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My computer has two partitions on its drive: C (Windows 10, Programs, Users) and D (Everything else).
Last week, I reset my Windows 10 laptop using push-button reset feature. I reset only the system partition, so D still has some system files left over after previous installation (e.g. $RECYCLE.BIN subfolders for obsolete user accounts).

Can I remove this leftovers?

Seeing that I do not use system restore on D partition would it be safe to boot into command prompt and just RD following folders:
$RECYCLE.BIN
System Volume Information
Config.Msi?
Can I count on the system to recreate them, if needed?

Note: Btw I still have my files on D partition and I don't have enough space to back them up elsewhere, so format is not an option.

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  • "so D still has some system files left over after previous installation " - If D was always "everything else" this does not make sense.
    – Ramhound
    Oct 1, 2016 at 22:28
  • @Ramhound I mean files generated by the Windows, but not on the system partition. I listed the offending folders in bold.
    – Smiles
    Oct 1, 2016 at 23:18
  • As far as I understand on Win10 "System Volume Information" contains recovery data and search indexes, "Cofig.Msi" - temp installation rollback data and "$RECYCLE.BIN" - recycle bin. So Windows should not depend on these folders being there. But I want advice from someone experienced before potentially wrecking the partition)
    – Smiles
    Oct 1, 2016 at 23:22
  • Also I failed to find more tags that pertain to the problem and I cannot create my own yet. If someone could edit them to something more appropriate I would be grateful.
    – Smiles
    Oct 1, 2016 at 23:27
  • Tags are fine...
    – Ramhound
    Oct 2, 2016 at 0:44

1 Answer 1

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I can confirm from experience that these files and folders can safely be deleted as long as you haven't configured your new Windows installation to move its respective folders to the same location already.

If you haven't reconfigures the new installation those folders are just folders as far as your system is concerned, although they may still carry some attributes that could throw warnings when you try to delete them.

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  • As long as I haven't configured? I did not do any specific configuration, but this installation was running for about a week already and I used the D partition throughout. As far as I know Windows generates this folders by default on any non-removable drive, so I suspect there is some data used by current installation as well as leftovers of the previous ones. Would it be safe to just delete these folders now or do I have to follow any precautions?
    – Smiles
    Oct 2, 2016 at 11:59
  • I believe you are right about them being automatically created, given that's the case the best precautions you can (and probably should) take are searching your D: partition for those folders and files to see if there are duplicates. If there aren't any it suggests the new OS simply wrote over the top of the old files, effectively removing them. Also moving then with windows explorer, system protected files should flash alerts if messed with.
    – Unencoded
    Oct 2, 2016 at 12:20
  • There are some SIDs that do not correspond to any current users in $RECYCLE.BIN. Config.Msi is empty as far as I can tell. I do not get what's up with "System Volume Information" though. Google says it is used for system restore feature (which is not enabled for the drive), but there are also some files inside purpose of which I have failed to ascertain (Search Index?). Also, all these files are technically system protected so moving won't work anyway.
    – Smiles
    Oct 2, 2016 at 18:02

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