Multiple Recovery Partitions

faridc · Aug 11, 2015

As you can see, there are multiple recovery partitions on my drives.
The store bought PC originally came with a 1 TB HDD (Disk 1). Then, I recently added an Intel 520 SSD 128GB. I migrated the software from the HDD to the SSD and the PC booted without a problem.
I had partitioned the HDD some time ago (before the SSD) into "Windows Drive" (C

and "Data Drive" (D

.
After I installed the SSD, I renamed "Windows Drive" to "Old Drive" (O

and kept the old OS on that partition.

Which recovery partition can I delete and which one should I keep?
What's the EFI partition?

hang-the-9 · Aug 12, 2015

Anything that is not on the main OS drive that is a recovery partition should be OK, I would not touch the EFI partition. I can't see the images at work, if there are no issues with the system and you are not hurting for extra space, I would not mess with anything. Who knows if there is a part of something installed on the main drive that also does not have a needed portion on the old drive.

jsmithepa · Aug 12, 2015

Looks like you did multiple installs, but instead of telling it NEW which would have nuked everything and start fresh, merely added to existing.

For one thing, if you are booting off C: correctly, and have no data to save on disk1, can just nuke that guy (disk1) and make it into a single usable, data partition, if that's your intend. Disk0... no sure about that puppy.

faridc · Aug 12, 2015

Thanks for your answers.
Everything on current Disk 0 or C drive (SSD) came from the original HDD that came with the store bought PC. It was migrated from disk 1 (HDD) to disk 0 (SSD). The OS is the original one and had not been refreshed, repaired or been subjected to multiple installs. I created a recovery USB drive for "in case", but I don't think it would create any extra partitions on the OS drive. Plus, whenever I perform new installs, I always write zeros and format my drives.
So, I still don't understand why I have 3 different recovery partitions (16.94 GB, 800 MB and 450 MB)!
Right now, I'm not in a crunch as far as storage space is concerned, but eventually...I'll run out.

hang-the-9 · Aug 13, 2015

A recovery partition should not be almost 17 gig, how was that created? It seems more of a full system backup than a bare Windows recovery.

When you do a new setup for your use, not for sale, there is no need to over-write the drive, just a format will do, even a quick one. You only need to secure wipe a drive that you are selling or discarding. Other than that, it's just extra wear on the drive for no good reason.

faridc · Aug 14, 2015

hang-the-9 :

Thanks for the tip about re-installing OS and not needing to over-write the drive.

This whole multiple recovery partitions thing got me to look around and checked my other PC's. This is what I found:

Both laptops are factory originals, never been messed with. I mean, I had never re-installed the OS or attempted any repairs or recovery.
As you can see, the ASUS laptop has an EFI system partition and 2 recovery ones. The HP laptop on the other hand, has an EFI and recovery partitions and a completely separate Recovery partition under D drive.
My main PC, has 2 SSD's. One for windows, the other for games/data. My OS is retail Windows8.1 (recently upgraded to Windows 10). There is only one partition on my C drive, the usual "Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active...etc)" partition.

Not sure what to think about all these extra partitions. Again, I'm not running out of space now, but eventually...

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Multiple Recovery Partitions

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