Second Drive Issue

BluWarfareHD09

I recently bought a M.2 500GB Crucial MX500 and used their software to clone the original drive. My plan is to use the original 1TB SSHD as secondary/storage drive, but when I left the drive in the laptop and tried to format it, Windows was telling me it was in use and windows would occasionally lock up .

So I've stuck it into a external enclosure, but it will not let me completely format it, it leaves the partitions behind and when you right click on the partitions it does not give you the option to delete the partition.

Can anybody help me out, I'm not a PC genius and only have basic knowledge, although would like to learn more. Back when PC's came with a copy of Windows on a recovery disc I installed a new hard drive and have completely formatted and reinstalled Windows. But things seem to be a lot more complex now.

EndlessWaves

You can still do a fresh install of Windows, Microsoft makes the installer download available on their website.

Is the laptop locking up only when you attempted to format the drive or more generally?

What are you using to format it? Windows disk management?

BluWarfareHD09

I'm using windows disk management and the laptop was only freezing when I had the SSHD installed in the laptop via the sata port. I'm not sure if Windows was getting confused as both drive had the same stuff on.

CARLOS

Windows is seeing the original windows partition so won’t let you delete the partition or format, you need to do it using a command prompt
Using Diskpart to create, extend or delete a disk partition

Edit: make sure you read from the top as you need to list disks first to make sure you are deleting partitions on the correct disc drive !