Unknown partitions on computer.

Question

My computer has been having a rash or problems recently and, while I have managed to fix most of them by re-installing the OS, two drives that where not there before have turned up. 

One shows up in the computer window called SYSTEM RESERVED and, while it says it has approx 1GB of space, with 28.4MB taken up, there is only a 1KB file inside. It also says this is the primary partition when it is not used in any way (by me at least).

The second drive only becomes evident when I use the disk manager and says it is a recovery partition. It is 14GB big and is not linked to any drive number.

I have used disk manager in the past and do not remember them being there before. Am I supposed to have these drives and if not how should I go about reassigning/removing them?

Answer 1

Hi,

Do not delete either of them and; you should leave them alone except for making recovery disks from the Recovery Partition (Read below).

System Reserved:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg441289.aspx

If you install Windows 7 on a clean disk with no existing partitions, it creates a System Reserved partition at the beginning of the disk and uses the remainder of the unallocated space to create your system drive.That small partition isn’t assigned a drive letter, so you won’t even know it exists unless you look in the Disk Management console or use a low-level utility, such as Diskpart, to inspect the disk structure.

etc

etc.

Recovery Partition.

Your Recovery Partition was imaged on your Hard Drive during the Manufacture of your Computer by the Manufacturer for these reasons.

1.To reinstall Windows from in case of a System crash, by pressing particular Key or Keys at Boot.

F10 or F11 or Alt + F10 are a couple of sequences different Manufacturers use.

You will have to ask your manufacturer for the correct sequence.

2. To make Recovery Disks from in case your Hard Drive fails, so that you can then reinstall the Operating System on to a new Hard Drive.

Also ask them how to make the Disks.

Your Recovery Drive/Partition is not to be used for backups, defragged, etc.

Backups should be kept on an External Hard Drive.

Cheers.