Windows 7 installer and "system reserved" partition

[Creer]

Hi,

finally i got my brand new HD - All capacity my new disk is 640GB (596,17GB).
During installation process Windows 7 I created the new partition for system equal 100GB. After that i got additional (hide) partition with 100MB capacity.

Did i smth wrong? Or maybe it is everything OK?
Please look at the screen:

[Kerodo]

No, that's normal. I have that one also. No worries.....

[Creer]

Originally Posted by Kerodo

No, that's normal. I have that one also. No worries.....

Thank you very much for clarification, i have one more question...
In BIOS should i change IDE Controller to AHCI Controller? What are the main differences?

Thanks.

[TOMxEU]

Originally Posted by Creer

In BIOS should i change IDE Controller to AHCI Controller? What are the main differences?

HDD will run in AHCI mode instead of IDE, so NCQ will be enabled, but since you installed Windows in IDE, switching to AHCI will most likely results in BSOD.

As for that 100 MB partition, I do not have it, I wonder what it is for. http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5579/screenk.jpg

[rdsu]

And what is that "System Reserved" partition for?

[Creer]

Originally Posted by TOMxEU

HDD will run in AHCI mode instead of IDE, so NCQ will be enabled, but since you installed Windows in IDE, switching to AHCI will most likely results in BSOD.

As for that 100 MB partition, I do not have it, I wonder what it is for. http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5579/screenk.jpg

Thanks,

i have found test and comparison table with disk works on IDE Controller and second one (the same disk) works on AHCI Controller, and i don't see any significiant results
http://www.abchw.com/content/seagate...-baracuda-es.2

I have heard that even if i have installed OS in IDE it is possible to download from MB website drivers for AHCI and it should works.

About additional 100MB partition i found this:
http://www.shivaranjan.com/2009/05/1...-installation/

Originally Posted by Shivaranjan.com

Windows 7 creates this hidden or recovery partition to store system files and bootable files that are required to boot your computer in recovery mode

[rdsu]

Thanks Creer

I would prefer to have that partition at the end of disk...

[TOMxEU]

I forgot to add, that AHCI can results in improved performance, though it might not, but it will increase CPU usage, with some chips/drivers even to 20-30%.

[Creer]

Originally Posted by rdsu

Thanks Creer

I would prefer to have that partition at the end of disk...

You're welcome.

I believe there are some reasons why this partition is exactly at the beggining of the disk not at the end.

[Creer]

Originally Posted by TOMxEU

I forgot to add, that AHCI can results in improved performance, though it might not, but it will increase CPU usage, with some chips/drivers even to 20-30%.

Ok thanks again I decide that i will stay with IDE Controller so far - if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Btw, my HD Tach result on new disk:

[Creer]

I have one more question about System Reserved partition.
How can i get there during boot? I mean this partition should replace normal DVD Windows 7 with repair mode, but during boot i press F8 and i see only menu list from which disk i'd like to boot my system. Any ideas how to get access to menu where i will have options to restore my system from image or just use rollback option?

[Peter2150]

I wondered about that. When I get my systems from Velocity micro there is no such partition. But they install the OS from scripts. When I do a clean XP install there is indeed a small partition. Apparently MS does that so if you change the disk to dynamic disks that needs to be there.

I got rid of it when I did an image and restore. Before restoring, I told SP to delete not the partition, but the volume. Then when I restored, I didn't create an exact partition from the image, but a new partition using all the free space.

No issues as I don't use dynamic disks.

Pete

[Raza0007]

Originally Posted by Creer

I have one more question about System Reserved partition.
How can i get there during boot? I mean this partition should replace normal DVD Windows 7 with repair mode, but during boot i press F8 and i see only menu list from which disk i'd like to boot my system. Any ideas how to get access to menu where i will have options to restore my system from image or just use rollback option?

Try to press F-12 (the boot option enabler) and see if you get a diagnostic option on the list. Selecting that will boot you into the reserved partition, if it is a diagnostic partition.

If you have SATA hard disk it is recommended to use AHCI controller instead of IDE. It improves you hard disk performance.

I have no idea why you have a system reserved partition. Maybe it has something to do with windows 7 and as I have never installed it I can not comment on it. I normally partition my hard disks using a partition manager first and then install windows. I am sure doing this way you will not have this system reserved partition.

