Solved Identifying partitions on HP Pavilion 15 HDD for SSD image

[Damaha]

Interested in identifying the different partitions and their importance to the system on this new HP Pavilion 15 in advance of moving OS to an SSD. Should it be tidied up before moving, what is crucial, and how many partitions should there be, and how easily is the OS and apps (no data - all in cloud) transferrable via Recovery USB or Macriam Reflect to an SSD (120gb).

See screen shot of Disk Management below, listing:

A 650MB partition, untitled, status: Healthy (Recovery Partition). which appears to be 100% free.

A 260 MB partition, also untitled, listed as Healthy (EFI System partition), which appears to be 100% free

The Recovery Drive (D) (Healthy OEM Partition), 21.62GB; (only 2.40GB used) (This appears to be listed in Disk Management twice for some reason)

and Windows (C) listed as Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition), at 1374.63 GB (only 77gb used)

 

[broe23]

All partitions have to stay. Otherwise if you remove any, you screw up the OS.

 

[Slartybart]

A 650MB partition, untitled, status: Healthy (Recovery Partition). which appears to be 100% free.
This is where Win8 keeps it's Recovery tools (WINRE) - it is important.

A 260 MB partition, also untitled, listed as Healthy (EFI System partition), which appears to be 100% free
This is your EFI boot partition - it is important.

The Recovery Drive (D) (Healthy OEM Partition), 21.62GB; (only 2.40GB used)
This is the HP Recovery partition - it is important. OEMs don't ship discs, they put the Install 'media' on your drive. You can use the HP Recovery utility to reinstall to factory settings. I have not created install media for Win8, but on many other Windows version (HP machines) you could create a set of discs in case of catastrophe. Look on the HP site for your machine (maybe there's bookmarks or look in Start for HP help/manuals/ assistant / home page..... poke around and see what the process is for HP and Win8. I helped another member with and Acer and discovered that Acer only discusses creating recovery media on a thumb drive.
Tip: if you fill in the machines specs on your EightForums profile, members can help you better.

and Windows (C) listed as Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition), at 1374.63 GB (only 77gb used)
This one you know . Win8 only takes up about 20 GB on my machine, but I did a clean install to get rid of the HP bloat.
You must have some other things installed on C: to get to 77 GB (I can't imagine HP bloats system by 57GB)

I don't know why D: is listed twice. hmmmmm

If you're wondering "Can I get some of this space back?"

First look at Disk management again, but change the View -> top to disks
I'll bet the right most column says GPT. If it does, great
If it say MBR -it will take some work to reclaim the space from C: - but I'll go on the assumption that the disks list will show GPT

Right click on C: in the bottom pane
select Shrink
Let it calculate and see how much Windows thinks it can shrink that partition. Write it down.
I don't know how you plan on using the machine, but there is a lot of space available.

200 Gb for C: is plenty, especially if your store your data on other partitions

Just for kicks, try shrinking C: by 1024002 (100 GB) - if the calculation gives you that much.

IF you want to think about your partitions, that's a good idea - you're limited by the number of characters in the alphabet (if the disk is GPT)

C: has 1374 - 77 GB = 1297 GB to play with. That's about four 340 GB partitions if you split is even.

How you partition depends on how you use the space. Large video files require large spaces, you don't want to get into the position of trying to save a video that's 50 GB and there's only 30-40 GB on each partition. Plenty of space, just not in one place. Smaller files ae easier to find a partition with room to spare.

My Disk Management shows MBR - I always have to carefully plan my portioning (I did have the large video save issue a long time ago). You can only have 4 partitions on a MBR initialized disk (an extended partition solves that issue - if your disk is GPT, no problem ... if it's MBR do NOT try to shrink C: and create a new partition)

​

 

[Damaha]

This is very interesting. Just to check - if I click on 'shrink', will that do anything irreversible? I haven't attempted to change these things before. But I'm interested to see what the calculation is. I have Onedrive, Googledrive, and Dropbox storage linked to 'C:' which might explain the size of the used space. I would remove this and put them onto the old HDD as an external disk for storage when I install the SSD (for OS and apps only). I haven't taken off much of the HP bloatware - not sure yet which is useful or not.
I've had the impression from reading around that SSD's are better off without partitions (something about avoiding the alignment problem), but I may have misunderstood this. Would there be any advantage in lumping the smaller WinRe and UEFI partitions into C: before putting C onto the SSD?
I hear it's better to keep the SSD at only 75% full - so I'd keep it light with OS and apps -get rid of the Recovery Partition D: also as I have Recovery USB provided by the retailer.
The HDD is a different matter- does it make a HDD of this large size easier to use to divide it into partitions? And perhaps it makes sense to have a partition for Googledrive, Dropbox and Onedrive respectively? Or better to divide by category of file - photos, video, documents, ppt, etc.
Thanks for any advice for a novice! Very interesting to learn. I will try the shrinking test if I know i'm not doing anything permanent.

