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    Windows 8.1 clean install creates a tiny 300mb recovery partition?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Tinderbox (UK), Mar 24, 2014.

  1. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    I did a clean install with a Retail Win8.1 x64 and it created a tiny 300mb recovery partition on my 512gb ssd, i don't remember seeing this with Win7, what is it for?

    Thanks

    John.
     

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    Tinderbox (UK), Mar 24, 2014
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  2. Rodster

    Rodster Merica

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    I don't think that's for recovery. I believe that's the system reserved partition where the MFT is stored and several other things. Windows 7 creates a 100MB partition and Windows 8 creates a 300MB partition.

    What's weird is if you make a multi-boot environment it won't create a partition on the secondary drive. I've never been able to figure out why?
     
    Rodster, Mar 24, 2014
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  3. WhatsThePoint

    WhatsThePoint Notebook Virtuoso

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    If you open Control Panel>Administrator Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management you can view all the Primary Partitions and System Reserve Partitions that were created.

    Here's a shot of a notebook with 3 internal drives and 1 external 750GB drive

    Notice the 2 System Reserved Partitions in Compuer screen shot and the 3 internal drives System Reserve Partitions in the Disk Management screen shot
     

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    WhatsThePoint, Mar 24, 2014
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  4. S.SubZero

    S.SubZero Notebook Deity

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    Windows Preinstallation Environment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Been there since Vista.
     
    S.SubZero, Mar 24, 2014
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  5. RCB

    RCB Notebook Deity

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    With EFI setups, for W8.1, this is the fail-over partition. If Windows can't boot normally this partition contains the recovery tools to fix the boot files. Especially helpful for those with BitLocker running.

    With MBR setups there is only one recovery partition called System Reserved - a basic primary partition containing the backup boot files.
     
    RCB, Mar 25, 2014
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  6. WinOutreach2

    WinOutreach2 Newbie

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    The system partition also holds the Boot Configuration Database (BCD), which is why it is not necessary to duplicate it when configuring a multiboot environment. The single BCD can hold boot entries for multiple operating systems and provide you with a list to select from when booting. If you were to create a multiboot environment with separate hard disks each installed independently, you would have multiple system partitions and BCDs and to select between operating systems you would need to use the system firmware to alter the boot order. The partition also holds information for BitLocker drive encryption.

    There is some great detailed information available on the partition layout for Windows here on TechNet, which also covers the additional partition found on UEFI systems the Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR).

    Brandon
    Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
    The Springboard Series on TechNet
     
    WinOutreach2, Mar 28, 2014
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    davidricardo86 and RCB like this.