Why are there three partitions on my hard drive?
Why does my laptop have three partitions while there is only one hard drive in it?
Since I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 on this same laptop, when I go in the windows defragmentation utility, there are three partitions thats shows up:
- The main (C:) partition
- The "System" partition
- Another drive named weirdly " \?\Volume{9a3a97..." with a bunch of numbers and letters
I don't understand why the two other paritions other than the C: drive are there.
62 Answers
The main question has been already answered by @masgo: there are the three partitions and NOT the physical three new drives.
Could it be possible that I never had these 2 others partition before the windows 10 upgrade?
Yes, it is possible:
When installing a Windows operating system (OS) on a hard drive, and if you use Windows Setup to create new partition on an MBR disk, Windows will create a system reserved partition, and if it is a GPT disk, then Windows will create a recovery partition and a EFI system partition without drive letter. The recovery partition on Windows 10 consumes about 450MB, Windows 8/8.1 200MB, and Windows 7 100MB.
You can take a look at this article.
This is an simple thing. This has occurred because of partitions while you upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
Answer:
You can go to Disk Management and fix it.
To access Disk Management
Use Windows+R to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc in the empty box and tap OK. Way 3: Open Disk Management in Computer Management. Step 1: Right-click This PC and choose Manage in the context menu to enter Computer Management. Step 2: Select Disk Management on the left.
What to do after you access Disk Management:
Shrink The Partition.//These are NOT Physical Drives//
