Hi all. Lately, I have been noticing some strange behavior with Windows 10 1909 when I install a new hard drive or SSD. I just installed a new backup SSD in my laptop, and although I have done this hundreds of times, lately I have been getting a 16 MB Other Partition that is not created by me. Even stranger... When I initialized and formatted the secondary SSD, Windows 10 Disk Management not only created a 16 MB Other Partition on my new secondary SSD, but also on my primary Operating System SSD. This is not the first time this has happened, and I have simply deleted it and extended the other partition on my secondary drive. But this time, I also have it on my primary drive, and after a quick Googling, I noticed that someone deleted the 16 MB Other partition on their primary Operating System drive, and it rendered their computer unbootable. Can I safely delete the 16 MB Other Partition on my primary drive also? Thanks all...
Hadron, that 16 MB partition is the MSR. Microsoft Reserved Partition. It is supposed to be present on all GPT disks. The default MSR size is 16 MB with Win10 but it used to be 128 MB. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/pr.../design/dn640535(v=vs.85)?redirectedfrom=MSDN The MSR isn't seen in Disk Management.
Brian, why is it on my secondary D drive? And why is it not on my other computers on either drive? And why did it just appear on this particular laptop on both drives after installing a new drive?
It would have been present on your primary drive since the OS was installed. A Win10 install creates 4 partitions. RE, ESP, MSR and Windows. Not necessarily in that order. It would have been created on your secondary drive when the drive was initialized to GPT. It's normal in both cases. Remember, you can't see it in Windows Explorer or Disk Management. Some imaging apps don't see it. Diskpart sees it.
Regarding the laptop and others I have recently added drives to, do I now have to have 2 system reserved partitions every time I go into Disk Management? And it still doesn't make sense with non operating system drives. I think something has changed in v1909.
Disk 1 is MBR and will not have a MSR. Only GPT disks have a MSR. According to Microsoft, Disks 2 and 3 should have a MSR. What software initialized those disk? Or did they not require to be initialized by you?
In your MBR computer, run Diskpart to confirm it isn't a bug in MiniTool with a MBR OS disk. diskpart list disk select disk 2 list par
Or did you delete the MSRs on Disk 2 and 3 in the MBR OS computer? You mentioned you have deleted MSRs.
Backup apps can see it also. e.g. Reflect can see it. Well, I have already deleted it on my backup drive as I have done in the past.
