500MB RAW partition on SSD after reinstalling Windows 10?

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dingenieur

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Jun 17, 2017
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I have a Dell Inspiron 7567 laptop with 512GB SSD. When I bought the laptop from a local merchant it came with a pirated Windows 10. I didn't like that, so I bought a Windows product key and did a clean install. However it was my first time installing Windows on an SSD and at that there already was a Windows installed there, so I checked some forum threads, people said that I just need to format the SSD and install and that's what I did. But there was that 500MB partition when I was installing it, I formatted that too... The two partitions stayed, labeled as Primary, I was confused but continued the installation on the larger partition. Now, this 500MB stays there in RAW format and I don't know what to do with it. Do I have to reinstall Windows again differently? I asked Reddit, but people seem confused about this there, does anybody here know what I should do?

Here're some screenshots:
http://imgur.com/a/Anc5E
http://imgur.com/a/3CXP2
 
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That certainly looks a tad incorrect.

What you wanted to do rather than formatting anything is, during the installation of Windows 10, just delete the existing partitions. Windows 10 will then create any partitions it needs and format them correctly itself.

If you haven't done a bunch of work at this point, that is probably the easiest way to go about sorting your partitions.
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Richard_253

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May 28, 2017
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That doesn't look like a partition on your boot drive (SSD). It looks like you have a second drive installed?
 
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bigpinkdragon286

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Oct 3, 2012
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That certainly looks a tad incorrect.

What you wanted to do rather than formatting anything is, during the installation of Windows 10, just delete the existing partitions. Windows 10 will then create any partitions it needs and format them correctly itself.

If you haven't done a bunch of work at this point, that is probably the easiest way to go about sorting your partitions.
 
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dingenieur

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Jun 17, 2017
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Okay, I'll try, thanks! Just to ask if you know - is there anything I should be cautious about when installing Windows again? I mean with the SSD, I don't want to ruin it. I see a lot of warnings about SSDs on the internet, about being careful with formatting, deleting etc...
Edit: And also do you know how to go about it so I don't loose my windows license, or do I not have to worry about that, I don't want to purchase it again :D Thanks! I'm sorry for all the annoying questions. Just want to make sure.
 
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bigpinkdragon286

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Oct 3, 2012
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The big issue with SSDs is the limited write cycles that each storage location has. So, in theory, the fewer writes, the longer time the drive will last you. I highly recommend not using an SSD for storage of large files, such as videos, if you are storing them temporarily and then tossing. Spinning platter hard drives are better suited to storage of large media that tends to be changed frequently.

Generally, Windows versions starting with 7 should be aware of an SSD and treat them accordingly. The weekly defragment that Windows schedules turns into a weekly run through with TRIM instead for an SSD.

On your own, make sure you never defragment an SSD, otherwise, reasonable usage should be okay. Defragmenting does nothing for an SSD but to use up it's write cycles, as the drive can already address every memory location in about the same time frame, fragmentation doesn't impact an SSD as it does a standard hard drive.

Shouldn't be anything special to look out for when installing Windows. Just, when you are to the point that it's asking where you want to install, delete all of the partitions, then just continue. You don't need to make your own. Provided the drive is devoid of partitions, the Windows installer will do the rest with reasonable correctness, most of the time. If you had more than one hard drive, then yes, you would want to disconnect the secondary drive, but in your case with just the single drive, shouldn't be any special steps to take.

Your license should be tied to your hardware fingerprint. As long as you have activated that copy of Windows on that hardware, it should reactivate after you reinstall. If you didn't yet activate, your license isn't actually tied to anything yet, and you just need to activate it after you install it.

Also, if you use a Microsoft account as your Windows 10 login, you can associate your Windows 10 license with that, allowing you to transfer it in the future.
 
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