Ever heard of the term “Unallocated hard drive” while using Windows? Well, just how its name implies, an unallocated hard drive is good for nothing, especially in the system’s perspectives. To fix the unallocated hard drive, you need to re-assign a new drive partition so that you can make the most of this unused disk space.
Here’s everything you need to know about an unallocated hard drive, what causes this issue, whether it results in losing data, and, most importantly, how to fix an unallocated hard drive on Windows 10 PC quickly.
Also Read: How To Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing In Windows
Let’s get started.
What Causes Unallocated Hard Drive?
Here are some of the most common reasons behind what causes an unallocated hard disk issue on the Windows machine.
- Hardware failure.
- Presence of viruses or malware on your device.
- Internal disk errors.
- Bad disk partition.
- Physical damage to the hard disk drive.
What is an Unallocated Hard Drive?
In simple parlance, any disk partition or storage space that has not been assigned a drive letter is tagged as “Unallocated.” To fix the unallocated hard drive, you either need to assign it a new disk partition or allot it to an existing disk partition to expand the storage.
Since the unallocated disk space is not assigned a dedicated drive, it becomes useless as none of the programs or apps can use this space for writing data.
Can you Fix Unallocated Hard Drive Without Losing Data?
From your system’s point of view, unallocated space is of no use, like totally non-existent. So, to make the most of your hard disk drive, one needs to fix an unallocated hard drive by assigning it a new drive label. And yes, one can quickly fix the unallocated hard drive by adopting a few simple solutions. Read on!
How to Fix Unallocated Hard Drive on Windows 10?
Let’s explore a few useful solutions that will allow you to make the most of the unallocated hard disk space.
Use CHKDSK Utility Tool
Check Disk (CHKDSK) is an in-built utility offered by Windows OS that scans and fixes disk-related errors on your device. To use the CHKDSK Command, here’s what you need to do.
- Tap the Start menu search bar, and launch Command Prompt.
- Type “CHKDSK C:/ f/r/x” and then hit Enter.
NOTE: You have to place the inve letter initial that you need to scan, right after typing CHKDSK. In our case, we are operating on the C: drive.
- Wait for a few minutes until Windows runs a complete disk scan to look for internal disk errors. The CHKDSK utility tool will also help you in recovering bad disk sectors (if any).
Update Drivers
Another possible reason for what may have unallocated a hard drive is corrupt or missing hard drive drivers. To fix this, you will be required to update the hard drive drivers installed on your machine.
- Press Windows + R key combination to launch the Run dialog box.
- Type “devmgmt.msc” in the search box and hit Enter.
- In the Device Manager window, look for the hard drive drivers under the “Disk Drives” option. Right-click on it, then select the “Update driver Software” option.
Create a New Disk Volume using DiskPart Command
To fix the unallocated hard drive, you can assign a new disk partition to the unused space using the DISKPART command. Here’s what you need to do.
- Launch Command Prompt shell on your Windows device and enter the following commands one by one, in the same order.
- Select Volume <Drive letter>
- Delete Volume
- Delete Volume override
- After following the above-mentioned steps, close the Command Prompt window. Tap on the Start menu icon, type “Disk Management” in the search box, and hit Enter.
- In the Disk Management window, right-click on the unallocated hard drive, select the “New Simple Volume” option, and then tap on “Next.”
- Assign a storage size (Preferably in Megabytes) in the “Simple Volume Size” option and then hit the “Next” button.
- Check on “Format this volume with the following settings” option.
Edit the settings as:
File System: NTFS
Allocation Unit Size: Default
Volume Label: Assign
- Check on the “Perform a Quick Format” option and then tap on Next.
Download Systweak Antivirus for Windows
Last but not least, don’t forget to install a comprehensive security solution to safeguard your device. Download Systweak Antivirus for PC to protect your device against viruses, malware, and ransomware threats. This nifty tool can offer real-time protection to ensure that your device is safe against potential malicious threats.
Also Read: How To Initialize Disk Without Losing Data On Windows 10
Conclusion
Here were the 4 most useful hacks to fix an unallocated hard drive on Windows 10 machine. So, next time when any of your disk drives becomes unallocated, you can use any of these methods to re-allocate the disk drive.
Good luck!