[SOLVED] Recovery Partition Full

[autum]

Hello, I've come to this site seeking advice having been recommended to do so by a friend. I'm not sure if I have a problem and if I have if its the kind issue dealt with here but I'd appreciate any comments that would assist me. :smile9: There is strong likelihood that without some knowledgeable direction I'll end up deleting essential operating files from my computer!

I have an HP computer which was running Windows 7 but have recently had Windows 10 installed. I have a 930 GB hard disk which is partitioned to 915 GB main drive and 16 GB recovery drive. I have 850 GB free space on my main drive but less than 2 GB on the recovery drive. Booting up is relatively slow but actual use of the computer is not a problem. I was trying to free up space on the recovery drive as I don't think it should be as full as it is, however, I've not actually been able to access the files on the drive and if I did I wouldn't know what I should keep and what I should delete. I'm pretty sure that if I continue trying I'll get access to the recovery files and that's what frightens me and has caused me to post this entry.

If the situation I've described is more a problem in my head than with the computer I'd be grateful to know and if its not some direction as to what to do would be appreciated.

Thanks for your time and consideration. This site has been highly recommended by someone whose opinion I value and as such I value comment from the administrators here.

Best wishes, Autum

 

[niemiro]

Hello Autum, and welcome to Sysnative!

In my opinion you'd be best leaving the recovery partition alone and as it is - honestly, and I do really mean this from experience not just bluffing you off, the recovery partition is fully optimised already.

First, the recovery partition contains the absolute minimum number of files it needs. There isn't a single file I can think of on there you'd be wise to delete. Each and every file on there has an important role to play.

Second, the files on there are compressed. In fact, many tens of thousands of files are squashed into single huge ".wim" files. This means that they take up the smallest amount of space on your hard disk (for complex technical reasons, compressing thousands of files together makes them take up less space than having them separate - this has already been done on your recovery partition).

Third, again for slightly technical reasons, a free space buffer of about 2GB is required for the correct operation of the recovery partition when you go to use it (it's dormant space the rest of the time, but you must leave it be so that it's there when you need it).

Fourth, a free space buffer any larger than 2GB isn't needed. That'd only be wasting valuable space on your hard disk. So, the manufacturers size the disk to be 2GB extra (there or there abouts), no more (this is the same across lots of computers, not just yours).

Fifth, the files are then tightly locked down to prevent editing (as you've found out). This helps prevent against accidental damage, malicious damage, infection from malware, anything. To ensure that they work when you need them to, you're advised to leave those protections in place because they guard against more types of damage than just from the person using the computer.


The way it works is - Microsoft provides the absolute minimum number of files needed to install Windows, manufacturer for your PC injects the smallest number of additional files it thinks it needs to make your specific PC run at its best, those files are heavily compressed, a 2GB space buffer is added, the partition is scaled down to that size, the partition is locked down, and there it lies dormant, best left untouched.

Now - that was a slightly oversimplified explanation. It's possible for experts to quibble over my exact wording and we could get into a jargon laden debate over the details. But I hope it gives you the flavour for what's going on.


Top tip from me - leave it well alone! It's very unlikely that you'll be able to optimise it at all, and there's a high risk something horrible will go wrong. The type of tools you will need to use to access those partitions are very complex and extremely powerful - a slight slip and you could end up deleting every file off your computer within seconds (genuinely, like actually true )


If you want to try to increase your PC startup speed, here are some good tips for how to do so safely and effectively: Speed up your PC's boot time by finding the worst startup offenders | PCWorld

Hope this helps!

Richard

 

[autum]

Hello Richard,

I've read your response and I'm glad I posted my issue on this forum. I was well advised to do so. Your explanation might be simple but I understand it!! I'm going nowhere near the recovery disk, in fact I'm actually shaking at the thought of what I came close to doing!

