Windows 10: Recovery Drive is full! How to free up space on Recovery Drive in Windows 11/10?

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Recovery Drive is a special partition on the hard drive, which usually contains all the required files that can fully restore your Windows PC in case your system becomes unstable for any reason. It is essential; why so? The answer is pretty simple! Unfortunately, if your PC ever experience hardware failure or any major issue, […]

This article Recovery Drive is full! How to free up space on Recovery Drive in Windows 11/10? first appeared on TheWindowsClub.com.

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Not enough space on Recovery (D drive.

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

Please help me with the following:

1. What is the make and model number of your Computer?
   

Please note that recovery "D" is a partition on the hard drive which contains the image of the Operating system. You can use it to restore the computer back to factory settings. You should not attempt to store files in it.
If you have any data saved on the D drive, I would suggest you to move it to an external drive and to free up some space, you can follow the steps provided in the article:
Free up drive space in Windows 10.



If you are using a HP computer, then you can refer to this article:
HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - What is the Recovery (D Hard Drive?



Hope this helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking on Yes or No.

 

Windows 10 Recovery drive error - Can't create a recovery drive on this PC

Hi Andy,

Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community. I am glad to assist you on this.

• Do you have enough space in your external drive or disk?
• Did you make any changes to the computer prior to this issue?
• Have you created a recovery media previously on the computer?

As per the issue description, it seems like you are unable to create a system image recovery driver using a USB drive on the computer as it prompts an error message “We cannot create a recovery drive on this PC. Some required files are missing.

I would suggest you to follow the below steps and try to create a recovery drive and check if it helps.

• From the taskbar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice.
• 
  When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive is selected and then select Next.
  
• 
  Connect a USB drive to your PC, select it, and then select Next > Create. A lot of files need to be copied to the recovery drive, so this might take a while.
  
• 
  When it’s done, you might see a Delete the recovery partition from your PC link on the final screen. If you want to free up drive space on your PC, select the link and then select Delete. If
  not, select Finish.
  

You can also use Windows 10 media creation tool to troubleshoot problems when your PC can't start.

Here is the link:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10

Kindly let us know if you need any further assistance with Windows. We are glad to assist you.

Thank you.

 

Create a Recovery Drive?

Hi Kaspaz,

Let us first check the recovery drive creation process that you have done. Below is a step by step process of creating a recovery drive:

• From the taskbar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice.
• When the tool opens, make sure Back up system files to the recovery drive
  is selected and then select Next.
• Connect a USB drive to your PC, select it, and then select Next > Create.
  A lot of files need to be copied to the recovery drive, so this might take a while.
• When it’s done, you might see a Delete the recovery partition from your PC
  link on the final screen. If you want to free up drive space on your PC, select the link and then select
  Delete. If not, select Finish.

If you have done the same steps above and the rest of your file is still not showing.
Please post back some details:

• Which drive are you referring to?
• Can you send us a screenshot of what you are seeing?
• Besides creating a recovery drive, have you done any other changes on your computer?
• What is the make and model of your USB hard drive device?
• Have you tried plugging it on another port?
• What is the current version and build number of your Windows 10 Computer? To know these details, follow the steps below:
  • Select the Start button.
  • Type About your PC.
  • Press Enter to find out the version and build number of your Windows 10 PC.

Let us know the result after performing the troubleshooting steps and if your concern was left unresolved, kindly get back to us with the answers to our inquiry, so that we can assist you further.