Is it safe to delete recovery partition?

There are basically two kinds of recovery partition, Windows recovery partitions, and computer supplier’s recovery partitions. Windows recovery partition allows you to boot into Windows recovery environment (WinRE) to restore your computer when problems happen, while the recovery partitions created by manufacturers allow you to press a specific key (usually F9 for HP and F12 for Dell) to recover your computer to the factory default settings.

If you see a few gigabytes recovery partition in Disk Management, it is definitely included by computer manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo. This recovery partition contains an image of everything pre-installed along with operating system. On some computers, it is labeled as OEM reserved partition. You may also see a recovery partition with several gigabytes space and an OEM partition that is less than 100 MB.

The Windows recovery partition consumes much less storage space. For example, Windows 10 recovery partition only takes about 450MB, and even less in the Windows 8 or 7. Therefore, it is recommended to keep the Windows recovery partition. However, if you really need to get rid of the recovery partition, you can create Windows 10 recovery disk with a USB drive, and then Windows 10 will give you an option to delete the current recovery partition for Windows 10.

Which recovery partition should you delete?

If you have upgraded to Windows 10 from previous Windows system, then the factory default recovery partition will not work normally. In that case, you should delete this recovery partition and reclaim disk space.

You only need one Windows recovery partition to be able to use Windows recovery options to fix your system. When you upgrade your system to the next version, Windows may generate another recovery partition. In that case, you should only keep the current recovery partition and delete the rest.

To locate this Windows recovery partition, you can type “reagentc /info” (without quotes) in an elevated command prompt.

Note: from the screenshot above, this “harddisk0\partition3” does not mean the third partition on Disk 0. You can use type the following commands on another command prompt:

diskpart

list disk

select disk 0

list partition

From my end, the second partition is the current Windows recovery partition that you should keep if you want to use the recovery options. Once you have decided which recovery partition to delete, it is easy.

Remove recovery partition with Diskpart

As you know, you are not allowed to delete recovery partition in Windows Disk Management, but you use Diskpart.exe to delete partitions from command prompt. You can use the following steps to remove recovery partition with diskpart:

1. Type "diskpart.exe" in the search box, in the listed results, right-click on Diskpart and select Run as administrator.

2. At a Diskpart prompt, type in "list disk" to display all the disks. Each disk on your computer will be listed with a disk number.

3. Specify the disk that contains the recovery partition by typing in "select disk n", in which "n" should be replaced with the disk number listed before.

4. Type in "list volume" to list all the partitions on the selected disk with all the partition labels, so you can determine which one is the recovery partition to be deleted. If you want to see the partition type, use "list partition" command instead.

5. Specify the partition you want to delete using the volume number, like this: "select volume 3".

6. Type in: "delete volume".

Without a clear interface to show you display the details of each partition, there are chances that you may delete inappropriate partitions. What’s worse, this operation cannot be canceled or undo. For those who are not familiar with Diskpart, the best choice to get rid of recovery partition should be using third party partition manager software.

Delete recovery partition with AOMEI Partition Assistant

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a completely free program that allows you to delete recovery partition and reclaim the storage space without a scratch. Let’s see how to delete recovery partition using AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Step 1. Download this freeware. Install and open it. Right click on the recovery partition you want to delete and select "Delete Partition", and then click “OK”.

Step 2. Select a method to remove the recovery partition and click “OK”.

Step 3.The recovery partition will be displayed as unallocated space. Make sure that is the partition you want to get rid of, and click "Apply" to make the operation in process.

In a few seconds, you will have recovery partition deleted. You can use AOMEI Partition Assistant to add this unallocated space to any partition on this disk by using merge partitions or create a new partition. Besides that, AOMEI Partition Assistant also can be used to clone hard drive, resize partition and so on. If you want to experience more features likeallocating free space, quick partition, you can upgrade to AOMEI Partition Professional.