Why Two Recovery Partitions??

bro67 said:

Noneed to argue about the why or how. It is not taking extra drive space, sowhy are you worrying so much about it.

This is very rude of you Bro. I'm 66 years old so my mind may not be as sharp as it used to be. Just trying to learn something here.

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Yep there you have it
The one on the end can be deleted.

Ok,..thank you,...

Josey Wales said:

Do you have a Image Backup program such as Macrium Reflect? it is free.

Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

Back up your system then remove the 450 MB that is in front. You can always restore with MR. Best to back it up to an external drive. That is if you want to remove it. This is the safest way.

Yes,..I do have a system image backup and my original retail W10 installation USB plus two bootable ISO's on Flash USB for both Anniversary 1607 and Creators Update 1703.

Runnerbean said:

Ok,..thank you,...

You might break your advanced recovery menu if you do. You need to run the diskpart commands listed in post #9 to see exactly which partition is partition #4. I believe it will probably be the Windows partition itself, in which case you can delete both the recovery partitions.

However, if for some reason you don't have the hidden MSR partition, then partition #4 will be the last recovery partition and if you delete it you will break your advanced recovery menu. Which is no big deal really. I do custom installs of Windows 10 and don't have recovery partitions myself.

NavyLCDR said:

You might break your advanced recovery menu if you do. You need to run the diskpart commands listed in post #9 to see exactly which partition is partition #4. I believe it will probably be the Windows partition itself, in which case you can delete both the recovery partitions.

Yes,..you are correct,..I've followed your instructions and noted that partition #4 is indeed my actual Primary Partition with the Windows install on it.

I know you mention above that I can delete both of those recovery partitions but is there any reason to leave at least one or not really? I haven't gone any further yet in the Command prompt. Just looked re the partition number.

Runnerbean said:

Yes,..you are correct,..I've followed your instructions and noted that partition #4 is indeed my actual Primary Partition with the Windows install on it.

I know you mention above that I can delete both of those recovery partitions but is there any reason to leave at least one or not really? I haven't gone any further yet in the Command prompt. Just looked re the partition number.

Neither recovery partition is being used for anything at the moment. However, it is not easy to recover the space taken up by the first recovery partition because the MSR partition is in the way. If you delete the last recovery partition, that space can easily be added to the OS partition.

Lokking at Disk Management agin I see this at the top of the page.

Disk 0

Partition 1 - hi-lights the first (450Mb Recovery Partition).

Partition 2 - hi-lights the 99Mb (EFI System Partition).

Partition 5 - hi-lights the other (450Mb Recovery Partition).

Does this still indicate that Partition #4 Not shown in this list is still the 'Active" one and I can still safely delete one or both of those 450Mb Recovery Partitions?

Thanks.

NavyLCDR said:

Neither recovery partition is being used for anything at the moment. However, it is not easy to recover the space taken up by the first recovery partition because the MSR partition is in the way. If you delete the last recovery partition, that space can easily be added to the OS partition.

Ok understand,..sorry for the overlap in posts,..replies are coming in just as I post. Fantastic help from everyone!