Prior to posting my issue I had searched the internet for answers and found its been raised on HP's discussion forums. HP have actually said the same as you - leave it alone, but the way they say it is less than satisfactory. There is no real explanation given just ' its meant to be like that, leave it alone', you're left feeling like there's some secret involved that you're not being made privy to because you're not smart enough. I'm not alone feeling like that judging by other comments on that site. Your response had enough information to make it clear why the recovery disk should be left alone and showed a level of knowledge to substantiate what you were talking about.

HP would be well advised to direct customer support queries here rather than confuse and alienate people by trying to run one themselves.

Thank you for giving the time and effort to my query - without a doubt you've saved my computer from an untimely and untidy death. I'll have a look at the link you've given to speed up boot time but I'm now a bit more thoughtful about altering settings and may well just accept a few minutes waiting time is not an issue to cry about.

Best wishes, Autum

 

[niemiro]

Thank you for your nice words Autum :)

I am glad to hear your PC is otherwise working well. I suggest having a look at the article I linked at a relaxed pace and in your own time. If your PC is still a little slow to startup afterwards you might like to create a new thread here specifically related to speeding up your PC boot. There's a fairly good chance we'll be able to make it at least a bit faster even if we can't make it like lightning. But we'd be more than happy to talk you through any necessary steps/see what we can do either way.

Have a good day!

Richard

 

[xilolee]

Hi autum. :smile9:

In addition to what Richard-Niemiro said, and to Ian Paul tutorial, if you want to free up a bit of space on your hard drive, you can run windows cleanup/cleanmgr.

From windows GUI:

• double click This pc
• right-click your system hard drive/partition (or another hard drive/partition)
• click properties
• (in the general tab) click disk clean-up (and wait till it finishes to analyse the drive/partition)
• after some seconds/minutes, a new window will be presented, in which you can choose the items to delete and click ok, AND/OR... see following point
• you can click clean-up system files (and wait till it finishes to analyse the drive/partition)
• after some seconds/minutes, a new more advanced window will be presented, in which you can choose the items to delete and click ok AND/OR... see following point
• you can click the more options tab and delete all the system restore points, except the latest, and the shadow copies, by clicking the second clean up... button (the first will open control panel - uninstall programs)

From the command line:

• right-click windows start
• click command prompt (admin)
• launch the following command:

  cleanmgr /sageset:1 && cleanmgr /sagerun:1

• a first window will be presented in which you can choose the items to delete and click ok, then cleanmgr will start to clean the drive/partition
• you can set task scheduler to run cleanmgr /sagerun:1 every day (or week, or month, or...)

If you are not still happy, you can try also this command:

dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase

 

[Corrine]

One more offer, Autumn! I would be happy to review logs to see if I spot unnecessary startup items on your computer or perhaps things that should be there. If you wish to go that route, just follow the instructions here: Malware Removal Posting Instructions.

 

[MichaelB]

Hello,
I have an HP computer which was running Windows 7 but have recently had Windows 10 installed. I have a 930 GB hard disk which is partitioned to 915 GB main drive and 16 GB recovery drive. I have 850 GB free space on my main drive but less than 2 GB on the recovery drive. Booting up is relatively slow but actual use of the computer is not a problem. I was trying to free up space on the recovery drive as I don't think it should be as full as it is, however, I've not actually been able to access the files on the drive and if I did I wouldn't know what I should keep and what I should delete. I'm pretty sure that if I continue trying I'll get access to the recovery files and that's what frightens me and has caused me to post this entry.

Best wishes, Autum

Moin, :smile9:

beside the answers you got already:
if you installed Win10 there is no need to keep the recovery-partition any longer.
you created the recovery-media once in a while to go back to Win7?

If Windows bothers about a full partition which it does if there is less than 10% free space, simply remove the driveletter from that partition.
Done that, the functionality is still given, but the explorer doesn't see that partition and the alarming has gone.

by the way, i'm one of the voluntary HP Experts mostly on the german part for more than 5 years.

regards
Michael.