Windows 7: Need explanation of \recovery entries

Good People,
Here's a listing of folders and files in my \Recovery folder

C:\recovery 87%>dir -force -recurse


Directory: C:\recovery


Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d--hs 06-May-09 9:22 AM 0ffdb386-3a5a-11de-b603-001e33972569
d--hs 04-Dec-09 4:43 PM 0ffdb38c-3a5a-11de-b603-001e33972569


Directory: C:\recovery\0ffdb386-3a5a-11de-b603-001e33972569


Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
---hs 20-Mar-09 8:45 AM 3170304 boot.sdi
---hs 22-Apr-09 12:07 AM 144526296 Winre.wim


Directory: C:\recovery\0ffdb38c-3a5a-11de-b603-001e33972569


Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
---hs 10-Jun-09 2:44 PM 3170304 boot.sdi
---hs 13-Jul-09 8:09 PM 144838785 Winre.wim


Listing was made using PowerShell.

As you can see \recovery has two folders. When does a new folder get created in \Recovery? Can I safely delete the older of these two?



Oh yes, didn't really know where to post this msg. If I've made the wrong choice, please let me know.

Leave the files alone. Last thing windows need is someone digging around in its guts.

I'm looking for technical answers. I seek knowledge, not opinions.

The files are there and can be used for recovery - system restore etc. You don't need to modify or delete them - use disk cleanup to clean up older points if you need space.

files in \recovery are never touched by Disk Cleanup, at least not on any system where I've checked such.

I have plenty of free space. Free space is not the question.

Here:

Windows 7 recovery folder - duplicate folders/files

Thanks,
Followed the link. Unfortunately, no new facts given.

As the poster there suspected, I too suspected that the older folder could be deleted safely.

I took the plunge. I deleted the older folder. Shutdown. Did a f8 boot, choose repair, etc. All worked fine.

Still hope to learn when and under what conditions a new folder is created under \Recovery.

Here's what I know:
- The Recovery Environment is normally created during Install and the Winre.wim is the RE image that is loaded when you press F8 during boot to recover your system.
- There's some very informative details here on technet Configure Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE).
- From an elevated prompt you can also type bcdedit /enum all to view the boot loader information and check if you have the Recovery Environment configured.
- If you delete the files the recovery will simply fail and you will need to reconfigure the recovery environment. Many techies create custom RE's.... see the link above for details.

It's not much, I'm still learning more about this feature myself.

I've already, with no ill-effects, deleted the older of the two sub-folders.

Of course, deleting the remaining sub-folder would have ill-effects if one desired to do a recovery. Although I have an RE dvd and an RE usb stick, as backups in case of a disaster, I still see no need to complicate my life by deleting the \recovery folder from my system.

Agreed, there's no need to delete it, unless you feel like rebuilding it or building a custom RE.

I guess all your questions are answered now. yeah?