anyone able to clarify what these 5 partitions are?  

Morning folks.
Yea ive been making backups for years now. We'll theyve been automated by a macrium schedule anyhow.

At some point along the way - it appears that new partition showed up, and wasnt being added to the images. I know i also upgraded to a new larger ssd so something may have happened in that image restore/expansion process that omitted it. I'm not sure. I never noticed as I never needed to restore and when I did, it was always just straight from the image, no mucking with the partitions. So as i mentioned above, that portion of the disk was never written to, so the working restore while never imaged, was also never messed with thus left intact.

Here is what all the images I have look like (they only go back a few months)


I ended up not copying over the first partition, and like a food expanded my windows partition then did the restore. Normally i wouldnt have been able to as that grey 520mb partition (the new restore partition) wouldnt have been grey and should have been present and able to be checked/unchecked etc.

thats what screwed me up. ive never seen that before.

Anyhow @dalchina, are we certain that when the next major update in the spring gets pushed that microsoft will chop down my windows partition and add a new recovery partition to the end on its own if one is not present?

I can live without it till then, and it would certainly calm my nerves and let me move on for now. Im a little apprehensive about that being the case due to how many posts i see online about people wanting to "remove their recovery partition"

I have to assume, many do - and i didnt see anyone saying "dont bother, next update windows will just put it back"

klepp0906 said:

Morning folks.
Yea ive been making backups for years now. We'll theyve been automated by a macrium schedule anyhow.

At some point along the way - it appears that new partition showed up, and wasnt being added to the images. I know i also upgraded to a new larger ssd so something may have happened in that image restore/expansion process that omitted it. I'm not sure. I never noticed as I never needed to restore and when I did, it was always just straight from the image, no mucking with the partitions. So as i mentioned above, that portion of the disk was never written to, so the working restore while never imaged, was also never messed with thus left intact.

Here is what all the images I have look like (they only go back a few months)


I ended up not copying over the first partition, and like a food expanded my windows partition then did the restore. Normally i wouldnt have been able to as that grey 520mb partition (the new restore partition) wouldnt have been grey and should have been present and able to be checked/unchecked etc.

thats what screwed me up. ive never seen that before.

Anyhow @dalchina, are we certain that when the next major update in the spring gets pushed that microsoft will chop down my windows partition and add a new recovery partition to the end on its own if one is not present?

I can live without it till then, and it would certainly calm my nerves and let me move on for now. Im a little apprehensive about that being the case due to how many posts i see online about people wanting to "remove their recovery partition"

I have to assume, many do - and i didnt see anyone saying "dont bother, next update windows will just put it back"

Hi there

@klepp0906

since these are only tiny (mb partitions) I doubt whether this is really of any serious concern to most people these days - loads just run windows from 256/512/1GB SSD's so what's a few MB. Just image the disk with Macrium Free or similar and switch to "next problem". Don't spin your wheels on this one --unnecessary use of "Brain Power" !!!!!

The small 16MB partition is the Ms partition which is generally created when using UEFI boot and gpt disks for installing windows --usually labelled msr or similar in some partition managers.

As for the rest -- just leave them. -Partition 2 is probably where Windows boot manager lives , 1 is a recovery - it doesn't cause any hassle and can be useful if you need to boot Windows in command mode when stuff goes wrong and the big partition is the Windows "C" partition.


Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

@klepp0906

since these are only tiny (mb partitions) I doubt whether this is really of any serious concern to most people these days - loads just run windows from 256/512/1GB SSD's so what's a few MB. Just image the disk with Macrium Free or similar and switch to "next problem". Don't spin your wheels on this one --unnecessary use of "Brain Power" !!!!!

The small 16MB partition is the Ms partition which is generally created when using UEFI boot and gpt disks for installing windows --usually labelled msr or similar in some partition managers.

As for the rest -- just leave them. -Partition 2 is probably where Windows boot manager lives , 1 is a recovery - it doesn't cause any hassle and can be useful if you need to boot Windows in command mode when stuff goes wrong and the big partition is the Windows "C" partition.


Cheers
jimbo

lol no no. I realize not to touch the 100mb or 16mb reserved/efi partitions.

As for the recovery environment, even I am enough of a "power-user" that i doubt id never need to use it for any reason. That being said, im also incredibly anal and ocd about upkeep on my pc and parity amongst my pc's etc. Ive invested thousands, spent countless hours enjoying and maintaining, and currently have 170tb of data i curate.

Needless to say keeping everything as it should be is fundamental and this feels like a huge lapse.

I did end up deleting partition 1 and then extending my then (partition 4 c/windows) to cover the 520mb partition 5 which was never part of an image. The minute I did that, it was lost.

