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    Unfindable disk partition in brand new laptop

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by 2*CV, Nov 24, 2010.

  1. 2*CV

    2*CV Newbie

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    I recently bought a new Acer TravelMate 5742G laptop. When installing the OS (Windows 7) I noticed that one disk partition was inaccessible (couldn't be formatted) so I installed Windows in the other one.

    Now in "My computer", only one partition is visible (C: the one with Windows in it). But in "Disk Management", both volumes are listed (along with 8MB Unallocated).

    The inaccessible partition is marked as Simple/Basic/Healthy(Primary Partition), but has no drive letter allocated to it. Also, its capacity is half that of the entire disk!

    When attempting to allocate a drive letter (Change Drive Letter and Paths), the right mouse menu is greyed out except for "Delete Volume" and "Help".

    How can I use this partition to store my own user files? Should I delete it and make another one? Or does it contain something important like recovery software? If I have to leave it alone, I would have to do without 298 GB of disk space! That's not a reasonable option. Any advice?
     
    2*CV, Nov 24, 2010
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  2. michael_recycled

    michael_recycled Notebook Deity

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    Hi,

    I would run a Linux Live CD and have a look into that partition at first. 298 GB is definetly too much for a recovery partition (these are approx. 13 GB).

    Michael
     
    michael_recycled, Nov 24, 2010
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  3. TehSuigi

    TehSuigi Notebook Virtuoso

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    Welcome to the forums, 2*CV!
    If you could post a screenshot of your Disk Management window, that would be a huge help.
    Normally, Acer hard drives are partitioned thusly, from start of drive to end of it.

    Recovery Partition (Hidden) - ~10GB or so
    C: - Half of hard drive
    D: - Half of hard drive
    Arcade Instant-On (Hidden, not on all models) - ~3-4GB

    I'd go download the GParted LiveUSB just to check. If need be, you can change the 298GB partition to something usable.
     
    TehSuigi, Nov 24, 2010
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