I, without doing any research, deleted the D: partition on my Hard Drive so I could extend the C: partition, since it was running low on space. Nothing bad seems to be happening, but I looked it up and learned that the D: drive contains the files vital to performing a factory restore. I don't need you guys to tell me I messed up; I know I did. I just want to know how screwed I am.
I Idiotically Deleted my D: drive. How Bad is That?
- Thread starter Lupafel
- Start date
It's nothing important. A recovery partition just let's you reinstall Windows without needing a disk. You might want to download a copy of Windows so you can still do that if something fucks up.
I couldn't delete mine which was a little irritating. A giant chunk of wasted space really. Well, a small piece really.
Realistically, it's not like you can delete a portion of the actual harddrive from being unusable. You merely remove the contents from being accessible and easily over written. If you REALLY needed to, you could probably get a professional to recover parts of it. Not sure how they do it. Nothing is ever truly "erased" off computers. Merely shuffled and given new coats of paint. I think what's really happening is the 1's and 0's are all being coverted to 0's or something. Otherwise it would be using a magnet or something harmful.
Realistically, it's not like you can delete a portion of the actual harddrive from being unusable. You merely remove the contents from being accessible and easily over written. If you REALLY needed to, you could probably get a professional to recover parts of it. Not sure how they do it. Nothing is ever truly "erased" off computers. Merely shuffled and given new coats of paint. I think what's really happening is the 1's and 0's are all being coverted to 0's or something. Otherwise it would be using a magnet or something harmful.
Quite frankly, if it just contains the files for a factory restore, you just got rid of some stuff clogging the harddrive.
If you know how to handle a computer responsibly, 10 to 1 you won't miss the recovery partition.
If you know how to handle a computer responsibly, 10 to 1 you won't miss the recovery partition.
For your daily computing, this should not matter at all.
Should you want/need to reinstall your system, though, you will no longer be able to "factory reset" straight from the BIOS/boot menu, requiring actual installation media that fits your machine instead.
This usually consists of
1) Windows 10 64-bit ISO, to burn onto a DVD OR create a bootable USB with
2) Specific drivers for your model
For a growing number of folks with more recent hardware, automatic updates seem to work just fine, but sometimes you lose functionality with standard/generic drivers. If you're running Win10 Home, I hear Windows Update can get somewhat obsessive with replacing drivers you need with drivers it thinks are more current, which might mess things up.
To be ready for the worst, feel free to search for "How to create Win 10 boot media" - techradar is fine - and follow the instructions to get your installation media done; store them in a safe place.
Should you want/need to reinstall your system, though, you will no longer be able to "factory reset" straight from the BIOS/boot menu, requiring actual installation media that fits your machine instead.
This usually consists of
1) Windows 10 64-bit ISO, to burn onto a DVD OR create a bootable USB with
2) Specific drivers for your model
For a growing number of folks with more recent hardware, automatic updates seem to work just fine, but sometimes you lose functionality with standard/generic drivers. If you're running Win10 Home, I hear Windows Update can get somewhat obsessive with replacing drivers you need with drivers it thinks are more current, which might mess things up.
To be ready for the worst, feel free to search for "How to create Win 10 boot media" - techradar is fine - and follow the instructions to get your installation media done; store them in a safe place.