Background: Recently purchased a Dell PC preloaded with Win-8.1 and the Dell-sponsored gobbledygook, bloatware and useless accoutrements. Once Win-10 became available, I swapped the HDD for a SSD and completed a clean Win-10 install. The conversion went smoothly and the PC runs great. I am now happily (?!?) gyrating along Microsoft's latest OS learning curve. This leaves me with a spare 1T HDD that I would like to use as a standalone data storage drive.

Problem: Using Disk Management in Win-10, there are 5 partitions on the HDD. The largest one is clearly the OS and apps, and it's volume is easily deleted. However, the other 4 smaller partitions appear to be protected. When right-clicking on any of them, only a selection for 'Help' is offered. And clicking that sends me to a generic Disk Management Help Screen.

Has anyone experienced this issue, and if so, how was the problem solved?

My goal is to combine all five partitions into one, essentially throwing away the original Dell OS, bloatware, etc. With Win-10 up and running, I have no need to return to Win-8.1? Any and all input, suggestions, ideas and moral support is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Jeff