3 installations with different hidden partitions layout


  1. Posts : 1,308
    Windows 10
       #1

    3 installations with different hidden partitions layout


    so i have 3 laptops running windows 10 pro each were setup using a different build on purchase , they were later upgraded up till all reached windows build 1903 , i just noticed that each have a different partition layout though .

    one has no hidden partitions what so ever .
    another has one hidden partition called recovery .
    a third has three hidden partitions one called recovery , another called efi and a third called system that comes right after C: drive .

    so i wonder if microsoft started adopting different recovery / boot techniques through out windows 10 life , and what am i risking being on each of these layouts and weather there are tools to upgrade the elder ones to most optimum partition layout.

    thanks in advance .
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  2. Posts : 8,057
    windows 10
       #2

    They are different as one is booting uefi the other are not recovery ones can be MS or a recovery from the makers to go back to the pc as it left the factory
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  3. Posts : 31,471
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #3

    nIGHTmAYOR said:
    one has no hidden partitions what so ever .
    another has one hidden partition called recovery .
    a third has three hidden partitions one called recovery , another called efi and a third called system that comes right after C: drive .
    The first two are typical for a legacy bios machine with an MBR disk. The recovery utilities are what you boot to in Advanced Startup. Usually these are kept in a hidden Recovery partition, but it is also possible (but less common) for them to be in a hidden Recovery folder on your C: drive.

    The third is a typical UEFI machine with a GPT hard drive.
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  4. Posts : 1,308
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Bree said:
    The first two are typical for a legacy bios machine with an MBR disk. The recovery utilities are what you boot to in Advanced Startup. Usually these are kept in a hidden Recovery partition, but it is also possible (but less common) for them to be in a hidden Recovery folder on your C: drive.

    The third is a typical UEFI machine with a GPT hard drive.
    so i shouldn't be worried or should i change anything on the one that has no recovery partition ?
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  5. Posts : 31,471
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #5

    nIGHTmAYOR said:
    so i shouldn't be worried or should i change anything on the one that has no recovery partition ?
    No need to worry. My system two below has no separate recovery partition but it still boots to Advanced Startup just fine. Your one without a Recovery partition most likely has all the recovery environment (WinRE) boot files in a hidden C:\Recovery folder instead.

    You can confirm this in a Command Prompt (Admin) with the command reagentc /info
    3 installations with different hidden partitions layout-image.png

    The Status says if the recovery environment is enabled (it usually is). The Location will tell you which partition it is in. Compare that with Disk Management, I expect you to find it is the same partition as your C: drive. If so, that will be fully functional and nothing to worry about.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 1,308
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Bree said:
    No need to worry. My system two below has no separate recovery partition but it still boots to Advanced Startup just fine. Your one without a Recovery partition most likely has all the recovery environment (WinRE) boot files in a hidden C:\Recovery folder instead.

    You can confirm this in a Command Prompt (Admin) with the command reagentc /info
    3 installations with different hidden partitions layout-image.png

    The Status says if the recovery environment is enabled (it usually is). The Location will tell you which partition it is in. Compare that with Disk Management, I expect you to find it is the same partition as your C: drive. If so, that will be fully functional and nothing to worry about.
    so yea i noticed that both of first laptops have their hard drives set as MBR and the late is set as GPT now i wonder if i have performance loss with the MBR laptops , also i know switching from MBR to GPT and vice versa takes only seconds but then if i do would that break recovery options ?
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  7. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #7

    nIGHTmAYOR said:
    so yea i noticed that both of first laptops have their hard drives set as MBR and the late is set as GPT now i wonder if i have performance loss with the MBR laptops , also i know switching from MBR to GPT and vice versa takes only seconds but then if i do would that break recovery options ?
    There's no performance difference between MBR and GPT. But I'm wondering....and I'm sure most other members here would be too, how you switch from MBR to GPT and vice versa in only seconds? And it would not only likely break your recovery options, it would also break you computer even booting into Windows until you converted your NTFS System Reserved partition on MBR to a FAT32 EFI System partition. I believe you might be misinformed about the complexity of converting a system drive from MBR to GPT.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,308
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #8

    NavyLCDR said:
    There's no performance difference between MBR and GPT. But I'm wondering....and I'm sure most other members here would be too, how you switch from MBR to GPT and vice versa in only seconds? And it would not only likely break your recovery options, it would also break you computer even booting into Windows until you converted your NTFS System Reserved partition on MBR to a FAT32 EFI System partition. I believe you might be misinformed about the complexity of converting a system drive from MBR to GPT.
    did you ever try minitool partition wizard ? its just a right click option and weather a drive is full or empty it just takes seconds , and i do it all the time to external hdd to be smart tv compatible since those persist to access only MBR drives alas maximum supported drive for conversion is 3.5 TB which is the ceiling of MBR system .

    but then the funny thing is MBR drives do not get an EFI partition at first place which was mentioned earlier by Bree , which now explains why MS omits them on MBR drives even if the laptop has UEFI bios , so the drive does not break on conversion !
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #9

    Well, I guess it is good to know that the paid version of MiniTool Partition Wizard makes it so easy.
      My Computer


 

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