Missing Recovery partions - is that a problem?

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  1. Posts : 720
    Win10 x64 Pro - 2 desktops, 2 laptops
       #1

    Missing Recovery partions - is that a problem?


    In preparation for converting my boot drive from MBR to GPT I ran Disk Management and noticed I have no Recovery partition. This has caused no problem or I would have noticed it before, but is it going to be problematic in the future? MBR2GPT /validate reported no problem so I assume the conversion will work but I would rather fix things that need fixing before doing the conversion.

    BTW, my test PC had two recovery partitions (which did cause MBR2GPT to choke) so this all averages out, I guess.
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  2. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #2

    It should not be a problem. Why do you want to convert to GPT?
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  3. Posts : 720
    Win10 x64 Pro - 2 desktops, 2 laptops
    Thread Starter
       #3

    NavyLCDR said:
    Why do you want to convert to GPT?
    Actually, I have no need for GPT but I want to boot EUFI rather CSM mode. I would like to be able to try Secure Boot, and my recovery tool - Acronis True Image - has some recovery features that either require, or are easier to use, with UEFI boot. (And yes, I know that Macrium Reflect is much beloved on this forum, but I want a backup tool that supports both SMB and FTP access to NAS storage.)
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  4. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #4

    GPT is not required to boot in UEFI.
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  5. Posts : 720
    Win10 x64 Pro - 2 desktops, 2 laptops
    Thread Starter
       #5

    I understand very little about either MBR vs GPT or traditional BIOS vs UEFI. On my test PC prior to running MBT2GPT, if I did not have CSM support enabled the boot process could not find a bootable drive, and after enabling CSM support I would boot into "Legacy" mode. After running MBR2GPT I would boot into EUFI mode. (I have not tried disabling CSM support, but I assume it will boot fine when I do.)

    Regardless of MBR or GPT, running MBR2GPT seemed to build whatever is needed to perform a native EUFI boot and was a trivial process (once I deleted an unneeded extra Recovery partition). There may be another way of achieving the same goal without converting to GPT but I see no reason not to use MBR2GPT.
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  6. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #6

    You could make own, custom Recovery Partition: Factory recovery - Create a Custom Recovery Partition | Tutorials
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  8. Posts : 720
    Win10 x64 Pro - 2 desktops, 2 laptops
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Well, this is going to be a bigger job than I imagined. MBR2GPT failed because it could not shrink the OS partition. Disk Management shows an available shrink size of 0. (I bet that's why I don't have a Recovery partition - no room for it.)
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  9. Posts : 42,735
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #9

    Try using a free 3rd party partition manager e.g. Minitool partition wizard, Aomei....

    Disk Management can't do everything.
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  10. Posts : 720
    Win10 x64 Pro - 2 desktops, 2 laptops
    Thread Starter
       #10

    dalchina said:
    Try using a free 3rd party partition manager e.g. Minitool partition wizard, Aomei....
    .
    I'll look into them. But even if I get the partition shrunk, I'm worried about why Disk Management could not do it. Will I be able to recover into the smaller partition or is there something Windows has put at the end of the partition that is unmovable without a reinstall of Windows?
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