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Does Win 7 create a new HD upon upgrade?

R

relic

Flightless Bird
<Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com> wrote in message
news:u6Cdn.145461$Fm7.122000@newsfe16.iad...
> On 2/13/2010 1:01 PM, relic wrote:
>>
>> <Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com> wrote in message
>> news:tJxdn.97268$CM7.67845@newsfe04.iad...
>>> On 2/13/2010 7:40 AM, Don wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "celcius" <celcius38@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:hl65ms$v6n$1@celcius.motzarella.org...
>>>>> Hi all!
>>>>> I decided to upgrade to Win 7 after trying if for a few months.
>>>>> During the process, it backed up my files to "Windows old" and wiped
>>>>> my HD before upgrading.
>>>>> Once finished, I noticed that a new drive called "system reserved" had
>>>>> been created. Out of the new 100 Mb HD, 28.1 is occupied, yet I don't
>>>>> see any files.
>>>>> A hundred megs out of 500 Gigs isn't a lot to worry about, yet I'm
>>>>> curious to know whether I made a mistake during the installation or
>>>>> whether this is the way Win 7 installs.
>>>>> Is that new HD a partition? Can I and should I get rid of it? Is so,
>>>>> how? (without having to start all over again ;-)
>>>>> Thanks for any help and enlightenment.
>>>>> Marcel
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yes it is, that mysterious 100mb partition is new with Windows 7.
>>>> It is a system reserved partition at the beginning of the disk. The
>>>> remainder of the unallocated space on the disc or partition will be
>>>> your
>>>> system drive, or C drive for example.
>>>> The 100 mb partition is not assigned a drive letter, so you really
>>>> won't
>>>> see it unless you look in the disk management console, or another low
>>>> level utility to look at the disk structure.
>>>>
>>>> The small 100 mb partition serves two functions. It holds the Boot
>>>> Manager code and the Boot Configuration database. And it reserves space
>>>> for the startup files required by BitLocker Drive Encryption.
>>>>
>>>> So no you did nothing wrong and it is completely normal in Windows 7.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I've been wondering the same thing myself because I recently purchased
>>> a laptop with pre-installed W 7 Home Premium 64 bit. In my case my 500
>>> G drive was divided into a system drive called "Local Disk (C:)" and a
>>> small 200MB partition named "System (D:)".
>>>
>>> [I've since added a large data partition using 200 GB from the C:
>>> drive].
>>>
>>> What is peculiar - and I found confusing - is that in my pre-installed
>>> W 7 system, the small 200MB partition is labeled "System" and has a HD
>>> letter D:. I notice that you wrote the small partition does not have a
>>> drive letter (but mine does). I read somewhere that it contains the
>>> MBR, but then I do not understand why it would be named D:
>>>
>>> Also this D: is shown as having 166 MB free out of 198 yet when I open
>>> it it says "this folder is empty" presumably because these files are
>>> hidden. How do I see what is actually in it and does it indeed contain
>>> the mbr?
>>>
>>> Thanks.

>>
>> That's the Manufacturer's Recovery partition. Nothing to do with Window
>> 7's unlettered partition.
>>
>>

> Aha. Did not think that a mere 32 MB (198-166) would be enough for a
> recovery partition. How do I get to view what files it contains?


Brian raised a good point; 200MB _IS_ too small for a Recovery Partition. I
retract... I don't really know what it might be. Ask the Manufacturer?
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

