Setting up new windows with 6 partitions on an SSD
Setting up new windows with 6 partitions on an SSD
Hi everyone, I encountered an issue after a failed update—my laptop won’t repair itself or boot. I tried using the Windows 10 media creation tool on a USB drive and followed some repair steps from YouTube tutorials, but it didn’t help. Eventually, I moved everything to Ubuntu on a separate drive and copied most of my data. I was planning a clean reinstall, but when I opened the disk selection window, I noticed the SSD is 128GB and the main drive is selected. There are several recovery partitions listed, possibly related to the commands I used earlier. I’m unsure what to do next. Should I stick with the chosen partition and skip the rest, or should I remove those partitions to free space on the primary drive? I also heard that even after a fresh install, Windows keeps old files in Windows.old, which would be nice to have removed. Thanks for your advice!
For essential data, keep key partitions intact. If you no longer require certain files or can restore them later, remove those partitions. Ensure you retain any warranty coverage before deleting the recovery partition, as doing so may cancel it.
I don’t rely on the laptop much these days, so extra space isn’t necessary. I’ll just keep them here; they’re easy to find and delete later if needed. The device is from 2013, so warranty probably doesn’t apply, but I’ll hold onto it. Appreciate the response!
I didn't create these partitions, so it's unclear what would be inside them. Perhaps I'll reinstall Windows on the main drive and check what's there afterward. If I later remove them after reinstalling, would the main drive recover all the space? Also, I saw online that you need 20GB of free space to reinstall 64-bit Windows—doing so now has me worried since I have 26GB, but I wanted to confirm it's sufficient.
From memory you can enlarge an existing volume to include unused HDD space within a partition, allowing you to reintegrate it into the main partition. I haven’t tried this recently, so I’m uncertain about the process in Windows 10. When Windows is installed onto a partition, it will format that partition and erase any data on it. If you mean Partition 4 for Acer with 105GB capacity and 26GB free space, all current data will be deleted and it will be reformatted to its full 105GB capacity before Windows installation.
The number of partitions exists because one holds the ACER image needed to restore your PC to a fresh state. You’d likely need to discover the right setup, but probably it involves booting while holding F1 to reinstall the image. Would this protect your data? I’m not sure, but ACER would explain if they had concerns. If not, you could simply reinstall into Partition 4. You might be able to delete the remaining partitions if desired, though I wouldn’t do that right now—consider it for later if you need more space.
It's unusual to see these partitions for the first time. They weren't present in Windows before, and it seems you haven't used Disk Management on this system before. Perhaps they existed but weren't displayed in Explorer.