How to Safely Delete the Recovery Partition in Windows 10/8/7

What is a Recovery Partition in Windows 10/8/7?

When you open Disk Management on your desktop or laptop (This PC > Manage > Disk Management), you'll see a “Healthy (Recovery Partition)” entry. The recovery partition is usually just a few hundred MB and not very big. However, many people want to delete the recovery partition to free up disk space or simply remove it from their hard drive because they don't use it.

Unlike a regular data partition, a recovery partition is protected. Windows imposes several restrictions on a recovery partition, including deletion and formatting. This is because a recovery partition stores critical files and installers related to the operating system so that the computer can be restored to its factory state in case of a disaster. Therefore, Windows won't let you delete the recovery partition unless you take advanced measures that go beyond standard disk management tools.

Two forms of recovery partitions

How did the Recovery Partition get on your Windows computer? [1] A Recovery Partition is automatically created when you install the Windows operating system. [2] Many computer manufacturers, especially with laptops, will come with a Recovery Partition pre-installed on the HDD or SSD. Computers from brands like Lenovo, Dell, and Asus often have these, though they may be labeled as an "OEM" partition.

How to Delete OEM Partition in Windows 10/8/7

When you purchase a new Dell, Lenovo, or HP computer, you may find that almost every PC has an OEM partition. So what is an OEM partition and is it safe to delete the OEM partition?

In short, a recovery partition can come from either a Windows installation or the manufacturer. Both variants serve to restore a damaged operating system to its factory state.

Are you sure you want to delete the recovery partition?

The importance of the Recovery Partition in a Windows system lies in its convenience when it comes to dealing with system issues. With a recovery partition, you can typically restore your system to its original state with just one click, similar to when you first bought your computer. So, have you decided to delete this partition from your hard drive? If you're sure you want to proceed with deleting the partition, we have some important tips on safely removing the recovery partition.

Tip #1. Create a system image backup with some Windows Backup and Recovery software

A system image backup has an advantage over a recovery partition. Restoring from a recovery partition will wipe all data, programs, and settings from your computer, returning it to its factory settings. A system image backup includes everything that was on your PC when you made the backup, including the operating system.

How to Create a System Image on a USB Drive in Windows 10/8/7

Unlike a System Restore Point, the main advantage of creating a system image is its portability. You can save your system backup image to a local drive or an external storage device.

TIP 2#. Windows Disk Management does not provide an option to delete a protected partition. You need to download AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, which can delete the recovery partition in WinPE environment as a substitute for Windows Disk Management.

TIP #3: Some manufacturers' recovery partitions are difficult to remove even in the WinPE environment. In such cases, you must first change the partition's type ID using DiskPart, and then attempt to delete it with any suitable method.

How to Delete the Recovery Partition in Windows 10/8/7

You have to step out of Windows and look for a powerful third-party tool to handle the recovery partition on your Windows desktop or laptop. AOMEI Partition Assistant has already replaced all the functions in Windows Disk Management, and it also provides more advanced solutions for hard drives and SSDs, GPT and MBR disks, basic disks, and dynamic disks, such as resizing/moving partitions, deleting partitions, merging adjacent/non-adjacent partitions, converting partitions, migrating OS, etc.

Thus, when Windows doesn't let you work with a protected drive like a recovery partition, you can simply use Partition Wizard software.

Step-by-step guide to deleting a recovery drive using the bootable tool Partition Master:

Step 1: Launch Partition Master and click on “Partition Management”. Right click on the Recovery Partition and select “Delete”.

Step 2: Click on "Yes" to confirm the deletion of the selected disk partition.

Step 3: Click on "Run Task", and then click "Apply" in the new window to completely remove the recovery partition.

How to change the partition type ID to remove the recovery partition

When you can't delete the recovery partition from the drive because the Delete option is grayed out, unavailable, you should change the partition type ID in the Tools of Disk Partition Master before deleting it.

Step 1. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box. Type diskpart and press Enter to run Diskpart.

Step 2: Type list volume, and press Enter.

Step 3: Type select volume # (for example, volume 8), and press Enter to choose the volume or partition whose type ID you want to change.

Step 4. Type set id=# (for example, id=0B) and press Enter to set the new partition type ID.

(Tip: When specifying a hexadecimal partition type, you can omit the “0x” prefix.)

Step 5. Type exit, and press Enter to leave Diskpart.

In short

This article will cover the topic of "how to delete a recovery partition" in five parts: [1] defining what a recovery drive is, [2] whether or not you should delete a recovery partition, [3] the proper way to delete a recovery partition, and [4] how to handle recovery partitions from specific manufacturers.

The tool you need is AOMEI Partition Assistant. It's a trustworthy third-party partition manager, which can manage your computer and laptop hard drive in every aspect, most of which are also available in Windows Disk Management.

If you can't delete the recovery partition with tools like Partition Master, the problem might be related to the partition type ID. You can use DiskPart to set the ID and then try deleting it with a partition manager.

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