Flightless Bird
On 2/13/10, Brian Gregory [UK] posted:
> "relic" <relic211@cjb.net> wrote in message
> news:3h3ev8.t8v.17.1@news.alt.net...
>>
>> <Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com> wrote in message
>> news:tJxdn.97268$CM7.67845@newsfe04.iad...
>>> On 2/13/2010 7:40 AM, Don wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "celcius" <celcius38@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:hl65ms$v6n$1@celcius.motzarella.org...
>>>>> Hi all!
>>>>> I decided to upgrade to Win 7 after trying if for a few months.
>>>>> During the process, it backed up my files to "Windows old" and wiped
>>>>> my HD before upgrading.
>>>>> Once finished, I noticed that a new drive called "system reserved" had
>>>>> been created. Out of the new 100 Mb HD, 28.1 is occupied, yet I don't
>>>>> see any files.
>>>>> A hundred megs out of 500 Gigs isn't a lot to worry about, yet I'm
>>>>> curious to know whether I made a mistake during the installation or
>>>>> whether this is the way Win 7 installs.
>>>>> Is that new HD a partition? Can I and should I get rid of it? Is so,
>>>>> how? (without having to start all over again ;-)
>>>>> Thanks for any help and enlightenment.
>>>>> Marcel
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yes it is, that mysterious 100mb partition is new with Windows 7.
>>>> It is a system reserved partition at the beginning of the disk. The
>>>> remainder of the unallocated space on the disc or partition will be your
>>>> system drive, or C drive for example.
>>>> The 100 mb partition is not assigned a drive letter, so you really won't
>>>> see it unless you look in the disk management console, or another low
>>>> level utility to look at the disk structure.
>>>>
>>>> The small 100 mb partition serves two functions. It holds the Boot
>>>> Manager code and the Boot Configuration database. And it reserves space
>>>> for the startup files required by BitLocker Drive Encryption.
>>>>
>>>> So no you did nothing wrong and it is completely normal in Windows 7.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I've been wondering the same thing myself because I recently purchased a
>>> laptop with pre-installed W 7 Home Premium 64 bit. In my case my 500 G
>>> drive was divided into a system drive called "Local Disk (C:)" and a small
>>> 200MB partition named "System (D:)".
>>>
>>> [I've since added a large data partition using 200 GB from the C: drive].
>>>
>>> What is peculiar - and I found confusing - is that in my pre-installed W 7
>>> system, the small 200MB partition is labeled "System" and has a HD letter
>>> D:. I notice that you wrote the small partition does not have a drive
>>> letter (but mine does). I read somewhere that it contains the MBR, but
>>> then I do not understand why it would be named D:
>>>
>>> Also this D: is shown as having 166 MB free out of 198 yet when I open it
>>> it says "this folder is empty" presumably because these files are hidden.
>>> How do I see what is actually in it and does it indeed contain the mbr?
>>>
>>> Thanks.

>>
>> That's the Manufacturer's Recovery partition. Nothing to do with Window 7's
>> unlettered partition.
>>
>>


> Surely 200MB is far too small to be a recovery partition?


> Also a recovery partition should absolutely not ever have a drive letter
> otherwise it's just asking to be trashed by unaware users.


A. I agree with you.

B. I got a Vista computer with a drive letter on the recovery
partition. I removed the letter immediately, on the theory that I am
one of those unaware users :)

--
Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

Flightless Bird
On 2/13/10, Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com posted:
> On 2/13/2010 1:01 PM, relic wrote:
>>
>> <Jeff@couldbeinvalid.com> wrote in message
>> news:tJxdn.97268$CM7.67845@newsfe04.iad...
>>> On 2/13/2010 7:40 AM, Don wrote:
>>>>
>>>> "celcius" <celcius38@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:hl65ms$v6n$1@celcius.motzarella.org...
>>>>> Hi all!
>>>>> I decided to upgrade to Win 7 after trying if for a few months.
>>>>> During the process, it backed up my files to "Windows old" and wiped
>>>>> my HD before upgrading.
>>>>> Once finished, I noticed that a new drive called "system reserved" had
>>>>> been created. Out of the new 100 Mb HD, 28.1 is occupied, yet I don't
>>>>> see any files.
>>>>> A hundred megs out of 500 Gigs isn't a lot to worry about, yet I'm
>>>>> curious to know whether I made a mistake during the installation or
>>>>> whether this is the way Win 7 installs.
>>>>> Is that new HD a partition? Can I and should I get rid of it? Is so,
>>>>> how? (without having to start all over again ;-)
>>>>> Thanks for any help and enlightenment.
>>>>> Marcel
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yes it is, that mysterious 100mb partition is new with Windows 7.
>>>> It is a system reserved partition at the beginning of the disk. The
>>>> remainder of the unallocated space on the disc or partition will be your
>>>> system drive, or C drive for example.
>>>> The 100 mb partition is not assigned a drive letter, so you really won't
>>>> see it unless you look in the disk management console, or another low
>>>> level utility to look at the disk structure.
>>>>
>>>> The small 100 mb partition serves two functions. It holds the Boot
>>>> Manager code and the Boot Configuration database. And it reserves space
>>>> for the startup files required by BitLocker Drive Encryption.
>>>>
>>>> So no you did nothing wrong and it is completely normal in Windows 7.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I've been wondering the same thing myself because I recently purchased
>>> a laptop with pre-installed W 7 Home Premium 64 bit. In my case my 500
>>> G drive was divided into a system drive called "Local Disk (C:)" and a
>>> small 200MB partition named "System (D:)".
>>>
>>> [I've since added a large data partition using 200 GB from the C: drive].
>>>
>>> What is peculiar - and I found confusing - is that in my pre-installed
>>> W 7 system, the small 200MB partition is labeled "System" and has a HD
>>> letter D:. I notice that you wrote the small partition does not have a
>>> drive letter (but mine does). I read somewhere that it contains the
>>> MBR, but then I do not understand why it would be named D:
>>>
>>> Also this D: is shown as having 166 MB free out of 198 yet when I open
>>> it it says "this folder is empty" presumably because these files are
>>> hidden. How do I see what is actually in it and does it indeed contain
>>> the mbr?
>>>
>>> Thanks.

