Empty NTFS partitions on my SDD; what's the use?

By kiddingguy
in Microsoft (Windows)

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kiddingguy

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After I cloned my SSD I see that there are empty, non drive-letters, partitions on muy SSD.

What's the use of this? Can they be safely deleted? [for space-sake they can remain, because this drive has lots of free space].

Just wondering...

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Mindovermaster Moderator

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First partition should be for boot. I see it all the time with Linux systems.

Why they are "fragmented" like that, not sure.. Maybe they use it for storing system data? IDK..

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dwd999

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Normally there would be only 4 partitions, 3 of which are used for Recovery and maintenance functions. DO NOT mess with any of these partitions since you could render your disk unusable if you delete something microsoft thinks is necessary.

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+Matthew S. Subscriber²

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Technically your EFI Partition should only be 100MB (the very first one), and shouldn't have any gap between that and the Windows partition, the recovery partition (the last one) can vary but is generally around 600MB.

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+Warwagon MVC

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On 25/03/2023 at 23:48, Matthew S. said:

Technically your EFI Partition should only be 100MB (the very first one), and shouldn't have any gap between that and the Windows partition, the recovery partition (the last one) can vary but is generally around 600MB.

Unless t's an OEM install then it's not uncommon to see a Schmorgan's board of partitions.

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Jim K Global Moderator

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Can't really do anything with the "Other" 16MB.  Assuming it's a MSR partition.

If you're worried about any possible data in the 837 and 650mb ... you should be able to just assign them drive letters and take a look inside.  Afterwards, you should be able to safely delete them causing them to become unallocated ... and extend the partitions of C and Z.  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Does that 500+ GB partition have a drive letter...assuming it does?  What's up with the two smaller T and Z partitions?  Man, that's just a messy looking drive layout.

 

On 25/03/2023 at 23:48, Matthew S. said:

Technically your EFI Partition should only be 100MB (the very first one), and shouldn't have any gap between that and the Windows partition, the recovery partition (the last one) can vary but is generally around 600MB.

It's probably one of the ASUS notebooks in his sig block.  My Dell notebook has a 650 EFI partition ... my ASUS notebook is 345mb.  My home built desktop is 100.

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+Matthew S. Subscriber²

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On 26/03/2023 at 07:06, Warwagon said:

Unless t's an OEM install then it's not uncommon to see a Schmorgan's board of partitions.

True, I did forget about OEM bloat.  Having only ever owned one Windows-based laptop which was well before UEFI...

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+BudMan MVC

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On 26/03/2023 at 06:08, Jim K said:

Man, that's just a messy looking drive layout.

Agreed ;) what is odd they don't look to be recovery partitions.. Even when you install windows native on the drive - shouldn't there be the recovery partition for say windows 10.. Those wouldn't show up as ntfs partitions..

That  looks to be self inflicted - or redoing maybe the recovery partitions that an OEM might do..

 

 

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kiddingguy

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On 26/03/2023 at 15:06, BudMan said:

Agreed ;) what is odd they don't look to be recovery partitions.. Even when you install windows native on the drive - shouldn't there be the recovery partition for say windows 10.. Those wouldn't show up as ntfs partitions..

That  looks to be self inflicted - or redoing maybe the recovery partitions that an OEM might do..

 

 

It were recovery drives.

However, I put Win 11 Pro on it [with a purchased key], so I don't really need the Asus recovery anymore... drivers and software can be downloaded based on the model.

I rearranged the layout. And everything's working fine. 

The G: General is 'spare GB's' put on other drive :laugh:

Is this better drive layout-speaking?!

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+BudMan MVC

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Even if you install windows 10/11 clean there should be a recovery partition.. This allows you to "reset" etc..

Not saying you have to have that - you could always do a clean install again if things go sideways.. But then again its not so large of amount of space that it should matter..  And pretty sure it contains recovery tools that could be used in the fixing of issues.. etc.

I don't see the point of like that G drive, why not just make it all just your OS drive?  I don't see the point of your temp and swap partitions either - do you ever even use swap?

Partitioning your drives like that make more sense in a multi user setup where you don't want some user using your whole disk with their stuff and killing the space the OS has for its use, etc.   In a single user machine they don't have as much use, and limit your use of possible space, etc.

 

 

 

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kiddingguy

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On 26/03/2023 at 19:32, BudMan said:

Even if you install windows 10/11 clean there should be a recovery partition.. This allows you to "reset" etc..

Not saying you have to have that - you could always do a clean install again if things go sideways.. But then again its not so large of amount of space that it should matter..  And pretty sure it contains recovery tools that could be used in the fixing of issues.. etc.

I don't see the point of like that G drive, why not just make it all just your OS drive?  I don't see the point of your temp and swap partitions either - do you ever even use swap?

Partitioning your drives like that make more sense in a multi user setup where you don't want some user using your whole disk with their stuff and killing the space the OS has for its use, etc.   In a single user machine they don't have as much use, and limit your use of possible space, etc.

 

 

 

This is from a clean install disk [other computer]. I don't see any 'reset' partition...

Ah well.. when your computer's not working as is should, better to clean install anyhow.

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Nick H. Supervisor

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On 26/03/2023 at 19:32, BudMan said:

Even if you install windows 10/11 clean there should be a recovery partition.. This allows you to "reset" etc..

Yeah, don't get rid of that. I have learned the hard way. I decided to reset the laptop and it went, "oops something went wrong." Because cleverclogs that I am thought, "meh, I'm never going to need that option." So I had to reinstall the whole Windows partition again. Ultimately it was going to be the same process, but I did have to make sure my documents and such were backed up to their latest version before I went ahead.

 

On 26/03/2023 at 19:32, BudMan said:

 don't see the point of like that G drive, why not just make it all just your OS drive?  I don't see the point of your temp and swap partitions either - do you ever even use swap?

Partitioning your drives like that make more sense in a multi user setup where you don't want some user using your whole disk with their stuff and killing the space the OS has for its use, etc.   In a single user machine they don't have as much use, and limit your use of possible space, etc.

I would argue that if you are dual-booting or trying to access information from one OS to another over a network you might want a common filesystem area that both systems could access, but I agree that there are easier solutions.

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+BudMan MVC

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On 26/03/2023 at 13:18, Nick H. said:

dual-booting or trying to access information from one OS to another over a network

While I agree with dual-boot, but does anyone even do that any more.. Back in the day sure I could boot multiple OSes - but now just run a VM, or for my linux fix just run it on a pi, or of late I have just been using wsl in windows..   Also use cygwin etc..   I just don't see the need to partition a disk like being done, other than like uefi or some sort of recovery partition, etc.  For my storage/os needs I would just use 1 partition.. 

But over a network - makes no difference what the file system is.. As long as the server that is sharing it can access it, for example my nas disks are btrfs - windows sure doesn't understand that filesystem ;)

 

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Nick H. Supervisor

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On 26/03/2023 at 23:28, BudMan said:

While I agree with dual-boot, but does anyone even do that any more..

*tentatively raises his hand*

I do. But I'm running on a geriatric laptop, 9 years old or so. :laugh:

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