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I have a Lenovo Ideapad Y500 and just wanted to ask what the partitions are for?

Apart from my C drive and another partition I've created, I have the following drives:

  • D drive: "Lenovo" 25GB - (Only seems to be storing drivers at just over 2GB so can I safely shrink this?)
  • 372MB Recovery Partition
  • A 250MB EFI System partition
  • 1000MB OEM partition
  • 1000MB Recovery Partition
  • 20GB Recovery partition (This one is confusing me the most)

It might be really basic or obvious but it just seems like a lot to have 7 partitions by default?

3 Answers 3

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The 20 GB Recovery partition contain a Windows image, used for restoring your computer back to factory state (this will wipe all your data on the C: drive) in case you mess up the Windows installation somehow. You should check your laptop's manual to see how to use that function.

About your D: drive, if it is available to see in Windows, I guess it is okay to use it.

If you do not want your recovery function anymore, you can delete the 20 GB partition and use it for extra storage.

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  • I'll keep the 20GB recovery in that case and I've shrunk the D to give an extra 20GB, thank you
    – Alex
    Sep 1, 2013 at 13:44
  • I find it also quite illogical to save up so much space for recovery. Windows can put his recovery images on C: just fine, not wasting or 'reserving' space for that. Also the OEM partition: Many drivers are outdated anyway and you need to download the most up to date ones from Lenovo's website anyway, so you can safely delete that partition as well. Sep 1, 2013 at 14:13
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I was trying to answer this question myself, so I think I just put here what I've got/discovered.

$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD3200BPVT-2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 320GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End    Size    Type      File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  211MB  210MB   primary   ntfs         boot
 2      211MB   273GB  273GB   primary   ntfs
 3      273GB   304GB  31.1GB  extended               lba
 5      273GB   304GB  31.1GB  logical   ntfs
 4      304GB   320GB  15.8GB  primary   ntfs         diag

$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x32f4d028

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      411647      204800    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          411648   533389311   266488832    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       533389312   594198527    30404608    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4       594198528   625142447    15471960   12  Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda5       533391360   594198527    30403584    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

$ ls -1 /dev/sda4
activeBitLock.exe
batt.log
BlockInput.exe
boot
bootmgr
CloseBlockInput.exe
copyunattend7.exe
delay.exe
deltempfiles7.exe
EFI
errorMSG.exe
Factory_Process
fc.exe
HDDUtil.exe
LRSBootTmp.log
NB
OKRBackup
OneKey
OOBEPASS.exe
pagefile.sys
PASS.exe
peshutdown.exe
process.exe
PSN.TXT
$RECYCLE.BIN
replaceunattend7.exe
setbootkey.cmd
setbootscreen.cmd
Sources
SWDLMngr.dll
System Volume Information
wBattCtrl.exe

$ ls -1 /dev/sda5
_acestream_cache_
Application
drivers
Lenovo
$RECYCLE.BIN
System Volume Information

The OS installed on the notebook is Windows 7. /dev/sda1 is supposedly the System Reserved partition, though it takes 200 MB (usually it's 100 MB, AFAIK). /dev/sda2 is Windows' boot partition containing the operating system. /dev/sda4 is labelled "LENOVO_PART" and is supposedly Lenovo's recovery partition. /dev/sda5 is labelled "LENOVO" and contains drivers.

For more information, see the following links:

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I just bought a Lenovo Edge 15 (80K9) laptop and I have a very similar partition scheme:

  • EFI: 260 MB
  • Windows: 886.12 GB
  • Lenovo: 25 GB
  • Recovery: 1000 MB
  • Recovery: 18.17 GB
  • OEM: 1000 MB

Now...

  • EFI partition seems to be an essential partition for every computer with UEFI system.
  • (Windows partition is explicit.)
  • Lenovo 25 GB partition is accessible for Windows as D:\ drive and contains original hardware drivers.
  • The 1000 MB Recovery partition seems to be yet another requirement of Windows 10, according to what I have read from Lenovo Support Documents.
  • The 18.17 GB Recovery partition, from what I have read here, has the windows 10 factory image for factory resets.
  • OEM partition bewilders me, Lenovo Support Documents don't mention it. I have just chatted for about an hour with a Lenovo chat support agent and he said that it "contains the product key", and that

Once you have deleted the OEM partition there's a highly chance that the unit will have an issue activating Windows

But don't take his word for it, he seemed to not be very knowledgeable as he was a hardware specialist, not a software specialist. Other users seem to have deleted the partition without problems.

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