It looks to me like the contents of your recovery partition are already gone - it says 100% free.
You don't need a recovery partition if you have got disks with that information on it (Windows should prompt you to do this, or at least allow you to do it). the only thing I'm aware of is that newer versions of some OS's require a very specific version of the OS to run because they complete the install and get the key from the system - you are S.O.L unless you have the setup disks or recovery for that variant - although you should be able to get that from the PC distributor - not all systems are affected by this though. (My new Dells and Toshibas are though)
You can delete the partition, but it may not help you much. You might find that its better to change the partition type or recreate it - as its at the beginning of the disk, moving it may prove "interesting" and could brick your computer, but YMMV.
It looks like you have 195 gigs of unallocated space at the end of your disk. You could use this to expand the existing Windows disk (as its immediately after it), or could use it for another OS in a new partition. Personally, I'd try and install Linux on the 16 Gig partition, then partition the free 195 gigs (in Windows or after the Linux install is done) to be shared storage for both OS's - probably using FAT32, but maybe NTFS if I wanted to store large files on it.
1Is it required for Windows to work: No; The reason you cannot extend Gateway is because the free space is an extended partition. In other words it is a partition but it has no file system – Ramhound – 2016-02-28T06:01:04.407
Makes sense now that I know what an extended partition is. But doesn't it seem odd to have such a big recovery partition? – pbreach – 2016-02-28T06:05:26.177
Its not my system, I cannot explain the reason the recovery partition is that large, because I don't have knowledge of what actions you performed to it. – Ramhound – 2016-02-28T07:55:46.653