Solved New partition?

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Hi,

I just noticed when using MR a new approx. 1 GB NTFS partition in RED, assumed that probably the type C usb NTFS HDD might have created, but had a look in disk management an it was still there.

Attached the type C HDD and it showed as a sperate one.

My questions are what is it, show I delete/merge t with encrypted W11 one?

Hoping to hear from the experts as always.

Thanks.

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
My questions are what is it, show I delete/merge t with encrypted W11 one?

It's probably your Recovery partition.
It's RED cause it's getting full.

Use Minitool Partition Wizard to really identify it.

Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

As an all-in-one free partition manager and disk manager software, MiniTool Partition Wizard Free helps manage disk space safely on Windows 11/10/8/7.

www.partitionwizard.com

If it turns out it IS your Recovery partition, and you use backup software religiously... you really don't need it.
You probably don't need the 16MB Reserve partition either.

All you "need" to boot Windows is the 100MB EFI partition and the C: partition.

I've only been running the EFI partition and the C: partition... since Win 10 and now on Win 11...

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Ghot said:
It's probably your Recovery partition.
It's RED cause it's getting full.

Use Minitool Partition Wizard to really identify it.

Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

As an all-in-one free partition manager and disk manager software, MiniTool Partition Wizard Free helps manage disk space safely on Windows 11/10/8/7.

www.partitionwizard.com

Thanks, did was it created by W11 or by Dell drivers etc. app?

How to deplete the full Recovery?

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
Thanks, did was it created by W11 or by Dell drivers etc. app?

How to deplete the full Recovery?

It looks too small for a DELL Recovery partition. Those are usually 10-20GB... at least back a ways they were big like that.

If I remember correctly... in a command prompt (Admin), type: reagentc /disable
Then you can delete it.

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Ghot said:
It looks too small for a DELL Recovery partition. Those are usually 10-20GB

Thanks again @Ghot , what should I do with it, delete it? In DM it doesn't show as in red?

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
Thanks again @Ghot , what should I do with it, delete it? In DM it doesn't show as in red?

The RED only shows in backup software like Macrium.
You should really use the free Minitool Partition Wizard (link in post #2).
It's what Disk management should have been.

It's like Disk Management on steroids.

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Ghot said:
It looks too small for a DELL Recovery partition. Those are usually 10-20GB... at least back a ways they were big like that.

If I remember correctly... in a command prompt (Admin), type: reagentc /disable
Then you can delete it.

@Ghot , reagentc /disable shall delete it? What exactly is this NTFS and did MR create it? and what do you imply by IS as in " If it turns out it IS your Recovery partition,"?

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
@Ghot , reagentc /disable shall delete it? What exactly is this NTFS and did MR create it? and what do you imply by IS as in " If it turns out it IS your Recovery partition,"?

To find out if it is your Recovery Partition... you need to look at it in Minitool Partition Wizard.
It will be labeled as Recovery.

I can't make a pic of it, cause I don't have a Recovery Partition.

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Ghot said:
To find out if it is your Recovery Partition... you need to look at it in Minitool Partition Wizard.
It will be labeled as Recovery.

Would you recommend keep MR with mini tool?

Both MBR and Recovery aren't required and should be deleted?

Thanks.

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
Would you recommend keep MR with mini tool?

Thanks.

As far as I know... it's just an MS dust bunny... aka, useless.
I believe it is there for future use...possibly???

I removed mine in 2020.

According to MS...

The Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) is only used on the UEFI systems using GPT partition structure. It is created to reserve a portion of the disk space for possible subsequent usage by the Windows Operating System. This partition does not contain any meaningful data or any user data.

These are the default Windows partitions (Win 10 and Win 11)

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Ghot said:
As far as I know... it's just an MS dust bunny... aka, useless.

These are the default Windows partitions (Win 10 and Win 11)

View attachment 165312

So just keep Windows and delete the rest 3? Thanks.

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
So just keep Windows and delete the rest 3? Thanks.

NO !!!

You MUST keep the EFI partition (usually 100MB). If you remove that, Windows won't boot.
You need the stuff in the RED box to be able to boot into Windows...

billmcct · Mar 8, 2026

Ghot said:
You should really use the free Minitool Partition Wizard (link in post #2).
It's what Disk management should have been.

It's like Disk Management on steroids.

I agree 1000%

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Ghot said:
NO !!!

You MUST keep the EFI partition (usually 100MB). If you remove that, Windows won't boot.
You need the stuff in the RED box to be able to boot into Windows...

View attachment 165313

OK.
Keep EFI and Windows, delete the one in red...what's your nuance?

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
OK.
Keep EFI and Windows, delete the one in red...what's your nuance?

I removed the Recovery partition and the MSR (16MB) partitions.

Btw... Macrium also has a Command Prompt on it's Bootable Rescue Media... if you ever need it.

On Win 10 and on Win 11... no matter how much I messed things up, all I needed to fix things was Macrium Reflect Bootable Rescue media, and my backups, ofc.

I usually keep about 3 months worth of backups...

I only have about 40GB on my C: partition, so my backups are fast and tiny (about 20GB).
I install big programs and games on my storage drive(s).

This is everything I have installed on my C: partition...

Bitdefender and the Nvidia drivers and Macrium are the only big things, and they are 2.97GB total.
The next largest things are 128MB (VLC Media Player), or smaller.

NOTE: I removed a lot of useless stuff from VLC (about 40MB of stuff).

Scannerman · Mar 8, 2026

OP shows only 84.66GB of 475.81GB of space used in the Primary partition. Disk Management shows the partition in question of being only 1.01GB in size. Myself, I would leave it be because it is listed in Disk Management as a recovery partition. With MiniTool there is a way you can extend this so that it won't show up as red in Macrium Reflect, but I don't know if you can do this with Macrium as I don't use this software. Ideally, MS will sort itself out if it needs more space in the recovery partition so I'd just leave it be. Then again, if it were me I'd likely reinstall everything just to make sure BitLocker was completely gone. It generates more problems than it can justify keeping IMO.

Ghot · Mar 8, 2026

Scannerman said:
With MiniTool there is a way you can extend this so that it won't show up as red in Macrium Reflect,

This is very true.

Yep... Bitlocker is yet another half baked MS thingy.
I guess for some on-the-go types... it can be useful, but it should be Opt-In... only.

Alexey2912 · Mar 8, 2026

Thanks @Scannerman , for the expert thoughts. Highly appreciated!!

Scannerman · Mar 8, 2026

Alexey2912 said:
Thanks @Scannerman , for the expert thoughts. Highly appreciated!!

My pleasure. To be fair, I only simplified what GHOT was explaining to you.

Solved New partition?

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