Way to get rid of the 100MB partition


  1. Posts : 28
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #1

    Way to get rid of the 100MB partition


    I'm sure some of you know that particular versions of Windows 7 creates 100MB partition upon the its installation mainly for the BitLocker feature.
    I bought Windows 7 Ultimate from Amazon and it is one of them.

    I know it also contains WinRE, but I know Windows 7 can use its own partition where it's installed on for the Recovery Environment. I'm also aware that the automatic process of 100MB being created can be avoided DURING the Windows installation with some tricks.

    Normally, I would not care about it as a 100MB-reduction over my 500GB HDD is nothing to worry about, and I would probably say OK for creating one extra partition. Maximum active partition I would use for myself is two: one for the Windows and the other as a personal archive.

    But the problem here is that I'm using Mac Book Pro which already creates two partitions for its own OS and that leaves me no choice to create an additional personal archive drive. I can live with that, but the real problem is that when Windows 7 creates the 100MB partition, it does not follow the standard procedure of altering the partition table which results mixing up the partition table to be inconsistent. That is, it only alters the MBR partition table while leaving the GUID partition table untouched.

    Mac OS X, on the same computer, then looks up the hybrid table and has no idea what they are, hence reading both partition as one to be one FAT-32 table while it's actually two NTFS drives. This does not allow me to access the NTFS drive from Mac OS X which I really need my machine to do.

    What I want to get help with is to find a way to remove the 100MB partition in my situation.
    I currently have a system image backup where it contains two virtual disk images of the Windows 7 (C) and the 100MB drive (F). I know how to restore them, but I would like to know if I can only restore the C drive without having to create the 100MB drive.
    If that is not possible, my situation is also open to another choice, if possible, where I make my restored Windows 7 to delete the 100MB partition while keeping the Windows 7 drive (C) as is.

    I've solved a lot of problems regarding some inconsistencies between two operating systems in a single machine and this issue is one of them.
    But this, I believe, is the last problem I will ever be encountering.
    It would be greatly appreciated if experts on this forum can help me to find a way to this. Thank you.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #2
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 1,241
    Windows 7 Profesional x86, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
       #3

    sherisdoppel said:
    I'm sure some of you know that particular versions of Windows 7 creates 100MB partition upon the its installation mainly for the BitLocker feature.
    I bought Windows 7 Ultimate from Amazon and it is one of them.

    I know it also contains WinRE, but I know Windows 7 can use its own partition where it's installed on for the Recovery Environment. I'm also aware that the automatic process of 100MB being created can be avoided DURING the Windows installation with some tricks.

    Normally, I would not care about it as a 100MB-reduction over my 500GB HDD is nothing to worry about, and I would probably say OK for creating one extra partition. Maximum active partition I would use for myself is two: one for the Windows and the other as a personal archive.

    But the problem here is that I'm using Mac Book Pro which already creates two partitions for its own OS and that leaves me no choice to create an additional personal archive drive. I can live with that, but the real problem is that when Windows 7 creates the 100MB partition, it does not follow the standard procedure of altering the partition table which results mixing up the partition table to be inconsistent. That is, it only alters the MBR partition table while leaving the GUID partition table untouched.

    Mac OS X, on the same computer, then looks up the hybrid table and has no idea what they are, hence reading both partition as one to be one FAT-32 table while it's actually two NTFS drives. This does not allow me to access the NTFS drive from Mac OS X which I really need my machine to do.

    What I want to get help with is to find a way to remove the 100MB partition in my situation.
    I currently have a system image backup where it contains two virtual disk images of the Windows 7 (C) and the 100MB drive (F). I know how to restore them, but I would like to know if I can only restore the C drive without having to create the 100MB drive.
    If that is not possible, my situation is also open to another choice, if possible, where I make my restored Windows 7 to delete the 100MB partition while keeping the Windows 7 drive (C) as is.

    I've solved a lot of problems regarding some inconsistencies between two operating systems in a single machine and this issue is one of them.
    But this, I believe, is the last problem I will ever be encountering.
    It would be greatly appreciated if experts on this forum can help me to find a way to this. Thank you.
    The 100MB partition is there for a reason albeit not the best of reasons but a reason none the less. However if you want to get rid of it I'll ty and help.

    This is not done easily but the method you propose should remove the partition as long as the image you made is ONLY of the C:\ partition.

    I'm not an avocate for messing with disk partitions because of my past experience and in my opinion the risks associated with gaining a comparatively small amount of hard drive space far out way what can be gained.

    You may also find that by re imaging your drive onto empty space you may end up with some empty space left over at the end and may inf act lose you some precious storage.

    Oli

    PS Theog's idea is good too .
      My Computer

  4.    #4

    I would use free Partition Wizard bootable CD to mark WIn7 partition active, delete 100mb partitiion, resize Win7 into its space if you want, then boot the Win7 DVD Repair Console or Repair CD, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the MBR to Win7.

    There might be a complication if there is another active partition on the system. The repair will write the MBR to the first Active partition, after attempting to repair it first. In your case, it will see there is no MBR and write the MBR to WIn7 as long as there is no Active partition before it.
      My Computer


 

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