Deleting the recovery partition (Help)

[btl1986]

I recently upgraded my OS to Windows 7 On my ASUS lap top and after installing the software everything was running smoothly until I restarted. It now comes up reading "ERROR" could not load recovery.dat ---Now I know that to make it work I need to delete my Recovery Partition, however I was wanting to know, If I delete the Recovery Partition will I lose all of my Files eg music, photos etc?? Can someone help?

 

[Jonathan_King]

Welcome!

No, you will not lose your data, but you may leave your computer un-bootable.

If that happens, let us know, and we will help you repair your system.

 

[btl1986]

Thank you Jonathon, I just wanted to make sure before I deleted the original recovery partition that I would not loose any of my files. You have put my mind at rest. Thank you!

 

[btl1986]

1. Once you get the error message, restart your computer and boot the Windows 7 CD.
2. Enter the required fields [Example: Keyboard (US)] and click next
3. Click on the "Repair your computer" button and select the drive (C:/OSVista) (this is what mine said)
3. Then select the option "Command Prompt"
4. In Command Prompt type in DISKPART
5. Then type in LIST DISK
6. Then select the disk by typing SELECT DISK 0 (or which ever disk it is) and hitting enter
7. Then type LIST PARTITION and enter
8. Then select the partition you want to delete by typing SELECT PARTITION 0 (MAKE SURE YOU ARE DELETING THE SMALLER PARTITION, Mine was about 5000MB I believe)
9. Lastly, type DELETE PARTITION OVERRIDE

Can anyone tell me if this will help me delete my recovery partition?????

 

[Jonathan_King]

Yes, that will help. Just be sure you know which partition you are deleting!

 

[gregrocker]

Can you access Disk Management? If you will post back a screenshot of your full drive map, we can give you the steps to delete the Recovery Partition and recover its space as you wish.

Use the Snipping Tool in Start Menu, attach file using paper clip in Reply Box.

 

[btl1986]

Welcome!

No, you will not lose your data, but you may leave your computer un-bootable.

If that happens, let us know, and we will help you repair your system.

If it does happen to leave my system unbootable, when I go back to fix it will that result in me losing any data? - As you can prob see Im very reluctant to delete the recovery partition cause I dont want to lose all my work.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Nope, the recovery tools do not touch the data. All they do is write a new boot manager and stuff.

If you want to delete the recovery partition, don't worry about your data. However, if you do worry about your data, it is never a bad idea to create a backup.

See this collection of tutorials.

 

[gregrocker]

The only way it will leave your computer unbootable is if the Active System flag is planted now on Recovery. This would be unusual, but still worth checking.

Even if that were the case, all you would need to do is mark Win7 partition Active, boot from 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 as it will attempt to repair and then write the critical System files to Win7.

If you will post back your Disk Management screenshot we can tell you what is necessary.

The Recovery partition is likely disabled after install of Win7 anyway. If you want to be sure, try to trigger it by tapping key given for Recovery during startup.