SOLVED Unable to create disk partition after installing new HDD ( option greyed out )

Hi,

Yesterday I installed a new HDD since my old one has started slowly dying.
I cloned the old HDD to the new one using Clonezilla and then I formatted the old HDD with the same software.

Now it's like Windows doesnt recognize my old HDD, in Disk Managment both of the HDDs are shown but when I right click on the old HDD all of the options are greyed out except " Detele Volume " and " Help ".

I tried using the Command Prompt tool to create a new partition but that didnt work either, saying that the disk specified is not dynamic. Once I saw this message I tried to convert the old disk to a dynamic disk but I got an error saying " There is not enough space available on the disk(s) to complete this operation ".

What could be causing this, could it be that the software Clonezilla is Linux based and my OS is Windows 7 ? ( though the software is compatible with Windows too ).
How can I fix this problem so I can create a new partition on my old disk so I can use it ?

Right now it's plugged in but no point if I cant use it, it's like it's invisible.

Thanks.

Try this. Open a command prompt (run as administrator) Type "diskpart", then "select disk (disk number from list)" , "clear/clear all". You should be able to create a volume with that HDD after that.

Listen to Alaric....he knows

LutaWicasa said:

Listen to Alaric....he knows

Click to expand...

Alaric said:

Try this. Open a command prompt (run as administrator) Type "diskpart", then "select disk (disk number from list)" , "clear/clear all". You should be able to create a volume with that HDD after that.

Click to expand...

if you still cant do it with alaric's technique :
(this will basically wipe the drive, fair warning)

1) open cmd -> enter -> diskpart (again as admin)
2) list disk
3) select the disk you want (starts at 0. so type select disk [x])
4) type clean
5) it'll do its thing
6) type : create partition primary
7) type : list partition
8) select the partition, same as the disk
9) type: assign letter=C -> "C" is whatever letter you want it to be

voila, you should have an assigned lettered volume you can now store data on.

The only other issue, is if the drive is in fat32 for some reason, you will have to format into NTFS.


For cloning hdd's, it can be really finnicky. Your boot system will have some weird registry things. What I assume is going on, is both your drives are assigned the same letter, so the one becomes unavailable.

bob4933 said:

Spoiler

if you still cant do it with alaric's technique :
(this will basically wipe the drive, fair warning)

1) open cmd -> enter -> diskpart (again as admin)
2) list disk
3) select the disk you want (starts at 0. so type select disk [x])
4) type clean
5) it'll do its thing
6) type : create partition primary
7) type : list partition
8) select the partition, same as the disk
9) type: assign letter=C -> "C" is whatever letter you want it to be

voila, you should have an assigned lettered volume you can now store data on.

The only other issue, is if the drive is in fat32 for some reason, you will have to format into NTFS.


For cloning hdd's, it can be really finnicky. Your boot system will have some weird registry things. What I assume is going on, is both your drives are assigned the same letter, so the one becomes unavailable.

Click to expand...

First I tried Alaric's technique and it didnt help, but after that I tried what you recommended me above and that fixed the problem.

Thank you very much, before I post this thread I spent some time searching on google for a solution of this problem, tried softwares and nothing helped but now it's all gone thanks to you guys

Glad you got it fixed!

Yeah, I had the same problem a year or so ago, spent about 2 weeks trying to solve it and randomly came across that solution. Its my "go to" fix now .

I remember on older computers, you'd plug in a new hard drive, and it would assign a letter automatically. With newer drives and systems, it seems like it doesn't do that. Im not sure whats causing that, but theres always a solution