Windows 10: New 1803 version created a new disk partition - Can I reclaim it?

After 1803 update on this PC's Windows 10 Pro it created (disk 0 partition 3) never had this before on 1709.
I update another PC same as this Windows 10 Pro & it only had System Reserve 549 MB & The C Drive partition.
I did a disk cleanup & deleted all & no change.

 

Hi all,

My SSD is short on space, it's 240GB.

I've cleaned the new installation file using windows cleaner. However, I have a new partition which is 449MB.
Under disk management, it shows as part of Disk 0 which is my C drive.
It's description is 450MB NTFS, OEM Partition.

Can I reclaim it back?

Thanks.

:)

 

Creating partitions for removable disks in Windows.

Hello, how can we create partitions for removable disks in Windows. I tried it with a program but I took a notification as:
The new created partition cannot be used in Windows. Windows could only recognize the first partition on a removable disk.


Thank you.

 

Disk partition problem

Hi Sparsh,

Can I fix this? I am unable to located the volume.

The answer to your question is no. You'll need to expand the partition you shrunk again to reclaim the space. You cannot convert the disk types of disks that contain the boot partition.

-Sam

 

That is the partition where Windows 10 Recovery tools are located. I highly suggest you leave it alone, or you might break your whole system. I recommend you try to find another solution for getting more space on your HDD/SSD. An external USB-drive could be a really good option. Or maybe run a full disk-cleanup with Windows built in tools.

 

Hi.

I did run a full disk cleanup.
But this new partition never existed before. Are you saying that this is a new thing with the recent update?

 

No, it should have existed since initial Windows 10 install. All my computers has this partition.

 

I honestly say this was never there. maybe it was hidden and now it's not.
But I know exactly how many drives and partitions I have.
This is very strange.

 

On an MBR formatted drive you should have 3 partitions and on and GPT (UEFI)formatted there should be four partitions.

I suggest you leave them intact for best Windows reliability.

 

That's my current setup. It's GPT and has 3 partitions.

 

You can delete it and reclaim the space. Every function available from that partition is also available by booting from a Windows 10 installation flash drive or DVD. It's not going to be as easy as you think, though, because you also have a 4th partition in the way that does not appear in disk management - the Microsoft system reserved (MSR) partition. List the partitions using the diskpart command and you will see it.

 

So it's ok to just have two partitions of C drive and the 100MB EFI system partition?

 

That is debatable. Microsoft says the empty MSR partition is required. My computers run just fine without it. I think you need it if you plan to use Bitlocker. But you definitely do not need the 450mb "oem" partition which used to be called the recovery partition.

 

What's actually happened:

1803 added a driver letter to the partition. Slicendice is correct that these partitions have always existed, tucked away neatly in Disk Management, but for some reason, 1803 is adding a driver letter:





Now it does...for no reason. Many users have reported this here. And here. And here. Besides the un-needed drive letter, it's also been given storage warnings. So for me, I get these every ~30 minutes:





I imagine this issue will be more heavily reported on TenForums in the coming days and weeks, unless MS figures out what went wrong.

What's the recommended fix here? I think removing the drive letter via DISKPART (as the first link ^^ shows) will solve both the File Explorer appearance and the storage warnings, right?

 

Yes, using the DISKPART commands will clear up the issue. FWIW, I went straight to MiniTool Partition Wizard (Free) when diskmgmt.msc came up short, and its right-click menu does the job just fine if you assign the offending partition a drive letter = "None". I'll blog about this issue and its frequent appearance tomorrow for Windows Enterprise Desktop. So far, it's showed up on only 1 of the 4 machines I've upgrade (1 more left to go, though).
HTH,
--Ed--