What is System Reserved Partition?

Introduction

A system reserved partition is a small partition on the computer’s hard drive that contains files necessary to boot up and run the operating system. It is also sometimes called a “boot partition.”

The system reserved partition is usually very small, typically less than 500 megabytes (MB) in size. The majority of its space is taken by the boot loader or program which starts your computer when you turn it on. Other items stored on this part of the hard drive include •the master boot record, which tells your BIOS where to find information about all other partitions; •a Windows directory containing configuration files for loading Windows 2000 or XP from an installation diskette; and •a file named NTLDR, which is used when booting up Windows Vista or later operating systems.

What is a System Reserved Partition?

A system reserved partition is a partition that is created by Windows automatically and reserved for possible future use. This type of partition does not consume any space on the hard drive. System reserved partitions were first used in Windows XP and have been a feature of all subsequent versions as well.

The System Reserved Partitions are used by the Windows Setup program to store boot-critical information. The primary purpose of this partition is to maintain compatibility with older Windows XP installations that do not have a separate system partition. Since this type of installation is no longer supported on new hardware, it might be helpful to resize or delete the System Reserved Partition on any Windows 7 or 8 installation that was upgraded from older versions of Windows.

How to check if it exists?

There are different windows that can be used to identify if a system reserved partition exists. One of the easiest windows is the “disk management” window that is used to identify the partition using simple visual cues. All you have to do is press “Ctrl+M” on your keyboard, type “Disk Management”, and press enter. Referring back to our terminal commands, all you have to do is input “diskpart” and press enter. Type in the following command: list disk. Type “list volume” and hit enter to see what disk number it’s attached to. Type “select volume x” where x is the disk number, then “detail volume”. You will be shown the partitions on your System Reserved partition.

What could happen if you delete it?

If you delete it, Windows may be inoperable. This will be the case whether you delete it with Disk Management or some third-party deletion tool.

For example, if you delete the system partition in Disk Manager, it will likely give you an error message. So long as there is no physical damage to the drive, Windows 10 can be brought back with a little work.

The system reserved partition contains the Boot Manager Code, which tells Windows how to boot. If you delete this, then in order to boot in the future, you will have to repair your installation of Windows. There is no way around that. Before going this route, it may be better just to use a third-party tool instead for cleanup. Third-party tools are less likely to cause any problems.

What is the System Reserved Partition used for?

The System Reserved Partition is the partition that is reserved for storing Windows system files and files such as startup programs and operating system files. It’s also used to store data such as pagination information for the TEMP database.

It is a hidden partition, meaning you do not see the System Reserved Partition when viewing your hard drives in Windows Explorer unless you unhide it.

To make sure this hidden partition works properly, the System Reserved Partition should be set as primary to ensure that any updates made are written to it. This ensures your computer is able to boot up properly after updates or installation of software programs.

You should not manually edit this partition and it’s best left alone unless necessary. If you have installed a lot of software, it might be best to delete the System Reserved Partition completely or create additional partitions from your hard drive so that each partition has its own drive letter. This will help your computer to run more efficiently and prevent confusion when saving files or editing partitions.

Conclusion

The System Reserved Partition can be found on Windows computers and serves as a system-level reserved partition. It is not supposed to store data, so deleting it may result in various errors such as blue screens of death or boot failure. The System Reserved Partition stores critical information which will help the computer find its operating system if there are any issues with the installation process, including those due to hardware failures like hard drive crashes and power surges. If you want to delete this partition because you think it’s taking up too much space (even though we’ve already told you that it doesn’t), then make sure your backups are all set first!