How to enlarge a partition reserved by the system. Section - invisible

Many users, when installing Windows OS on PCs and laptops, saw how the installer operating system creates a partition on the disk called "System Reserved". However, not everyone knows what this section is and what it is needed for. Moreover, some are annoyed by such “arbitrariness” on the part of the Microsoft OS, and they are trying with all their might to remove this section. How to remove "Reserved by the system" and still keep the OS in in working condition? This is what will be discussed in the material. But first you need to understand what this section is and what it is intended for.

What section is this?

To begin with, it is worth noting that this type section appeared only with the release of Windows 7. Neither XP nor 2000 had it. What is in this section? This is where the Windows boot manager is located. Previously, it was located in the same section as the installed OS, but then the developers decided that it was better to allocate a separate place for it. It will be more wholesome. Data for encryption can also be stored there. hard drive, if the owner of a PC or laptop uses a system utility to encrypt data. The size of this partition can vary from 100 to 500 megabytes. The last figure is relevant only for Windows 10. How to remove a “System Reserved” disk and is it safe? The answer to this question depends on your specific goal. If the section just needs to be removed from the Explorer menu, then there is no problem with this. If you need to physically remove it, then some problems may arise. But first things first.

How to remove a section from the Explorer lists?

It's very easy to do. You need to go to the Start menu and select Run. There you need to enter "diskmgmt.msc". A window will open system utility for working with disks and partitions. Here you need to select the desired section and delete the letter under which it is displayed in Explorer. To do this, you will have to confirm the operation twice. After the process is completed, you should restart your computer. This section will no longer annoy you with its illegitimate presence in Explorer. It is worth noting that if you see this partition in the file manager, then most likely it is located on a separate hard drive, which at one time contained the Windows operating system. If this is the case, then you can easily remove it completely, since there is no useful information he no longer carries it within himself. How to remove a disk reserved by the system completely? This will be discussed in the next section.

If the partition is on another hard drive

If this is the case, then you can delete this section with a clear conscience. How to remove a system-reserved disk in Windows 7? Go to the "Start" menu, select "Run" and enter the command to launch the disk manager "diskmgmt.msc". Here you need to select the desired section and click on “Delete”. The program will ask you to confirm this action several times. After completing all operations, you should restart your computer. That's all. Now these 300 megabytes can be easily used to store files. True, it is not clear what can be recorded on them with the current size of audio and video files. Yes and high quality photos Now they take up quite a lot of space. But that doesn't matter. The main thing is that 300 megabytes are returned to the user. However, many users are not satisfied with this state of affairs. It is necessary that the partition does not appear at all when installing the operating system. How to remove the "System Reserved" disk in Windows 7 when installing the OS? This will be discussed in the next section.

Steps to install the OS

It is possible to prevent the Windows installer from creating this section even at the initial stage of installing the operating system. How to remove "Reserved by the system"? Very simple. When you start the installer, before the window with disk selection appears, you need to hold down the combination Shift keys and F10. This action starts command line installer In it you need to type “diskpart” and press Enter. This will start console application on working with disks and partitions. Now you need to type “select disk 0” and press Enter. This action selects HDD as the main partition for installation. We complete the process using the “create partition primary” command. The utility will create the required partition. Now you need to exit the command line and continue with the installation. In the disk selection window there will be an already prepared partition. Therefore, “Reserved by the system” will no longer appear. It is worth noting that this method is only suitable if you have only one partition on your hard drive. If there are several of them, then all other sections will be destroyed. Along with all the files stored on them.

Should I delete this section altogether?

Before you remove “Reserved by the system” in Windows 7, you should think several times. The fact is that not only the OS bootloader with ciphers is stored on this disk. There is also information for restoring the operating system. Some laptops use this section to provide the user with a "one-button recovery" option. If this section does not exist, then there will be nothing to restore. In the event of any system failure, you will have to install the operating system again. And this is long and tedious. In principle, this section does not interfere. And its size is such that using the freed 100-300 megabytes for data storage is simply ridiculous. It's better to leave everything as is. But there will be additional insurance in case of unforeseen situations.

