Recovery(D:) drive is full. How can I fix this please?

[Tamazyn]

My Compaq Presario CQ60-320SA has a full recovery (D:) drive. I think I may have saved some back-ups onto it when I should not  have done. How can I remove all the things that are not supposed to be on there? I have asked Microsoft and they said I need to ask someone at HP because the Recovery Drive is yours. Any helpful suggestions would be most appreciated.

[HaggisCat]

If you want to look what's in there and start removing things, do it with extreme caution.

 The recovery partition will show as being full in the first place. It's designed to be just big enough to hold all the files and folders to restore your laptop.

 Go to Computer and click on the recovery partition. If there ars any other files in there other then recovery they should show up here and you may be able to move those to another part of the hard drive. If you try to open the file for recovery you will get a warning not to go any further. I believe the recovery partition will not let you put any thing in the actual folder itself, but I could be wrong here.

 To actually look into the recovery partition itself, do this. At the top of the page click on "organize" > folders and search options > Click "view" in that window >

 Tick the circle "Show hidden files folders and drives"

Untick the box "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder"

                         Hide extensions for known file types

                         Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)

You will get a warning here and say "yes".

At this point you should be able to expand all the files in recovery. Now look at the dates beside the files. There may even be some specific times beside them. If the dates and times coincide with the files that you accidentally put in there, then those are the ones that you may move. I am not going to tell you to delete them as the computer may not have given you user permission to do so even move them for that matter. If you do delete them they will end up in the delete file to a point until the delete file says they are too big to be put into the delete file and they will be gone for good.

 If the delete folder will hold them all the the advantage to this is that you can say "restore all files" if you realize later on that you should have not removed them.

At the end of all of this make sure to go back to your "Folder Options" window and click Restore Defaults. That's important !

 Be very careful here as you may corrupt your recovery partition and if you ever have to restore your laptop, you will have to order some recovery DVD's fro HP.

 I wouldn't even touch this really, it's playing with dynamite and matches. On my machine I ordered the recovery DVD's from HP so I deleted the partition using the recovery manager.

 Some one else here like Cheryl or Daniel may have other suggestions, as I have never tampered with the recovery partition before , but this is what you would do to look in there. I wouldn't touch any thing though.

 How full is it ? How much space is left ? Is it giving a warning sign that it's too full ?

[Tamazyn]

When I bought the laptop I think the recovery drive was approximately at half full. Last week I was down to double figures of space left on the drive. However now it is not giving me anything at all in the properties box. It reads 0 bytes for Used space,Free space,& Capacity. I did what you said to look into the recovery partition, but it still reads that:  Location is not available.  D:\ is not accessible.  Access is denied.

Really not sure how to proceed next? Is there anyway I can check that it is still there and uncorrupted from the boot menu, or command prompt perhaps?

I am a little concerned that I can not see any data on it anymore.

[umwolve]

Not trying to hijack your thread but I have a question. If you do accidentally delete the recovery partition, because I think I did, and you DO have the Recovery DVD how do you put the stuff back on the computer? Is there a quick step by step process you can share?

[Tamazyn]

So on the hp: System Information,Hardware: Hard Drives.

 Configuration

Partition     Size (GB)    Free Space (GB)

C:\                222.27        146.51

D:\                  10.61             1.88 

If it does not reduce performance or cause any issues I am happy to leave it as is. I would like to check that it is there and in original condition should I need to use it at some point in the future. Is there a way to get access just to check it has not been corrupted?

[HaggisCat]

@ Tamazyn

  I am sorry that's all I have for you. The recovery partition is acting normal in the fact that it won't let you in there, however it is strange that it would not let you see the files after you change the permissions on that. (HP may have changed something)

 The other odd thing is when the laptop was new, the recovery partition was only half full. I have only seen them with in 1 or 2 GB of being full when new. 

If the partition starts growing and robbing you of space from drive "C" then you can use the recovery manager to delete it. Order some recovery disc's from HP or create your own using the recovery manager. Do this first before you delete it of course. Use only DVD-R or DVD+R not rewritable. Only use Sony or Verbatim, don't use cheap generic brands. In fact I only trust Sony.

 The other thing I recommend is to burn some recovery disc's using some third party software. That way you can recover your machine back the way it is now and not back to factory condition when it was new.

 Here are some links from Cheryl for the software. Second one from the bottom.

 http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Operating-systems-and-software/Creating-Recovery-DVD-s-and-deleting-the...

 Even if you could get into the back up files, they are difficult to delete. Because they are back up files your computer does not give you permission to delete them. You can change permission, but you have to do it on each folder and probably each file. You would be there a long time.

 As for the corruption of the recovery partition, it probably is fine. Some people try to gain space and reduce it's size using Windows and it doesn't like that. I am going to assume that you have never had a virus attack either which can cause problems with it.

 Any ways, create some recovery disc's or order some from HP, (a precaution) delete the recovery partition and use the third party software and make your own. Delete the partition first then make your own, that way the recovery partition will not be there if you have to restore your machine using the third party disc's.

 This is not quite what you wanted, but you may never find out what is going on in that partition.

 One of the others may jump in here on this.

[HaggisCat]

@Tamazyn

So on the hp: System Information,Hardware: Hard Drives.

 Configuration

Partition     Size (GB)    Free Space (GB)

C:\                222.27        146.51

D:\                  10.61             1.88 

If it does not reduce performance or cause any issues I am happy to leave it as is. I would like to check that it is there and in original condition should I need to use it at some point in the future. Is there a way to get access just to check it has not been corrupted?

  That looks normal. It's strange that it was only half full when you bought the machine. If you want you may follow my recommendations in my other answer, but use your recovery manager to create some recovery disc's. You don't have to delete the recovery partition if you don't want to, but make create some disc's.

 I don't know of any way to get in there and check and make sure to see that it's not corrupted. Use the third party software to also create bootable disc's and then you won't have to worry so much about the partition "D".  This will work great since I get the impression that your laptop is running well.

[HaggisCat]

@umwolve

 If you have deleted the recovery partition "D" then it's gone for good. The only way to get it back is to order some recovery disc's from HP and that will restore the partition and put the whole computer back to factory spec. It will also wipe put all your personal information and any changes that you have made after the laptop was new.

 This was to answer your question. Here is what I would do now.

Use the third party software from the link I gave Tamazyn and create some bootable disc's. You won't have to worry about the loss of the HP recovery partition and when if you do have to restore your machine it will be as you want it, with all your personal stuff in tact.

 Use Sony non rewritable DVD's. Keep them out of the sun and store them in a cool place.

[Tamazyn]

Is that the covered in the disks you are supposed to write as soon as you have bought your machine, or is that just for your  Windows programs, or something else?

[HaggisCat · Accepted solution]

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01895783

 It's the one's that you are supposed to make when you first bought the machine. It copies the recovery partition in "D" , more or less and it is a precautionary measure in case your laptop becomes so corrupted that you can't use f11 to recover your laptop. Read the tutorial. If you navigate around, there is all sorts of useful information that you can use.