What's on that 100MB partition? Can I delete it?

[mesteele101]

The three things that would be lost by trying to remove and recover the 100MB partition is;

1) Screws the drive alignment

Note: Use Paragon Alignment Tool or ArgusMonitor to check alignment.

2) Recovery Console at bootup

3) Bitlocker support (if you really need it)

The MBR is not a problem, just run recovery console from the Windows 7 DVD

Once you remove the partition it can NEVER be rectreated. The only way to restore it from scratch is to reinstall Windows 7.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

The three things that would be lost by trying to remove and recover the 100MB partition is;

1) Screws the drive alignment

Note: Use Paragon Alignment Tool or ArgusMonitor to check alignment.

2) Recovery Console at bootup

3) Bitlocker support (if you really need it)

The MBR is not a problem, just run recovery console from the Windows 7 DVD

Once you remove the partition it can NEVER be rectreated. The only way to restore it from scratch is to reinstall Windows 7.

This is not correct at all, have a look at these 2 threads for further information.


Boot Windows 7 from a Logical Partition

Boot Windows 7 from Logical

 

[mjf]

The three things that would be lost by trying to remove and recover the 100MB partition is;

1) Screws the drive alignment

Note: Use Paragon Alignment Tool or ArgusMonitor to check alignment.

2) Recovery Console at bootup

3) Bitlocker support (if you really need it)

The MBR is not a problem, just run recovery console from the Windows 7 DVD

Once you remove the partition it can NEVER be rectreated. The only way to restore it from scratch is to reinstall Windows 7.

Capabilities 2) & 3) are sometimes mentioned in connection with the 100MB partition. Can you explain, with a screen shot, how these capabilities are realized?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Here's #2 WinRe linked on the F8 advanced boot options screen.

click to enlarge


​

Here's #3 this from the tutorial below.

BitLocker Drive Encryption - Windows 7 Drive - Turn On or Off with no TPM

   Note

Have at least two partitions. One partition must include the drive Windows 7 is installed on and must be at least 400 MB. This is the drive that BitLocker will encrypt. The other partition is the active partition, which must remain unencrypted so that the computer can be started. If you have the 100 MB System Reserved partition that Windows 7 creates during installation on a blank drive or partition, then BitLocker will store the key on it instead. If your computer does not have two partitions, BitLocker will create them for you. Both partitions must be formatted with the NTFS file system.

​

 

[mjf]

I was also curious as to where on the 100MB partition
1) the BitLocker key is stored
(I'm not using BitLocker so maybe that's why I can't see anything.
2) something WinRE related is supposed to reside.

 

[madtownidiot]

The bitlocker key is not stored on the HDD when you encrypt the entire HDD. It's stored in the TPM

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

If you don't have a TPM then the 100MB partition is needed to store the key, thus the 'whole' HDD can't be encrypted, I assume that's part of the reason the partition is not issued a drive letter; did you not read the Note (quote) from the tutorial I posted above.

 

[Night Hawk]

It doesn't store anything there until you go to use the tool. Then it will hide encrpyted files on it more then likely. That's also another reason why the 100mb is larger then needed for the BCD store itself since MS is allowing access to it by other options seen in 7 depending on which edition you are running.

One thing people often forget is http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

For laptops/netbooks or any system where 7 was preinstalled but not provided with a recovery disk often seeing the full factory restore option as the only one available it's a good idea to use the option for creating one shown in the guide there.

I'm surprized no one has written a guide for removing the 100mb system reserved partition and the manual method for building a new BCD store once the next partition present on the drive like the C primary is expanded to fill in the vacant space. How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

On two different occasions one where the 7 mbr was totally wiped out when going to custom install a Linux distro onto a usb flash drive it wasn't the startup repair tool that worked to see Grub removed. When you have a custom install of 7 on a second drive and the first is removed or simply gives out you then need the new mbr and BCD store.

Likewise when the 100mb partition is removed the one time live boot from the 7 dvd or usb install key or repair cd or usb repair stick by prepping the flash drive to receive the repair files there you would run the commands to builf the new store which then would see the "boot" folder appear on C.

 

[madtownidiot]

All the more reason to either set a HDD password in bios or buy a computer with a tpm if you have a need to use bitlocker effectively. A bitlocker key stored anywhere on an unlocked HDD is about as effective at protecting documents in a computer as locking valuables in a safe but leaving the combination on your living room table.

 

[Night Hawk]

Well if you happen to lose the key/password or something should go wrong during the encryption matters could also get much worse! Without any method of decryption you could very well end up losing everything.

The real question would be why you would want to encrypt the OS drive rather then locking things up tight on a secondary drive to start with. If the Windows installation has to be replaced such as a reformat of the drive your data is safe on the other drive signed, sealed, and delivered back to you there.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I'm surprized no one has written a guide for removing the 100mb system reserved partition and the manual method for building a new BCD store once the next partition present on the drive like the C primary is expanded to fill in the vacant space.

Hey Night Hawk ol' buddy, where you been mate?

Have a look at Option Two in this tutorial at the link below.


Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

 

[mesteele101]

The three things that would be lost by trying to remove and recover the 100MB partition is;

1) Screws the drive alignment

Note: Use Paragon Alignment Tool or ArgusMonitor to check alignment.