[Creer]

Well, unfortunatelly F12 don't work for me
I have no idea how to get to boot option which (i suppose) is installed on my 100MB System Reserved partition.

I did little investigation in this case and i found that on special System Reserved Partition are files which should start boot mode smth like what you get from DVD with Windows installer, but how activate this still i don't know

Details about C partition with system installed:



Details about System Reserved partition:


Any thoughts?

[Raza0007]

^ F-12 has to do with BIOS. Perhaps your BIOS does not support F-12 or maybe it has a different key for this purpose. On my system if I press F-12 during start up, the system shows me various boot options like CD/DVD drive, hard drive, USB drive etc. I can choose which device to boot into. On that list I had a diagnostic option from Dell and if I chose that it booted into a 80 MB partition created by Dell on my system. I have since then formatted my hard drive and removed this partition.

I do not think it is the windows recovery partition, as that option uses windows PE and even on XP it should be a little more than 100 MB. In Vista the vista PE is about 200 MB. It must be the same size for windows 7.

I would recommend that you image your current OS partition and save if to an different hard disk, then reformat your OS hard disk, removing all partitions. Then restore your OS from the image and update MBR to make the new partition bootable. This is one way to remove this 100 MB recovery partition. If you ever need to use the recovery option you can always boot through the windows 7 DVD. The recovery option is on there.

I hope this helps.

[Creer]

Originally Posted by Raza0007

^ F-12 has to do with BIOS. Perhaps your BIOS does not support F-12 or maybe it has a different key for this purpose. On my system if I press F-12 during start up, the system shows me various boot options like CD/DVD drive, hard drive, USB drive etc. I can choose which device to boot into. On that list I had a diagnostic option from Dell and if I chose that it booted into a 80 MB partition created by Dell on my system. I have since then formatted my hard drive and removed this partition.

I do not think it is the windows recovery partition, as that option uses windows PE and even on XP it should be a little more than 100 MB. In Vista the vista PE is about 200 MB. It must be the same size for windows 7.

I would recommend that you image your current OS partition and save if to an different hard disk, then reformat your OS hard disk, removing all partitions. Then restore your OS from the image and update MBR to make the new partition bootable. This is one way to remove this 100 MB recovery partition. If you ever need to use the recovery option you can always boot through the windows 7 DVD. The recovery option is on there.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for reply,

in my system when i press F8 i see boot options, but there is no separate drive with System reserved partition, I see only my main HD and DVD so i don't know how it should work. I still remember when i used Rollback - it was clearly enough, any time you will be able to easy rollback your system during boot. Here i have to put in my DVD drive Windows 7 installer and then 'repair system' it is too complicated i think.

I really would like to see how this hide System Reserved partition works in practice On the TechNet forums i have read about this and i found information that this special prartition is reserved mainly for BitLocker datas and some boot information

On the other hand - 100MB it's not too much for me - in fact it is only 0.1% capacity of my C: drive, so if it really gives me any benefits then i will leave this alone.

[lodore]

MY hard drive doesnt have a 100mb system reserved partition. currently using Vista.
When I installed windows 7 I got the 100mb system reserved partition.
im more annoyed about the amount of space vista and windows 7 takes up tbh.

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by lodore

about the amount of space vista and windows 7 takes up tbh.

lodore,

If you install Windows7 to a dedicated partition you don't get that "system reserved" partition. Out of interest I installed Windows7 to an 8 GB partition. It leaves just under 2 GB of Free Space.

[lodore]

Hey Brian,
I formatted my C: (system) 50gb partition and installed windows 7 to it and im sure it created the 100mb system reserved partition.
i still have the image of it so may restore it when i feel like testing windows 7 again.

[Creer]

Originally Posted by Brian K

lodore,

If you install Windows7 to a dedicated partition you don't get that "system reserved" partition. Out of interest I installed Windows7 to an 8 GB partition. It leaves just under 2 GB of Free Space.

I can confirm that. In fact when i was installing Windows 7 first time on my 'old' hard disk Seagate 40GB with separate C: partition equal ~11.6GB, then installer didn't create 100MB System Reserved partition.

But when i have installed Windows 7 on brand new HD with unalocated space, then installer has created extra 100MB partition.