Recovery Drive reporting Low Disk Space

[JLBH1]

Here goes with my next problem:

Since I recently completed a fresh install of Windows 10 64bit on my dv7, I have been receiving CONSTANT - and I mean every few seconds! - notifications that:

"You are running out of disk space on Recovery Drive (D:) Click here to see if you can free some space."

Clicking on the notification provides no mechanisms to remove disk content, showing 0 bytes available to remove.

Looking at Drive 😧 Properties, the (presumably a partition) has a capacity of 25GB with 1.89MB free space .... so there is clearly a problem.

Looking at Drive 😧 contents, there are only two folders. One is labelled Recovery (containing 366,000KB) and the other Windows10Upgrade (containing 3,072,512KB). I am assuming that there are files or folders that I am unable to see, despite setting View: Hidden Items in File Manager.

The Windows 10Upgrade folder is dated to coincide with my recent fresh install of Windows 10 and therefore, is likely to allow me to recover my last copy of Windows 10. Presumably, now that I have been running my fresh installation for nearly a month, can be deleted.

I assume that the Recovery folder is likely to be my original Windows 8 Recovery copy which I was exhorted to keep by HP under pain of being unabe to recover the machine if that was deleted.

I doubt very much that I shall ever go back to Windows 8 or 8.1 since despite the several apparent incompatibilities of HP hardware with Windows 10, I prefer the OS and I prefer the security offered by keeping fully up to date. 

Can one of you clever folks who know about this stuff please advise me what I really HAVE to keep and what I can safely delete?

Many thanks,

JLBH1 

[IT_WinSec]

Hello @JLBH1

Thank you for posting in the HP Support forum. I will be glad to help you.

In order to provide you with the best advice possible, please let me know (confirm my assumptions) :

- do you login in Windows with a local account or Microsoft connected account ?

- your Windows activation status and how Windows 10 is registered - go to Start -> Settings -> Update&Security -> Activation .. let me know what it says about Windows activation - digital entitlement or what...

Thank you. Looking forward to your reply

[JLBH1]

Hello IT_WinSec.

Many thanks for your kind offer of help.

I am using Windows 10 Home Build 1703 on a HP Envy dv7.

I login using a Microsoft connected account.

In the Activation section of Settings, the entry reads that Windows is activated with a digital licence linked to my Microsoft account.

The reported reduction in drive space in Drive D:, (the recovery drive) began to be reported immediately after Microsoft's UK telephone support assisted me with installing the Build 1703 upgrade to Windows 10 around mid September. The update had been failing for a number of weeks and I was concerned about security. The agents I contacted were unable to correct whatever was causing the update failure and advised me that the only way to resolve the problem was to carry out a fresh install of Windows 10. I agreed to do that and the install was completed from a downloaded ISO file. When it had completed, I had to reinstall all my applications - although most of my personal files were unaffected. 

Pretty much immediately, I began to get notifications that the 😧 drive was running out of space. I clicked on the notification to clean up the drive and saw that there were 0 bytes available to clean up. I then looked at the drive properties and could see that of the 25GB allocated in the partition, there was only 1.89MB of space remaining.

Looking deeper at the drive contents in File Manager, I could see two folders:

- Recovery (containing a folder described as WindowsRE (dated 5/5/2013, in turn, containing a file named WinUCRD.wim of size 365,632KB, dated 5/5/2013 ) and  four files), and

- Windows10Upgrade (containing a file 15063.0.170710-1358.rs2_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTCombinedSL_RET_x64fre_en-gb.esd of size 3,072,512KB).

I suspect that the Recovery folder, dated 31/01/2014 is of my original Windows 8 installation (which was installed on the machine when I bought it). I took a DVD copy of the recovery files as recommended by HP, probably around 31/1/2014. It may well be the Windows 8.1 installation.

I can only assume that the Windows10Upgrade folder is a copy of my previous Win 10 installation as the folder is dated 14/09/2017 which, I think, is when the ISO file was used to prepare a fresh install on the machine.

