question to an expert

3Bit · 23 Jul 2023

I have a question to an expert.

The attached image shows the partitioning of my drive C.
Drive C is a 500 GB NVMe that holds the OS and all apps.

The 1st segment shows 128 MB no drive/unlabeled free space.
The 2nd, obvious the 450 MB [hidden] no drive system restore partition.
the 3rd the the 100 MB (only FAT32) EFI boot partition.
The 4th, 418 GB obviously that's where the OS is and all the program files.
The last, the 6th 538 MB obviously the system recovery partition.

What is the 5th? with a capacity of 46½ GB unused, can I merge this together with the C:APPS partition?
Could it be the SSD "over-provisioning" partition? (I have yet to find an app that shows me that as no SSD app shows what it is.)
Or is it some other sneaky thing that will create havoc if I do that?
Anyone knowledgeable expert enough and know?
I thank you in advance.

Ghot · 23 Jul 2023

@3Bit

This is what a clean install of Windows looks like...

question to an expert-00000-default-windows-partitions.png

The ones needed to boot are the Windows partition (usually C:\), and the EFI partition.

The Recovery partition holds the Recovery tools that can be accessed at boot.
You should be able to merge the 128MB and the 46GB with the C:\ partition if desired.

You can open a command prompt as admin and type these commands, one at a time...

Diskpart

List volume

Try3 · 23 Jul 2023

When did this appear?
Did you run the Clean install in accordance with Clean Install - TenForumsTutorials?

Denis

dalchina · 24 Jul 2023

If you wish to examine the content of any partition you can't readily view from Windows so you can see what's there you can with a 3rd party partition manager. Useful for partitions with no drive letters.

E.g.

The one you label '5' appears to be empty and redundant, so would seem you could delete that and extend your Windows partition- if that's what that is- into the unallocated space created.

The one you label '2' is most likely a left-over Recover partition- but it has a strange name. So tread carefully. Check.

Ghot's screenshot shows a typical 16Mb partition- yours appears to be a UEFI installation.
Note that Disk Management, by design, does not show that 16Mb partition. A 3rd party partition mnager will.

cereberus · 24 Jul 2023

dalchina said:

If you wish to examine the content of any partition you can't readily view from Windows so you can see what's there you can with a 3rd party partition manager. Useful for partitions with no drive letters.

E.g.

The one you label '5' appears to be empty and redundant, so would seem you could delete that and extend your Windows partition- if that's what that is- into the unallocated space created.

The one you label '2' is most likely a left-over Recover partition- but it has a strange name. So tread carefully. Check.

Ghot's screenshot shows a typical 16Mb partition- yours appears to be a UEFI installation.
Note that Disk Management, by design, does not show that 16Mb partition. A 3rd party partition mnager will.

The first partition is probably the MSR partition. It used to be 128 MB before it was reduced to 16 MB in Windows 10. This looks like a pc that was upgraded to W10, hence order of partitions. It looks like OP was using a 3rd party tool as that is not a windows disk management view.

I am pretty sure partition 2 is a hangover from original upgrade (original recovery partition was 450 MB and it was named differently) and can be deleted.

Partition 3 (100 MB) is almost certainly the EFI partition. Care is needed - if this is deleted pc will not boot.

Partition 4 is main OS. It can be expanded to fill unallocated space in partition 5.

Partition 6 is the latest recovery partition.

So it is pretty easy to tidy up with a 3rd party partition manager like minitool partition wizard free.

1) delete 450 mb partition 2
2) move 100 mb partition 3 to left as far as it can be moved
3) expand partition 4 to right to fill partition 5
4) optional - expand partition 4 to left to fill up unallocated space caused by step 2.

SIW2 · 24 Jul 2023

It looks like OP was using a 3rd party

Looks like it might be easeus.

Malneb · 24 Jul 2023

Merge 4 and 5 as others have mentioned seeing as 5 looks like it is an empty partition with no purpose probably some discrepancy when you installed the OS.

Megahertz · 24 Jul 2023

Since it was released, Win 10 changed the partitions order. Now, after a clean install the partitions order are like on post #2.
Also, like already mentioned, if you upgraded from Win 7 they can also be different in size.
Another reason is how the drive was initialized (Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT)

Please post a whole window Disk Manager image of ALL your drives. Don't forget to expand the columns so we can read them. How to Post a Screenshot of Disk Management
If you have a MiniTool or AOMEI Partition use it instead or Windows disk manager.

3Bit · 24 Jul 2023

SOLVED

The mystery partition is the 10% "over provisioning" recommended on SSD's and I had all forgotten about it!

question to an expert-over-provisioning-nvme.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

...So it is pretty easy to tidy up with a 3rd party partition manager like minitool partition wizard free....

@dalchina
You may have noticed that in the meantime I solve that issue.
It is the "over provisioning" partition.

I guess I will have to get that mini tool partition wizard. Odd is, I'm using AOMEI partition Assistant technician edition 9.15 which offers a gazillion features but apparently not that one nifty little feature you pointed out in minitool partition wizard!

SIW2 · 24 Jul 2023

Diskgenius is preferable for those kind of features. The free version has lots of features and allows creating boot media.

I am not sure why your partition manager declared free space. Does samsung create a partition for OP?

The micron OP area is unallocated in this screenshot of aomei part assist

maybe samsung does it differently from micron.