Windows 7: resizing Recovery partition after a warranty service

I sent my Asus K52Je to the warranty service last month, for a HD issue.

When returned, the HD was strangely partitioned:



Now, the Disk 0 has:
- a first (hidden) and not recognized partition: a 336 GB (!) RECOVERY;
- C:\ is the 116 GB NTFS
- D:\ is the 13.6 GB NTFS.

Should I resize the RECOVERY partition without any problem??
And after that, could I extend the C:\ partition? (I don't want to lose my licence and prefer not to use the 9-DVD-recovery tool...)

thank you.

You will under no circumstances lose your Windows 7 license as long as you have a genuine Windows 7 COA sticker on the machine. You can reinstall this in any way you wish and MS will protect you, which is why they put the Product Key on the COA sticker - you should back it up now in case it rubs off.

In fact most tech enthusiasts prefer to get rid of the bloatware by Clean Reinstalling Factory OEM Windows 7. Everything needed is in the blue link. Asus may not support a Clean Reinstall but they cannot void your hardware warranty. I would simply not tell them if I reinstall. You'll get better support here anyway.

With such incompetent partitioning I wonder if Recovery will even run. Can you cue it up to see? I would also make the Recovery disks now so you have a backup if you want the preinstalled Windows 7. Another backup is to save a Windows 7 backup image of your customized install: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup. With these backups you may feel you can afford to delete the Recovery partition.

Either way you'll want to shrink it. I'd use Disk mgmt first to see how much it wants to shrink it. But you'll need to use free Partition Wizard bootable CD to safely Resize C to the left afterwards, which can also be used to shrink Recovery more if Disk Mgmt bumps into files in the way. You'll need to leave ample breathing room for Recovery to function. Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

Personally I would rely on Recovery disks if i ever needed to fall back to factory condition to resell the unit. Otherwise I'd rely on a Windows 7 backup image of a factory install after I Clean Up Factory Bloatware, or for the very best performance I'd Clean Reinstall.

whoo, that's perfect!

I was also thinking of getting rid of that mess, cleaning up everything.
thank you, I'll first prepare the disks, then try the recovery and eventually try to shrink the partitions.
I'll update with the results.. thanks for now!

Keep us posted.

News:
I phoned the Asus support, they say I am free to format/partition the unit as I wish, being aware that I'll lose (if I don't have recovery dvd's) my asus windows license.

After that, I mentioned the COA sticker. The guy said something like this:

"If you didn't create the recovery dvds as we recommend to do in the very beginning of the PC's life, you'll not be able to use the COA sticker windows license because that function only with asus windows version (???) BUT you are free to install another windows license of your property"

Now, I didn't catch the meaning of this phrase: isn't the COA sticker useful for a universal windows license?? ...
In any case I'm gonna completely reset the HD...

Not surprising that you were given misinformation by Asus Tech Support. OEM's will often do whatever they can to scare you away from a Clean Reinstall to enforce their sponsors' bloatware, but in this case he went further and lied about the COA sticker Product Key.

OEM's are required to affix the COA sticker to the machine to prove they're including Genuine Windows, and so that users can exercise their rights granted by MS to Clean Reinstall the OS which they have purchased. When doing this MS will always protect you by assuring it gets activated in their servers, completely removing the OS from the purview of incompetent tech support.

Follow these steps to get a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 and continue to get your support here where we have the full backing of MS for assuring best performance of Windows 7.

other NEWS!

Without pain, I succeeded in shrinking the Recovery Partition to around 6GB
Now I could prepare my recovery DVD's (only 2 needed) and then format the entire windows partition with a clean Windows 7 DVD.
Furthermore, the COA sticker code worked, here's my confirmation of the incompetence of the Asus Tech Support .

So got a clean reinstall without losing the recovery partition, the best I could have hoped.


Again, thank you very much for your support!!

Some pc manufacturers seem to make a habit of giving out misinformation.
I was told by Dell that my pc thats only a few years old would not be compatible with an SSD and that I should upgrade to one of their shiny new models! Yeahhhh right, nice try! :-D

The only question remains if Recovery will still run after a clean reinstall, as it often won't. You can try queuing it up to see.

If not since you have the disks you can delete the partition and claim the space for C or another partition.

Greg, I always thought they made the recovery partitions a specific size for a reason? When doing a recovery do a lot of files get expanded in the process?
When I got my Dell I was told that it's probably best not to mess with the size of it.