>>
>> That's the Manufacturer's Recovery partition. Nothing to do with Window
>> 7's unlettered partition.
>>
>>

> Aha. Did not think that a mere 32 MB (198-166) would be enough for a
> recovery partition. How do I get to view what files it contains?


> Thanks.


If you're allowed to, assign it a drive letter. Then you'll be able to
see it in Windows Explorer, unless the file system is non-standard.

Naturally, you ought to remove the letter after you've satisfied your
curiosity.

--
Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com
 
G

Gilgamesh

Flightless Bird
"Pulse" <pulse@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:hl6p1l$6cu$1@speranza.aioe.org...
> The files that would have otherwise gone on the 100MB partition instead go
> on (usually) the C:/ partition.


But what happens to utilities such as bitlocker.
Without the reserved space containing its config files are you stopped from
using this utility.

>
>
>
> "Gilgamesh" <gilgamesh@dont.spam.me> wrote in message
> news:4b76a281$0$8841$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
>>
>> "Don" <burnettedclothes@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:-fSdnfcyYfVUAOvWnZ2dnUVZ_gSdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>>>
>>> "celcius" <celcius38@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:hl65ms$v6n$1@celcius.motzarella.org...
>>>> Hi all!
>>>> I decided to upgrade to Win 7 after trying if for a few months.
>>>> During the process, it backed up my files to "Windows old" and wiped my
>>>> HD before upgrading.
>>>> Once finished, I noticed that a new drive called "system reserved" had
>>>> been created. Out of the new 100 Mb HD, 28.1 is occupied, yet I don't
>>>> see any files.
>>>> A hundred megs out of 500 Gigs isn't a lot to worry about, yet I'm
>>>> curious to know whether I made a mistake during the installation or
>>>> whether this is the way Win 7 installs.
>>>> Is that new HD a partition? Can I and should I get rid of it? Is so,
>>>> how? (without having to start all over again ;-)
>>>> Thanks for any help and enlightenment.
>>>> Marcel
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes it is, that mysterious 100mb partition is new with Windows 7.
>>> It is a system reserved partition at the beginning of the disk. The
>>> remainder of the unallocated space on the disc or partition will be your
>>> system drive, or C drive for example.
>>> The 100 mb partition is not assigned a drive letter, so you really won't
>>> see it unless you look in the disk management console, or another low
>>> level utility to look at the disk structure.
>>>
>>> The small 100 mb partition serves two functions. It holds the Boot
>>> Manager code and the Boot Configuration database. And it reserves space
>>> for the startup files required by BitLocker Drive Encryption.
>>>
>>> So no you did nothing wrong and it is completely normal in Windows 7.

>>
>> So what happens if you install windows on a disk that already have 3
>> Primary partitions.
>> The install can't create a 5th for System Reserved use.
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Don

>>
>>
>>
 
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