But now I cannot perform Macrium reflect image backup of win10 OS because I deleted this partition and macrium is yelling it's not valid partition when I try to backup Disk 0.
So, I didn't really understand how to merge this 450 unallocated space to my C drive using miniTool partition wizard.
please help :)
In my previous post here you can see that the screenshot displays that I've wiped the NTFS 450MB partition.
This, of course, didn't allow Macrium Reflect to run my scheduled Full and Differential backups.
The Partition Wizard doesn't allow for merging these partitions. Maybe because they are not adjacent?
In any case, I have created an NTFS partition on that wiped 450MB partition, but I didn't assign a drive letter.
Now I'm able to use Macrium Reflect to perform Full and Diff backups.
In the interim, did I perform correctly?
The goal was to merge them, but now it seems impossible. So at the very least, I can continue to image my drive on a scheduled basis.
Anyone?
Well....the instructions to add the unallocated space when the "oem" partition after it was deleted is in post #17. The reason Macrium Relfect errored with invalid partition when the "oem" partition was deleted was likely because you were using a saved backup definition file that expected to backup the 4 partitions that were on the drive previously and you deleted one of those partitions. A new backup of the drive from scratch should not have given that error.
Also, you are confusing the terms "wiping" a partition with "deleting" a partition. In your screenshot in post #16, the "oem" partition was deleted, not wiped. Deleting a partition leaves unallocated space on the drive - there is no partition there at all - it is just unallocated space waiting for a partition to be created there. "Wiping" a partition is basically doing a format on the filesystem - leaving an empty partition on the drive. You can also have a "wiped" partition when a partition is created but there is no filesystem at all formatted on it.
Unallocated space on the hard drive is like having a seat in a stadium that does not have a ticket sold for it yet. It is completely unallocated - not used at all. When you create a partition in that space, it is like selling a ticket for that seat in the stadium. It is reserved for use - but not being used yet. Then when you format a filesystem on that partition it is like the owner of the ticket showing up and actually sitting in that seat. Then you copy actual files into the filesystem contained on that partition and it is like the owner of the seat sitting in it and holding a hotdog and beer.
You can only add unallocated space to an existing partition on the disk when the unallocated space and partition are next to each (adjacent). So you have to move the existing partitions to either the right or the left of the unallocated space until the unallocated space is next to the partition you want to add it to. If you are using only Windows built-in disk management or diskpart, then the unallocated space must be next to AND after the partition you want to add it to - you can only move the end of the existing partition. If you are using a partition management program like MiniTool Partition Wizard, then the unallocated space can be either in front of or after the partition you want to add it to - you can move either the front or the end of the existing partition you want to add it to.
Let's be clear about things on a UEFI pc.
1) You only actually need the EFI Partition and the C drive OS partition to run Windows.
2) The MSR partition is hidden and not removeable (can be done but a lot of effort using Macrium Reflect).
3) The MSR partition does not have any use at present, and is simpky there for future expansion allegedly. If you delete it, it is no big deal, and you can recreate it using diskpart anyway.
4) The oem recovery partition is only used if you choose "reset my pc option". If you delete it, you cannot use "reset my pc" from Windows menus. However, you can still boot from a usb installation drive, select repair pc, and use "reset my pc" from there, or of course just do a clean install.
On my tablet, I delete the MSR and OEM partition to maximise space available for C drive.
(BTW - what a terrible name change as this partition is not an oem partition, and confuses things on pcs that have an oem partition - I reckon this is a cock-up).
+1 for MiniTool Partition Wizard. I ditched my old Acronis Hard Disk Director.Thank you for the quick confirmation, Ed. I think a blog post will be quite helpful to many. It happened on 1 out of 2 systems that I updated to 1803.
Yes, right-clicking wasn't helpful in Disk Management.
MiniTool Partition Wizard looks quite handy. I ran DISKPART to save me the time, but I'll keep that bookmarked!
The instruction didn't help. I might have messed it up and I need to give it another go.
I think you're right about my confusion with wiping and deleting. The odd bit, is that for some reason Win10 decided to re-create this partition and now I see F: drive again.
It refuses to die.
I'll get back how and try to follow the instructions again. I might do a video capture to demo what I'm doing because I expect to mess this up again.
This is not true at all. Can be done with either PWM or Macrium. In fact, Macrium is much easier than PWM2) The MSR partition is hidden and not removeable (can be done but a lot of effort using Macrium Reflect).
@OP
Seriously, you should have left the way it was so that everything is working the way Windows meant to be. Saving a few MB's is not worth the effort, besides, surfing the internet for a while, you would have downloaded lots of junk for cache and often it will be in the order of GB's.
Having said that, here's the video I made for you to show how it's done with either PWM or Macrium.
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