Large recovery partitions

Posted by Unsigned on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Unsigned
Published on 2012-09-09T20:52:13Z Indexed on 2012/09/09 21:40 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 114

Filed under:

recovery

|

factory-defaults

Is there any good reason as to why factory restore partitions are generally much larger than they need to be?

Examples I have found in my own experience:

Dell XPS laptop
- Partition: 13.67 GB
- Used: 6.68 GB
Dell Inspiron laptop
- Partition: 14.7 GB
- Used: 7.2 GB
Toshiba laptop
- Partition: 15.3 GB
- Used: 9 GB

In all cases, shrinking the partition to only slightly more than the Used space had no ill effects on future factory restorations.

Why the exorbitant amount of extra space, given that neither of the three computers ever writes any data to the recovery partition? Is there a good reason I'm overlooking?

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about recovery

Crash/Instance Recovery?Media Recovery?????

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
Crash/Instance Recovery?Media Recovery???????: Crash/Instance Recovery???????????????(incremental checkpoint)??apply redo??????????????????????????logfile switch checkpoint,?????????????????????,????crash/instance recovery???????????????????????(online redo logfile)? ????Media Recovery… >>> More
HP Recovery options: System Recovery not showing

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I am using HP Pavilion dv4 notebook. Previously, there were following options in Recovery Manager(using f11 during boot): +System Recovery +Factory Restore +Minimized Image Recovery The System Recovery option allows me to restore only Operating system drive e.g. C:\ drive, keeping all other user… >>> More
Eee PC - Create USB Recovery Drive w/ Files Copied From Recovery Partition

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have an Eee PC 1005HAB whose hard disk has failed. I have no recovery CD/DVD, but I did previously back up the contents of the recovery partition, and would like to use them to create a bootable USB to reinstall the factory settings on the new hard drive. Since I simply copied all the files… >>> More
Macrium Reflect Recovery Linux Recovery Disc hangs up on booting

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I created an image of my system with macrium reflect freeware program and stored the image on an usb external hard drive. However the macrium reflect linux recovery disc on startup hangs up of the first three lines of instructions and therefore I cannot access the image on the usb external hard drive… >>> More
Understanding Windows 8 Recovery options

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Background: I am preparing a PC that I am sending to a relative abroad, who has little or no internet access, and next to no sensible options for getting IT support should anything go wrong. As such I am trying to provide a full set of recovery options such that they are able to reinstall the OS… >>> More

Related posts about factory-defaults

How do I restore a Dell Inspiron 1521 laptop to factory defaults?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I got a Dell Inspiron 1521 laptop from a local computer store that a buddy of mine works at. When I turned it on I had come to realize it has not been wiped and reverted to factory defaults. How can revert the machine to factory defaults? I do not have any of the CDs that came with the machine,… >>> More
Reset DRAC to factory defaults

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I put a DRAC that has not been used in a long time into a PowerEdge 1750 running CentOS 5.8. Because we run our DRACs on a separate network, we don't change the password from the default (root/calvin), but evidently someone changed this one. I tried the regular command line reset (racadm racresetcfg)… >>> More
Reset Windows system to factory defaults

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
A friend just bought a netbook (HP mini 110) with Windows XP but it was the one used for testing in the store (the last one on storage) so it's somewhat filled with stuff from people testing the machine. How should I go about restoring the system to a ? As a first step I'm going to create a new… >>> More
Factory Reset Asus

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have an ASUS All-in-one PC (not sure what model) and I'm trying to perform a Factory Restore but nothing is working yet. I have tried pressing F8, all I had access to was "Restore from an earlier point" - Today was the earliest point; and "Restore from an Image" - which I don't have. I have tried… >>> More
Do any good tools exist for restoring Windows 7 to its factory settings when a clean install isn't an option?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I am trying to restore a Windows 7 (Ultimate) PC to its factory settings manually, basically by uninstalling everything in the Add/Remove Programs dialogue box, deleting all personal files and running CCleaner. This is going to take a while. I can't do a clean install because I don't have physical… >>> More