What are the partitions for on my laptop?

Question

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?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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:

• How do I safely partition a hard-drive to accept a GNU/Linux distribution in the presence of OneKey Recovery?
• Explain the partitions on Lenovo Y500?
• Understanding hard drive partitions on Lenovo systems with Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows 8 - ThinkCentre, ThinkStation, ThinkPad

Answer 3

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.