Problems with partitioning new win7 system: For what are "Recovery" an

I bought a new computer where Win7 is already pre-installed on partition C:
In addition I want now to install a second "test" Win7 system on a NEW primary partition.
AND a logical "data" partition.
At startup I want to choose later between the 2 Win7 systems which one I want to boot.

When I inspect now the current partition table (before changing it) it looks like:
1.) "Recovery" 10 GB Primary MBR NTFS
2.) "System Reserved" 100 MB Primary NTFS, Active, System
3.) "Local Volume" 30 GB Primary MBR NTFS Boot
4.) unallocated

As you can I have a problem: If I create a new, 4 th primary, bootable partition with 30 GB into the "unallocated" space
then all maximum 4 primary partitions are filled.

I can NOT create a 5 th primary partition which contains the logical "data" partition.

So I guess I must either destroy "Recovery" or "System Reserved" primary partition to have one more primary partition slot available.

Now what for are the "Recovery" and the "System reserved" partition ?

I don't know them from WinXP. Are they Win7 specific?
Or are they "inventions" from the computer manufacturer (Sony)?

Is "Recovery" absolutely necessary?

Why is "System Reserved" active? From I WinXP I know only paritions as active which hold the OS and not some kind of "pre-boot-partitions"

Thank you
Peter

If you can make the Recovery Disks off of the Recovery partition, then you can consider wiping it to recover its disk space. It sounds like you are heading toward a clean reinstall without the factory bloatware anyway, so you may need only one copy of the Recovery Partition to keep in case you need to return to Factory.

The other option is you can delete the 100mb System Reserved partition and recover the System MBR (critical boot files) into Win7 using the first tutorial Barefoot posted above. The downside to this is that that partition is advisable for a Dual Boot in case Win7 becomes disabled then you can still boot via this partition; it also places the Repair My Computer tools menu on F8 Advanced Boot Tools menu besides being on the DVD and Repair CD.

Let us know if you have any further questions, and if you post back a screenshot of your full Disk mgmt drive map and listings we will gladly help you with the steps to do what you decide.