Windows 7 Problems with partitioning new win7 system: For what are "Recovery" and "SystemReserved" Primary par

[pstein]

I bought a new computer where Win7 is already pre-installed on partition C:
In addition I want now to install a second "test" Win7 system on a NEW primary partition.
AND a logical "data" partition.
At startup I want to choose later between the 2 Win7 systems which one I want to boot.

When I inspect now the current partition table (before changing it) it looks like:
1.) "Recovery" 10 GB Primary MBR NTFS
2.) "System Reserved" 100 MB Primary NTFS, Active, System
3.) "Local Volume" 30 GB Primary MBR NTFS Boot
4.) unallocated

As you can I have a problem: If I create a new, 4 th primary, bootable partition with 30 GB into the "unallocated" space
then all maximum 4 primary partitions are filled.

I can NOT create a 5 th primary partition which contains the logical "data" partition.

So I guess I must either destroy "Recovery" or "System Reserved" primary partition to have one more primary partition slot available.

Now what for are the "Recovery" and the "System reserved" partition ?

I don't know them from WinXP. Are they Win7 specific?
Or are they "inventions" from the computer manufacturer (Sony)?

Is "Recovery" absolutely necessary?

Why is "System Reserved" active? From I WinXP I know only paritions as active which hold the OS and not some kind of "pre-boot-partitions"

Thank you
Peter

 

[Joe S]

Did you make a recovery disk set? The recovery partition is what you have to deal with for recovery instead of an actual install disk. It's a disk image that restores everything back the way it was when it left the factory. The 100 MB is your master boot record don't delete it. If you want to test apps try a virtual machine like VMware Player it's free. Paragon has a free tool to clone your desktop. and make a file for a VM. You may have too use a partitioning tool like Gparted.
Joe