XPS 7590 - Multiple small recovery partitions

Question

Hi,

Apologies in advnce for the confused description. I'm also confused as to what the issue could be.

If anyone wants to see the detailed specs of my machine,

I wanted to reinstall Win 10. I first updated the bios (though this is not the cause). I first tried the win 10 refresh / reset options as well as the advanced option, but kept getting can not find recovery partition. I ended up trying via reboot and F12 and the the UEFI options and ended up in some endless loop that resulted in a hardware check without errors.

As i bought the system with a usb win image (read only usb) i ended up using that to reinstall. It's quite cumbersome as the windows update then takes 6 hour and i needed two as the usb was build 1806 (i think) and needed to go to 1909 to go to 20H2. during that process i get a lot of failures and errors with failed drivers installs.

I am now up to date and want to see what is going on with the lost partitions etc and see this : 4 different recovery partitions, which seem to be empty. (see clearer screenshot)

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 C NTFS Partition 399 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 1 RAW Partition 535 GB Healthy
Volume 2 ESP FAT32 Partition 680 MB Healthy System
Volume 3 NTFS Partition 715 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 4 WINRETOOLS NTFS Partition 990 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 5 Image NTFS Partition 15 GB Healthy Hidden
Volume 6 DELLSUPPORT NTFS Partition 1306 MB Healthy Hidden

I would delete them and restart if possible, and was wondering if I can/should. Or what the problem could be.

in the cmd diskpart command i see the labels, which i don't see in the partition tool .

Am i supposed to be able to reinstall the dell with these partitions as they are? Cause i may have done something wrong.

I'm willing to do it one more time but the process is cumbersome, for some reason the storage drive install allways errors, and the update steps took 4-5 hours, plugged inot a power plug.

Sorry for the confusion, i thought at 19 h to quickly launch the reinstal, and ended up being busy till 1 AM to simply start windows update after finally gaving the wifi working and fixing all the errors, it ran till 7 am.

thx,

Steve

RangerZ · Accepted Answer

@SteveV_randomnr  If you make a Windows 'Recovery Drive' (on a 16GB thumb drive), the only thing you really need is the EFI or System Reserved partition up front and the OS partition. The USB drive replaces the the Windows Recovery Partition . As time goes on, there is a decreasing value to your PCs original Factory Recovery Image (in your case also labeled as the 15GB Image which should not be empty, but appears to be. Based on the number of partitions this may not have been a new PC and maybe the contents were deleted?). There are generally to many updates and other things to put back after restoring the OS. Use a 2TB or larger USB HDD to regularly to keep a current backup of your OS. You can use MS WindowsBackupImage (Backup and Restore-Windows 7 or another similar tool). You can then restore it with the Recovery Drive (or other proprietary tool). HINT: Move older WindowsBackupImages to a different folder to archive them or the tool will overwrite your older one. I store them as [PC-Name]\[date]\[Image folder] and generally create a text file at the date level to help me remember. WindowsBackupImage works, but it's finicky. Backup your data separately using a data backup tool (I use 2BrightSparks SyncBackFree). It's a file level tool as opposed to one that makes those large unreadable archive files (like the Windows Backup tool, Seagate and WD ones). I also suggest you partition the physical drive into Apps and Data partitions. I move all my data to Users\[uname]\ folders on D:\ (Same structure as on C:). That way the C:\ is just an OS and D:\ is just Data. Your OS image (and backups) will not contain old data, be smaller and easier to manage (50-70 GB typically, not hundreds of GB). If you do this, it's unlikely you will need more than 150GB for the OS partition. There is a proper way to move the user folders in Windows, but there are many tutorials like this:https://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-change-the-location-of-user-folders-in-windows-10/ In my case, Windows only recognized the EFI System Partition, OS and The WINRETOOLS as valid when I made the WindowsImageBackup (IE that's all I need to boot and I really don't need the WINRETOOLS). Including other partitions is optional (but not where we are going). As for the excess partitions, you can use the Windows PE and DiskPart to clean up things, but it's easier to use one of the free tools like EaseUs Partition Master (which I know works).HINT: If you make a backup of all of the partitions, you can delete what ever you want and then if there is an issue learn how to restore the Image to your drive. Ultimately you want to be able to do this. Backup is no good if you can not use it. Regarding the (old) install media you used, you can go to Microsoft at any time to download the latest version of Windows 10 and make a new USB drive to install with. Easily and freely available for Win 10; your HW is registered with MS so you don't generally need to worry about keys to reinstall. No reason to use your old install media and then upgrade. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 You have the option of installing directly, or creating either a USB drive or ISO image. You can also go to Dell and get an image using your service tag: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000123667/how-to-download-and-use-the-dell-os-recovery-image-in-microsoft-windows (I have not used this method, and I am curious how well it works). HINT: Use something like G-Parted to delete all the partitions on your drive before you reinstall and you will not have all the stuff you had to clean up.HINT: As of V2004 and up, if you want to use the MS WindowsBackupImage tool, then you may need to use a partition manager (like EaseUS) to shrink the LEFT side of C:\ and expand the System partition if it's under 500MB (make it 900MB for the future). For some reason MS is now making this only a 50MB partition (at least under MBR) and it causes an error. Windows is pretty smart and should download all the drivers you need or you can install one of the Dell tools to help you update your drivers. I think Dell Command is the least intrusive.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Thank you! We have received the required details. We will work towards a resolution. In the meantime, you may also receive assistance or suggestions from the community members.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Thank you for staying connected. I'm Vivek, and I will be assisting you.

