After Upgrade Which Recovery Partition Can I delete?

I recently did an upgrade install on Windows 10. Now I have two recovery partitions. I am not sure which one I can safely delete to free up disc space. Previous to the upgrade there was just one recovery partition called recovery about 450 Mbt. Now there are two recovery partitions. The 453 Mbt partition at the very end is described as a primary partition. The 459 Mbt partition second from the end is called the "Recovery partition". I suspect the 453 partition at the end is the older one from the previous installation I can safely delete*. Or do I need to leave them both in place to access recovery options? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Kind regards
Chris

* Using disc management software, I plan to delete the one at the end, then enlarge the one second from the end to fill the space and then reduce it to about 460 Mbt. Then I will be left with just one recovery partition.

Check which is registered with reagentc /info from elevated command prompt and it will tell you which it is using.

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

    Windows RE status:         Enabled
    Windows RE location:       \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition5\Recovery\WindowsRE
    Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 60a76a2a-e726-10e6-9763-d4823e10b645
    Recovery image location:
    Recovery image index:      0
    Custom image location:
    Custom image index:        0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.


C:\Windows\system32>

Then you can delete the other. However if you find partition 5 is registered and you delete partition 4 you'll have to re-register WinRE (as partition 5 will now be partition 4).

Note you have to look at partitions using diskpart to check partition numbers as diskutility doesn't show the msr partition (if you have one).

Run reagentc /info again after deleting the partition. If it still says "Enabled" you are OK. If not you need to reregister it as described here https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/.../hh825041.aspx

Thanks. I ran "reagentc /info" from CMD as administrator and its showing partition 3 is being used. I understand that must be the third one counting left to right, or the one second from the right. So if I understand correctly, now I can safely delete partition 4 at the end and move partition 3 to fill the unallocated space without the need to reregister it?

Kind regards
Chris
__________________________

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.C:\WINDOWS\system32>reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:
Windows RE status: Enabled
Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition3\Recovery\WindowsRE
Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: e00545e9-0e72-11e7-848e-d8d811e0938b
Recovery image location:
Recovery image index: 0
Custom image location:
Custom image index: 0
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>

Check this as well to make sure you are using the correct partition number..

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15063]
(c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.15063.0

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: X201

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          232 GB      0 B

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary            500 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Primary             64 GB   501 MB
  Partition 3    Primary            164 GB    64 GB
  Partition 4    Primary           4495 MB   228 GB

DISKPART> exit

Leaving DiskPart...

C:\WINDOWS\system32>

Obviously your partition sizes will be different to mine but it should be obvious.

It looks like you don't have hidden msr partition (that diskutility doesn't show) and you can just delete partition 4.

It actually doesn't really matter if you delete the wrong one or even both of them. You can always boot from a external USB key anyway. If you want to have the option to boot from Windows recovery (for the sake of 500MB) then check it with diskpart first.

EDIT if you do delete 4 though, you'll probably want to shuffle partition 3 up to the end (counting from the left hand side ) so you can extend C into the free space. You can use Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free to do that.

Thanks, I have deleted the redundant partition 4 and reagentc /info is showing the recovery partition 3 is enabled. The screenshot shows the partitions after using Mini Tool Partition Wizard. Thanks again for all your help.

Kind regards
Chris
_________________________________

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
(c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:
Windows RE status: Enabled
Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition3\Recovery\WindowsRE
Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: e00545e9-0e72-11e7-848e-d8d811e0938b
Recovery image location:
Recovery image index: 0
Custom image location:
Custom image index: 0
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>
___________________________________

So you have 453MB of unused space at the end of your disk.

You could move that partition 3 to the RHS a bit if you wanted and extend C: volume. It is only 0,1% of your disk though so not that important.

I would though - I'm a bit anal like that

Thanks, good suggestion not to have 453 Mbt of wasted space! I used "Mini Disk Free" to delete the old unused 453 Mbt partition at the end. Then expanded the active recovery partition No. 3 to fill the unused space so the new size was about 912 Mbt. Then expanded partition No. 2 (C) to take space from the enlarged recovery partition (No. 3) up to the maximum allowable which meant the final recovery partition is now 516 Mbt.

Kind regards
Chris

That will do Chris. Unless in the next upgrade of Windows 10 MS make the recovery partition bigger again.

Then they will make a new one and you can repeat the process.

FYI I don't have a recovery partition but on my BIOS based VMs the latest insider version 15063 likes a 500MB one so you should be OK for a while.

Hali