After we clean install Windows 7 or Windows 8, one or more recovery partitions may be generated. They are reserved by manufacturers and save files that can help restore system to the factory state. However, a recovery partition may take up space from several hundred of MB to dozens of GB, which is a big waste especially for hard disks which are limited in capacity, like solid state drive. Therefore, many users hope to delete them to release free space. However, it is very necessary to backup recovery partition before deleting it. After all, it can help restore our computer from crash. Well then, how to clone a protected recovery partition in Windows? Next, we will show users detailed steps.
Preparations:
1. Prepare a hard disk or external storage device, which will be used to save the backup of the recovery partition, and then connect the device with computer.
2. Download a piece of drive clone software from the internet, and then install it on computer. If you do not know which program to download, try using MiniTool Drive Copy.
After all preparations are done, please do as the following example shows.
How to Backup Recovery Partition with MiniTool Drive Copy
Firstly, launch the drive clone software to get its starting interface below:
Then, choose “Partition to Partition” module to backup a single partition. Of course, if you want to clone the entire hard disk, choose “Disk to Disk”.
Next, select the recovery partition and click “Next>”.
Then, choose an unallocated space or existing partition to save the copy of the recovery partition and click “Next>”. Note: if an exiting partition is selected, all files saved in it will be lost, so please backup important ones.
Now we can change the size of partition that saves content of recovery partition and then click “Finish”.
At last, click “Yes” to start cloning, and MiniTool Drive Copy will make all changes automatically. Please wait for a while.
Do you want to backup recovery partition before deleting it on HDD or SSD? Try using the recommended drive clone software.