Too many Partitions on hard drive

Page 2 of 5 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast

  1. JoeGons
    Posts : 32
    Win 10
    Thread Starter
       New #11

    Thanks Everyone,
    I was hoping to do something like what lx07 has suggested.
    lx07, you say that "13. you can delete if you want (it is no use any more)".
    I'm not sure exactly what it is and how might it be of no use any more?

    The Swap Temp partition is to reduce fragmentation of the Page file on partition C:.
    I really wanted to get rid of the PBR partition and reorganize the other partitions to make use of the space.
    Once I know removing it will not cause Windows to go into convulsions, I'm fine with that.
    If I have problems, I'll simply install a clone.
    I have File History on G: drive.
    I also have DBR_BOOT on Partition K: whatever that is. G: and K: are on an external drive.
    Z: drive will take some of the load from the main drive or perhaps I might put a clone there.

    NOW. Deploy Windows RE
    reagentc
    This might be getting too much for me.

    Register your custom Windows RE tools image:

    C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc /setreimage /path T:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target W:\Windows

    My last partition does not have a drive letter.
    How does this work?

    If I remove the PBR Image partition, Windows will lose track of where the WindowsRE is located?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  3. Kbird
    Posts : 2,324
    Win10
       New #12

    1. is not nothing ....see my image.....it is the 1mb (1024KB) Alignment done by Windows Install and is needed , leave it alone , or have Minitool P.W. redo the Alignment if already removed.... Easeus probably has the same feature?

    I have never seen anyone in Windows using a Swap Temp Partition , which is Why I thought you had been trying out Linux , let Windows handle it , these days it does a very good job. I seem to see these screwed up Partitions a lot when someone is Dualboot Linux as well.....

    the PBR Image partition is the Dell Recsue Environment , you don't need it if you don't want all their Software but
    do you have the Serial no#s etc of any software you do want? ( not referring to Win10 it is activated online)

    The PBR and WINRETOOLS drives are provided by Dell.
    PBR Image drive and WINRETOOLS drive are the recovery partitions and contain the recovery image (PBR Image) and Windows Recovery Environment tools (WINRETOOLS).They are important for recovering the system in case of a software issue and should not be deleted.


    DBR Boot I am unsure of but it looks like a Fat32 Bootdisk ( rescue) partition which can be selected during a UEFI Boot usually from the F8 Menu (sometime F12) , try it? Perhaps it's DELL-ware too?

    I would suggest making a Macrium Free Boot Rescue disk , it has a add on called Fix Windows Boot , and is very good at fixing the BCD File and tell the system where all the needed boot files are.....It has saved me a few times and avoids all that horrible Editing of the BCD by hand.

    KB
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  4. JoeGons
    Posts : 32
    Win 10
    Thread Starter
       New #13

    If I remove the PBR Image partition, Windows will lose track of where the WindowsRE is located?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  6. Layback Bear
    Posts : 983
    Windows 7/64 Professional
       New #14

    Just a suggestion.
    It appears you are using Disk partitions instead of using File Explorer.
    Don't use Disk Management as a Windows 10 File Explorer.
    I know of no good reason to have that many partitions on a drive.
    I believe File Explorer will do what you need.

    Jack
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  7. JoeGons
    Posts : 32
    Win 10
    Thread Starter
       New #15

    Thanks Jack.
    I need to trim the disk and clone it.
    I an just trying to determine what is safe to leave out when I do the clone.

    Joe
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  8. Kbird
    Posts : 2,324
    Win10
       New #16

    JoeGons said:
    If I remove the PBR Image partition, Windows will lose track of where the WindowsRE is located?
    Possibly but that's why lx07 posted about fixing the Recovery environment with reagentc.exe , there are other tutorials here on that, once you get that far , it will not effect or stop windows booting...

    If you don't want to deal with that and have ALL you Data Backed Up ( be sure) then do a Clean install of Win 10 On a Cleaned Disk 0 and it will fix is as part of the new install of Win10.

    Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

    Clean Install Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

    You can use F12 during Windows installation and Clean the Disk before Installing windows , just be sure to get the Correct disk or disconnect the other disks during install if Possible.

    Erase Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10 Hardware Drivers Tutorials

    KB
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  9. Layback Bear
    Posts : 983
    Windows 7/64 Professional
       New #17

    If it was my computer I would first go through every partition and save to a external drive what I wanted. (data, pictures, ect.)

