Almost all PCs that ship with Windows 8 operating system have a dedicated recovery partition consisting of crucial files required to reset or restore Windows 8 to factory condition. This recovery partition usually consumes around 15GB of storage space.
Since most of the PCs that are available today offer at least 500GB of storage space users may not feel the need to delete the recovery partition to free up disk space. But users who have purchased a PC with 64GB or 128GB SSD (Solid State Drive) may want to free up some space by deleting this recovery partition.
Since the recovery partition consists of recovery image and other important files, we need to first move the recovery partition to a USB flash drive before deleting the recovery partition. After moving the recovery partition to your USB drive, you can safely delete the recovery partition. You can then use the new USB recovery drive to restore your Windows 8 to factory settings.
Complete the below mentioned step-by-step instructions to move recovery partition to a USB drive and then delete the recovery partition in Windows 8.
Delete the recovery partition from your Windows 8 PC
NOTE: This procedure works only on Windows 8 and doesn’t work on Windows 7.
Step 1: Connect a USB drive with at least 16GB of storage space (you may need a USB with more storage space if your recovery partition’s size is more than 16GB) and backup all data to a safe location. This USB drive will be erased.
Step 2: Switch to the Start screen, type Create a recovery drive, change the search filter to Settings (see picture), and then press the enter key to launch Recovery Drive wizard. If you see the UAC prompt, click the Yes button.
Step 3: Once the Recovery Drive wizard is launched, select the Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive option and then click the Next button.
Step 4: Select the USB drive and click the Next button.
Step 5: You will see “Everything on the drive will be deleted. If you have any personal files on the drive, make sure you have backed up the files” message. Since you have already moved all data from USB, click on the Create button to begin transferring recovery partition to the selected USB drive. Depending on the size of the recovery partition, Windows might take few minutes to hours to complete the job.
Step 6: Once Windows completes copying the recovery partition to the USB drive, you will see “You can also delete the recovery partition on your PC to free up some drive space” message along with an option named Delete the recovery partition.
Step 7: Click Delete the recovery partition to see a warning message saying that “You can free up some drive space by deleting the recovery partition but you won’t be able to refresh or reset your PC again without the recovery drive”. Since you’ve already moved the recovery partition to the USB drive, you can safely delete the recovery drive.
Click Delete button to delete the recovery partition. Once the job is done, Windows will show you the amount of disk space you have gained by deleting the recovery partition. Good luck!
How to create Windows 8 recovery USB drive and how to create Windows 8 recovery DVD/CD guides might also interest you.
Mark says
Make sure you have a recovery USB – continue at your own risk:
1. Run Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Launch Diskpart.
3. “select disk 0”
4. “list part”
5. Look for Recovery partition and note the number ‘#’.
6. “select part ‘#'”
7. “del part override”
8. “exit”.
9. “exit”.
10. Launch Disk Management.
11. Right-click OS partition, and expand.
Reboot.
Ben B. says
i did the recovery thing and i didnt click the delete the partition button. now i cant figure out how to delete it afterwards. so now i have 8.71 gb sitting there that i cant even use
Tony says
As many people have said – these instructions are unreliable. No option to delete the partition.
Pat McCombie says
I have tried to use the method to create a USB for recovery, since my recovery partition is for WIN 8, not 8.1. I get the box to use the partition in the creation, but when I get to the end, I do not get the option to delete the disk partition. I ran the command prompt utility you demonstrate, and I do have the recovery listed. So, some places say I have a recovery disk, I just can’t get rid of it. Any ideas?
THanks
Eric Lewis says
This procedure worked like a charm. I wanted to get rid of the recovery partition before I upgraded to Windows 10 because why keep a Windows 8 recovery partition around then? I did find the option at the end of creating the recovery disk to delete the partition. Very small print near the bottom of the blue box so it is easy to miss. My machine is Toshiba Encore
jerry says
How do you delete the recovery partition in a USB drive?
Artem says
Strange. I do everything as described in this manual. But on step 6 I don’t get any message like “You can also delete the recovery partition on your PC to free up some drive space”.
Dave Strachan says
I”m with you, James. I followed the instructions above, and selected ‘delete the recovery partition’, but naturally nothing happened and I still can’t find directions anywhere to delete it.
George post says
Need to update webpage describing how to delete Recovery drive so all disk space can be used. Toshiba Factory created EFi parttion with Hidden recovery drive will not permit it deletion. Attempting to override secure boot in Bios will prompt for Bitlocker password so computer and drives cannot be accessed.
Toshiba T100 2 in one 1 tablet\keyboard windows 8.1 Bing version 32 bit. The Factory created EFI partition is a hidden Bitlocker protected partition that will not permit access or deletion as the drive is securely locked by bit locker. Thus this webpage for removing the Recovery partition needs to be updated with this information as most new mobile computer devices from the factory use EFI or UEFI to lock the computer solid along with the hard drive. Likewise, it is not possible to boot from USB CD, USB boot device or floppies as Bitlocker securely locks the computer during the boot process with password request.
In my case I was attempting to upgrade to Windows 10 preview and would need all the 32g disk size available so that I could update to Windows 10 preview or the install will fail as I will not have enough space for the roll back files. I have encountered this same issue with Dell 8.1 desktop that had a Factory installed UEFI partition.
I can use brute force to blow away the bios and drive and recreate them without EFI or bit locker, but I think that goes well beyond the normal user that wants to upgrade windows 8.1 that is using EFi or bit locker. The typical mobile devices are typically going to have less than 32g or total drive space. Attempting to upgrade these devices will fail and abort during the install as the hidden recovery partition reserves 8+ gig of disk space. The internal 32 gig of SSD storage chip is not available (at this point) for the upgrade process.
foo says
How have you been trying to delete the recovery partition for years? Windows 8 has been out less than one year.
?Waleed says
now tried to recovery windows 8 from USB recovery that created before
and when I’m booting from UEFI USB and choose reset pc, it shows “unable to reset your pc a required drive partition is missing’
notice: I have Windows 8 recovery USB recovery that i created from orginal windows 8 with 13.4GB,
Now how to fix this problem to recovery from USB?
James Harvy says
I made the recovery usb with W8 and W8.1 Blue, but did not get “You can also delete the recovery partition on your PC to free up some drive space”.
I been trying to delete that recovery partition for years, any tip will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You