Deleting & Merging OEM Recovery Drive

[WickedAdrenalin]

Hello Everyone... I'm new to this forum and I guess you could call me a newbie to all this new technology. So please forgive me if these are stupid questions...


I recently upgraded Windows 7 Pro 64 bit to Windows 10. I have an OEM Recovery drive Q:/ that is almost 13 gigs. Also, after the upgrade, I have a windows.old file system that is 21.7 gigs.

My questions are as follows...
Can I delete the OEM Recovery drive and merge it with my C:/ drive? If so, how can I do it without having to do a clean/fresh install?
How can I get rid of the windows.old file system?

I haven't worked on a computer or software since DOS and Win 3.11 and when a 14.4 or a 28.8 modem was all the rage Yes, my age is showing. So, needless to say, I've been outta the loop... Since I'm a bit rusty, I did some research and I haven't been able to get a clear answer (or at least one that I can understand) Plus this place seems to be the best site to ask questions.

I've attached a screenshot of Disk Management...
And Thank you all in advance for all your help...

 

[postmortemIA]

Yes, you can safely remove the Lenovo Recovery partition. You'll have to do it from elevated privilege command line using DISKPART utility. Usually Windows does not allow you to remove it from disk management.

As for Windows.old, you can use disk cleanup to get rid of it, there is article about it on about every tech site.

 

[ArisVer]

I would keep the recovery partition as it can be used in case of disaster. 13GB on a 500GB disk is not much space, and besides, if your disk is full so you need those 13GB, you should upgrade your disk to a larger one.

 

[Dahak]

I would

1 - Make a recovery dvd set, even if you do not delete the recovery partition
2 - If you are sure you are not going to go back to Win7, then you can delete the Windows.old
3 - as ArisVer said, 13GB is not that much in the long run, by the time your disk gets that full a extra 13GB may not really matter

 

[nanaki333]

I would keep the recovery partition as it can be used in case of disaster. 13GB on a 500GB disk is not much space, and besides, if your disk is full so you need those 13GB, you should upgrade your disk to a larger one.

^this^

if you really don't want to lose space to that, you can buy a new SSHD for ~$55 and use up all that space (1TB SSHD are only $69). then if you ever have an issue in the future, want to sell the machine, or give it to someone else, you can pop that old drive in, run the full restore, fresh computer!

13GB really isn't all that much to lose if you want that added security, but it's up to you!

 

[WickedAdrenalin]

Yes, you can safely remove the Lenovo Recovery partition. You'll have to do it from elevated privilege command line using DISKPART utility. Usually Windows does not allow you to remove it from disk management.

As for Windows.old, you can use disk cleanup to get rid of it, there is article about it on about every tech site.

Thanks for your help, but I read some where that you can't merge partitions that are NOT next to each other. Has that changed? I can merge C:/ with Q:/ even though Windows 10 has a recovery in the middle?

I can't upgrade the laptop because it is currently under warranty. I know some of you wouldn't care but I'm not as savvy as I used to be when it comes to hardware/software.

 

[WickedAdrenalin]

^this^

if you really don't want to lose space to that, you can buy a new SSHD for ~$55 and use up all that space (1TB SSHD are only $69). then if you ever have an issue in the future, want to sell the machine, or give it to someone else, you can pop that old drive in, run the full restore, fresh computer!

13GB really isn't all that much to lose if you want that added security, but it's up to you!

I've read posts where people say they have an SSD or HDD... I thought about getting an external drive because this laptop is currently under warranty till late next year. What really is the difference between ssd and hdd?

WA~

 

[Puffnstuff]

If you have a bdrw burn the recovery image to a disc first and then delete the partition. Afterwards you can extend the primary to recover that space.

 

[WickedAdrenalin]

If you have a bdrw burn the recovery image to a disc first and then delete the partition. Afterwards you can extend the primary to recover that space.

I made a USB Recovery of Win 10 & I have one of Win 7 also.

