Recovery partition getting in the way of extending C: partition

[sjanzeir]

Hello everyone,

This is my very first post to this forum, so please don't bite my head off if my question has been answered already or if it's in the wrong section.

So, I've had this 1Tb HDD lying around unused, so I had the bright idea of shoving it in place of my Dell Latitude E6410's original 640Gb HDD, use that in place of the old 60Gb HDD on my T60 (a mere 60Gbs just weren't enough to accommodate my Google Drive - running on Linux with InSync - and Mega cloud storage), and put my latest W10 Pro system image on the 1Tb in the E6410.

All well and good so far - except when I checked the partitions after I reinstalled the system image from the original 640Gb, this is what I got:

Which wasn't too surprising, given how Windows works. What I wanted to do was to expand C: into all that extra unallocated space, but as you can see, the recovery partition is in the way. I wouldn't be too surprised, either, if there was no workaround that doesn't involve reinstalling Windows, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed here. So, any suggestions are appreciated.

Shady

 

[Saltgrass]

You need to use a third party partition management software to move the Recovery partition. Something like Partition Wizard would handle that fine and some have bootable media you can use. I do not know what might be available in your part of the world.

After you move the partition you can extend C at the same time or use Disk Management. But don't try to move the partition in front of C since that would get it out of order and probably mess up your boot.

If you are going to Windows 10, you can install over the earlier OS and later do a clean install.

 

[tessssa]

In your situation, a third-party software is a must. Windows built-in utility can only merge an unallocated space which is adjacent and behind your C drive into C drive so to extend it. So having a software to do the job is the only option, I recommend you AOMEI Partition Assistant which is free and convenient.

 

[davehc]

Hi Tesssa, welcome to the forums.. The op is referring to the recovery partition, which does lie behind the primary, and not the all important boot partition, at the front (System reserved)

sjanzeir. First, welcome to you, also.
You can delete the partition manually, if you do not feel you will need to recover. You can, of course, set up the recovery again in Windows 10. With an upgrade, this partition is also used in the process of retuning to your earlier Windows os. Under you circumstances, I think we can assume that you have made a clean install, anyway??
Please, before you follow this, is that is what you ant to do, make a reliable backup of the hard disk!!

To delete it, try this:

1.Right click the start icon and select the Command prompt(Admin).
2.Type Diskpart in the command prompt - Enter.
3. Type rescan at the prompt. - enter - This operation will take a few seconds.
4. Type list disk and press Enter
5.Select the disk, where the partition is sitting - in your case, probably 0, by typing Select disk 0
6. Type list partitions and enter.
7.Carefully select the partition that you wish to delete, by typing select partition x (substitute x)
8. Type delete partition override and enter.

 

[chrunos]

In disk management, you can only extend partition using the unallocated space next to its right side. so even if you shrink D: drive, the option to extend C: drive is still grayed out. You have to delete a contiguous partition, before you can merge partitions in Disk Management. therefore, My suggestion is to use a third party software, AOMEI Partition Assistant, both the standard (free) or the Professional(paid) version will do. you can use it to either move the unallocated space and extend partition with disk Management or directly merge partitions.

Even though you will not lose the data in the process, be sure to backup any data on the disk that you cannot lose first just to be safe in case something happens. Say a power outage while in the middle of merging partitions.

 

[davehc]

The OP wishes to move (or delete) the recovery partition, which lies to the right. Not the System reserved partition, which contains the boot.

fwiw. D. is the DVD drive. But it has been almost a week since the op posted, so possibly he has solved the problem??

 

[shmu26]

Hi, I followed the instructions here, and deleted the recovery partition that was in the way.
I still have a recovery partition at the very end of the disk. (Probably due to reinstalling Windows.)
Question is: am I now good to go, or do I have to repair/recreate my recovery partition?
I think I have to recreate it, because the recovery options in Windows are not finding my recovery data.
Actually, I still have the missing recovery partition in a system image. I suppose I could restore it onto the recovery partition at the end of the disk? Not sure if the sizes match...

 

[shmu26]

Hi, I followed the instructions here, and deleted the recovery partition that was in the way.
I still have a recovery partition at the very end of the disk. (Probably due to reinstalling Windows.)
Question is: am I now good to go, or do I have to repair/recreate my recovery partition?
I think I have to recreate it, because the recovery options in Windows are not finding my recovery data.
Actually, I still have the missing recovery partition in a system image. I suppose I could restore it onto the recovery partition at the end of the disk? Not sure if the sizes match...

I tried the option of restoring from system image onto the recovery partition at the very end of the disk. It seems to have worked. Windows now shows me normal recovery options, which it didn't before.