Help with partitions after SSD upgrade


  1. Posts : 50
    Windows 10
       #1

    Help with partitions after SSD upgrade


    After a clean install of win10, I installed a new SSD on my desktop PC by using macrium reflect to clone the HDD onto the SDD. The computer now boots from the SSD properly, and I use the HDD as a data drive and the default location for libraries (documents, music, pics etc).

    After cloning the HDD, there are now some partitions with drive letters on the SSD that did not appear before, as well as a recovery partition (Dell original).
    Help with partitions after SSD upgrade-screenshot-2016-03-02-10.37.41.png

    For some reason the recovery partition shows a drive letter (F:) in windows explorer and I can access it. However in Disk Management there is no drive letter and I can't do anything with it. Since I can't go back to Windows 7 at this point I have no need of that recovery partition so I'd like to recover the disk space, but I don't know how since I can't do anything with it in Disk Management.

    Second, as you can see in the screenshot there are three other partitions on the primary SSD (disk 1): System (G:), Windows (C:), and an unnamed 450mb recovery partition. I believe all of those are necessary partitions, but what I don't understand is why the "System" partition is assigned a drive letter and accessible via windows explorer. In my other Win10 PC's those partitions don't show up in explorer, just in Disk Management.

    I'm afraid sometime down the road I'm going to bork my system by messing with the System (G:) drive in explorer.

    So...
    1. How do I use the Recovery partition space?
    2. How do I get rid of drive letter G: but retain all the necessary windows partitions?
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 18,421
    Windows 11 Pro
       #2

    Install MiniTool Partition Wizard Free.
    Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

    Delete the 11+GB Recovery Partition
    MOVE the 150 MB System partition to the front of the disk. Change drive letter for it to none.
    RESIZE the Windows partition to fill the empty space that will be created in front of it.
    Hit apply. MiniTool will tell you that it needs to restart in order to resize the Windows partition, let it restart and do it's thing.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 50
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks. I'll give it a try later as I can't restart my computer for the time being.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 50
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Worked like a charm, thanks so much.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 18,421
    Windows 11 Pro
       #5

    joelshort said:
    Worked like a charm, thanks so much.
    Glad to hear it!
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 414
    Windows 10 Pro
       #6

    joelshort said:
    For some reason the recovery partition shows a drive letter (F:) in windows explorer and I can access it. However in Disk Management there is no drive letter and I can't do anything with it.
    It is a widely-encountered issue with drives, obtained by cloning. This specific symptom - no drive letter in Disk Manager, yet a drive letter in File Explorer - is a signature trait of this problem.

    Unfortunately, drives with this issue usually fail to accept major Windows updates (like 1511 and such).

    joelshort said:
    Second, as you can see in the screenshot there are three other partitions on the primary SSD (disk 1): System (G:), Windows (C:), and an unnamed 450mb recovery partition. I believe all of those are necessary partitions, but what I don't understand is why the "System" partition is assigned a drive letter and accessible via windows explorer. In my other Win10 PC's those partitions don't show up in explorer, just in Disk Management.
    Apparently, this is also an artifact of cloning.

    But what is that "System" partition anyway? Windows installer does not assign names to hidden partitions. Is that "System" partition something that existed on your drive before cloning?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 50
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #7

    AndreyT said:
    But what is that "System" partition anyway? Windows installer does not assign names to hidden partitions. Is that "System" partition something that existed on your drive before cloning?
    I have no idea. I do think it was there before the cloning, but I have since wiped the original drive so I don't know for sure.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 18,421
    Windows 11 Pro
       #8

    The 150MB "System" or "System Reserved" partition is created by Windows and contains the boot files. If this partition is deleted, the computer will not boot until the boot files are recreated on another partition. On UEFI systems, this partition will be labelled "EFI" and will be FAT32 instead of NTFS. If you want to see what is on this partition, right click on it in MiniTool Partition Wizard and select Explore.

    The 450MB recovery partition is also created by Windows. It contains the Windows Recovery Environment (WindowsRE) which is activated, among other ways, by holding down shift while clicking Restart from the power icon. This partition only contains the Recovery and Troubleshooting menus - it does not contain the image files needed to actually restore Windows. Windows 10 uses files contained in the WinSxS to reset Windows. This recovery partition can also be explored inside MiniTool Partition Wizard. This recovery partition can be deleted as well - but then there would be no built-in recovery and troubleshooting menu available and the computer would have to be booted from a Windows 10 install media to access those menus.

    The big recovery partition deleted by the OP contained the image files needed to restore the factory software. Windows 7 and Windows 8 contained image files in the recovery partition instead of WinSxS.
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 00:37.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums