Help getting rid of a System Drive partition in Explorer


idainc

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I cloned a drive Reflect. I partitioned the new drive to add a D drive and I am now seeing an E drive in Explorer. I cant figue out how to get rid of (or hide it) as a housekeeping matter. I'm considering doing the whole cloning thing all over again but wanted to see if there was an easier and faster way to fix this. Thanks in advance.
 

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Since you have had multiple issues (and threads) with this clone, maybe you need to rethink your strategy.
Personally, I NEVER clone but that's neither here nor there. At the present time do you have both disks installed either internally or with usb?
Since explorer sees drive E but disk management does not, I would first use a third party app like Minitool to see if E is being recognized there before I tried to deal with it using diskpart.
 

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I was able to regedit E our of exolorer. It is an unlettered partition on the drive shown as EFI. During the cloning it was apparently labelled as E but is till the EFI partition. Disk managment sees the EFI partition.

I agree about cloning and wont try it again but it was an easy solution to the upgrade and the remomval of a SATA SSD that was just too slow. THis is an HP All in One and it has some HP software that s usefull. A fresh install is best but at the moment there isnt a need. An although Magician coulndt do the cloning it is now functional.
 

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windows 11 64
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Manufacturer/Model
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Memory
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With MiniTool I can change the drive letter back to "none" Disk managment does not show it as having a drive letter. I appreciate your thoughts.
 

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My Computer My Computer

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windows 11 64i7-12700T32 GBNvidia GeForce 1650 / Intel 770
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windows 11 64
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HP
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i7-12700T
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32 GB
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Nvidia GeForce 1650 / Intel 770
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Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
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The only time I clone is using hardware drive dock [no computer connected] from the Source drive to a fully wiped/clean/bare same size or larger Destination drive. And before that I run Error Checking followed by Defrag/Optimize on the Source drive to eliminate any errors.
 

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Thanks. I agree but the lure of faster speed got the better of me. After some searching this kind of error is common in cloning. Any thought on the option of using MiniTool to remomve the drive letter of the EFI partition which shouldnt have one anyway ?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

windows 11 64i7-12700T32 GBNvidia GeForce 1650 / Intel 770
OS
windows 11 64
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
HP
CPU
i7-12700T
Memory
32 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia GeForce 1650 / Intel 770
Screen Resolution
1920 / 1080
Hard Drives
Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
Case
All in One
Keyboard
USB
Mouse
USB
Internet Speed
600 MBS
Browser
Chrome
Antivirus
MS
I "clone" often. Never a problem if the right tool is used.

Diskgenius ( free version) os migration is superb. Other non os partitions can be included with a couple of clicks

More advanced users could use winntsetup wincopy function ( only for os copy )
 

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I just removed the drive letter assigned to the EFI partition using MiniTool and it worked like a charm. Mactiurm Reflect added an almost impossible to delete folder on the C Drive clalled Windows Apps ? Uggh. No more cloning.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

windows 11 64i7-12700T32 GBNvidia GeForce 1650 / Intel 770
OS
windows 11 64
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
HP
CPU
i7-12700T
Memory
32 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia GeForce 1650 / Intel 770
Screen Resolution
1920 / 1080
Hard Drives
Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
Case
All in One
Keyboard
USB
Mouse
USB
Internet Speed
600 MBS
Browser
Chrome
Antivirus
MS
Have you considered Clonezilla? This is a true image copy and it doesn't know or care about what kind of O/S or file system is in use. As long as the target drive is as large or larger than the source drive, you should get a 1:1 copy.
 

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This is the Default I've been getting when setting up new Notebooks, 3 just this year so far:

1745113050072.webp
 

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    Dell Vostro 3400
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    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
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    256GB SSD NVMe M.2
  • At a glance

    Win11 Pro RTM Version 24H2 Build 26100.4202Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz16GBOnboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA a...
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    Win11 Pro RTM Version 24H2 Build 26100.4202
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    PC/Desktop
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    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
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