Windows 7: Recovery Partition FULL?

Hey guys,

I just got a Dell StudioXPS16, and the very first thing I did was do a clean Windows 7 Ultimate install.

I set up 40GB for a Recovery partition, and the rest as the primary partition.

I've had the computer for a week. Windows popped up an error for me this morning saying the Recovery partition was full (4.3MB left).

I've never had a Recovery partition fill up before. Clearly, there is some setup issue then. What might it be?

So what should I do? I could increase the partiton size, but since it's a Logical drive and not a primary drive, I can't extend it into unallocated space.

Have you any ideas for me?

Thanks!

How ofter are you running backup? How big is the OS partition? is there anything being backed up?

The OS partition is 426GB. I have the OS on the same partition as all of my files and stuff. I'm beginning to think that might not have been a good idea, but I have always done it that way.

I think I found the problem. In backup settings, I had it backing up all of my files... including the dozens of GB of movies and stuff that I have.

Hi BAC5point2,
Just make sure you dont backup to your recovery partition. The reason Dell put that partition there is to let you restore the computer to factory default should something go wrong with your OS. It is not meant to be written to.

When I reinstalled the OS, I deleted the factory partition. I then created my own partition and made my own system image for it. But, when I made that image, apparently it attempted to copy ALL of the files I had loaded onto the computer.

I simply disabled that, and had it make a new "known good" image to store to the Recovery partition that I created.

It is a good practice to have the data in a seperate partition. Apart from the security aspect, that gives you the option to backup your system at different intervals than the data - depending on the frequency of change. But backing up to the same disk drive is not such a swift idea. What if the drive goes south?

Hi Bacpoint2,

how did you create an image to your hdd and place it on your other partiton. The reason why I am aking is because everytime i have any issues with my pc i have to reinstall windows and the software which is time consuming. Is there a free software that i can install to take an imange of my HDD so I can use it to reinstall my OS and Apps?

Thanks in anticipation
Adrian

Macrium Free Editon will do this.

Hello adrianlee, welcome to Seven Forums!





Have a look at this tutorial at link below.

Imaging with free Macrium

See if you can make your Recovery disks off the partition if Dell allows this. Then use free Partition Wizard to enlarge the partition slightly, making sure nothing further is allowed to write to it. If you have the Recovery Disks you can also delete it if you want to recover the HD space.

Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup - Windows 7 Forums.URL