Partitions on my HP DV4

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this but:

When my I first bought my laptop, it said that it had a 320 gb hard drive. But when I actually used it, in my computer it says 284 gb. I went into disk management and noticed that there are 4 partitions: (C: ), HP_TOOLS, RECOVERY (D: ), and SYSTEM.

I have an HP DV4 (specs in sig) and I want to know if I can delete these partitions. And If I do delete them will my laptop still function properly.

Thanks in advance!

 

A 320GB hard drive will actually have a capacity of 298GB. Read why here.

The 'system' partition may be the (roughly 100MB) Windows Recovery Console stuff. It's small enough not to bother anyone, so I'd leave it be.

The 'recovery' partition includes the Windows image/installation files needed to restore your computer to factory settings. If you already have restore discs (that came with your PC or burned) then it isn't truly necessary, but worth keeping if the space isn't absolutely needed. If your recovery discs get lost or scratched you'll be glad to have it.

The 'hp_tools' is likely pretty small as well. I don't have an HP so can't speak with confidence, but my assumption is it has uses similar to the recovery partition. It may include tools to easily restore your computer during boot. Again, my assumption. If it indeed is small (less than a few GB) I would ignore it unless you need to free up partitions.

The 'C:' partition is where Windows is installed and you save your files to. This should be kept at all costs. Without it your computer won't have Windows.

Concluding, I'd recommend leaving everything as-is unless you need to free up a partition for dual-booting. The loss of 14GB isn't substantial compared to the convenience and security of having a recovery system available.

 

Thanks you are really helpful! But the reason I am asking this is because I have read that you are only allowed to have 4 partitions on one hard drive and I want to install linux.

 

You can only have 4 primary partitions. The last partition can be split into several logical partitions. Which is the last partition on your drive and can you delete/reuse it?

 

From disk management my last partition is HP_TOOLS

 

I don't know much about HP so you'd best do a bit of googling to check, but I believe HP_TOOLS contain model specific diagnostic programs. I think it can be backed up and in some cases downloaded from HP support. Check if HP support have a method to back this up. If not, I'd copy the file system in case I ever wanted it again.

To install linux I'd make sure I had everything backed up; that way I could always recover to my start position. Then I'd use a live linux CD to delete HP_TOOLS, then shrink the windows C drive and create a new partition in that space to install linux. If you wanted to reclaim the HP_TOOLS space you could move or delete RECOVERY. You are likely to have a few problems on the way, most likely with shrinking C, but nothing that can't be overcome by checking documentation and the support forums of your chosen distro.

 

I agree. Be sure that you burned your recovery discs if they didn't come with the computer. Refer to your user manual or this guide for information about that.

Also, make the 4th partition an extended partition. Think of this as a container, where many logical partitions can reside within.

If you have an external hard drive, performing a full hard drive image (using a program such as Acronis True Image) would be a wise precaution.

 

Both of you have been very helpful. Thank you. Just one last question: How would I make the 4th partition an extended partition? I have already made recovery discs.

 

The tool you need to use is in the Control Panel. Then select....

System and Security\Administrative Tools\Computer Management|Disk Management

Start deleting partitions from the right. Right click gives you menu options. HP_TOOLS is the 4th and last. I think RECOVERY is the 3rd. That only frees up a few gig so you'll need to shrink the C drive. This is the riskiest part an may not give you much more space. There are special tools to shrink this partition further, but I've always reinstalled Windows at this point after deleting and creating a smaller partition for it.

The you can create new partitions by right clicking the unallocated space. The 4th one can be divided into whatever logical partitions you want. You may be able to do this part using the linux installer instead.

 

Thanks you have been very helpful.