If i restore my last image, i'd get partitions 1-4 back, with 520mb of empty space on the end now, as it was never part of any image due to some lapse somewhere along the line.

I'm fine with it, and am in the process of creating a "just in case" usb rescue environment stick. But id still like to have a proper functioning/as-it-should-be windows recovery partition/environment back.

if microsoft will in fact replace this during one of its feature updates, the silver lining could be that it will now be on the end, so going forward i wont have to worry about microsoft making multiple, or having one in no man's land prior to the protected partitions.

strongly hoping thats the case.

thank you for the replies gentlemen.

so in short, learned the hard way again. but silver lining will be of course, that partition being at the end.

You'd think microsoft would make that change for fresh installs so people dont run into this issue. ive heard of people with half a dozen recovery partitions over time. Short sighted of them.

For now ill plug on like nothings changed and come next feature update, will call everything good.

The only downfall (inconvenience) we'll call it with the recovery partition being at the end is should i ever upgrade ssd's again (and i actually think next year ill get a 2tb to replace the 1tb) then using macriums copy partition/partition properties to extend it, will likely run into a hiccup with the recovery partition being at the end, I dont think it lets you shift/slide them around. It purely aligns them to the left, So i think growing C to accomodate the new disk will require a 3rd party tool at that point. (maybe?)

- - - Updated - - -

Kyhi said:

Partition 1 was the OEM Recovery (WinRE) Partition....
It was Safe to delete - do to the Fact your PC was upgraded to a Newer Version of Windows 10
Which shrunk Partition 4 to Create a New Recovery Partition (containing upgraded WinRE) 5

I would assume you deleted Partition 1 and Moved 2 3 4 - to the left
Then expanded Partition 4 to fill the space left between 4 & 5
After applying the changes you should have
EFI - Partition 1
MSR - Partition 2
OS - Partition 3
WinRE - Partition 4

You should have also Re-registered the WinRE Image with "Reagentc" from partition 5 to Partition 4
By Default MS Puts the WinRE Partition First - But Windows Updates put it Last.....
So the BEST location for WinRE is the Last Partition

The Next Windows Update will Create another Recovery Partition (5) at the end of the current disk
MS Upgrades the OS - with Windows.old & and New Recovery Partition - in case of OS Rollback.....

Keeping WinRE as the Last Partition allows you to remove unwanted/unused Recovery Partitions without effecting other Required partitions.....

You should also use "reagentc /disable" to place the New WinRE Image back into the Windows/System32/Recovery Folder > Before Deleting Recovery Partition(s)

there was never any partition 5 in the backup images. It was left untouched on my disk, macrium viewed it as unallocated space so it was never written to and that partition was never disturbed during subsequent restores.

So when i removed partition one and placed 2>3>4, then extended 4 over that (unallocated) aka partition 5 space. It took out the recovery partition.

I did try some voodoo with reagentc and extracting a wim etc last night. I got it in there and said it was enabled, but there was no path to a recovery image listed when i did reagentc /info

the guide i went through indicated that meant i had to place a full wim instead of just the winre portion on my disk.

I didnt want to allocate 4gb just for that when microsoft does it with 500mb :P

I dont know if that path should be there by default or if i did in fact do it properly.

The other caveat is then the recovery is on my system partition as opposed to its own which id prefer not be the case. I have no idea how microsoft structures their recovery partition and so i didnt want to "make" one as i believe it would not only have a letter by default, it would also just create more mess when microsoft feature updates and fixes my hot mess :P

Kyhi said:

The question is what partition (Folder location) is the WinRE.wim
You do not need the full Install.wim to be copied to recovery partition....
I am going to assume that the WinRE.wim is now in its Default Location on > Disk 0 - Partition 1

Code:

Reagentc /setreimage /path \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition1\Recovery\WindowsRE\ /Target C:\Windows

trying to follow... ;p

if i deleted the recovery partition(s) then winre.wim is simply gone right? Its nowhere. Unless your operating under the premise that I had extracted and shoehorned one back in, which I did do last night. I placed it in windows\system32\recovery\windowsRE i think was what was suggested.

that being said, trying to have things "as they were" so with confirmation that windows will put it back in due time, i restored my old image one final time with just the 100mb/16mb/windows partitions. I didnt want an extra one floating about where it shouldnt be and with no way i know of to recreate the actual recovery partition, i figured better leave well enough alone.

at least i know what to watch for now/in the future when it comes to restores and recovery partitions and such.

This endeavor has spurned me to make proper recovery usbs for everything. Ive always had just macrium and memtest on another as i only have so many usb sticks and was unaware of the ability (with software) to add multiple bootable environments to the same USB.

I had 3 64gb sticks used up with a windows/linux/osx installer each. if i can cram everything on 1 or 2, huge win.

