Win 7/64 pro "Reserved partition" question
in [64 Bits Windows]
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From: Sardine on 29 Dec 2009 18:42 R.C. : Thank you for the details, you offer a clear picture of the subject. Sard R. C. White wrote: > > Hi, Fungus. > > "Sardine" <sardine8(a)myway.com> wrote in message > news:hhdpor$n0a$1(a)news.xmission.com... >> My installed W7 has its active booting partition be a small 100 MB >> partition that has no drive letter assigned, it is called "reserved". >> I'm told that if I had installed to a formatted drive, this small >> partition would not exist. >> >> I'd like to get rid of it and have W7 boot right to the C: system >> partition. >> >> In doing some fiddling with ShadowProtect Inage Backup I managed to >> eliminate the small partition and now I boot just fine to C: and my >> "F8" function on booting still works fine. >> >> Am I in a "bad" situation or is this acceptable to keep this way? >> >> Fungus > > No, you are not in a "bad" situation. But the way Win7 did it also was > not a "bad" situation. > > Most users do not understand the "backwards" definitions of "system > volume" and "boot volume". See KB 314470, "Definitions for system > volume and boot volume", http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/ , > for the actual meanings, which are opposite to most users' > understanding. And look in the Status column of Disk Management to see > which of your partitions has each of those labels. > > Windows has evolved a lot since the days when there was only a single > HDD with only a single partition that served as BOTH the system and boot > volumes. The typical system - especially for newbies - is still > organized the same way. But many users now have multiple HDDs, and each > HDD might be divided into multiple volumes. > > But the basic boot process hasn't changed through several generations of > Windows. The BIOS hands control to the System Partition, which contains > the boot manager, which locates the boot volume, loads Windows from > there, and turns over control to Windows. Like the letter "Y", the > whole system stands on a single leg, but can branch to either of two > arms, depending on which OS the user chooses for the current session. > Actually, of course, there can be one or more arms. If there is only a > single Windows installed, the "Y" becomes an "I", but the process still > begins with the one leg and then branches to the only arm available. > That one leg is the System Volume; each of the one or more arms is a > potential Boot Volume. > > The System Volume is used just once per session and then typically > ignored until the system is rebooted, so Microsoft tried in Win7 to > eliminate SOME of the confusion by creating that small partition to hold > the few small startup files, and did not even assign that partition a > "drive" letter to keep it from being deleted or used by accident - or by > malware; most users don't even realize it is there. > > Win7 also continues Vista's practice of assigning the letter C: to its > own Boot Volume, rather than to the System Partition, as WinXP and prior > Windows versions did. When installed by booting from the Win7 DVD, > Setup does not know of any prior drive letter assignments, so it assigns > C: to whichever partition the user selects to install Win7 - whether > that is the first partition on the first (or only) HDD, or the 3rd > partition on the 4th HDD. (When installed by running Setup from the > desktop of an existing Windows installation, Win7 Setup uses the letters > previously assigned by that existing Windows.) > > So the hidden partition you saw was "by design" and Win7 should have > worked very well with it. By eliminating that partition and making > another partition your system volume, you've changed the location of the > bottom leg of the "Y" in my illustration, but so long as that leg exists > and the BIOS can locate it, your system should boot just fine. The only > real requirement for the system volume is that it be the Active primary > partition on the HDD designated in the BIOS as the boot device. > > RC
From: Carlos on 30 Dec 2009 07:01 Charlie, And it is also quite handy as a recovery environment. Somehow my boot was screwed up when testing a liveCD (Geexbox) and I didn't had to resort to my installation DVD. The reserved partition software took care of everything and fixed my no-boot situation. Carlos "Charlie Russel - MVP" wrote: > This small reserved partition had another reason for existance as well -- > BitLocker requires a small system partition that is unencrypted. In Vista, > you had to either manually create this, or use the tool that was provided to > create it when you enabled BitLocker. In Win7, this is created by default. > > -- > Charlie. > http://msmvps.com/blogs/russel > > > > > "Bobby Johnson" <rjohnson(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:eMgHL4MiKHA.2164(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > > The 100MB reserved partition is the default structure Microsoft designed > > into Windows 7 when doing a clean install. This was supposed to as a > > security measure to reduce the affect of malware writing to your boot > > partition. > > > > The best thing to do is to just ignore it and forget about it. > > > > > > On 2009-12-29 15:45, Sardine wrote: > >> My installed W7 has its active booting partition be a small 100 MB > >> partition that has no drive letter assigned, it is called "reserved". > >> I'm told that if I had installed to a formatted drive, this small > >> partition would not exist. > >> > >> I'd like to get rid of it and have W7 boot right to the C: system > >> partition. > >> > >> In doing some fiddling with ShadowProtect Inage Backup I managed to > >> eliminate the small partition and now I boot just fine to C: and my "F8" > >> function on booting still works fine. > >> > >> Am I in a "bad" situation or is this acceptable to keep this way? > >> > >> Fungus > > . >
From: Charlie Russel - MVP on 30 Dec 2009 08:28
Yes, that's where the recovery files are. Again, they need to be on a non-encrypted partition, and thus reside here for the scenario where BitLocker is used on the C: drive. It's also a recognition that HDs have gotten very large indeed, and the "loss" of a small portion like this doesn't significantly impact the effective size. -- Charlie. http://msmvps.com/blogs/russel "Carlos" <Carlos(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:FCCEAD80-B15A-4E08-A848-77F3A111AFD1(a)microsoft.com... > Charlie, > And it is also quite handy as a recovery environment. > Somehow my boot was screwed up when testing a liveCD (Geexbox) and I > didn't > had to resort to my installation DVD. > The reserved partition software took care of everything and fixed my > no-boot > situation. > Carlos > > "Charlie Russel - MVP" wrote: > >> This small reserved partition had another reason for existance as well -- >> BitLocker requires a small system partition that is unencrypted. In >> Vista, >> you had to either manually create this, or use the tool that was provided >> to >> create it when you enabled BitLocker. In Win7, this is created by >> default. >> >> -- >> Charlie. >> http://msmvps.com/blogs/russel >> >> >> >> >> "Bobby Johnson" <rjohnson(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message >> news:eMgHL4MiKHA.2164(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >> > The 100MB reserved partition is the default structure Microsoft >> > designed >> > into Windows 7 when doing a clean install. This was supposed to as a >> > security measure to reduce the affect of malware writing to your boot >> > partition. >> > >> > The best thing to do is to just ignore it and forget about it. >> > >> > >> > On 2009-12-29 15:45, Sardine wrote: >> >> My installed W7 has its active booting partition be a small 100 MB >> >> partition that has no drive letter assigned, it is called "reserved". >> >> I'm told that if I had installed to a formatted drive, this small >> >> partition would not exist. >> >> >> >> I'd like to get rid of it and have W7 boot right to the C: system >> >> partition. >> >> >> >> In doing some fiddling with ShadowProtect Inage Backup I managed to >> >> eliminate the small partition and now I boot just fine to C: and my >> >> "F8" >> >> function on booting still works fine. >> >> >> >> Am I in a "bad" situation or is this acceptable to keep this way? >> >> >> >> Fungus >> >> . >> |