How to Move Windows 11 Recovery Partition Without Data Loss

Description: Most users are confused if they can move windows 11 recovery partition. Well, it's effortless to do so with the help of some third-party tools. The top 2 leading tools are detailed below in this article.

Background Introduction:

To extend your Windows 11 system partition, moving the recovery partition is often necessary. The problem arises because the recovery partition is typically located between unallocated space and the system partition, hindering the straightforward extension process using the Windows Disk Management tool. This placement creates a challenge when trying to increase the size of the system partition.

Method 1. Use IM-Magic Partition Resizer (100% free)

IM-Magic Partition Resizer is one of the highly used partition managers. It is compatible with several Windows versions like 11/10/8/7 to move, shrink, extend volume, etc. Hence, you can depend on this tool to move Windows 11 recovery partition, or you can move any partition without losing your essential files.

Video: How to move recovery partition, move it to end of disk, extend c drive

This software offers a secure solution to manage partitions without harming your operating system. Even if the process hampers due to sudden power issues, it won't cause damage to your hard disk or computer.

Step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Right tap on a volume to shrink and head over to the function 'Resize/Move.'

Step 2: Start shrinking the volume and move the border towards the right. Tap on 'OK.'

Step 3: Move the partitions one by one including the recovery partition without data loss by tapping right on your drive and choose 'Resize/move Partition,' and start moving volume towards the right.

(Here the process of moving the recovery partition is finished, and you may click APPY CHANGES to get the recovery partition moved, or you may continue the following additional steps to move the recovery partition right-side, even with c drive expanding process.)

Step3.1: If you want to move the recovery partition to end of disk, you need to delete all volumes that are after the recovery partition to make sure there were no partitions at its right side.

Step 4: Right press on C drive for extending volume and drag its border to claim unallocated spaces.

Step 5: Press 'Apply' in the tool to implement all the changes successfully. You are done with the process.

Also read: how to move partition in Windows 11/10, or how to move recovery partition to end of disk

Video: how to move recovery partition in Windows

Method 2. Move Windows recovery partition using GParted

GParted is an accessible and free partition editor for the graphical management of disk partitions. Using it, you can perform various functions like checking, creating, moving, deleting, copying, and resizing disk partitions along with the file systems.

It's a free and user-friendly tool. The step-by-step guide below focuses on how to move Windows 11 recovery partition with the GParted.

Step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Start with preparing a USB stick with adequate storage.

Step 2:Download your Gparted image file to the computer.

Step 3: Access the Gparted Zip file and extract it to the USB.

Step 4: From the USB stick, run utils\win32\makeboot.bat & go forward with the onscreen guide for burning your Gparted file to the USB stick

Step 4: Boot your PC from the USB, change your booter from the BIOS first.

Step 5: Select the default settings while opening the Window.

Step 6: Choose "Don't touch keymap" and tap on the 'Enter' key. Look for your language.

Step 7: You will notice the home interface of GParted and select the recovery partition that you are required to move. To proceed further, click 'Move.'

Step 8: Start moving the recovery partition and draft your slider toward left or right. Moreover, you can easily resize your partition by entering different values. After you are done, click the "Resize/Move" button.

Step 9: Click 'Apply' to execute the given command immediately.

Can I move the Windows 10 recovery partition?

The recovery partition is considered a partition without a drive letter of approximately 450 MB or 500 MB. As the name suggests, the recovery partition is known for storing the Windows OS to a special status at the time when the system stops functioning.

Although the recovery partition doesn't cause any harm to your device and you are free to remove it as per your requirement. However, users prefer to move Windows 11 recovery partition instead of removing it for specific purposes.

What is the recovery partition?

The recovery partition is a particular partition on your system hard drive. It is actively used to restore the device to the factory settings when facing specific system issues.

To protect the recovery partition from being removed or deleted, the recovery partition generally doesn't consist of a drive letter. Instead, you must use third-party tools or disk management for further assistance.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Q1. Can I delete the recovery partition?

A: Users can quickly delete the recovery partition without harming the operating system. Although for various PC users, there are different alternatives. A few users prefer keeping the recovery partition in the hard drive since they feel it won't consume much space.

Q2. What is the role of diskpart clean?

A: The primary role of diskpart clean is to remove all your data securely, and you can't recover them once it's erased. It can remove volume formatting or all partitions from the disk. While talking about master boot records or MBR disks, only hidden sector information and MBR partitioning information are overwritten.

Q3. Why is the recovery partition not visible?

A: In most cases, the recovery partition is not visible by default. In case of unintentional formatting and deletion, you won't be able to notice the recovery partition in File Explorer or Windows Explorer. Instead, it would be only visible by Disk Management.

Q4. Is it usual to have various recovery partitions?

A: Per the survey, errors often occur after in-place repairs or Windows upgrades. If the existing recovery partition lacks enough space for the updates, Windows will start creating an additional recovery partition with a few hundred MBs of disk space.

Q5. How does DiskPart move partitions?

A: DiskPart, an in-built hard drive partition management software, helps users to carry out numerous tasks like conversion between MBR and GPT, format partition, assign drive letter cleaning to resize partition and clean disk, etc. It cannot move a partition.

Conclusion:

Here you will know the top 2 methods to successfully move Windows 11 recovery partition to extend other partitions. This information also narrates moving the recovery partition to the USB stick and proceeding with further steps.

Go through the step-by-step guide to move Windows 11 recovery partition without any data loss. Moreover, if you use the third-party tools mentioned above, you will maximize the space on your PC.