EFI system partition is where the Windows operating system can start from, so you shouldn’t delete it unless you’re in 2 special cases:

• You want to delete the EFI system partition from an external hard drive or backup hard drive.
• You have installed two or more operating systems (two or more ESPs have been created).

How to Delete a Protected EFI System Partition

If you really need to delete system-protected partitions, you should follow the steps below.

Step 1: Press Win + R to open the Run window.

Step 2: Type cmd into the text box and press Shift + Ctrl + Enter to run Command Prompt as administrator.

Step 3: Type the following command lines and hit Enter at the end of each command.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk x (x refers to the number of the target disk)
• list partition
• delete partition override

For more methods about how to delete the EFI partition, you can go to this post: How to Delete EFI Partition in Windows 10/8/7 [Complete Guide].

Conclusion

You can learn how to remove a partition with several methods from this post. But you should be careful about your files stored in the partition. If any vital data is deleted by mistake, you can use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to restore them from the deleted partition directly and safely.

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Hope the above methods can meet your requirements. If you have any problems in using MiniTool software, please feel free to contact us via [email protected].