How To Delete The 450 MB Recovery Partition In Windows 10

Earlier this week, we discussed deleting the OEM created Windows 10 recovery partition. Many users who read the guide asked if the guide can be used to remove the 450 MB recovery partition created by Windows setup while installing Windows 10.

As you likely know, Windows 10 creates a 450 MB recovery partition when you perform when you install Windows 10 or upgrade from a previous version of Windows to Windows 10.

The 450 MB recovery partition created by Windows 10 allows you to boot into the Windows recovery environment in the event of system failure. By booting into the Windows recovery environment, you can troubleshoot and restore your PC using previously created restore points or system images.

Is it safe to delete the 450 MB recovery partition?

If you have plenty of free space on your HDD or SSD, deleting the 450 MB recovery partition is not a good idea. And even if your PC is running low on disk space, deleting the 450 MB recovery partition doesn’t make sense as 450 MB is not a significant amount. In fact, you can free up 450 MB by clearing your Downloads folder or uninstalling a bunch of small programs that you no longer use. You can free up more than 450 MB by safely deleting temporary files in Windows 10.

Above all, as said before, you won’t be able to use Windows recovery options if you delete the 450 MB recovery partition. The recovery partition and Windows recovery options come in handy when your PC is not booting.

In short, if you delete the 450 MB recovery partition, you won’t be able to boot into the Recovery environment for troubleshooting your Windows 10 installation.

If you are sure that you won’t need the 450 MB recovery partition, please refer to the instructions mentioned in one of the given below methods to get rid of the 450 MB recovery partition in Windows 10.

WARNING: Deleting 450 MB recovery partition might make your PC unbootable, which is very, very unlikely, though. Proceed at your own risk. We advise you to backup all data to a safe location before deleting the recovery partition.

NOTE: Since deleting 450 MB recovery partition stops your access to the Windows recovery environment, we recommend you create a Windows recovery USB drive before deleting the 450 MB recovery partition.

IMPORTANT: This method is to delete the Windows 10 setup created 450 MB recovery partition. If you’re looking to delete the OEM created recovery partition (usually in the size of 10 to 15 GB), please refer to our how to delete the recovery partition in Windows 10 guide.

Method 1 of 2

Deleting 450 MB recovery partition using Command Prompt

Step 1: Open Command Prompt as administrator. To do so, right-click on the Start button located on the extreme left of the taskbar and then click Command Prompt (Admin).

When you see the User Account Control prompt, click the Yes button.

Step 2: In the elevated Command Prompt, type the following commands one after another and press Enter after typing each command to execute the same.

Diskpart

(press Enter key)

List disk

The list disk command displays all disks connected to your PC, including external drives. So, carefully note the disk number of your hard drive/SSD, which includes the recovery partition that you want to delete. Usually, if you have only one HDD/SSD, the disk number will be 0 (zero).

Step 3: Enter the following commands and press enter key after executing each command to proceed.

Select disk n

(in the above command, replace “n” with the disk number of your HDD/SSD where recovery partition is located)

List volume

(the above command shows all partitions on the selected disk, including the recovery partition)

Select volume n

(replace “n” with the volume number of the recovery partition that you want to delete)

Tip: You can quickly identify the recovery partition on its size. The Windows 10 recovery partition is of 450 MB size.

Delete volume

This will delete the selected recovery partition from your Windows 10 PC. If you’re getting any error, it’s likely because you aren’t running the Command Prompt as an administrator. If you’re unable to delete the 450 MB recovery partition using this method, please use third-party tools, as mentioned in Method 2.

Method 2 of 2

Deleting 450 MB recovery partition using third-party tools

We are using MiniTool Partition Wizard free edition in this guide to remove the 450 MB recovery partition, but you can use any other third-party partition manager software to perform the same job.

Step 1: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard free edition.

Step 2: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard Free, right-click on the recovery partition that you want to get rid of, and then click Delete.

Step 3: Click Apply.

You can use the new unallocated space to either create a new partition (not a wise idea to create 450 MB partition) or extend another partition.