Alright, so my Recovery Drive (From hereon to be referred to as F Drive) has about 50 GB left.
I know I have plenty of space, but I still wanna clear out the unused files.
After searching online everybody will say "Don't do it! it has important system files and such!"
But, at the same time, there is no other way to clear up my F Drive, aside from formatting.
I cannot clear out the empty recycle bin.
I tried deleting shadow copies.
I do not have any unnecessary programs to uninstall.
So formatting is the only option.
Is it really that bad?
EDIT:
Also, I happened to format my brother's computer at the time,
to clear out his, which prompted him to clean it out.
Should I be worried?
As far as I know, usually the F drive contains recovery data, which can be used for recovering from crashes. It's hidden and usually [in my opinion] probably not formattable.
Buy and extrenal hard drive. I have well over 2TB of storage (in total) and under a TB left over (I have some multiple backups of stuff like music).
Yes, disk space is cheap now. You can get 1 TB for less than $100.
Thanks for the help.
Also, it IS possible to Format the recovery drive, I'm sure I did it for my brother.
In my original post I mentioned formatting my brother's Recovery Drive, after a System Reset (Like taking it back to Factory Defaults). I figured he wouldn't need old recovery files if he genuinely wanted to reset his whole computer.
So... Should I be worried?
I mean, it'd be bad in case of a system restore, but isn't it always possible to get a disk from the manufacturer to re-install system restore files?
I used to have a recovery drive, but I got rid of it because I don't use it anyways. If I do need to recover stuff, I've got plenty of tools to do that for me. (livecds, etc.)
Alright, so after looking up a bunch of info, I realize how much of an idiot I am.
OK - I was under the impression that when a Recovery Partition fills up in can't continue to backup data. I was wrong. It will constantly fill up because it is always backing up.
Next - If you do something stupid like I did (formatting my brother's D: Drive), then you need to order backup CD's, if you didn't make any. Which I didn't.
Now here is my (new) question:
How exactly would my brother's computer not be able to be Backed-up?
Does that mean he can't do a system recovery? or a restore? what specifically?
(Restore being the restore points; Recovery being the factory defaults)
Now I need to buy the recovery disks for my brother and they are about $16 I'm ashamed.
How do the disks work though? out of curiosity?
Well, unless you have a copy of the contents of the drive on a stick or something, I wouldn't recommend doing it. I have 3+ years of computer experience. Besides, even if you did format that drive, you better have a backup ready, just in case a virus eats your WINDOWS folder.
Recommendation: Do not format it unless you have a backup of C:/ and the F:/ drive.
From my experience, if you have a U3 drive, it uses the F drive for a read-only drive. It contains U3 system files required for it to work. I hope this resolves the matter.
Actually, if I remember correctly, I got my first computer when I was 3. That makes me have 6 years of computer experience. That is only half as much as you. My experience is with computers, viruses, data, text editors, RAM, Wikipedia, Mozilla and more.
You're also deleting the actual disk image that would be used to recover the "factory" settings. Why you felt the need to format the recovery partition is beyond me, since you shouldn't be putting anything in it. You can format it and still use the computer, but I can't imagine why you'd want to do this and it isn't clear from the first post.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
You're also deleting the actual disk image that would be used to recover the "factory" settings. Why you felt the need to format the recovery partition is beyond me, since you shouldn't be putting anything in it. You can format it and still use the computer, but I can't imagine why you'd want to do this and it isn't clear from the first post.
Yeah, You're right :tongue.gif:
I'm only fifteen so it was a stupid mistake :sad.gif:
In retrospect, I should have looked up the repercussions.
I didn't format my own, but I did format my brother's unfortunately.
I was under the idiotic impression that since my brother's
Recovery Partition was full, it needs to be emptied.
Then I learned that once it gets full, it'll always be full,
because it making backups as it replaces them.
- Last question:
Would getting disks to reset a computer to its factory defaults reset the Recovery Partition?
You're also deleting the actual disk image that would be used to recover the "factory" settings. Why you felt the need to format the recovery partition is beyond me, since you shouldn't be putting anything in it. You can format it and still use the computer, but I can't imagine why you'd want to do this and it isn't clear from the first post.
Yeah, You're right :tongue.gif:
I'm only fifteen so it was a stupid mistake :sad.gif:
In retrospect, I should have looked up the repercussions.
I didn't format my own, but I did format my brother's unfortunately.
I was under the idiotic impression that since my brother's
Recovery Partition was full, it needs to be emptied.
Then I learned that once it gets full, it'll always be full,
because it making backups as it replaces them.
- Last question:
Would getting disks to reset a computer to its factory defaults reset the Recovery Partition?
I know I have plenty of space, but I still wanna clear out the unused files.
After searching online everybody will say "Don't do it! it has important system files and such!"
But, at the same time, there is no other way to clear up my F Drive, aside from formatting.
I cannot clear out the empty recycle bin.
I tried deleting shadow copies.
I do not have any unnecessary programs to uninstall.
So formatting is the only option.
Is it really that bad?
EDIT:
Also, I happened to format my brother's computer at the time,
to clear out his, which prompted him to clean it out.
Should I be worried?
Yes, disk space is cheap now. You can get 1 TB for less than $100.
Thanks for the help.
Also, it IS possible to Format the recovery drive, I'm sure I did it for my brother.
In my original post I mentioned formatting my brother's Recovery Drive, after a System Reset (Like taking it back to Factory Defaults). I figured he wouldn't need old recovery files if he genuinely wanted to reset his whole computer.
So... Should I be worried?
I mean, it'd be bad in case of a system restore, but isn't it always possible to get a disk from the manufacturer to re-install system restore files?
OK - I was under the impression that when a Recovery Partition fills up in can't continue to backup data. I was wrong. It will constantly fill up because it is always backing up.
Next - If you do something stupid like I did (formatting my brother's D: Drive), then you need to order backup CD's, if you didn't make any. Which I didn't.
Now here is my (new) question:
How exactly would my brother's computer not be able to be Backed-up?
Does that mean he can't do a system recovery? or a restore? what specifically?
(Restore being the restore points; Recovery being the factory defaults)
Now I need to buy the recovery disks for my brother and they are about $16 I'm ashamed.
How do the disks work though? out of curiosity?
-Thanks in advance!
Recommendation: Do not format it unless you have a backup of C:/ and the F:/ drive.
From my experience, if you have a U3 drive, it uses the F drive for a read-only drive. It contains U3 system files required for it to work. I hope this resolves the matter.
Sincerely,
Zedrick- Computer man of Technology.
Experience doing what? I've been using computers for...over 12 years now, so 3 years of generic "computer experience" doesn't sound that impressive.
So, by formatting my brother's Recovery Partition, what files have I deleted? (ASIDE FROM BACKED-UP STUFF)
I kinda want to know if I've disabled anything, such as the ability to perform a System Restore,
or if I've deleted system files.
Could he still restore his computer back to factory defaults?
We don't need to ATM, but I'd like to know for future reference.
- Thanks :biggrin.gif:
You're just deleting the recovery software, I would think. No system files, just recovery software. I think that's why it was hidden.
Yeah, You're right :tongue.gif:
I'm only fifteen so it was a stupid mistake :sad.gif:
In retrospect, I should have looked up the repercussions.
I didn't format my own, but I did format my brother's unfortunately.
I was under the idiotic impression that since my brother's
Recovery Partition was full, it needs to be emptied.
Then I learned that once it gets full, it'll always be full,
because it making backups as it replaces them.
- Last question:
Would getting disks to reset a computer to its factory defaults reset the Recovery Partition?
Thank you for all the help :biggrin.gif:
No, probably not.