System Restore Partitions on Z230 Upgraded to Windows 10

[Gwhite1]

I have a 4 year old Z230 workstation that was upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10.  I originally set up the system with several partitions ('C:' thru 'F:'), including the original HP Recovery partition (now 'J:').  After a recent Windows 10 update, I've suddenly got an extra drive partition showing up ('I:').  It is only 449 Mbytes, with 38 Mbytes free, so Windows is now constantly nagging me that it's nearly out of space.

If I try to examine it in File Explorer, that says there are no files other than the system folders, which it claims are empty.  It's in a weird state, because EaseUS Partition Master says the partiton is "unused", and has no drive letter assigned. Disk Manager shows the drive letter.  It's formatted NTFS, but I can't find ANY files that are chewing up 4/10ths of a GByte.

The only thing I can figure is that this was a hidden partition that was installed by HP (possibly another piece of the recovery system?), but that Windows has suddenly discovered it and decided to assign it a letter.

I can problably use Partition Master to unallocate it and stop the nagging about space, or I could even  adjust my partitions to give it enough space to stop the nagging.  Howwever, it got me to thinking about the main recovery partition as well.  I don't really need the space, but I don't actually ever want to restore the machine back to Windows 7.  I have other backup software that I can use to make a recovery CD.

So, I have two questions:

1) Does anyone know what the mystery partiton is all about?

2) Is the there any reason to keep the Windows 7 HP Recovery partition around?

Thanks!

[mdklassen]

> If I try to examine it in File Explorer, that says there are no files other than the system folders, which it claims are empty. 

Open a command-line prompt, and enter:   DIR I: /S /A /P

to S(earch) all folders, to show A(ll) files, including "hidden" files, and to P(ause) when the window is full.

> Disk Manager shows the drive letter. 

Can you right-mouse-button click on its icon, and choose "Change drive letter", and then choose "Remove" ?

Or, from a command-line prompt, the 'diskpart.exe' can also remove the association between the drive-letter and the partition.

[Gwhite1]

Thanks!  I ran the command line "DIR" as Administrator, and as I suspected, it's a recovery partition of some sort.  Down towards the bottom, it found:

-------------------------

Directory of I:\Recovery\WindowsRE

05/25/2018 06:10 PM <DIR> .
05/25/2018 06:10 PM <DIR> ..
04/11/2018 07:34 PM 3,170,304 boot.sdi
05/25/2018 06:10 PM 1,110 ReAgent.xml
05/25/2018 08:44 PM 408,878,808 Winre.wim
3 File(s) 412,050,222 bytes

Total Files Listed:
4 File(s) 412,050,351 bytes
13 Dir(s) 40,255,488 bytes free

---------------------------------------

Next, I went to Disk Manager (also running as Administrator), and tried right clicking on the offending drive partition.  The only option it gives me is "Help", which doesn't...

So, at least now I know what it's there for.  The system seems to have gotten tired of nagging me about it being low on space, so I can live with it for now.  I'm still tempted just to blow it away along with the other recovery partition, because I really don't want to revert this machine al the way back to Windows 7.

It's also still odd that it appeared suddenly, but in a manner that Partition Master doesn't understand the same way File Explorer and Disk Manager do, i.e. with a drive letter assignment.

[mdklassen]

> 05/25/2018 08:44 PM 408,878,808 Winre.wim

WIN(dows) RE(covery) (dot) W(indows) IM(age), created on May 25, 2018.

Check your "history of installed updates" within Windows Update.  Anything else happen on that date?

> So, at least now I know what it's there for. 

> The system seems to have gotten tired of nagging me about it being low on space,

Maybe, once per reboot, or once per day?

> I'm still tempted just to blow it away along with the other recovery partition,

> because I really don't want to revert this machine al the way back to Windows 7.

Given the date of the file, is it really something associated with Windows 7 ???

> It's also still odd that it appeared suddenly ...

Ha, ha, ha.  It's rare that a file/folder appears "slowly" or "gradually". 

[Gwhite1 · Accepted solution]

Aha!  Thank you!

It was late last night when I did that, and I didn't notice the file dates.  As I mentioned in my original post, the mystery partition appeared after running Windows Update.  What I didn't mention was that the update froze the computer, and after letting it ferment overnight, I had to cycle the power on the machine.   The machine completed the update OK (I thought), but it appears it never finished cleaning up its mess.  

It looks like this is something Windows did as part of the update.  I wonder if they create a temporary boot partition to go through the process of replacing active system files.

I ran a full backup last night, and it looks like I can just kill that partition, probably with Partition Master.  I'll see if it nags me again.

Now that I know it isn't an HP thing, I can also investigate Windows update leaving stray partitions on computers.

Quick Update:  This appears to be a known (to some people...) issue with Windows Update.  A search turned up all sorts of info.  For future victims, here's a good overview:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-creates-extra-disk-partition-fixed