Confusing partitions on HDD

I have 2 HP laptops running Windows 10. The nice thing about having two is the ability to compare them when something looks a little off or suspicious.One of my laptops had a terrible time with upgrading to Windows 10 from 8.1 (Computer A). The other was very smooth (Computer B). Despite all the problems I faced with A (many failed updates, issues getting off , I did get it to the point where it was running fine and Well, as part of doing a series of backups to preserve data, I noticed that there are striking partition differences between these two machines, both running version 1803.

Computer A has 3 partitions -- WINRE (OEM), (*) (EFI System Partition), C: (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition).
Computer B has 6 partitions -- WINRE, (*), EFI, (*), C:, I: (?), J?), Drestore)

On A:, the restore partition was removed because it originally contained Windows 8.1. Still, I don't understand why there are 2 additional partitions and what they could possibly be used for.

I'm going to install a new SSD for Computer B. Can I just take the first 3 partitions and discard the rest?

You may want to attach a Disk Management picture of Computer B. Depending on their size, they may be partitions which have been replaced and should not have a drive letter.

1) The specs entered displayed HP Envy M6 and Windows 1709
The HP website displayed 14 matching products:
HP Product Warranty Check for Laptops, Printers & Other Products | HP® Customer Support

2) Open the HP website > support and drivers > enter the product or serial number > select the operating system > view drivers > post a URL or hyperlink into the thread

3) Update the specs in the "My Computer" section: (multiple computers can be added)
System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums:
System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums | Windows 10 Tutorials
In the left corner below in your post you find 'My System Specs'.
After clicking it you can find a link a little below that says 'Update your System Spec', click on this link to get to the page where you can fill in your system specs.
System Info - See Your System Specs - Windows 7 Help Forums

Include PSU. cooler, case, peripherals and anything attached to the computer by wired or wireless (mouse, keyboard, headset, printer, xbox, port replicator, docking station, USB wireless network card, etc.)
https://www.tenforums.com/profile.php?do=extra

4) Open disk management > widen each status and volume columns so that the characters in each row are in full view and no letters are cut off > use the snipping tool to make an image > post the image into the thread
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of | Windows 10 Tutorials
Take Screenshot in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

5) Run the BETA log collector and post a zip into this thread:
https://www.tenforums.com/attachment...-v2-beta10.zip
(extract > open)
Use the text and images in this thread in case there are any problems running the beta log collector: (post#5)
DM Log tool problem Solved - Windows 10 Forums

6) This thread was seen immediately after another thread with a similar HP computer. The OP had problems attempting to replace the drive. So make sure all files are backed up and that there is a backup image.
My O/S is toast. I need to copy files. Mounted HDD, but denied access - Windows 10 Forums

7) Make a backup image using Macrium:
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

8) Save the backup image to another drive or to the cloud

9) Make a brand new restore point

10) Download and install > Minitool partition wizard > post an image into the thread:
MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Use MiniTool Partition Wizard to peruse the contents of those partitions. Post what you find. I suspect you have multiple partitions. Old ones can be deleted.

Saltgrass said:

You may want to attach a Disk Management picture of Computer B. Depending on their size, they may be partitions which have been replaced and should not have a drive letter.

I had to remove the drive from the computer in order to adequately troubleshoot it and recover data files, but I'll include a screenshot from Disk Management below. Basically the partition sizes ranged from 260Mb to 1.7Gb. It just seemed strange that those two additional ones showed up with drive letters in Macrium Reflect, but in Windows Explorer they are not visible. Disk Management gave them "partition X" designations.

Steve C said:

Use MiniTool Partition Wizard to peruse the contents of those partitions. Post what you find. I suspect you have multiple partitions. Old ones can be deleted.

I'm thinking that because of the history (many hours/days spent installing/reinstalling Windows 10 upgrades), there may have inadvertently been partitions left behind from earlier versions, and Windows was negligent about cleaning them up. What I'd prefer to do is discard what isn't necessary. I'm expecting the ones with drive letters aren't needed, and just the first 3 would be required (WINRE, EFI System, and C:).

cereberus said:

The only two that are actually needed are the EFI and C drive partitions. the various recovery partitions can be deleted but if you uninstall the active one, you will not be able to use reset my pc. This is not a big deal as you can do it from a usb installation drive anyway.
You can use the reagentc command to work out which is active one.

REAgentC.exe Lets You Examine and Manage WinRE Partitions - Windows Enterprise Desktop

You can use reagentc to do that. I also double check using MiniTool Partition Wizard to peruse the file dates and contents of multiple recovery partitions to ensure I delete the oldest ones.

Windows 10 has four critical partitions. The EFI, Recovery, MSR and OS ones are required. You can't see the MSR partition with Disk Management but you can with a third party software or Diskpart.

It does appear you have two Recovery Tools partitions and only one is in use, as mentioned. The large 27 GB partition is larger than I am used to seeing but it will contain OEM type reset material for OEM supplied software or possibly an out of date Win 10 image, it if came originally with Win 10. It should not have a drive letter.

The 1.7 GB partition, I will assume it is used during some type of OEM boot diagnostics if your system has that capability.

A clean install is usually best for a healthy system. If you can move data to protect it, you might give that some thought. If that is impossible, make whatever backups you might need in case the modified system will not boot correctly.