Windows 10 Too many smaller partitions, Which ones to get rid of?

Murat

Active Member
Hi,
Can anyone explain why do I have several smaller partitions in my computer? I asked computer shop to add a new
SSD and install operating system on it. When I came home I noticed there were multiple small partitions that are about 100mb.
That Disk(G) that you see on the image is my previous HDD where my system was installed on but now I believe I can format it.
Can anyone help out which one of these partitions should i keep and which ones can be formatted?
 

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The smaller partitions (x2) on your first physical disk (disk 0) are needed by the operating system and you should not touch them.
The only needed partition on your second physical disk (disk 1) is the right most partition (12gb, hp_recovery) and you shoudn't touch it if you want to be able to recover your computer to its initial state (as it came from the factory). This partition contains all the drivers needed by your computer in order to function properly and you will need it in case of a failure of your system disk (disk 0).
In case you verified that all your stuff was transfered from your old drive to the new one and it is accesible, you may delete all first three partitions on disk 1 and create a new empty one on the free space left after the deletion.

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Oh, Thank you, very clear explanation. I just installed my SSD yesterday, so I should probably wait for couple of weeks until formatting contents of Disk1.

Is it possible to delete the content for these three(see highlighted) and combine them all into one volume? Currently (Volume F) has bunch of information that I still need.
 

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Yes, it would be best to wait for a couple of weeks before deleting anything.
Now, regarding your second physical drive: as I understand, the disk was your previous system disk, that is, it contains a lot of information you won't need (all the operating system info and all the programs installed which are now transfered to the new drive) and that takes a lot of space on the disk. So, if possible, you should transfer all your data files to the new drive or an external drive, temporarly. Then, you should format the biggest partition, delete the first two partitions, extend the formatted partition to use the small space released by deleting the two partitions and, at the end, copy back your data files to the new partition.

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Yes, I kept all of personal files on "new Volume F" , the "Volume G" contains all the previously installed software and operating system. So now I can just copy entire disk F somewhere temporarily and follow your instructions to combine those three. Thanks for your help!!
 
Aaah, ok, you're right. If the F volume contains only your personal files, than you can skip the copy to a temporary location phase and proceed with deleting the system partition and the G partition. To be on the safe side, it is recommended to backup the personal files before extending the F volume.

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