Should I delete legacy Recovery drive?

[TobyR]

I am planning to perform a clean install of Win7 on my Dell Vista PC (as I understand this is better in the long term than an upgrade).

My PC has a 10GB D: drive, which it came installed with, 'Recovery'. Is this something I should delete/format as part of the Win7 upgrade process (and will I get invited to create anew one?), or I should I just leave it be? Apologies if this is a simple question/answer, but I'm a bit snowed under with children today and I don't have time for Google and 'due diligence'!

thanks in advance
Toby

 

[Barman58]

Hi Toby,

This is a question that only you can answer. You will not be asked to create a new one unless the install media is from Dell and they add this function, (I've never heard of this by the way).

Do you have Bootable recovery disks from Dell for your previous OS? If so then the recovery partition is not needed anyway.

As you are doing a clean install it will be probable that any Dell software to start recovery will be lost when Windows 7 Re-writes the boot sector and will not be part of the standard Microsoft functionality included with windows.

It is possible to start the recovery operation by making the partition active and booting the system but this can be a bit involved.

The decision you have to make is how likely are you to revert to your previous system. if this is not very likely then the partition can be removed to regain the space - if you are not short of space does ithe 10GB matter.

 

[Kari]

Hi Toby and welcome to the SevenForums.

The recovery partition contains data to restore your computer back to the factory defaults, i.e. to install original OS (Vista?) and the drivers and bundled software back to your computer. After restoring the computer to the factory defaults it is like it was the day you bought it.

I recommend you first install the Seven and use some time before deciding if you want to delete the recovery partition. It's up to you: if you are sure you are never going to need to restore your computer to factory defaults, delete it. If you are not sure, keep it until you are.

I don't know Dell so well; some computers have an option to burn the recovery data to CD's or DVD's. You could try to find out if you have this option. If yes, burn the recovery disks and then delete the partition.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Kari

 

[TobyR]

I can spare 10GB so I'll just leave it be for now. Thank you both!

 

[Kari]

You are welcome, Toby. As always with computers this is one of those issues where it is better to be safe than sorry.

Kari

 

[juanantoniod]

Besure you choose Custom / Custom Install

I can spare 10GB so I'll just leave it be for now. Thank you both!

Toby, even as a 32 year computer veteran, I found the first install/upgrade from Vista and XP to be strange. It says in the documentation that you have to choose a custom installation to get a "clean" install. However, you must choose the custom install option TWICE if you want to format the drive. It does not explicitly state this, and according to MS, was designed to prevent unknowing users from formatting their HD. If you do not format the HD, it wll also create a Windows.old folder with all of your old files and settings in it, even though you are advised to create backups. This is also to prevent the novice user from losing data.

Good luck and format that drive; clean baby, clean!

Juan