SSD Recovery Partition

[ZeeOSix]

I was looking at the SSD layout in my laptop and see that there are Recovery partitions that have 100% free space. So I'm thinking there are no recovery files in these partitions. Also, if I look at the SSD under the defragmentation tool, I only see the C drive and don't see any Recovery Drive, so maybe another indication there is absolutely nothing in them. Do I just need to open "Recovery Drive" application and have it put files in the Recovery partition of the SSD like described in the article link below? I wonder why Dell didn't do this before sending the laptop out. I'm assuming the "Recovery Drive" application will see the already existing recovery partitions and do it's thing - ??. Once a Recovery partition is populated with files, does it ever need to be updated later, or is it a one time thing? https://www.anyrecover.com/deleted-files-recovery-data/create-recovery-partition-windows-10/

 

[javacontour]

Not seeing the drive letter for additional partitions doesn't indicate anything other than it's not mounted. What does make me think you could be right is no file system type is listed. Your C drive is listed as NTFS, while the others are not. I believe you can right click on those and if you can assign them a drive letter. If you can, then you can look at them to see if they contain anything. The other thing to do is see if you can do whatever dance is needed to boot the recovery partition. I suppose vendors can store information in the recovery partition any fashion that works for them. So maybe it's not a file system that can be mounted. Just because you boot the recovery partition doesn't mean you have to perform a recovery. You don't mention what Dell you have, if this is the original drive, and so on. Perhaps Dell has a utility in their support site that will check and validate the recovery partition. If you are really worried, you can make bootable media from Windows. It is a good idea to check them out to see that you can boot from them, should you need to perform a recovery. No matter what the final answer is, it's not a good idea to wait until you are in a crisis to see if your recovery strategy is sound.

 

[Pew]

I've noticed the HPs that I order for work are the same - multiple recovery partitions, one might be for the OS and one might be for HP applications. I always do a clean install of Win10 anyways so the partitions get removed.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted by Pew

I've noticed the HPs that I order for work are the same - multiple recovery partitions, one might be for the OS and one might be for HP applications. I always do a clean install of Win10 anyways so the partitions get removed.

I saw as much as 6 partitions on some...

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by javacontour

Not seeing the drive letter for additional partitions doesn't indicate anything other than it's not mounted. What does make me think you could be right is no file system type is listed. Your C drive is listed as NTFS, while the others are not. I believe you can right click on those and if you can assign them a drive letter. If you can, then you can look at them to see if they contain anything.

If I right click on any of the 4 partitions that I put the red box around, the only option is "Help". So there is nothing that can be done with them in the Windows "Disk Management" tool. Note - I'm not trying to change or delete the Recovery partitions, just trying to verify if they are valid and would work if needed. I opened the "Recovery Drive" application in Windows to see what media it found, and this is all it showed (screen shot below). It didn't see anything on the C:\ drive, which makes sense because there are already Recovery partitions that show up in Disk Management. So the question I have is this Recovery image basically an ISO image if my C:\ drive since it says it needs 16 GB of space? I can do an ISO image to an external HD as another way to recover from a major failure. Guess the discussion should also be what's the best way to recover from an OS or SSD failure. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028192/windows-create-an-iso-file-for-windows-10

Originally Posted by javacontour

The other thing to do is see if you can do whatever dance is needed to boot the recovery partition. I suppose vendors can store information in the recovery partition any fashion that works for them. So maybe it's not a file system that can be mounted. Just because you boot the recovery partition doesn't mean you have to perform a recovery.

I guess I could go down the path like I was going to do a "Recovery" to see if there's something there, but really don't want to mess around with it not knowing if it would launch is I went down that rabbit hole too far.

Originally Posted by javacontour

You don't mention what Dell you have, if this is the original drive, and so on. Perhaps Dell has a utility in their support site that will check and validate the recovery partition.

It's a Dell Lattitude 5598 laptop. Got it brand new a little less than 2 months ago.

Originally Posted by javacontour

If you are really worried, you can make bootable media from Windows. It is a good idea to check them out to see that you can boot from them, should you need to perform a recovery. No matter what the final answer is, it's not a good idea to wait until you are in a crisis to see if your recovery strategy is sound.

Yes, I will probably create a Recovery image on either a USB flash drive, or create an ISO image on an external HD as described in the Microsoft link above.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix

It's a Dell Lattitude 5598 laptop. Got it brand new a little less than 2 months ago.

Most likely all the recovery files are already on your hard drive, so you don't need to do anything. They may just not be visible to Windows. I'm sure Dell has instructions on their website how to perform the recovery, so you can try out if it works (without actually doing the recovery). Dell also has instructions how to create recovery media in case your SSD completely dies: https://www.dell.com/support/articl...ery-media-for-your-dell-computer?lang=en

 

[JustinH]

Recovery files are already on the drive. I typically delete those partitions and install from fresh, never liked the Dell image. If you want to bring your computer back to factory fresh with no changes, you would boot to the recovery app and it will look at that partition to restore the pc.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Quattro Pete - thanks for the Dell link.The related link in Section 3 ("Use recovery media to factory reset your Dell computer") also has lots of good info on what recovery path to take is problems occur.