    Then I would do a Clean Install and let the Windows 10 do the partitioning when it installs. Then if you want a couple extra partitions for whatever you could add them to the drive.
    I personally let Windows 10 own my 250 GB ssd. I do not make any more partitions.
    Anything I want to save goes to a external drive. In my case I use Hot Swap bays.
    Their are many options but I believe in keeping things clean and neat.
    Their are many things with many tutorials on how to move things off of the "C" Windows 10 partition. I leave everything that Windows 10 installs on a Clean Install on the "C" partitions. Windows 10 know what it wants where.
    Some members with lots of large games will install them on another drive. Some members with huge amounts of data will put the data on several other drives; all the time keeping Windows 10 clean and neat on it's own drive.

    When you have several drives with things like 'data', 'pictures', 'movies', ect. you can access them using File Explorer as long as the drives are hooked to the computer in the proper fashion.

    We have many members and some will do things a little different but chopping a drive with Windows 10 into a bunch of partition is not one I recommend.

    Jack
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  10. JoeGons
    Posts : 32
    Win 10
    Thread Starter
       New #18

    Thanks for the advice and the Links.
    I think I may have messed up the drive when I first took it out of the box.
    I created D,E and F partitions.

    One more question, since most of the partitions (Alignment, System etc. do not have a drive letter, how does Windows find a partition ?
    Does Windows use some sort of serial number or partition ID number?

    Too many Partitions on hard drive-partition-properties.jpgToo many Partitions on hard drive-partition-properties.jpg

    If Windows looks for partition #3 (or whatever) in a particular location on the drive for the recovery image, then it would be useless now.
    If on the other hand it uses some other way of identifying the partition, the physical location on the drive should not matter.

    In any event, Windows 8 was loaded when I got the PC and I upgraded to Windows 10. I suspect that if I were to restore the Dell image, I would end up with Windows 8. Not what I would want.
    Windows is working just fine now.
    From what I am seeing, the big problem is with a recovery.
    I will have a serious look at merging back all the main partitions leaving the little ones or just cloning all except the 57 GB image backup and expand the other main partitions.
    The thought of reinstalling all the Drivers and programs I have is a daunting task.
    I know I will have to do that eventually.

    Joe
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  12. dalchina
    Posts : 42,984
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       New #19

    Hi, as you can see from my post #2, partitions which are part of Windows but not meant to be accessible by file explorer do not have drive letters. That is how it should be, and they do not need drive letters.

    To eventually test your Recovery partition, try booting to a command prompt, for example.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  13. Word Man
    Posts : 1,579
    Windows 10 Pro
       New #20

    JoeGons said:
    ...The thought of reinstalling all the Drivers and programs I have is a daunting task...
    You won't have to do that if you follow a strategy like:

    1) Use Macrium to make a complete image (not clone) of that disk to an external disk. Make sure you have a MR rescue media to boot from.

    2) Do a clean install of Win10, using advanced options in the install routine to delete ALL partitions from the disk. Leave the disk completely unallocated and proceed with the Win10 install.

    3) Now boot from your MR rescue media and restore ONLY your original Windows partition (from the external disk, which will include all those programs and user data you're concerned about reinstalling) to the C: (new Windows) partition on the newly partitioned disk.

    4) If there are problems booting from your newly partitioned and Windows restored disk, reboot to the MR rescue environment and use the fix boot options.

    5) You can then address reconfigure the WinRE pointer if necessary and desired from a command prompt.

    6) You can then proceed with shrinking C: partition and recreating and restoring your other data partitions as you see fit. You could actually do all of this step from within Macrium via a restore and shrinking your C: partition on the fly, dragging and dropping D, E, F as part of a restore setup. Here is a link to Macrium instructions on doing a restore within the rescue environment, note that step 4 has a link to a more detailed look at resizing, dragging and dropping partitions on the fly: https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/di...e+Rescue+Media
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

  Related Discussions
Hello Short story. Western Digital Elements Drive 3TB use for back up and today wouldn't power. Swapped all cables no luck. Removed hard drive from Caddy housing and mounted in rig direct to motherboard. The hard drive is readable but appears...
Hi there, I have been currently looking in my laptop the default windows 10 partition layout which seems to be very odd in my case. well, i was recently reading an article here: UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions | Microsoft Docs and saw...
My son would like to create a dual boot operating system. We understand (at least we think) that we need to create 2 partitions on a single drive and install one operating system on each. Hopefully that will give him a dual boot menu when he starts...
Combine Hard Drive Partitions
in Drivers and Hardware

I am trying to combine my C: with D:. There are 3 other partitions on the drive and I'm not sure which partitions it is safe to delete or combine. 1st Partition: 1.36 GB Healthy (Recovery Partition) 2nd Partition: 518 MB Healthy (EFI System...
Windows Partitions on Hard Drive
in Drivers and Hardware

Can someone tell me what partitions I should have on my hard drive after I upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows Home Premium Build 10586. I have some new small partitions and I don't know if they belong to the OS or they got allocated from another...
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

 © Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:58.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums