reorder disk partition

rrr2015

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i have partitions as follows on single physical disk
1. WinRE 600MB
2. EFI Partition 300MB
3. OS_INSTALL 570GB (C drive)
4. OEM Partition 820MB
5. DATA 340GB (D drive)
6. BIOS_RVY 18.85GB

I want to merge C + D into a single partition
How can I do that?
 

cscs3

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i have partitions as follows on single physical disk
1. WinRE 600MB
2. EFI Partition 300MB
3. OS_INSTALL 570GB (C drive)
4. OEM Partition 820MB
5. DATA 340GB (D drive)
6. BIOS_RVY 18.85GB

I want to merge C + D into a single partition
How can I do that?

Use Acronis director.
 

it_geek

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I absolutely DON'T recommend reordering your partitions with this configuration as it may cause data loss.
 

eric3743

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i have partitions as follows on single physical disk
1. WinRE 600MB
2. EFI Partition 300MB
3. OS_INSTALL 570GB (C drive)
4. OEM Partition 820MB
5. DATA 340GB (D drive)
6. BIOS_RVY 18.85GB

I want to merge C + D into a single partition
How can I do that?

There are alternatives on this.

It is best to keep the OS partition separate from data files/folders.

Reduce the OS partition size to about 150GB if there is not many software.
Once reduce then DATA partition will be able to gain that spare/extra storage space.



Suggestion is to do a fresh installation and/or upgrade to SSD (if still on HDD) where you can determine the size of partitions for OS &or Data.
Upgrade to SSD will enable the system to run faster.
 

rrr2015

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Thanks for all replies :s12:
still prefer clone over fresh install as this will be fastest get it running

1. WinRE 600MB ~ is WinRE really necessary or can be created during windows 10 installation

2. EFI Partition 300MB ~ I dealt with MBR all my life, so am pretty lost with EFI :s22: again can this be created during windows 10 installation?

3. OS_INSTALL 570GB (C drive)

4. OEM Partition 820MB << DELETE THIS? so I can merge 3 + 5 but am not sure what's OEM is used for

5. DATA 340GB (D drive)

6. BIOS_RVY 18.85GB ~ not sure of it's usefulness

There are alternatives on this.

It is best to keep the OS partition separate from data files/folders.

Reduce the OS partition size to about 150GB if there is not many software.
Once reduce then DATA partition will be able to gain that spare/extra storage space.



Suggestion is to do a fresh installation and/or upgrade to SSD (if still on HDD) where you can determine the size of partitions for OS &or Data.
Upgrade to SSD will enable the system to run faster.
 
Last edited:

it_geek

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Thanks for all replies :s12:
still prefer clone over fresh install as this will be fastest get it running

1. WinRE 600MB ~ is WinRE really necessary or can be created during windows 10 installation

2. EFI Partition 300MB ~ I dealt with MBR all my life, so am pretty lost with EFI :s22: again can this be created during windows 10 installation?

3. OS_INSTALL 570GB (C drive)

4. OEM Partition 820MB << DELETE THIS? so I can merge 3 + 5 but am not sure what's OEM is used for

5. DATA 340GB (D drive)

6. BIOS_RVY 18.85GB ~ not sure of it's usefulness


You can't merge volumes on Windows 10.


The OEM partition usually holds files required for a one touch recovery.


If your system is UEFI, deleting OEM partition deletes the rescue tools for your computer, which i won't advise if you are not tech savvy.


If you are 100% sure you will never need your OEM partition, change the partition type to System from OEM using diskpart.


Then remove OEM partition.


Take your data out of the DATA partition.


Remove said DATA partition


Expand OS volume to fill the space.


Solved.
 

eric3743

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Thanks for all replies :s12:
still prefer clone over fresh install as this will be fastest get it running

1. WinRE 600MB ~ is WinRE really necessary or can be created during windows 10 installation

2. EFI Partition 300MB ~ I dealt with MBR all my life, so am pretty lost with EFI :s22: again can this be created during windows 10 installation?

3. OS_INSTALL 570GB (C drive)

4. OEM Partition 820MB << DELETE THIS? so I can merge 3 + 5 but am not sure what's OEM is used for

5. DATA 340GB (D drive)

6. BIOS_RVY 18.85GB ~ not sure of it's usefulness

Google/wiki "EFI Partition" would able to explain on the purpose of this partition.

Most of the partitions are there for a certain purposes.



I would assumed that this could be laptop with pre-loaded OS and recovery partitions.

Each laptop brand/model may used different type of specification for their recovery/system as usually it would be within the Drive itself.


My current laptop was of similar layout and partitions (but limit to 2 hidden partitions which was 1st & 3rd while OS was 2nd partition).
The last partition should be the Recovery partition (OS installation) due to the size of the storage which seem to be similar to mine.
But i bought the original CD version of the Windows 7 OS from Toshiba in order to remove all such partitions.
And for drivers i would keep all the drivers in Double Driver for easy restore.

If you review all the folders in the OS partition there is possible some of the brand utilities &or drivers are available, which i did discovered in my laptop.
 

rrr2015

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it_geek, eric3743
thanks!

i decide to just clone 1 + 3 over to new SSD
all DATA been move to OS_INSTALL
so leaving my HDD intact in case I need to fallback

I believe the OEM partition must be for recovery to windows 8.1
since already upgraded to windows 10, don't think it serve any purpose now

Since I can create bootable USB for recovery, so WinRE not required as well

1. WinRE 600MB
2. EFI Partition 300MB
3. OS_INSTALL 570GB (C drive)
4. OEM Partition 820MB
5. DATA 340GB (D drive)
6. BIOS_RVY 18.85GB
 

rrr2015

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it didn't work ... so i guess best for me to do a fresh install on SSD
not going to meddle with existing hdd
 

it_geek

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it didn't work ... so i guess best for me to do a fresh install on SSD
not going to meddle with existing hdd


if you want to preserve most of the partitions, try the method I proposed

you cannot clone individual partitions and expect it to boot up because of certain dependencies.
 

eric3743

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it didn't work ... so i guess best for me to do a fresh install on SSD
not going to meddle with existing hdd

What sort of indication that show unable or failed to boot.

