Solved HP_Tools partition

[Marquis]

Hello,

I'm running a 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium HP G62, and one of the primary partitions is taken up by the HP_Tools. Is this something I need, or something I go do without?

I want to free up a partition in order to be able to dual boot GNOME/linux and windows.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again mate, if you ever have a need to do a factory recovery that partition will probably be needed; there are other options available, have a look at this tutorial linked below for a start and post a snip of Windows 7 disk management for us to look at.

Clean Install : Factory COA Activation Key


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   Information

Before we make any specific recommendations will you please post a snip/screen-shot of the entire Windows disk management drive map with a full description as to which drive/partition is which, so we can see what you have going on as there may be a fairly simple way to resolve the situation.

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a maximized snip of that.

How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums
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[seavixen32]

Providing you have created a set of recovery disks, you should be able to delete the HP_Tools partition as it probably is the recovery partition that contains the Windows Image.

The ony downside is that recovering your system from the recovery partition is a lot quicker than using a set of recovery discs.

I'd check your HP documentation first just to make sure I'm giving you good advice as on my wife's laptop the recovery partition is annotated as HP_Recovery and not HP_Tools.

 

[Marquis]

Providing you have created a set of recovery disks, you should be able to delete the HP_Tools partition as it probably is the recovery partition that contains the Windows Image.

The ony downside is that recovering your system from the recovery partition is a lot quicker than using a set of recovery discs.

I'd check your HP documentation first just to make sure I'm giving you good advice as on my wife's laptop the recovery partition is annotated as HP_Recovery and not HP_Tools.

My recovery partition and and HP_Tools partition are separate. I don't have any recovery disks, though. I've attached a screen shot of my disk management screen.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Are you aware that Linux/Grub and Windows are mortal enemies?


There is another option you may care to consider, in Method Two of this tutorial linked below.

Partition / Extended : Logical Drives

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[Marquis]

I'll give that a try and let you know what the results are.

And I wanted to run GNOME because that's what they have in the computer lab at my school (and I don't want to have to go back to campus to complete an assignment). Is there anything to worry about by putting both on the same disk?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

The best of both worlds would be to create and store externally an image of the entire HDD before you make any changes to the HDD structure, using something like this excellent, free program at this link below; this way when/if you finish with Linux you could just restore to the image and it would be just like it is now.

Imaging with free Macrium


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[Marquis]

I just finished backing up an image to an external hard drive with the Backup and Restore program that's already on windows. Should that be fine?

I'm also still gonna try to follow the link you posted earlier to try to dual boot and see if I can get that to work.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Have a look at this one for information that may be useful.

Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu
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[Comp Cmndo]

It looks just like my new HP. The Tools Partition only uses 100MB. Even the Recovery Partition only uses 12GB. It looks like a 500GB hard drive. I would leave them as they are, you have plenty of free space.

 

[Chilidawg]

Mine has both "HP_TOOLS" and "HP-RECOVERY" Here's hoping it's a long time before I need either one. BTW, thanks for a most informative website. I've learned a lot.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

It looks just like my new HP. The Tools Partition only uses 100MB. Even the Recovery Partition only uses 12GB. It looks like a 500GB hard drive. I would leave them as they are, you have plenty of free space.

You're forgetting one important thing.

   Information

The Windows Master Boot Record (MBR) partition structure supports a total of only four (4) partitions per Hard Disk Drive / Solid State Drive, they can be either 4 Primary partitions or three (3) Primary partitions and a single (1) Extended partition.

Partition / Extended : Logical Drives​

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[Marquis]

Have a look at this one for information that may be useful.

Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu
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Alright, I'll try this as soon as I extend my partition (which I'm gonna try to do right now). I'll go ahead and try to use Ubuntu instead of GNOME (it really doesn't make a difference to me).

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I'm not sure how to go about it because I don't fool with Linux but I know there is a way to set it up so the Windows boot loader is used instead of the Grub loader and that would make life much easier in the long-run.

 

[Marquis]

Alright, I'll look into that. By the way, the partition wizard you told me to download earlier is the same one used in the extending partitions tutorial, right? Also, I'm not seeing one of my partitions as Windows 7 (but I'm assuming it's just because it doesn't actually have a name, which you can see from my screenshot).

 

[gregrocker]

Since no one has answered your question yet about HP Tools partition: It contains the hardware diagnostics utility preinstalled at factory. Take a look at those tools now in All Programs to decide if you want them. If not you can delete it. If so I would save it.

On newer HP's they have included a Minimized Recovery option when you run Factory Recovery which is very close to a clean reinstall without HP bloatware, with just a couple of those utilities which can easily be deleted in Control Panel. For this reason I would keep Recovery in place, or at the very least make your HP Recovery Disks.

Of course if you don't want any of the bloatware or factory utilities and prefer to clean reinstall using a Win7 installation DVD for your version with the Product Key on the COA sticker, you don't need any of those partitions.

 

[Marquis]

Ok, so I tried making the Windows 7 partition a logical partition and everything worked ok there. But then I tried to shrink the volume (by 3073MB), and when I selected the amount of space I got a pop-up that said "The volume you have selected to shrink may be corrupted. Use Chkdsk to fix the corruption problem, and then try to shrink the volume again."

I ran Chkdsk, but it immediately disappeared on me (not sure if that's what it's supposed to do; maybe it runs in the background). Any help for that?

Also, gregrocker, because I don't want to screw anything up I want to try anything I can before deleting a partition.

EDIT: Ran Chkdsk as an administrator and it's actually running now. I'll edit again when it's finished and I try to shrink the volume again.

 

[gregrocker]

If you're using Partition Wizard it has System File Checker built in (which is Disk Check). I'd also run Surface Scan of HD.

 

[Marquis]

If you're using Partition Wizard it has System File Checker built in (which is Disk Check). I'd also run Surface Scan of HD.

I just managed to successfully shrink the volume. Dskchk worked fine after I ran it as an administrator. Now I'm gonna try to get Ubuntu on my computer. I'll give another update after that. But first I'm gonna follow BFK's advice and restart my computer to makes sure the changes are ok.

EDIT: I'm running the Ubuntu install and it has about a 5 hour ETA. I'm gonna run it while I sleep and check up on it in the morning. I'll update the thread after I see how it went.

 

[Marquis]

Success. Everything installed fine and is working great. Thanks for the help, everyone.