Extra partitions

Hi Joos. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 9 year Windows MVP here to help you.

If it's created by the installer during Upgrade or install it will always be 450mb, so it's likely still the first partition, since the second one is an OEM partition likely containing OEM tools from the manufacturer, and the last partition isn't labeled Recovery which it would also always be if created by the installer.

You should right click the last partition to add a drive letter, browse in to see what's on it, move it off and delete it. Then I'd do the same with the OEM partition to see if it has a Recovery folder which would eliminate it - we know it at least dates back to the factory if it's labeled OEM so if it has Recovery then I'd leave it, or if not it's up to you to get rid of it, if you need to extend D, for example.

Most likely it remains the first partition all along and the others were factory OEM tools and the last one a mistake along the way that may be empty.

BTW if you ever delete the Recovey partition it only contains the bootable repair tools that were previously on C in Windows, which can be accessed from the bootable Recovery drive or Installation media. To test if they still work try accessing one of them as shown here: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2294-advanc...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you'll wait to rate whether my post helped you, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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Who named the OEM partition? The installer doesn't have the ability to name it that. Only the factory names it that.

When you reinstalled did you wipe the drive clean of all partitions and then the only ones created were the first Recovery partition, EFI System, hidden MSR, C and nothing else? You witnessed the Version Upgrades shrink C to install the others each time there is a version Upgrade?

That would track with what we now, except for the name OEM and odd size of both.

Even so I would not bet the OEM one is the active Recovery partition.

Do you have Repair Mode now accessible using one of these methods? https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2294-advanc...

You could delete the last one, test again for Repair Mode, then delete the next to last one to see if that confirms your theory that it is the one last created since it's next to C. They might have even changed it's name with this latest version.

You could also use Macrium to save a system image backup of both those partitions, when you confirm which is active by deleting it, just run Macrium and drag it back, use the drive tools to move it to the end of the drive and then Disk Mgmt to extend C up to it if you want. This will also answer the question if you can move it over and still have it boot; we already know you can restore it by image. Macrium guide: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7363/macrium-re...

Confirmed that Recovery and installation media have all of the Repair tools that Repair Mode does, just that it will not fail over into those options as it should now.

Hi Greg, thanks for your reply.  The last two ones are the ones created by the Windows 10 installer during the upgrades.  Although Computer Management shows that the 490 MB one is an OEM partition, actually it's not.  When I first got my system, I clean installed Windows 10 after removing all partitions and creating a new partition.  If I clean install Windows 10 from a new partition, a recovery partition is created at the beginning.  But, if I upgrade Windows 10, a new extra partition is appended after an OS partition.  That's what I noted.

Since I use a bootable media when a system has a problem, I guess I can remove any or all the 3 partitions except the second 100 MB EFI partition.  Correct?  Thanks again.

I was waiting for you to report back results of deleting the partitions, instead i get two bad ratings by you in a row. Why?

I think Computer Management shows the partition as an OEM partition because Disk Director doesn't show it as an OEM partition.  See below.

Yes, I wiped out the entire drive and clean install Win10 when I first installed Win10.  Yes, the only ones created were the first Recovery partition, EFI System, hidden MSR, C and nothing else.  I also noted that the Version Upgrades shrank C to install the others each time there is a version Upgrade.

I have True Image 2017, but found that an image back-up cannot be restored if one of the recovery partitions is removed.  Can Macrium handle this?