There should have a status on the error.


If i am not wrong the very 1st partition "WinRE 600MB" is necessary and may not be the 2nd "EFI Partition 300MB" which was the pointer for original version.

Don't be fooled by the name which may not renamed when upgrade version.

My point is that if you ever take note on all the partitions & their size prior upgrade then you can have better understanding.
 

rrr2015

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I decide not to touch on exsiting hdd & just do fresh install SSD, less risk

if you want to preserve most of the partitions, try the method I proposed

you cannot clone individual partitions and expect it to boot up because of certain dependencies.
 

rrr2015

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I tried both macrium & samsung data migration to clone, both end up error near the end (no details why it failed in the msg) thought the partitions & files looks ok.

Didn't have much time during weekday to swop out the hdd with sdd, so tried booting from ssd on usb3.0 instead

Did change bios to boot from usb drive Tried uefi with csm. Disable fast boot. All doesn't work. One instance i got to WinRE menu. And when it did bootup, it always from hdd, even if didn't include in boot sequence.

There was one last option which is uefi boot priority which have only windows boot manager or disable. Well i got too tired and decide to just do fresh install on ssd during the weekends :)

What sort of indication that show unable or failed to boot.

There should have a status on the error.


If i am not wrong the very 1st partition "WinRE 600MB" is necessary and may not be the 2nd "EFI Partition 300MB" which was the pointer for original version.

Don't be fooled by the name which may not renamed when upgrade version.

My point is that if you ever take note on all the partitions & their size prior upgrade then you can have better understanding.
 

eric3743

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I tried both macrium & samsung data migration to clone, both end up error near the end (no details why it failed in the msg) thought the partitions & files looks ok.

Didn't have much time during weekday to swop out the hdd with sdd, so tried booting from ssd on usb3.0 instead

Did change bios to boot from usb drive Tried uefi with csm. Disable fast boot. All doesn't work. One instance i got to WinRE menu. And when it did bootup, it always from hdd, even if didn't include in boot sequence.

There was one last option which is uefi boot priority which have only windows boot manager or disable. Well i got too tired and decide to just do fresh install on ssd during the weekends :)

Samsung data migration do have issue on certain hidden partitions as this was mentioned in other threads.
I did not try on Macrium on cloning as this is better option for Backup purpose and extraction on any files/folders separately.

Do try MiniTool Partition Magic which handle better, as i use this frequently and works.
For this you need to create bootable MiniTool Partition Magic, hence i always standby USB flash drive for this purpose on cloning system &or partitions.

Most, if not all, booting OS from USB port would not work and this may required special utility or tools to handle.
So not point on doing this.

That instance i got to WinRE menu, this would happen when detected problem in booting thus force to this menu as in the very 1st partition of internal drive.

Do direct swap from HDD to SSD to see how it go.
Depend on the model, such as my Toshiba laptops are very easy & fast to swap since the drive can be opened by itself independently.
 

it_geek

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I decide not to touch on exsiting hdd & just do fresh install SSD, less risk


you could clone everything to the SSD or another intermediate HDD to mess around with.


Get a used 1TB one off carousell for about 40$
 

rrr2015

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Decided to go ahead with fresh install on my 860 evo 500G (afraid to "bricked" the SSD :p ). all went well :)

it created 3 partitions ~ recovery, EFI, Drive C: (actually there another hidden called MSR but not visible in disk management)

thanks for all your help!
Samsung data migration do have issue on certain hidden partitions as this was mentioned in other threads.
I did not try on Macrium on cloning as this is better option for Backup purpose and extraction on any files/folders separately.

Do try MiniTool Partition Magic which handle better, as i use this frequently and works.
For this you need to create bootable MiniTool Partition Magic, hence i always standby USB flash drive for this purpose on cloning system &or partitions.

Most, if not all, booting OS from USB port would not work and this may required special utility or tools to handle.
So not point on doing this.

That instance i got to WinRE menu, this would happen when detected problem in booting thus force to this menu as in the very 1st partition of internal drive.

Do direct swap from HDD to SSD to see how it go.
Depend on the model, such as my Toshiba laptops are very easy & fast to swap since the drive can be opened by itself independently.

you could clone everything to the SSD or another intermediate HDD to mess around with.


Get a used 1TB one off carousell for about 40$
 

it_geek

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Decided to go ahead with fresh install on my 860 evo 500G (afraid to "bricked" the SSD :p ). all went well :)

it created 3 partitions ~ recovery, EFI, Drive C: (actually there another hidden called MSR but not visible in disk management)

thanks for all your help!


glad that things worked out for you. :s12:
 

rrr2015

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i created disk image using windows system image tool. it prompt me to create recovery disk after that which i didn't proceed

i notice that there is a repair option for windows 10 install media. is that similar to recovery tool which can be use for restoring backup image?
glad that things worked out for you. :s12:
 

it_geek

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i created disk image using windows system image tool. it prompt me to create recovery disk after that which i didn't proceed

i notice that there is a repair option for windows 10 install media. is that similar to recovery tool which can be use for restoring backup image?


Windows 10 ISO includes Windows RE. Same function as the built in RE:s13:


This is different from the Windows PE, only installable via an ADK
 
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