RECOVERY ???

[mutantpoodle]

I was just looking for info on my model PC and noticed that RECOVERY is showing 2.44GB left of total 22

ie nearly full

what does that mean?...I have never (knowingly) used 'recovery' I don't even know exactly what it is

should I worry...delete it?? replace it?? add to it??
……
or buy another laptop?

[didds]

have a look in that folder/drive and see if there is anythuing obviously wrong there?

[Qlnmu]

Sounds like your machine has a recovery partition, which you can reboot into just in case you need to reinstall Windows at any point. Manufacturers used to provide a CD/DVD for this purpose but since lots of PCs now don't have a disc drive many manufacturers now partition the hard disk/SSD instead.

22GB sounds pretty big to me for a recovery partition but I suppose operating systems are quite large these days, which is another reason manufacturers no longer put them on optical media. I don't believe there's any harm in that partition being nearly full and I would say you can safely ignore it.

[kiloran]

The recovery partition is almost certainly for restoring your PC to its initial state if you have a major problem. Effectively, a copy of Windows. It is generally close to full but that does not matter since the data never changes.

You can (and should!) ignore this partition

--kiloran

[Breelander]

I was just looking for info on my model PC and noticed that RECOVERY is showing 2.44GB left of total 22

ie nearly full

what does that mean?...

As has been said, almost certainly an OEM recovery partition to restore the machine to factory specs. The size is typical of a machine built and supplied with Windows 7.

Does RECOVERY have a drive letter? If so, is the laptop an HP? Most OEMs hide their recovery partition from File Manager by not assigning it a drive letter, though you can see it in Disk Management or Defrag. HP are an exception to the rule. See...

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - What is the Recovery (D:) Hard Drive?

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c01512976

[gryffron]

I concur with the previous posters. It is a factory installed partition, which unpacks to initially install your PC, or to restore it. Once packed in the factory, nothing else is ever written to this partition. So it doesn't matter that it is 99% full.

Don't worry about it. Don't delete it. Just leave it alone. It is left behind as an insurance policy in case your operating system ever gets totally screwed up.

Gryff

[mutantpoodle]

OK...many thanks

as suggested I shall ignore It

will keep fingers crossed!

[UncleEbenezer]

Sounds like your machine has a recovery partition, which you can reboot into just in case you need to reinstall Windows at any point. Manufacturers used to provide a CD/DVD for this purpose but since lots of PCs now don't have a disc drive many manufacturers now partition the hard disk/SSD instead.

The removal of the CD is a con (unless of course the CD can easily be replaced by downloading it). A "recovery" partition is no use if the disc itself goes pop.

Yes, the CD drive is no longer the norm, but I've yet to see a PC that can't be booted and installed from a USB stick.

[Breelander]

The removal of the CD is a con (unless of course the CD can easily be replaced by downloading it)...

The usual practice for Win7/Win8 was to provide an OEM tool that allowed you to create your own CD/DVD, using the files from the recovery drive as the source.

[Infrasonic]

A "recovery" partition is no use if the disc itself goes pop.

Quite!

It's something people need to factor in when buying slimline laptops/tablets/phones et al.
Most of them have one primary storage medium.
Not all of them are USB bootable either.
Many of the budget grey imports have a locked down BIOS with no plan B option like getting Linux onto it or running live from USB.
With the tablets/phones it's not trivial reflashing the OS (or even doing a factory reset).

An HP desktop PC that I was going to clean install W10 onto SSD from a W10 MCT USB flash drive last summer turned up a few last minute surprises once I'd opened it up.
No USB boot option in the BIOS (it did have PXE...), and the DVD drive was missing from device manager, but was visible in the BIOS, which snookered my 'install USB boot manager from PLOP CD' idea. (The culprit is likely to have been a previous W10 update, I've looked at a few solutions to re-enable the DVD).

Ended up using Macrium Reflect to clone via SATA/SATA in the end. I was thankful for the desktop 4 SATA ports option there, even if I had to add some Y-split SATA power leads (another surprise...).

[JonE]

...I've yet to see a PC that can't be booted and installed from a USB stick.

Steady on! Your personal experience doesn't justify extrapolating an implied generalisation from it. You must be talking about what I regard as recent kit because it's only in relatively recent years that kit I've been given has had the ability to be booted via USB: I don't regard it as a given.

Cheers!

[UncleEbenezer]

...I've yet to see a PC that can't be booted and installed from a USB stick.

Steady on! Your personal experience doesn't justify extrapolating an implied generalisation from it. You must be talking about what I regard as recent kit because it's only in relatively recent years that kit I've been given has had the ability to be booted via USB: I don't regard it as a given.

Cheers!

Just checked my blog.

First time I personally installed from a USB stick on a CD-less 'puter was 2009. Gordon Brown was in power. Not so very recent in 'puter terms.

And I don't often install a new 'puter. That machine was my last desktop before the current one.

[JonE]

First time I personally installed from a USB stick on a CD-less 'puter was 2009. [...] That machine was my last desktop before the current one.

According to what you've written and imply, your machines before 2009 didn't necessarily have the ability to boot from USB but you've owned a sample of just two desktops in the past decade which did - yet you boldly asserted that you've "yet to see a PC that can't be booted and installed from a USB stick".

I just wanted to point out (and now do so for the second and last time) that boarders shouldn't assume from what you wrote that any machine they come across will be able to boot from USB - I have some here that can't. The odds may be improving as older machines drop off their perch for the final time but it's not a dead cert.

Cheers!