need to combine or delete useless partitions...help

[billberry12]

Can someone tell me what all this means. I bought this laptop used, and it was restored to original settings supposedly by seller, but does this look right? What do I need to do?

 

[Nuccii]

It was not reset to Factory Conditions.

Usually on a Dell XPS 12 restarting the computer 4 times in succession will get you into the recovery process.+

If not, try the Windows 8 section of this site:
https://neosmart.net/wiki/dell-recovery-partition/#Access_the_recovery_partition_in_Windows_8

Before you do anything, back up any data you have to an external drive.

 

[Ztruker]

Unfortunately, that's perfectly normal; for a Win 8 system running on a UEFI BIOS with a GOT hard drive. If none of that makes any sense to you, Google UEFI and GPT for more info. Ask any questions here and I'm sure someone can help.

Mine looks similar. Lenovo K450 running Win 8.1.1, 3 hard drives. Boot is a 250GB SSD.

 

[billberry12]

Ztruker,

If you say "Unfortunately, that's perfectly normal" I think that's good enough for me. I have just never seen anything exactly like this. Everything works as it should so I just need to leave it well enough alone huh? Why do you say "unfortunately"?

Thanks so much.
Bill

 

[billberry12]

I tried to do an image or clone with Macrium free and it would not work. Said I had too many partitions??? That's the way I learned of all these partitions. How am I suppose to image or clone this disk? Ideas?

 

[Ztruker]

Macrium Free should work. I've not heard of anyone else having a problem with the number of partitions in 8.1. Maybe someone else here has some ideas on this?

I'll give Macrium Free a try just to see what happens. Will update later.

I use Acronis True Image 2014 for my backup and it has no problem with 6 partitions on the boot drive.

"Unfortunately" because it causes many people to think something is wrong. Some even start deleting the "extra" ones then end up with a non bootable, unusable system.

 

[SIW2]

What were you trying to clone it to?

Suggest you use this to make an image.

Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 Free Backup and Restore Software

 

[Ztruker]

Macrium Free works for me on Win 8.1.1. I just installed it and tried it.

 

[billberry12]

Yes, Macrium free worked for me too just now. I told you wrong. I was trying to make a rescue USB drive, and that's when it told me it could not because there were too many partitions on the drive. I don't have a cd/dvd burner. Ideas?

 

[billberry12]

Can a Macrium Rescue boot be made on an external hard drive??

 

[Ztruker]

Don't know if an external HD can be used or not. Try it and let us know

Curious, why would you want to tie up a external HD as a Macrium Rescue disk? A cheap flash drive or DVD seems like a better option to me.