For the record, I don't think I ever want to go back to Windows 8  or to Windows 8.1. I am very happy with Windows 10 although I am aware that there are apparently Envy dv7 machine incompatibilities with Windows 10. It seems that those same incompatibilites are present on Windows 8.1 too. Those incompatibilities do not seem to be insurmountable and there seems to be a lot of very professional support available on this forum when needed. I would be perfectly happy to lose the Windows 8 and Windows 10 Upgrade files in the D drive but  the file sizes most definitely do not add up to almost 25GB ...... and I can't see why!!

Many thanks for your help,

John

[IT_WinSec · Accepted solution]

Hey @JLBH1

Based on your description, you are safe to erase this folder in D:\

In case it is needed, you can reinstall Windows competely and re-activate it using your Microsoft account. Don't worry.

[JLBH1]

Many thanks IT_Winsec. I'll do as you suggest.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

John

[IT_WinSec]

You are most welcome @JLBH1

[JLBH1]

Hello IT_Winsec.

I realise that I have marked this thread as resolved and indeed, from your point of view, it is. However, I am hoping that I can re-open the thread since after marking the thread as resolved, I went off to look at how best to delet parts of the recovery drive ..... and discovered that it is not as straightforward as I had expected - I can't just dive in there and delete stuff!!

What I do want to do if possible is to remove what I think is the copy of my last Windows 10 installation. That is a folder labelled Windows10Upgrade which appears to contain only one file with the name 15063.0.170710-1358.rs2_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTCombinedSL_RET_x64fre_en-gb.esd, dated 14/09/2017.

The other folder in the drive is labelled recovery and there is also a file labelled RMCStatus.bin sitting alongside the two folders.

I am probably being a tad wimpish but having goy my machine into a reasonable state, I'm now keen to make sure it stays that way. I am never likely to want to go back to Win 8 or 8.1 so I would happily delete the whole recovery drive to recover the space it takes up but haveing read a little about it all, it seems that by deleting the recovery drive, I can prevent my machine from  booting.

Thanks for all your help,

JLBH1

[IT_WinSec]

Hello,

My comments are below in blue :

---

@JLBH1 wrote:

Hello IT_Winsec.

I realise that I have marked this thread as resolved and indeed, from your point of view, it is. However, I am hoping that I can re-open the thread since after marking the thread as resolved, I went off to look at how best to delet parts of the recovery drive ..... and discovered that it is not as straightforward as I had expected - I can't just dive in there and delete stuff!!

---

Hi ,

The thread is not closed, so you are free to post, don't worry about this

---

@JLBH1 wrote:

What I do want to do if possible is to remove what I think is the copy of my last Windows 10 installation. That is a folder labelled Windows10Upgrade which appears to contain only one file with the name 15063.0.170710-1358.rs2_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTCombinedSL_RET_x64fre_en-gb.esd, dated 14/09/2017.

The other folder in the drive is labelled recovery and there is also a file labelled RMCStatus.bin sitting alongside the two folders.

---

As mentioned above, the problem here is the Windows10Upgrade folder which is bigger. The .esd file image is safe to be deleted. Even if you break something (which is not the case here), your Windows is activated and you will be able to recover easily bit this is not the case here.

You can delete the folder abelled Windows10Upgrade

You may also run Disk Clean Up and check these official articles (one of them is for Win 8 but is applicable for Win 10, too) :

>> https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03737312

>> https://support.hp.com/sg-en/document/c03458013

Hope this helps and that this is clear for you.

[JLBH1]

Many thanks IT_WinSec.

That really is crystal clear and thanks for the additional links. All have bolstered my confidence and I'll now get rid of the Windows 10 upgrade file.

I just got and installed the Creator's Update today ..... exciting stuff.

Thanks for all your help and support - I'm grateful.

JLBH1

[IT_WinSec]

You are welcome, @JLBH1

Take care !