How do I delete the recovery partition to free up space? (Sony Vaio Z)

I have a Sony Vaio Z with a 128 GB SSD, so space is limited. I want to delete the 20 GB recovery partition and extend the regular C drive to make more room. I've already made a recovery USB drive and have used it to reinstall Windows, so it's working fine.

I've had the computer for about 2 years and when I first got it I was able to successfully delete the recovery partition, but now I can't remember how I did it. I can't delete it using the disk management tool or the "diskpart" commands because it's a protected partition. There has to be an easy, straightforward way to delete this partition. Can anyone help?

Secondarily, I'm also interested in knowing what would happen if I deleted the 8 GB hibernation partition. I never use hibernation, only sleep. If I delete the hibernation partition, would it screw up the ability to sleep (i.e. is that partition used to store data when the computer sleeps as well)? Or can I safely remove it if I don't use hibernation? If so, how?

 

Wow, your recover partition is 20GB large?? I don't think I've ever seen more than 8. To get rid of it gracefully, just "Create a recovery drive." At the end of the process, Windows will ask if you want to delete the recovery partition. Say yes, and it's done. If you're already got a recovery drive and don't want to re-do the process, just Google "remove partition" and take it out manually -- there's nothing stopping you. Any number of disk managers can do it.

I'm confused, though -- if you've had the computer for two years and were previously able to delete the partition, it should still be gone. Reinstalling Windows shouldn't put it back.

The hibernation partition is only there for Intel Rapid Start. You can remove it any time you want and it will have no consequences except that you won't be able to use Intel Rapid Start any more. Regular hibernation will still work fine without that partition (although you can disable that as well if you don't want it using up your regular hard drive space -- just Google "disable hibernation"). If you remove the partition, you should also uninstall Rapid Start, since it won't work any more anyway.

 

Could you please put your relevant details in your signature like I have? There are zo many VAIO Z models that it gets rather confusing.

 

Thanks for the response. I have no idea why the partition is so big. What I did was use the Vaio recovery media (specifically, the USB recovery drive I created when I first got the computer) to reinstall Windows. I suspect that the recovery partition reappeared because I used the Vaio media to reinstall Windows, which in the process brings the computer back to its out-of-box state (meaning it has all the Vaio crap on it, and also has the recovery partition created).

I'd rather not go through the process of recreating the recovery media because I don't have any suitable media with me. Do you have any recommendations on disk managers to use? I've never used a third-party one before. Will it be able to remove even a "protected" partition like the recovery one? Are there any risks in using these third-party disk managers? I'm about to travel overseas where I'll need my computer and won't want to be dealing with any adverse effects (for example, Windows not recognizing the deletion).

I have no idea what Intel Rapid Start is or whether I even have or use it. I don't see any Intel Rapid Start -related programs on my computer, only Intel Rapid Storage Technology. If I don't have or use Rapid Start, deleting the hibernation partition won't slow down my computer's startup time from either off or sleep, will it?

Thanks again for your help. The model number of my computer is SVZ131A2JL. I have the Intel HD Graphics 4000, i5-3210M, Windows 7 64-bit, no optical drive.

 

Re-installing Windows really shouldn't put any partitions back, but if it's there now then you've got it regardless. I think I used Paragon Partition Manager, but I don't really remember. Any free partition manager that you get from a reputable site (cnet, filehippo, whatever) will be fine. There are no risks to using third-party partition managers, as long as they are legitimate software and not malware. What you want to do is very simple, and is part of the most basic function of any partition manager.

The 8GB hibernation partition is only for Intel Rapid Start. That is all it's good for. Rapid Start is a special "deep hibernate" program that replaces shutdown, allowing faster boot times. Regular Windows hibernation 't uses space from the main partition, not a separate one. If you are 100% sure that you do not have Intel Rapid Start installed (you presumably lost it when you re-installed), then you can delete that partition and you will notice no difference at all -- it was completely useless to you. Note, however, that unless you've disabled regular W8 hibernation, you're also losing 8GB of regular hard drive space to that (if there's a hibernation option in your shutdown button, you definitely are). The command prompt for that is powercfg.exe /hibernate off. If you had hibernate active, you'll see your hard drive immediately get bigger.

If you have one, do NOT remove the BIOS/UEFI partition. I'd be surprised if you even could, but don't. That's the only way you could screw this up. Every other partition except the main one is for a non-core function.

But, seriously, if you're nervous about all of this, take the laptop to a PC repair shop and offer them $20 to do it for you. Should take five minutes, and you'll be sure that nothing went wrong.

 

Actually, I'm a bit nervous about the UEFI/ secure booting thing. There seems to be a partition numbering thing going on, and Windows will try to boot from a partition with a particular number. I have a much older VAIO, so I don't have any first hand experience with this, but if I were you I'd certainly read up on it first.