Thread: Asus laptop & Win10 partitions

Hi Kev,

My recommendation would be to download the Windows 10 installation media ISO from the Microsoft web page and do a reinstall where you specify your partitioning format as you want.

The general rule with standard partition/drive management tools is that you can't expand or move partitions around if they are not sequential. Because the recovery partition is between C: and D: the only way to recovery it is to re-partition the drive or buy more advanced software to re-partition (move recovery to the end of the disk and expand C.

Other users may have a better idea.

As an FYI I had the same partition "logic" on my ASUS UX305CA that I purchased back in June. I did a complete re-install using the Microsoft media. I got rid of all the ASUS software etc in the process.

Thanks stewie ... Do I need an activation key or similar to do this ?? The Asus doesn't have a DVD so I'd need to do this from a USB drive ... That will work ?

Hi Kev,

The installation media gives you the opportunity to install to USB or download the ISO as an image and burn it to DVD. I did the USB install method. You will need a blank USB stick that is greater than 4GB in size. You will also need to have your ASUS drivers etc all downloaded to a separate USB stick (if your Asus has special drivers, in my case the UX305CA did not require additional drivers, however it is best to prepare BEFORE you start a reinstall).

A link to the media (USB or DVD) creation tool can be found here.

If your windows has already been activated you may not need to reactivate as Windows 10 now uses "hardware profiles" to do activation where possible. That means a unique signature is taken from your system and it is used to identify your hardware in the future. More details here.

Thanks mate ! Will dig in tonight and see how we go ... boyo is gonna bust if I don't get it sorted quickly !! ... bloody instant/have it now generation !!

Oh I miss the old days ... del *.* ... format c: ... insert floppy disk and reboot

Remember when you repartition that you do not want to delete your UEFI. Only delete and recreate C:, Recovery and D: otherwise your system may not be able to start. Although if you download the ASUS drivers that "SHOULD" be correctable.

I just built myself a new box, and also cloned my sons's laptop drive onto an SSD.

In my case; straight up Win10 the partition structure was:

[recovery][UEFI][C:\]

That is, on a fresh install of Windows 10(on a UEFI capable system), you should have two smaller partitions prior to the C drive.

I think all laptop manufacturers have this system of a recovery partition that they create for when the machine goes bunk .. it then automatically boots into the backup partition or something.

My (new) PC is from a fresh install of Win10, so it's the default method that Windows prefers to partition the drive(ie. not my doing).
My PC has many HDDs for data and storage, and the C drive is purely OS and software. No personally important files of any type are stored on C.


On my son's laptop(BTW, also ASUS!) originally had Win7.
It also had the annoyingly wasteful Data partition.
I imaged that HDD, and proceeded with a fresh install on another HDD, mainly to remove all the bloatware and crap, but also to replace the slow drive with a faster one.
I never really noticed, but looking at it now the drive is partitioned as per the old Win7 method of [System reserved][C:\].

You should be able to reinstall Win10 from the USB created without any need to use the original ASUS media for it.
Your Windows media key should be on a sticker on the underside of the laptop. I think it may have a barcode, and the text will be a very small font.
That key code will still work, as long as the level of Windows you try to install is the same as the one on the machine.
That is, don't try installing Win10Pro, if the machine has/had Win10Home!
Only do that if you update it from Home to Pro .. etc.

Generally the Win10 media will have both Home and Pro versions ready for installation, where your key code will determine which will be installed, and it may have both 32bit and x64 versions too, where you may have to decide which to choose from a the install prompt.

Another thing you may want to try is to delete the annoying location of the recovery partition.
It's safe to delete, and only comes into play if you have a boot up issue.
But if you use a free program like Ease US Partition Manager, will do almost all of the types of hdd partitioning that most home users could think of attempting.

Personally, I'd look at formatting and starting fresh(mainly to rid yourself of all the preinstalled crapware.
Just be prepared for reinstallation of drivers (camera, trackpad, eth, audio, etc)