Is it normal that upgrading to Windows 10 creates a Recovery partition?

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Recently upgraded a Win7 Pro 32-bit to Win10 Pro

SCC Win7 Disk Management did not have a Recovery partition
44089-SCC-Win7-Disk-Management

SCC Win10 Disk Management has a Recovery partition
44090-SCC-Win10-Disk-Management

Is it normal that upgrading to Windows 10 creates a Recovery partition?

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Yes.

Joe

--Joe

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Hello, Joe. How are you ?

I have gleefully deleted that partition on all my C:s. I use Gparted and get rid of it to “unallocated” space, then do a ritual clone. Chancy ???

I have not seen any bad effect to my procedure, yet ! What use is it ? I presume that as I get rid of it and see no side effect, it is not really required. My neck is out.

All fine wishes. Jean.

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As Joe said, it is normal and is created by Windows.

It is only 450MB, so best left well alone perhaps?

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I also created a Win10 USB recovery drive and left Backup system files to the recovery drive checked.
— If I have to re-install Win10 for whatever reason, does the new Win10 recovery partition and the Win10 USB recovery drive work together to accomplish that?

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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The recovery partition contains the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) tools.

See BIOS/MBR-based hard drive partitions and UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions for more information.

Joe

--Joe

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Typically the Recovery Partition created by the upgrade on a hard drive with a single partition (in GPT there is also an EFI partition, but that doesn’t count) is where the Windows Recovery Environment (winre.wim) is stored.

If there are multiple partitions on the hard drive during installation/upgrade, winre.wim is stored in a Recovery folder (a faded-looking system folder) on the root of the C: drive, and the Recovery Partition is empty (but Windows creates it, anyway). Windows 7 stored winre.wim in a Recovery folder on the root of C: drive, so an upgrade from Windows 7 will create the Recovery partition and place the Windows 10 winre.wim there.

My setup uses multiple partitions, and I have a Recovery folder on C: with winre.wim inside. Winre.wim is the image that is mounted and used when Windows has failed to boot multiple times and a menu is presented to pursue other options such as Repair, Command Prompt, etc.

Also, if you choose to create a recovery disc or USB from within Windows, winre.wim is included on that recovery disc/USB, so the Recovery Partition becomes somewhat obsolete (as long as the recovery disc doesn’t get misplaced or lost).

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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I checked the size of the USB Recovery Drive on my Win10 home computer
— Including Backup system files to the recovery drive: 43 min. 2.53 GB
— Without including Backup system files to the recovery drive: 1 min. 290 MB
So that brings another question to my mind
— What is the purpose of creating a Win10 USB Recovery Drive without including Backup system files to the recovery drive?

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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@cmptrgy,

To enable you to boot into the WinRE environment.

Joe

--Joe

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Joe, good morning.

>>> To enable you to boot into the WinRE environment. <<<

I will now correct my statement. Seeing as I never resorted to this partition on the W-10 C:, I was able to negate it and get away with this drastic move. Now, as others have indicated, it is important enough to not fool around with it, I take back my statement about deleting it.

The reason why I never resorted to it is that I believe in "clones" and if anything went wrong in my machines, I would clone them back, thus did not need this Win RE.

Enough said ! All fine wishes. Jean.

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I’ve seen on another forum where Win 10 created a 19.53GB Recovery partition – is that what will hold Windows.old until the 30 days are up ?

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I’ve seen on another forum where Win 10 created a 19.53GB Recovery partition – is that what will hold Windows.old until the 30 days are up ?

I’ve only seen Windows.old as a folder on C: drive.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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What would have caused that then ?

EDIT – While I haven’t read all of these these links, it would seem that it isn’t just Win 10 that creates that partition.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=win+10+upgrade+creates+19.53gb+recovery+partition

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When I performed my first Windows 10 install, I made a point of deleting that recovery partition (we had a recovery partition in Windows 7 as well).

It didn’t work. The Windows 10 installer immediately stepped in and created the recovery partition again, with an appropriate message about doing so. We couldn’t proceed with the install without that partition in place.

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