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I was installing Windows 10, so I cleared the C:/ partition on my internal hard drive, only then to be greeted by the message:

Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.

So, I realized, I obviously have to clear the entire int-HDD now to change from MBR-type to GPT disk (because I have already formatted the C:/drive containing the OS and all and thus changing MBR to GPT via an on-screen software is now a long gone option.)

Good thing is: I backed up important files on one partition of my internal HDD. So I think of copying all of them to an external HDD. Since I somehow want this to be "tip-top", I decided to WIPE OUT my external HDD before transferring files to it. I'm referring to the Disk Wipe feature that Windows 10 setup offers under the Repair menu (not the install option).

The wipe out begins, but I grow impatient and stop it around 0.75% or so.

This is where the problem occurs. I plug-in my external-HDD out and plug it in again.

Nothing shows up. No D:/ or anything, no NTFS, nothing. Only a "Drive 2" is visible in the Installation Space menu or the Disk Wipe toolbar.

What should I do?

What happens if I wipe it out totally? Will I have the chance of "allocating" it NTFS or something once the wipe out is done? Because as for now only Disk 2 shows up in the 2 mentioned menus (installation and disk-wipe). There's no volumes, no partition, (no NTFS file type...?) or anything in it. 931GB free out of 931GB.

Edit: I created a primary partition in the ext-HDD D:/ (using CMD, yay), created a volume "V" in it and quick formatted it to NTFS. And yeah it shows up in the explorer menu now!!! Back on track. Gonna begin the backup now!!!

Also, is there a faster solution to this entire thing? Like a software that can run through the setup screen itself and concert MBR partitions to GPT?

Or is there a way to keep my files intact without the external-HDD at least?

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    Terms like "Wipe out" and "The Wipe out section" are not helpful... ?? Did you fomat? delete the partition? Did you use disk manager? There is clearly not enough info here to help you. Also, what was wrong with leaving the initial drive as MBR?
    – Señor CMasMas
    Commented Dec 5, 2019 at 21:38
  • Also, +99% that you didn't DAMAGE the external drive. You probably need a fresh partition table/partition/file system for it to work again.
    – Señor CMasMas
    Commented Dec 5, 2019 at 21:41
  • GPT/MBR is assigned in the first part of the drive, so if you did wipe even a fraction of one percent of the drive then whether it was MBR or GPT is immaterial now. You should be able to repartition it using the installation media during install (just select the disk without any partitions and it'll be fine) or using Disk Management.
    – shawn
    Commented Dec 5, 2019 at 22:03
  • You could have set the bios to legacy mode or booted from installation media that didn't have a UEFI bootloader. At this point.. not important. Go with GPT.
    – Señor CMasMas
    Commented Dec 5, 2019 at 22:45
  • To create a partition you first need to use a partition manager to create the partition, then you need to format the partition with the appropriate FS. It looks to me like you have not formatted the partition associated with d:\
    – davidgo
    Commented Dec 5, 2019 at 22:45

1 Answer 1

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Okay, thanks for the inputs everyone. What I basically figured out with time and experience is that -

  1. Whatever you gotta do in such a scenario will be by the use of command prompt. Press Shift+F10
  2. Be sure to use the help menu by typing in help anytime. Check the internet avidly too.
  3. Since your work is going to be based on 'disks" (a dummy's way to put it), use the command diskpart
  4. First you should see what disks you have and which one is formatted and irresponsive/behaving as if such. Type in list disk
  5. You should try to understand which one of the disks is your subject of interest. Maybe try unplugging your ext-HDD and reopening CMD and following steps 1-3 to know that.
  6. Now let's say disk # (= 1 or 2 or 3 or...) is the external HDD. So type in select disk #. That'll confirm the selection.
  7. You may seek details of the disk by typing in detail disk. That'll detail you about your disk.
  8. You'll probably notice no partitions/volumes in the disk. Bad thing. Let's create one. Also, the file system shown under fs should be RAW. Needs to be changed.
  9. Type in create partition. Upon prompted with a list, type in primary. If you wanna know more about partitions, check the internet. Basically one primary partition is all you need for a temporary back up of your files to your ext-HDD. You could name it with a letter of you want, by the command assign letter=<letter of your choice>
  10. Once all this is done you'll need to change the file system to NTFS. Otherwise your disk will remain inaccessible.
  11. To do this, just type in format fs=ntfs. I suggest going for a quick format to save time. Type in format fs=ntfs quick.

Voila. A process begins and ends within minutes. You're done after it's done. Close the CMD and open explorer. Wait for some time, or if necessary, restart.

Surely, the newly created volume, designated with the letter of your choice is there in the explorer's drive list. Now that's your hard disk volume. Feel free to back up everything to that volume. Then format your internal HDD entirely. And install.

done!

Thanks everyone!!!

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