Consequences of deleting a partition from a working OS

Let's assume that you found a way to remove "Reserved by the system" and did it on your working OS. What could be the consequences? The saddest. By your actions, you completely removed the Windows bootloader, which was used to load the operating system after starting the BIOS. You will see a message like "NTLDR is missing" on the screen. Now nothing can be fixed. All that remains is to reinstall the operating system. It seems nothing complicated, but this process will take a lot of time. And for many, time is of the essence. Therefore, you should not touch this partition unless absolutely necessary: ​​100-300 megabytes will not play a role, but serious problems can arise when you try to free them. It's better to leave everything as it is. And the computer will work as it should.

Characteristics of this section in Windows 10

In this operating system, this section has where larger size. This is due to the fact that the “top ten” uses a completely different type of bootloader. And its size is noticeably larger. Therefore, the partition size is different. If you are looking for an answer to the question of how to remove “Reserved by the system” in Windows 10, then immediately abandon this activity. "Ten" is a very capricious system. And if you change anything in it, it will refuse to work at all. Do you need it? There is also an opinion that No. 10 stores user data there that it collected to send to Microsoft. This OS is engaged in spying activities (everyone knows this), but storing data on a reserved disk is already too much. Most likely, the size of the data required to restore the operating system is larger than in previous versions. Hence the larger size reserved disk.

What do IT specialists say about the “Reserved by the system” section? How to remove this fragment in Windows 7 and is it worth doing? Leading experts agree that it is not worth touching this section unless absolutely necessary. The consequences can be the most tragic: from unstable work system until the complete failure of the equipment installed in the computer. If this partition is really an eyesore for the user, then you can remove it only if it is located on another hard drive and has nothing to do with the main one. working system. The only way. Experts from Microsoft say the same thing. But who listened to them and when? They have one goal: to earn money. more money. But they are still professionals in this field. And sometimes it’s worth listening to them. Many users have already encountered a lot of problems when trying to delete this partition. Don't repeat their mistakes.

Instead of a conclusion

So, we looked at the question of how to remove “Reserved by the system” from the list of sections. This operation is quite simple and does not promise the user any trouble. You can also prevent the system from creating a partition during the installation stage. There will be no problems with this either. But if the user decides to delete a partition of his main system with which he works, then such an action can lead to unpredictable and very unpleasant consequences. It is not recommended to touch “Reserved by the system” unless absolutely necessary. And if you really can’t stand it, then you should exercise extreme caution when working with this section.

Display in Windows Explorer or file manager of an extra disk partition with the inscription “Reserved by the system” is not the norm. The chances of encountering this if Windows was installed from scratch (on a formatted disk partition), and the distribution was downloaded from the official Microsoft website or the installation was carried out with licensed disk, are negligibly small. But a partition labeled “Reserved by the system” may appear in the number of disks and devices after experiments with redistributing disk space, restoring the system from a backup, and this kind operations. This situation may also be a consequence of the use of pirated custom builds of Windows.

The section called “Reserved by the system” is, so to speak, the technical floor of Windows. This section, as the name suggests, is reserved by the operating system for its own needs, in particular, for storing boot parameters. Reserve a separate one for yourself Windows space started with version 7. More earlier versions Windows was used for these purposes system disk C. During the evolution of the operating system, its creators decided to transfer critical data for loading and Windows performance to a separate disk partition and, naturally, hide them from the user’s eyes. The debut version of this innovation, Windows 7, reserves little for its needs, only 100 MB of disk space. But as new ones come out Windows versions the appetites of the “Reserved by the system” section increased and for Windows 8 amounted to 350 MB, and for Windows 10 – as much as 500 MB. The increase in technical space was a consequence of the introduction in Windows, starting with version 8, of pre-boot functionality for restoring the operating system.

Technical section"Reserved by the system" in progress Windows installations 7, 8.1 and 10 are created automatically. This happens during the creation stage system partition disk.

There is no threat to the fact that the “System Reserved” section is displayed in Explorer. Of course, provided that it is not used to store files like any other disk partition. After all, then the system will have the volume it needs to accommodate the data. There is no threat because important data is deleted from this partition in the usual way from the Explorer interface or file manager will not work. Even if the “System Reserved” section is displayed in Explorer, its contents are hidden from the user. Only in the section properties can you see how much space is actually occupied.