2) Recovery Console at bootup

3) Bitlocker support (if you really need it)

The MBR is not a problem, just run recovery console from the Windows 7 DVD

Once you remove the partition it can NEVER be rectreated. The only way to restore it from scratch is to reinstall Windows 7.

This is not correct at all, have a look at these 2 threads for further information.


Boot Windows 7 from a Logical Partition

Boot Windows 7 from Logical

The referance above to the partitions is not the way Windows 7 creates a partition for a new install on a new drive. On a fresh install if you choose to use the complete drive you will end up with two partitions. There will be a 100MB "System Reserved" hidden partition, and a second partition containing the remainder.

 

[mesteele101]

I'm surprized no one has written a guide for removing the 100mb system reserved partition and the manual method for building a new BCD store once the next partition present on the drive like the C primary is expanded to fill in the vacant space.

Hey Night Hawk ol' buddy, where you been mate?

Have a look at Option Two in this tutorial at the link below.


Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

Before people start removing that 100MB "System Reserved" partition they should be informed about drive alignment issues associated with Windows 7. Alignment issues can also be associated with other add on drives that have not been prepaird properly for Windows 7.

 

[Ztruker]

For anyone else like me that did not know what TPM was, read here: Windows Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

 

[Night Hawk]

I'm surprized no one has written a guide for removing the 100mb system reserved partition and the manual method for building a new BCD store once the next partition present on the drive like the C primary is expanded to fill in the vacant space.

Hey Night Hawk ol' buddy, where you been mate?

Have a look at Option Two in this tutorial at the link below.


Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

What I was referring to was a separate guide which wouldn't be for how to use one program for several things but how to get things regardless of which partitioning program or even the DiskPart to remove the 100mb.

That would also include instructions for use of the command prompt option when booted live from a 7 dvd, usb install key, or a repair cd as well as the commands to enter there providing the use of software and using the manual method by command prompt for building a new BCD store as well as use of the Fixboot and Fixmbr commands.

"Options to Rebuild or Build New the Bootsector/BCD store" would be a suitable title! In a guide like that you would want to introduce more then one option.

In fact for the next full system image I'll likely see two one with and the other without the 100mb seen.

 

[madtownidiot]

The only time I would recommend removing the 100MB system reserved partition is during the initial windows 7 install, if you plan to add a 2nd OS in a dual boot option on a single HDD system. In that situation it's a good idea to have a media partition to share files between the two operating systems, and to hide the other windows system partition from explorer in each OS. Logical partitions seem to cause more trouble than they're worth if you have more than one version of windows installed on the same HDD.

 

[Night Hawk]

Typically what many are doing now for single drive systems when going to dual boot is use an external drive for storing files and backups there including the option for a full system image while maintaining the two primaries. When splitting up a drive further for a 3rd storage partition the best advice is to see that done on a large capacity drive rather then running out of drive space too fast on a small one.

Depending on how much storage space is needed a good size drive starts off at 640gb or larger for two OS and one storage partition. "That dreaded "out of memory" error came up. Why?" many ask when they don't plan out enough drive space and their OS primaries fill up too fast.

As for removing the 100mb partition the task of seeing a brand new BCD store and new mbr entries is the task there where the "boot" folder is then found on C no longer having the 100mb present. You have to make the drive bootable again once the 100mb of drive space is reclaimed. I know Bare Foot Kid will be pointing to using the PW live cd for seeing that done while for those using another partitioning program the manual command pormpt method is more universal but still manually seen to at a command prompt.

 

[madtownidiot]

If you delete the system reserved partition using the drive options menu in the windows installer after allocating two other NTFS partitions, you don't have to worry about making the drive bootable because the MBR, & BCD will be written to the partition you install windows 7 to instead. It's only if you delete the system reserved partition after the install is complete that you have any problems... but if you subsequently install XP or vista immediately after installing windows 7, easyBCD can make both partitions bootable without having to do startup repair.

 

[Night Hawk]

With an XP/7 dual boot you would still need to create a brand BCD store if the 100mb partition is removed since the 7 installer places the store there instead on the main primary(7). You can't add 7 into the XP boot loader leaving you with just XP.

Following the instructions seen on the MS page for using the bootrec.exe tool at the command prompt you would build a new store to seen in the boot folder on the primary. The image attached here points to where that will be seen once a new store is created once the 100mb system reserved partition is removed.

 

[mjf]

If you delete the system reserved partition using the drive options menu in the windows installer after allocating two other NTFS partitions, you don't have to worry about making the drive bootable because the MBR, & BCD will be written to the partition you install windows 7 to instead. It's only if you delete the system reserved partition after the install is complete that you have any problems... but if you subsequently install XP or vista immediately after installing windows 7, easyBCD can make both partitions bootable without having to do startup repair.

I know i'm like a dog with a bone here but for BIOS boot PCs the MBR is fixed in location on the first sector of the boot HDD (or first 512 bytes of any boot device). You cannot move it and it doesn't live in a partition including the 100MB system reserved. For the last 25 years that's where the BIOS is programmed to look for it.
Here is mine - small enough to type the Hex code if really desperate.
You can see some error messages the BIOS spits out.