 

[KYHI]

get rid of the Recovery Partition D: also as I have Recovery USB provided by the retailer.

That media is not system recovery - it is windows media..

Go to control panel - recovery - create a recovery drive.. That is your factory recovery image - and it is not the same as what you where provided..

then do your testing..

Also with the recovery media, you just created, we can edit one file (due to size change)and write the factory image to your SSD

edit: also rereading your first post the recovery partition has 2.4GB free out of 20GB and that size will change down to about 9GB after a BMR on the SSD

 

[KYHI]

here is mine - old 1TB drive (disk 0) now used as storage and new 120GB SSD (disk 1) with windows
View attachment 57498

And I still have the factory recovery option

 

[Damaha]

Very interesting - what is the System partition on Disk 0?
And the partitions on the SSD - is that WinRe, UEFI, and OS - and the recovery partition? and does it harm the SSD to have partitions (I thought cloning partitions might create an alignment problem - how do you fix that).
So it is possible to move OS from a much larger HDD to a 120gb SSD - no squeezing problem
I need to get writeable DVDs to make new recovery disks. But I think my USB is the full works - they charged enough for it (without giving me an option). The contents of my Recovery USB pasted below - the first screen and then the message it puts up when i click on 'Recovery'

 

[KYHI]

on disk o that is just my label

and disk 1 = is the proper alignment of a UEFI-GPT disk

 

[KYHI]

I would still opt for the control panel method (it creates the media on usb / not dvd) - as that is a lots of split files on that HP stick..

better to have two options - then none..

I know the control panel method, files and setting

 

[Damaha]

on disk o that is just my label

and disk 1 = is the proper alignment of a UEFI-GPT disk

Did you clone the OS and other partitions to the SSD? Did you have to use Disk Part to align the partitions to be divisible by 4 - I hear that is necessary.

Or is a Fresh re-install the easier way? Is this easy with Windows 8.1 OEM purchased a month ago - not sure where to get genuine Windows Key, no sticker.

I ask because I'm told the HP Recovery USB doesn't work with an SSD under 160gb, which is a problem as I have ordered a Samsung 120gb. May have to re-think and invest more or go with clean re-install.

It is a good idea to create another recovery disc to back up the retailers. Theirs is a USB -- perhaps I will go with DVDs.

 

[KYHI]

Go to control panel - recovery - create a recovery drive.. That is your factory recovery image - with the recovery media, you just created, we can edit one file (due to SSD size change) and write the factory image to your SSD in perfect alignment

once you create that media / in the sources folder / will be *resetconfig.xml / you need to open with notepad and edit

<MinSize>65536</MinSize>

as your number will be the size of your present HDD - so you need to lower the minimum Drive size to fit your SSD

65536 represents a 64GB drive size minimum, which means it will now restore to your 120GB SSD

Note - unplug your old drive when doing the recovery reset - so as not to reset or select the wrong drive..

 

[Damaha]

I will bear that in mind - but a slight complication -
I was told I could adjust the size of partitions by clicking and sliding on Macrium Reflect, so installed it, at which point it analysed the computer -- but the curious thing is that there is yet another partition that has appeared in this analysis, which wasnt there on Disk Management. No name, 128gb. Something else - any ideas?
What I would do is click to image the WinRe, UEFI and WIndows C partitions then before placing them on the SSD, click and slide to bring Drive C down to the size of the SSD.
Or indeed make it cover only the OS and create a new partition for apps, as advised by HP support.

 

[KYHI]

UEFI uses 4 partitions.. plus 1 more oem made partition 5

winre
uefi
ms reserved
windows
oem recovery

so far still no problem at all..

I have given you the best, fastest and easiest possible solution to installing a smaller SSD..

Or you could go to the SSD mfg's website and download their migration tool

You are going to play with something and knock something out, then will be asking even more questions

create a recovery drive - first - before doing any testing........

