Can I delete the system reserved partition from 100MB

iseeuu--Here is a screen shot of my Computer Management window

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1673/computermanagementf.jpg

Disc 0 A 1TB internal hard drive.

Unallocated space, from which I assume I could create a Simple Volume and then extend C: into it.  A right click on it offers the options to create a Simple Volume, Properties and Help.

C: contains my Windows7 Ultimate 64bit installation and all my working files. 

System Reserved.  A right click on it offers only to change Drive Letter, Shrink (about 15MB), Properties and Help.

D: is empty.  I have only recently received this PC and have not set everything up yet.

Disc 1 A 500GB internal hard drive.

F: contains a copy of the most important files from C:

I did not have my external hard drive connected when I took the screen shot.  It contains three partitions--all of which are Primary and one is Active.  None are Boot or System. And there is no System Reserved partition, although this is the drive in which I created the partitions.  I do not know why creating partitions on the external drive should have created the System Reserved partition on Disc 0, but this is how I remember it.

A right click on C: shows that the option to make it Active is available, though I have not tried.

My only real concern about having the System Reserved partition--especially where it is-- is that it prevents C: and D: from being contiguous and therefore (I assume ) is the reason Extend Volume is disabled for each.

I look forward to your further comments and advice.  Thank you.

jcimarron;

Without more specific info from you I can not offer more specific responses. The Windows 7 (and Vista) installer automatically creates the 100MB boot partition on any blank hard drive. Creating a partition on a blank hard drive and marking it active will prevent the creation of the 100MB boot partition, as will the presence of any "Active" partition on ANY hard drive connected to the system during installation. I have read countless posts of those who dual booted their old XP by adding 7 without the understanding that when the XP partition was the "Active" partition, Windows 7 boot code was by design placed in the "Active" XP partition. So when they remove XP, they remove their 7 boot code and can no longer boot to anything. The solutions to prevent this unexpected behavior (by the uninformed) are so simple, but the repairs to a trashed system can be complicated.

It is unusual for the 100MB partition to be in between two partitions. As stated previously, if the C: partition is XP and "Active", the boot code will go there and no 100MB partition will be created. To offer specific recommendations, I would need to know the contents of the partitions (data or OS?), how many partitions (internal and external), and their relative positions on the hard drive(s). The Windows 7 Disk Management Utility and the Snipping Tool make this simple. However posting the snapshot here requires you to upload the picture to someplace like Image Shack before using the "Link" in the toolbar above to include it in a post.

The 100MB partition includes a Boot Manager, or Boot Menu to allow you to select which OS to load. If you have only one OS, you do not see the Boot Menu because Windows boots automatically. Because it is THE "Active" partition, the bios looks there to get direction on what to boot. It is the Boot Manager, not the bootable partition with the OS, so it will not be the "boot" partition, but because it contains the "System" files, it is the "System" partition. So you should not be concerned that the boot and system partitions are not the same partition.

I do not believe relocating the 100MB partition will disrupt your booting because it is THE "Active" partition on your system, and as long as you mark the relocated 100MB partition "Active", the bios will still look there for direction. However as I do not know what the partition to the left of your current 100MB partition contains, I cannot say absolutely. If the C: partition is XP, then a simple edit to its boot.ini file will be needed to compensate for it being moved to the second partition on the hard drive when the 100MB partition is placed to the left of it. Booting to the Windows 7 DVD and doing the "Startup Repair" (sometimes more than once) or creating the Windows 7 "System Repair" CD and booting to it will restore booting to Windows 7.

You are wise to be cautious when working with existing partition as data corruption can (but rarely) happen. It is a safe practice to have backups at hand should the worst happen.

Cheers!

Robert

iseeuu -- Many thanks for your comment, link and advice.  I am not very comfortable with partitions, so want to be sure I understand correctly.

My main hard drive has three partitions.  C: is described as Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition.

The System Reserved partition (just to the right of C: and to the left of D:) is System, Active, Primary Partition.

Should I be concerned that Boot and System are not in the same partition?

Will doing what you suggest accomplish the correct moves and not affect booting?  I understand that once C: and D: are again contiguous I will be able to move space between them.

P.S.  I have an external USB drive.  I seem to remember that the System Reserved partition showed up only when I set up partitions in the external drive--not when I was making adjustments to C:.  But maybe I do not remember correctly.