Like the system drive C, the reserved partition is inside the Windows is protected from deleting and formatting. Damage important system areas in this way by experimenting with the functionality of the Windows Disk Management utility or third party programs to work with disk space, it won't work.

What then is the problem with displaying this section in Explorer? Yes, in principle, there is no problem. There is simply no need for an unused element in the number of computer disks and devices. And so that it doesn’t flicker before your eyes once again, you can remove it. But it’s better not to remove it the way some “experts” advise on the Internet - by deleting the “Reserved by the system” section and transferring its contents to the system drive C, and the right way, a way to hide this section.

To do this, launch the disk management utility. Fast access access to this in Windows 8.1 and 10 systems is implemented by pressing the +X keys.

In Windows 7, you can use either the internal search or the Run service (start key + R). In the fields of both, enter the command:

In the disk management window, click the “Reserved by the system” section, call up the context menu and select the option to change the drive letter, as indicated in the screenshot.

If you installed Windows for the first time (or maybe more than once), then when partitioning and formatting partitions on your hard drive at the initial stage, you noticed that Windows creates a special partition in which Windows cannot be installed. It is called Reserved for the system ( System Reserved) and takes up several megabytes of data at once. I have already written briefly about this section in some articles, but now let’s look at it in more detail and figure out why and why the system needs it.

For those who don’t remember what I’m talking about, I’ll show you a screenshot:

What is the section reserved for the system responsible for?

It is responsible for a couple of the most important functions:

1) For download data manager and download configuration data.
At booting Windows, this same Download Manager addresses BCD file, which is located in this very reserved "storage". This file contains boot configuration data that controls system startup. Those. if it were not there, the system would not understand how to initially boot and from where.

2) Storing startup files for BitLocker technology. You can read more details in the article?. I’ll just write briefly that if you want to encrypt data on your hard drive, the necessary data will already be in this section.

We figured out why we need a partition reserved for the system. Now I will answer some additional questions regarding him.

When does Windows create a partition for the system?

I answered this question at the very beginning of the article in principle, but I will repeat it.
When you install the system, when you start partitioning the disk, the partition manager hard drives in the Windows installer you will be prompted to create a partition in unallocated space on your hard drive:


For Windows 7 (seven) it takes 100 Mb, and for Windows 8 (eight) about 350 megabytes.

Is it possible to delete a hard disk partition reserved for the system?

In principle it is possible, but why? The space it occupies is not that significant. You don't really need 100 or 350 megabytes. After all, now most disks that are installed on computers have a capacity of 320 GB or more. You won't even see this section if you go to My Computer. You can only see it when you work with special programs for hard drives. But in any case, it is worth remembering that You cannot delete the “Reserved for the system” section when the system is already installed and running. Otherwise, Windows will not start, because... I already wrote that this section contains the bootloader.
The only thing that can be correct is to prevent creation when installing Windows, but for this you will have to leave one local disk. To do this, you need to install the system on your hard drive without entering the system partitioning utility. Simply agree to all the terms and conditions that are offered at the time of installation. The system will not be able to create a special partition, and all boot files will be placed on the same drive where the Windows folder is located.
You can click the “Cancel” button in the window shown in the last screenshot and partition the disks in principle, but still I (and Microsoft) strongly do not recommend bypassing disk partitioning in this way and placing the bootloader on the same disk with the system. It’s better to do as the system itself wants and create the “Reserved for the system” section using the usual method.

If one day after purchase computer equipment or reinstalling the operating system, you went to “My Computer” and saw an incomprehensible hard drive there with a size of 100 or 350 megabytes, do not be scared or surprised. The main thing is don't touch anything on it and everything will be fine. If it bothers you and is an eyesore, then it is better to hide it far away. Let's figure out how to remove "Reserved by the system".

What it is?

First we need to understand what we are dealing with. "Reserved by the system" - what is it? You may encounter a similar problem exclusively in operating systems starting with Windows 7. In this case, the system reserves 100 megabytes on the hard drive to place boot files and encryption data on it. How many times have users deleted system files, as a result of which the computer stopped rebooting? In modern operating systems, their creators decided to play it safe and hide such important data on a hidden system drive.