 

[Slartybart]

Damaha, what model pavilion 15 do you have?
Pavilion 15 Laptops | HP® Official Store

This is the closest I could come based on your specs (please also update your specs with the full model information)
HP Pavilion - 15z Beats Special Edition Touch Laptop | HP® Official Store

HP Search Pavilion 15
More than 300 products contain the term "pavilion 15".

Thanks.

I agree with KYHI - create a recovery drive BEFORE proceeding.

Don't over think this - I read your thread opener again and all you want to do is install an SSD - right.

Easy - let Windows do the thinking - too much reading confuses people

It's always good to ask questions, just try not to solve this in your head. This is pretty standard practice and if you have everything prepared (data backups, configuration information - logins and passwords, license keys for your programs, install media for your programs....) it is a no brainer.


1) Create your recovery drive to back up your data. This is redundant since you'll also have the HDD. But as KYHI says - better to have more than none.

Damaha: also as I have Recovery USB provided by the retailer.. This is good ... #2 is better.
I'm not sure you need the recovery drive then - If the Recovery USB is the factory restore - you don't (following my method)

2) Create install media
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/18309-windows-8-windows-8-1-iso-download-create.html
3) pull out the existing drive
4) install the SSD
5) install Windows 8 using media created in step 2

Let Windows update everything (run WU manually if necessary)

Install any missing drivers from the HP support page - most will be provided by Windows Update

Install your favorite programs.

Purchase a USB enclosure for the HDD and you have a backup plus it's easy to copy your data to the new SSD if you choose.

Really easy!

Note: you lose the ability to restore to factory settings (HP recovery), but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
You have the recovery drive if you ever really want to restore to factory
but you also have the Win8 media you created in Step2

You have the native push button refresh and restore in Win8 - that's what really counts.

Think about the direction you want to take and either KYHI or I can walk your though it.

Bill
.

 

[Damaha]

Thanks very much for the advice. This sounds like the best way.
I have a HP Pavilion 15 p158sa -
This may not be a US model - but it is here : HP Pavilion Notebook - 15-p158sa (ENERGY STAR) | HP® Support
A clean re-install would be good. I bought Office 2013 a few weeks ago but still have the licence key somewhere I think. But perhaps I can copy the Office files over from my HDD back to a new app partition I'd create on the SSD.
Otherwise all my data is on the cloud, and the apps are all re-installable - perhaps nice to copy them over as they have the settings etc I've set up.
The only qualm is whether there are some features of the set-up unique to HP Pavilion 15s which I would lose - I have a touch screen, but i guess Windows 8.1 senses that.
I am tempted to try out my retailer's recovery USB to see what happens if I get up to the boot screen. I can't go any further as I don't have the SSD yet - in the post. Can I create another recovery disk if Windows is already on this one - isn't there some rule you can only do one recovery disk?
All best and thanks again for great advice.

 

[Slartybart]

Thanks for the model number and the link - that's a big help.

A clean reinstall is the best! You won't be sorry, I was a bit nervous the first time, but now I'm an advocate, especially in cases like yours where the drive is being replaced or updated.


Q: I bought Office 2013 a few weeks ago but still have the licence key somewhere I think.
A: That's what you'll need - find the box, the envelope or the slip of paper that has the key on it. You will need it.

Q:But perhaps I can copy the Office files over from my HDD back to a new app partition I'd create on the SSD.
A: Nope, you need the key and need to install it on the new drive. Data files can be copied, but the license information is stored in the registry and can't be copied.

Q: Otherwise all my data is on the cloud, and the apps are all re-installable
- perhaps nice to copy them over as they have the settings etc I've set up.
A: I thought about that - thanks for confirming data is in the cloud.
Part of your prep work can be to export the configurations for you applications. Some make it easy, some do it in pieces, and some you just have to write down.

Q: The only qualm is whether there are some features of the set-up unique to HP Pavilion 15s which I would lose - I have a touch screen, but i guess Windows 8.1 senses that.
A: Yes, but you or I can check the HP support site for downloads. Most if not all of the device drivers will be loaded by Windows Update (WU). You only need to check device manager to see if there are any missing drivers. Those you can get from HP.

Q: I am tempted to try out my retailer's recovery USB to see what happens if I get up to the boot screen. I can't go any further as I don't have the SSD yet - in the post.
A: Please wait until you have the clean drive to play with. The HP recovery might not confirm "Do you really want to ..."
If it doesn't confirm, then your programs and configurations will be lost (factory restore wipes the drive)

Q: Can I create another recovery disk if Windows is already on this one - isn't there some rule you can only do one recovery disk?
A: Let me make sure I have your inventory correct:
(1) HDD with HP Recovery partition
(1) HP Recovery drive that you purchased separately

You have not created an HP recovery set from the HDD yet (discs vs. thumb drive discussion)
You have not created a Recovery drive per KYHI's suggestion.