If I have understood correctly, you would like to know about the partitions.

I see that the partitions are fine certain portions are the backup partitions and the Dell support.

Then there is a windows recovery partition which is normal as well.

There is a partition for the image which is again normal.

So, from the pictures shared it looks fine and I would request you to please observe the system.

Is there anything else I can assist you with?

DELL-Cares · Answer

Based on the pictures you shared earlier, the partitions were empty. AS you have reinstalled the OS using the USB, please check if there is anything we can assist you with?

SteveV_randomnr · Answer

well all partitions seem to be empty and i could not use them for the recovery. are they supposed to be empty? the only way i got it to reinstall was using a usb drive. all other options fail.

SteveV_randomnr · Answer

Thank you very much for taking the time to explain so detailled.

In the meanwhile i did another reinstall, but did not take a good image backup before doing specific config i would like later to not have. (ie i will allwasy have to reformat once i no longer work at this project at a customer).

I will then use a recent USB with a recent win image, cause it's quite a job to upgrade all these releases.

Thanks ranger for doing the effort of explaining this clearly.

RangerZ · Answer

FWIW, since this post I have tried using the Support Assistant and the Dell OS Recovery tools.

The Support Assistant tool has 2 options (Paraphrasing here)

- Return to factory image

- Restore with image and the latest version

I choose the later. This installs a clean (almost) up to date OS with only Dell Support assistant and Dell Update. ALL THE INSTALLED APPS FROM THE FACTORY WERE GONE AND THE RECOVERY PARTITION WAS NOW EMPTY.

It does not seem one can now download and install the Cyberlink Tools from the Drivers and Downloads section

I also tried the OS recovery which basically took 4 hours to run and installed the same content. Might as well just download the latest OS from MS and then install Dell Update. If your PC is more than 3 years old, you may not even need that (ie all your drivers will be included in Windows Update)

One of the nice things about WindowsBackupImage or Macrium Reflect, etc is that you can make as many of these backups as you want real fast (~15 minutes depending on your OS size and target media) A small 120GB SSD and USB case can be had for ~$40 or less. If you use MR then you can put the image on a Flash drive for even less $.

samw61 · Answer

Hi Steve, Seems like you have it sorted however I would just clear up the following points.

1. Windows does set up a bunch of extra partitions during setup, so many may just be a result of that. Dell also has extra support partitions, but I have never been one to use those. It does look however you have one or two partitions too many, but they are small really. If you are ok with completely wiping the drive and clearing all partitions during Windows setup, you will have as much space available to you as possible.

2. The thing that stood out to me was Volume 1, the RAW partition of 535GB. That's over half your capacity not available to you!! Check the hard drive model to see if it is indeed a 1TB drive, then expand your C: into that space (or set up as a secondary user data drive).

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XPS 7590 - Multiple small recovery partitions

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