Converted to SSD lost recovery data?

rickhow · 24 Sep 2020

Hi. On laptop I cloned HDD to SSD. Installed SSD. Connected HDD as USB. Formatted Primary Partition on HDD. But something seems not right. Windows 10 Home, version 2004, build 19041.508.
--on new SSD (Drive C:), it show 1GB Recovery partition, 100MB EFI partition, Then NTFS Primary. But the recovery partition has no drive letter, and if I right click on it, it only displays Help window. And is listed as 100% Free. Did I lose recovery data? Should it have drive letter?
--on the old HDD , external USB, (Drive E:), it shows 1GB Recovery, 100MB EFI, Then exFAT Primary, then another 830MB Recovery, then yet another 9.34 Recovery. It indicates that the EFI is 100% free.

So, have I lost recovery data on new SSD? Should it have a drive letter for recovery partition? Why does old drive have 3 recovery partiions, and 100% free EFI partition.

dalchina · 24 Sep 2020

Hi, welcome to tenforums. It always helps with such questions to post a screenshot of the partitions of the disks in question using a 3rd party partition manager thus:

Converted to SSD lost recovery data?-screenshot-.png

making sure all text in all columns is visible.

You say you cloned the HDD.. cloning is technically an exact copy of something. Clearly you did not clone the disk, only some of the partitions. And cloning is used loosely in this scenario including partition resizing.

Typically a UEFI installation, which seems to be what you have, comprises 4 partitions in use for the O/S.
The Win 10 Recovery partition does not have a drive letter.

There may be more then one of these (typically under 1Gb) depending on the history of the O/S on that disk- only 1 will be in use.

Larger recovery partitions- perhaps 10Gb and usually larger- are typically for factory reset (to 'as bought').

On laptop I cloned HDD to SSD

How did you do that? And what are their sizes, and what is the size of the space occupied on the HDD by the partitions you intended to transfer?

Samuria · 24 Sep 2020

Often disk manager give wrong info on this try a 3rd party app they often show it corect ie mintool wizard

zbook · 24 Sep 2020

1) Run:

DiskParInfo.bat -

2) Open disk management > by default some columns are compressed > widen each Status and Volume > make sure the contents within the parenthesis are in full view and that none of the characters are cutoff > view disk 0 > widen this row as needed so that all of the characters are in full view > post an image into the thread

Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of

3) Download and install Minitool Partition Wizard > click launch > post an image of the results into this thread

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com

MiniTool Portable Partition Magic Brings Easier Disk Management

fireberd · 24 Sep 2020

A comment on "recovery" being on the same physical drive as the OS. If the physical drive fails all is lost including any "recovery" data. Only backup data to some other physical device, then if (or when) the drive fails you still have all your data.

FWIW, I make full disc images (all partitions) using Macrium Reflect to USB connected drives. I have two USB drives and alternate the disc images between the two drives.

rickhow · 24 Sep 2020

Thanks to all for replying. I was asked send a capture of my screen. So I do so.
I was asked how did I "clone". The new SSD Drive is a Samsung 860 EVO 500GB. It came with directions to install using the Samsung Mirgration tool. I did so.
I was also asked about sizes. The "old" HDD is a 1TB Toshiba Hard drive (that I now want to use as external hard drive for i I storage purposes only, such as images, documents, etc. The new SSD is a 500GB hard drive.
I was asked to expand all the fields on the disk management screen so I did so.
I hope this added information can help you now to let me know about my original questions in my original post.
Thanks so much

Converted to SSD lost recovery data?-diskmgr-capture.jpg

dalchina · 24 Sep 2020

So, have I lost recovery data on new SSD? See below
Should it have a drive letter for recovery partition? I have already answered that.
Why does old drive have 3 recovery partions? I have already answered that in part.
Note that Windows when upgraded repeatedly from older versions could create a new recovery partition after C: and leave the old one before C:

Hi, thank you for the disk managment screenshot.

It always helps with such questions to post a screenshot of the partitions of the disks in question using a 3rd party partition manager thus:

- such as Minitool partition wizard, Aomei partition assitant, Easeus does a free one too...

Why?
a. They show more info
b. Disk Management, by design, does not show 1 small partition, part of a UEFI set.

To check whether you currently have a valid Recovery partition, you have two options:

a. Run this command and see if it reports it is enabled.

Converted to SSD lost recovery data?-1.png

b. Boot to advanced startup options- if they are present, all is well.
E.g. SHIFT + left click Restart, and follow the prompts. See
Boot to Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10

I don't know what your exfat partition was.

rickhow · 24 Sep 2020

As requested I ran reagentc /info and it came back recovery is disabled. I then typed reagentc /enable, and it respond it was successful. I tried reagentc /info again and it said enabled.

dalchina · 25 Sep 2020

Thank you for your reply. That sounds like useful progress.

Your final check is of course to actually boot to Advanced Startup options as said before.

rickhow · 25 Sep 2020

Dalchina, thank you so much for all your help, fast responses. So helpful.

Converted to SSD lost recovery data?

Converted to SSD lost recovery data?

sending capture of my screen

recover is disabled

thank you