In Windows 8, the "System Reserved" section takes up a little more - 350 megabytes. This is due to the fact that it also contains some files for restoring the operating system.

Origin

Where does this section come from? As far as advanced users know, despite the fact that Windows 7 is installed automatically, we still need to manage some actions. This includes creating partitions on your hard drive.

Imagine what you bought new laptop with the Windows 8 operating system installed. You are far from a fan of this version and decide to reinstall the older “seven”. Paste installation disk, and the first thing you notice when you get to the partition manager is the three named areas, one of which is outrageously small and not labeled in any way. What to do?

We will omit the description of converting partition formats from GPT to MBR and other preparations for reinstallation. But here's what you should know. If you delete everything sections of hard disk and install the OS on a completely empty disk, it will automatically create a boot partition for itself, which will be hidden by default and the next time you reinstall it you can find it again.

"Invisible"

So, the installation of Windows 7 was successful, but you found on your computer new hard disk. Why did it happen? In most cases, the “Reserved by the system” section appears due to the programmer’s “crooked hands” in pirated assemblies operating system. Fortunately, there is nothing wrong with the fact that you are faced with a similar problem. You have several options to choose from:

  1. Let it be as it is. Just don't touch this section and nothing bad will happen to your computer.
  2. If you have a child who might unknowingly get in there and mess something up, you can hide the “System Reserved” option.
  3. There is a way to completely remove this partition by moving the files to the system drive. Doing this is highly discouraged, as the security of your PC will be greatly reduced.

In other words, "Reserved by the system" - what is it? This is the main engine of your personal computer, which powers all the others basic programs. Depriving him of protection is an extremely ill-considered and risky step.

Delete or...

If you are interested in how to remove “Reserved by the system”, then think about whether this is what you need? This process will not free up extra space for you, but will simply transfer data from one disk to another. You will have to change many settings on your computer and its registry. Moreover, you will need additional software and a so-called LiveCD. After all, the operating system will be “protected”. She will not allow you to easily delete the data that is important to her. The worst thing is that if it fails, your computer may simply refuse to boot or issue a warning that the operating system was not found at all.

But still...

It's time to move on to the question of how to remove "Reserved by the system". We have already established that deleting an existing boot partition will not lead to anything good. Therefore, if you still want to get rid of it, you have a chance to do this during the installation of the operating system. Before you start the following instructions, worry about the safety of your data. If your hard drive is divided into several parts, then the data from all of them must first be copied to removable media, otherwise they will be lost forever.

  1. Format your hard drive and delete all partitions.
  2. When installing the operating system, press Shift + F10. This command will open a command prompt for you.
  3. To begin, enter the command diskpart and confirm your entry.
  4. Then enter: select disk 0.
  5. The last command will be: create partition primary.
  6. Close the command prompt and continue installing the system on given hard disk.

Section deleted

What have we achieved? The entire first hard drive is given over to one single partition. Therefore, the system will not have the ability and free space to create backup hard disk. What do we get?

Advantages:

  • You will not see the "System Reserved" section.

Flaws:

  • The level of OS security is reduced.
  • You only have one partition on your hard drive, which means that when big problems with the OS and its reinstallation, you may well lose your data.
  • Inconvenience. Probably, most users have long been accustomed to the fact that they have several partitions on the HDD. You divide your data - games and programs on one disk, movies and photos on the other. On the third are working documents.

As you can see, there are many more disadvantages than advantages. Is deleting one partition worth such sacrifices? However, they can be avoided if you use a special partition manager utility, for example, Partition Wizard. It will allow you to “cut off” a part without losing data or damaging the operating system hard memory disk and create a new partition from it.

If you don’t want to waste time and effort on reinstalling the operating system, then you just need to know how to remove “Reserved by the system,” or rather hide it.

Removing the section

Now you can start hiding the eyesore section. How to remove "Reserved by the system"? There's really nothing complicated about it. We won't need any third party software, but you just need to follow the next steps.

