Can I change the drive letter of the Recovery partition?

[MojoHand]

HP P7-1235, running 64-bit Win7. 1TB HDD

I usually partition my hard drive, so that my data is separated from the operating system and applications.  the OS is in the C: partition, and my Data is usually in D:.  Trouble is: "D:" is being used by the Recovery partition.

Can I change its letter to something else, and will Recovery still work?

[Danjen]

One of the experts will have to tell you for sure but I wouldn't do it. There is a strong chance that part of the recovery software was written to use the "D" drive and if it doesn't see what it is looking for on the D drive, you will not be able to recover.  I recommend you learn to like your data on E.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi,

Danjen is 100% correct.

If you change the drive letter of the recovery partition, it will no longer work.

The recovery manager is set in its ways, and will only look for the recovery partition of drive D.

Also bear in mind that if you store data on another partition and you need to restore your PC, back that data up before doing so, as the entire hard drive will be repartitioned and reformatted, not just the C:\ partition.

Paul

[SomelOguh · Accepted solution]

Hello there,

Well, all has been said about this topic and its correct.

Its better you do not touch the D: partition, do set another letter to your other partiion, if you change the recovery partition you will not be able to use it.

But you can also do one thing, you can go ahead and create your copy of the recovery discs, just grab some DVD's, create your copy of the Recovery Image, then you can change the Recovery partition letter to E: or even delete that.

With a copy of the RCV Discs, you can always use them to restore the unit to factory condition, and that will reformat all your partitions, so create the recovery discs and do whatever you want and prefer with you D: partiion.

Thanks,

[MojoHand]

IT SOUNDS SCARY: Deleting the Recovery partition, even though I have made a set of Recovery disks.  I think I'll just use a different letter for my DATA partition.

I think tha HP should use a different letter for the Recovery partition, a high letter, like "Y" or "Z" or "Q".  That way I could group my custom partitions together (C:, D:, E:, F:, Etc.). It works better that way, in Windows Explorer.

Thanx to all of you, for your quick and helpful responses.  I'm having fun setting up this new computer.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Actually on an old HP PC I once had, the recovery partition was labeled as Q.

I thought:  "What a silly thing to do, and I changed it to "D."

Well, I screwed something up and went to recover the PC and it wouldn't work.

So, I know for a fact that changing the drive letter of the recovery partition is a no-no.

Enjoy your new PC.

Best regards,

Paul

[SomelOguh]

Hello there,

Well, it might sound scary for you, to delete the recovery partion, but you have a set of discs, which are a copy of the HP image. When wou will need to use it, you can even try to delete the partition yourself!

Dont' be afraid it will not hurt deleting the partion, trust us!

Thanks,

Regards

[Danjen]

Make two sets and you will feel better.

[121-user]

Using letter D for the recovery is defenitely NOT a good idea by manufacturer and it is an inconvenient for the codes that have dive D hard coded in it and also being in the way of your everyday work. VERY inconvenient and disturbing. Not the smartest drive letter for sure among these many letters left al[habetically.