I know this gets very confusing - so many recovery terms. Try sorting it out
HP Recovery - factory reset: is the media to restore Win8 + HP bloat
-> on HDD partition and can be created on media (disc or thumb drive (rec))
->->You can only create it once from the HDD, but you can use it as many times as needed
->->->I think you have this - you bought something from HP and it sounds like it was the next recovery thingy

HP Recovery drive: same as the HDD partition, HP created a copy for you and charged you for the device and the service.

Win8 Recovery: Utility or Utility and media to refresh or restore Win8 - no OEM bloat. Depends on how the OEM implements recovery.

WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment): bootable mini-Windows with some native base components to repair or install Windows.

You're welcome ... take your time, prepare and don't test on live data without a backup - better yet, don't test on live data

Bill
.

 

[Damaha]

Hey thanks so much, that's great - very useful answers! A clean re-install sounds great.
I have my Office key, so that's ok
I am pretty sure I have a full Recovery drive which I purchased from PC World in the UK for £35 (wanted to create my own really but they only had 'pre-set' stock available, i.e. they'd packaged a recovery USB with the unit. I think this is the one and I won't be able to create another - found in manual page below a line on that)
I just looked at the HP manual for the Pavilion 15 - interesting page here on the Recovery Drive. It seems there's an option for 'Minimised Image Recovery' on booting the Recovery drive which is just the Operating System and nothing else - no other apps - sounds pretty much a clean install... If I plug the Recovery USB in, go into the set-up page on booting, and find this option, perhaps that's a Windows Re-install to all intents and purposes?...

 

[Slartybart]

.....
It seems there's an option for 'Minimized Image Recovery' on booting the Recovery drive which is just the Operating System and nothing else - no other apps - sounds pretty much a clean install... If I plug the Recovery USB in, go into the set-up page on booting, and find this option, perhaps that's a Windows Re-install to all intents and purposes?...

I believe so - that must have been added after I stopped using the HP recovery media. Good to know - thanks.

Your choice - use the MediaCreationTool to grab the ISO and burn it to a DVD-R (not DVD-RW) or use the HP 'Minimized Image Recovery'. I suspect the drivers in the HP minimized will be out-of-date, so Windows update will still offer any newer drivers. No big deal ... it gives you a base set of drivers.

It sounds as though all you need is the new drive and collecting the configuration settings (this might be more work than just re-entering them when you re-install the programs - that's what I do, it's routine for me to configure the programs now). How many programs on your machine really require customization? If there are only a few and you let me know what they are, I might be able to help you find the related files or find out how to export the configuration for those programs. I'll tell you now, I don't use MS Office, so I won't be much help there.

You're getting pretty good at looking for the information needed (Pavilion 15 Manual ) - that's great! Most of the 'hard' work is preparing for the install - I think you're in very good shape. If there is something you need after the install, you can always pull it off the old drive (not always easy, but it can be done even if you have to temporarily swap the drives to export something from a program installed on that install). I don't want to focus too much on the configuration changes - they're mostly cosmetic. I do understand that it's nice to have things work the way they did before - I'm that way too.

When the new drive arrives, post again. In the meantime do as much prep as you can.
I don't think there's much left other than determining how to get configuration information for your programs.
If you think of anything else - ask. If I think of anything else, I'll post it. I'll be glad to walk you through the process when you have the drive.

Bill
.

 

[KYHI]

HP Recovery drive: same as the HDD partition, HP created a copy for you and charged you for the device and the service.

This is one big assumption.. As we do not know what is actually on the HP Recovery USB..

We do know for sure what is on the HDD recovery partition..

Although you will still have to HDD if needed later, after setting up the SSD

 

[Slartybart]

HP Recovery drive: same as the HDD partition, HP created a copy for you and charged you for the device and the service.

This is one big assumption.. As we do not know what is actually on the HP Recovery USB..

We do know for sure what is on the HDD recovery partition..

Although you will still have to HDD if needed later, after setting up the SSD

You must have missed this KYHI

Post #7: The contents of my Recovery USB pasted below - the first screen and then the message it puts up when i click on 'Recovery'