In my brief reading it seems some caveats exist though, like not supporting uefi, or not supporting 32bit uefi, or requiring secure boot off etc.

i have secure boot on, csm off, everything is gpt, so i imagine one of those multi boot installers may not be feasible without turning things on its head.

course im veering off course a bit, thats another topic for another post i imagine.

Open administrative command prompt and copy and paste: (all at one time)

Code:

reagentc /info
bcdedit /enum all
diskpart
lis dis
lis vol
sel dis 0
det dis
lis par
sel par 1
det par
sel par 2
det par
sel par 3
det par
sel par 4
det par
sel par 5
det par
sel par 6
det par
sel dis 1
det dis
lis par

When these have completed > right click on the top bar or title bar of the administrative command prompt box > left click on edit then select all > right click on the top bar again > left click on edit then copy > paste into the thread

C:\Users\klepp\Desktop>reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:


Windows RE status: Disabled
Windows RE location:
Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 2c3ff6bc-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185
Recovery image location:
Recovery image index: 0
Custom image location:
Custom image index: 0


REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.




C:\Users\klepp\Desktop>bcdedit /enum all


Firmware Boot Manager
---------------------
identifier {fwbootmgr}
displayorder {bootmgr}
{58e9184c-5725-11ea-bdcd-806e6f6e6963}
timeout 1


Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume13
path \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {2c3ff6ba-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
displayorder {current}
{3966804d-5726-11ea-bdcd-646e6960ca16}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 0


Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier {58e9184c-5725-11ea-bdcd-806e6f6e6963}
device partition=U:
description UEFI: SanDisk, Partition 1


Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {0cb3b571-2f2e-4343-a879-d86a476d7215}
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\SecConfig.efi
description DebugTool
loadoptions DISABLE-LSA-ISO,DISABLE-VBS
nx OptIn


Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 10
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {2c3ff6bc-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
displaymessageoverride Recovery
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \WINDOWS
resumeobject {2c3ff6ba-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard


Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {2c3ff6bc-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
device ramdisk=[unknown]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{2c3ff6bd-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
path \windows\system32\winload.efi
description Windows Recovery Environment
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
displaymessage Recovery
osdevice ramdisk=[unknown]\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim,{2c3ff6bd-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
systemroot \windows
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
winpe Yes


Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {3966804d-5726-11ea-bdcd-646e6960ca16}
device ramdisk=[C:]\boot\macrium\WA10KFiles\media\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.efi
description Macrium Reflect System Recovery
osdevice ramdisk=[C:]\boot\macrium\WA10KFiles\media\sources\boot.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
systemroot \Windows
nx OptIn
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes


Windows Setup
-------------
identifier {7254a080-1510-4e85-ac0f-e7fb3d444736}
device ramdisk=[C:]\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\winre.wim,{dfebc37b-5ac8-11e9-ba78-2cfda1e1fe1c}
bootstatdevice partition=C:
custom:11000083 partition=C:
path \windows\system32\winload.efi
description Windows Rollback
locale en-US
bootstatfilepath \$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\bootstat.dat
inherit {bootloadersettings}
restartonfailure Yes
osdevice ramdisk=[C:]\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\winre.wim,{dfebc37b-5ac8-11e9-ba78-2cfda1e1fe1c}
custom:21000152 partition=C:
systemroot \windows
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
winpe Yes


Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {2c3ff6ba-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winresume.efi
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-US
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
recoverysequence {2c3ff6bc-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
filedevice partition=C:
filepath \hiberfil.sys
bootmenupolicy Standard
debugoptionenabled No


Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {e6834687-c6fb-11e8-b82e-2cfda1e1fe1c}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winresume.efi
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-US
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
filedevice partition=C:
filepath \hiberfil.sys
bootmenupolicy Standard
debugoptionenabled No


Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {f6ca29a5-8708-11e8-b4a1-2cfda1e1fe1c}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winresume.efi
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-us
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
filedevice partition=C:
filepath \hiberfil.sys
bootmenupolicy Standard
debugoptionenabled No


Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier {memdiag}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume13
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\memtest.efi
description Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess Yes


EMS Settings
------------
identifier {emssettings}
bootems No


Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier {dbgsettings}
debugtype Local


RAM Defects
-----------
identifier {badmemory}


Global Settings
---------------
identifier {globalsettings}
inherit {dbgsettings}
{emssettings}
{badmemory}


Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier {bootloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}
{hypervisorsettings}


Hypervisor Settings
-------------------
identifier {hypervisorsettings}
hypervisordebugtype Serial
hypervisordebugport 1
hypervisorbaudrate 115200


Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier {resumeloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}