  1. Open the Start menu and find the Computer button.
  2. Click on it right click mouse and click on “Manage” in the drop-down menu.
  3. A settings window will open in front of us. In the left column we find the sub-item “Disk Management”.
  4. Right-click on the “Reserved by the system” section. We are interested in the “Change drive letter or drive path” item.
  5. A window appears in front of us, in which the letter indicating this section will be indicated. Since addressing in the computer memory is organized by this name, we need to delete it.
  6. Select the “letter” and click on the “delete” button below. We confirm.

Bottom line

That's all, the extra partition will disappear from the "My Computer" screen, but will remain in the system, and this will not affect Windows operation. Now you know how to remove "Reserved by the system". The only thing worth adding: to avoid unnecessary worries, “operate” your computer only on clean operating systems, or simply create backups data. You never know at what point in the instructions you will make a mistake, and what this may lead to. You perform all operations at your own peril and risk and be prepared to bear responsibility for what you do.

Microsoft for the release of the operating system Windows systems 10 simplified the process of installing it on a computer as much as possible. You can install the system from a disk or flash drive by clicking on several menu items and waiting for a while. Despite this, after installation, many users are faced with the problem of having a new drive among the connected devices and disks labeled “Reserved by the system.” The article will discuss how to remove such a disk, why it appears, why it is needed, and how to prevent its creation.

Why is a system-reserved disk necessary?

During installation Windows disk reserved by the system is created automatically if you do not forced shutdown. If the installation procedure is carried out correctly, it remains hidden from the user, who is not even aware of its existence. The appearance of the disk is a consequence of the creation of a separate 200-600 MB partition during the system installation process.

If after installation you go to “My Computer” and find the presence of a separate drive that says “Reserved by the system”, the reason for this may be the following:

  • The operating system was not installed from a licensed distribution;
  • During the Windows installation stage, work was carried out to redistribute disk space;
  • The operation was performed;
  • On new Windows drive was copied from another medium.

The system-reserved partition itself is required to store boot parameters. Starting with the Windows 7 operating system, a separate partition is allocated on the drive for the needs of the system, whereas previously it was located directly on the system disk.

In Windows 10, the system reserves from 500 to 600 MB for its needs, while in earlier versions it required no more than 300 MB. This is due to the fact that in the new operating system Microsoft company started adding functionality Windows recovery for this technical section.

Important: IN professional versions Windows operating system available BitLocker feature. It allows users to encrypt data on their hard drive or external media. Stored on a system-reserved disk necessary information to decrypt the data.

How to remove a system-reserved disk

Availability additional disk among drives may irritate or confuse users. In such a situation, they have a desire to remove the disk reserved by the system. Naturally, Microsoft made sure that a computer user could not delete data from it and format it even with administrator rights.

If you want to remove a system-reserved disk from the list of drives, you must do this as follows:


After this, the system-reserved disk will no longer be displayed in Explorer. At the same time, its operation will not be disrupted, and if it is necessary to restore the system, Windows will be able to use the information from this section.

Important: If the computer has multiple drives installed, the user may notice the presence of two (or more) partitions, reserved by the system. This suggests that previously the connected disks also had Windows installed, which created this partition. For proper operation of the current system, the “old reserve” is not required, and you can safely delete it, and then format the disk, creating a partition that occupies the entire volume of the drive.

How to prevent Windows from reserving a disk

It was noted above that Microsoft specifically thought about creating this partition on the hard drive so that the user could restore the system if serious errors occurred on the base drive. Based on this, during the installation of the operating system it is better not to disable its creation in order to avoid possible problems. Despite this, it is possible to prevent Windows from reserving a disk during system installation; to do this you need:

  1. Run command line before hard choice disk for future system. This is done during the Windows installation process using the Windows + F10 key combination;
  2. Next, in the window that opens, you need to write and activate ( Enter key) command diskpart. After that, select using the command select disc 0 basic hard drive. And then enter the command create partition primary to create the primary partition before Windows does it automatically;
  3. After completing the steps, close the command line and continue installing the system, selecting the previously created partition from the options proposed for its location.

Important: This method cannot be used if it is necessary to save hard structure a disk divided into several partitions (for example, C and E). After executing the commands described above, all information from partition E will be deleted.