I've thought about using AOMEI for merging the partitions and CCleaner for the windows.old... I might look into purchasing an external hd next month. (Still trying to play catch up with xmas)

I shouldn't lose any data with the merge, correct? "shouldn't" is relative isn't it? I shouldn't but I could lose data...

 

[WickedAdrenalin]

Oh... will the USB recovery be as effective as a disk image?

 

[Crunos]

From Microsoft http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/help-upgrade-windows-10, under "Can i go back to my old operating system", "Note: If the manufacturer set up your PC to run from a compressed Windows image file (also known as Windows image file boot or WIMBoot) and included the option to restore factory settings, that option will no longer be available after you upgrade to Windows 10."

You can't use Disk Management to merge the Lenovo recovery partition because the 789 MB recovery partition in Windows 10 is in the way. if you use AOMEI Partition Assistant to merge partitions, you only need to delete the Lenovo recovery partition. personally, I do not suggest you delete the 789 MB recovery partition

 

[postmortemIA]

I don't have any recovery partitions. The way Windows 10 is doing "digital entitlement" licensing scheme you can simply reinstall windows at any time. Your 700MB recovery partition is not going to contain much. Nothing of your data anyway.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Most manufacturers have the other included software available on their support sites anyway making it easier to reinstall it, well at least Dell does that. I dl'd everything from Dell when I did a clean install of 7 on my laptop rather than use the restore image because they did it in raid mode and I did it in ahci mode. You should still make a copy of the image and put it up just in case you might want it later. I've got mine on a DL DVD put away just in case I might want to use it later.

 

[ArisVer]

You should make the recovery discs in case you want to go back to Win7 and you can make a Win10 installation disk in case you want to make a fresh install.
From this page.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

 

[ronbo613]

My Sony VAIO has a Recovery and Boot partitions. After a failed Windows 10 "upgrade" from Win7, I used the Recovery partition to get back to the computer's original state. I have made a set of recovery discs which should do the same thing.

I've tried to make a Macrium Reflect backup image to an external USB drive, but Macrium does not see the external drives. I think there are drivers in the Boot partition that are not being copied to the Macrium recovery disc.

I want to try Windows 10 on this computer, but it's already failed once. If I didn't need to run some Adobe software on this laptop, Windows would be gone and I'd be running Linux. Pretty tired of MS BS.

 

[Eug]

What's the easiest way to format the drive to just remove the recovery partition, when the data on the drive is not a concern? As mentioned Disk Manager doesn't support doing that. I would rather not use the command line.

Mine was easier as the drive was already removed and in a SATA USB adapter stand, so instead I just moved it over to my Mac and reformatted it from there. The Mac didn't seem to care about the recovery partition and was happy to just erase everything. However, I initially formatted it as HFS + GUID, and out of the partitions created I could not remove a 200 MB partition in Windows Disk Manager. Then I reformatted it on the Mac to FAT32/MBR and then redid it in exFAT in Windows. (I don't trust Macs with formatting large drives with exFAT. I've encountered weird issues before so I prefer doing it on Windows PCs.)

However, I'd like to know the easiest Windows method with GUI to do this, if I don't have an external(ized) drive and a Mac handy.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would rather not use the command line.

However, I'd like to know the easiest Windows method with GUI to do this, if I don't have an external(ized) drive and a Mac handy.

Frankly, the Disk Management GUI is a bit lacking, for erasing drives. It's fine for creating various partitions on a fresh drive, but it won't always delete certain non-Windows partitions, like recovery partitions.

Best way is to open an Administrative Command Prompt, and use DISKPART.EXE. Then use LIST DISK, SELECT DISK #, and CLEAN.

 

[Eug]

Is it possible to format the boot drive when running diskpart?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is it possible to format the boot drive when running diskpart?

No, I don't think so. You'll have to boot a recent Windows' boot disc. Then start SETUP, and when you get to the disks / partition screen, hit SHIFT+F10, to bring up a command prompt. You can then access DISKPART.EXE from there.