Device options
--------------
identifier {2c3ff6bd-5aec-11e9-b9e2-baab820f4185}
description Windows Recovery
ramdisksdidevice unknown
ramdisksdipath \Recovery\WindowsRE\boot.sdi


Setup Ramdisk Options
---------------------
identifier {ramdiskoptions}
description Macrium Reflect System Recovery
ramdisksdidevice partition=C:
ramdisksdipath \boot\Macrium\boot.sdi


Device options
--------------
identifier {dfebc37b-5ac8-11e9-ba78-2cfda1e1fe1c}
description Windows Setup
ramdisksdidevice partition=C:
ramdisksdipath \$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\boot.sdi


Device options
--------------
identifier {e6834689-c6fb-11e8-b82e-2cfda1e1fe1c}
description Windows Setup
ramdisksdidevice partition=C:
ramdisksdipath \$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\SafeOS\boot.sdi


C:\Users\klepp\Desktop>diskpart


Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.18362.1


Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: DESKTOP-KEVIN


DISKPART> lis dis


Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 931 GB 0 B *
Disk 1 Online 3726 GB 0 B *
Disk 2 Online 7452 GB 0 B *
Disk 3 Online 7452 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 4 Online 3726 GB 0 B *
Disk 5 Online 3726 GB 0 B *
Disk 6 Online 3726 GB 0 B *
Disk 7 Online 114 GB 0 B *
Disk 8 Online 9 TB 0 B *
Disk 9 Online 3824 MB 1984 KB


DISKPART> lis vol


Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C Windows NTFS Partition 931 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 1 FAT32 Partition 100 MB Healthy System
Volume 2 E Emulation NTFS Partition 3725 GB Healthy
Volume 3 F Emulation NTFS Partition 7451 GB Healthy
Volume 4 G Emulation NTFS Partition 7452 GB Healthy
Volume 5 H Emulation NTFS Partition 3725 GB Healthy
Volume 6 I Installed G NTFS Partition 3725 GB Healthy
Volume 7 O Other Data NTFS Partition 3725 GB Healthy
Volume 8 U USB Stick NTFS Removable 114 GB Healthy
Volume 9 D NTFS Partition 9 TB Healthy
Volume 10 M MACRIUM FAT32 Removable 3822 MB Healthy


DISKPART> sel dis 0


Disk 0 is now the selected disk.


DISKPART> det dis


Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB
Disk ID: {C13D80F3-7AE3-48E0-97DD-FAFA2DBC1916}
Type : NVMe
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1D00)#PCI(0000)#NVME(P00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : Yes
Pagefile Disk : Yes
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : Yes
Clustered Disk : No


Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C Windows NTFS Partition 931 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 1 FAT32 Partition 100 MB Healthy System


DISKPART> lis par


Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 100 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Reserved 16 MB 101 MB
Partition 3 Primary 931 GB 117 MB


DISKPART> sel par 1


Partition 1 is now the selected partition.


DISKPART> det par


Partition 1
Type : c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
Hidden : Yes
Required: No
Attrib : 0X8000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 1048576


Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 1 FAT32 Partition 100 MB Healthy System


DISKPART> sel par 2


Partition 2 is now the selected partition.


DISKPART> det par


Partition 2
Type : e3c9e316-0b5c-4db8-817d-f92df00215ae
Hidden : Yes
Required: No
Attrib : 0X8000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 105906176


There is no volume associated with this partition.


DISKPART> sel par 3


Partition 3 is now the selected partition.


DISKPART> det par


Partition 3
Type : ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7
Hidden : No
Required: No
Attrib : 0000000000000000
Offset in Bytes: 122683392


Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 0 C Windows NTFS Partition 931 GB Healthy Boot


DISKPART> sel par 4


The specified partition is not valid.
Please select a valid partition.


There is no partition selected.


DISKPART> det par


There is no partition selected.
Please select a partition and try again.


DISKPART> sel par 5


The specified partition is not valid.
Please select a valid partition.


There is no partition selected.


DISKPART> det par


There is no partition selected.
Please select a partition and try again.


DISKPART> sel par 6


The specified partition is not valid.
Please select a valid partition.


There is no partition selected.


DISKPART> det par


There is no partition selected.
Please select a partition and try again.


DISKPART> sel dis 1


Disk 1 is now the selected disk.


DISKPART> det dis


ST4000DM004-2CV104
Disk ID: {A041B5DD-A712-4F8B-B532-4F93642DCD41}
Type : SATA
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1700)#ATA(C00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : No
Pagefile Disk : No
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : No
Clustered Disk : No


Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 2 E Emulation NTFS Partition 3725 GB Healthy


DISKPART> lis part


Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Reserved 128 MB 17 KB
Partition 2 Primary 3725 GB 129 MB


DISKPART>