Question about drive partitions.

[GANI482]

Is it normal that all 3 of my drives have a 16mb partition?  What is the 16mbs? 

 

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, GANI482 said:

What is the 16mb

It is a hidden EFI partition. Do not mess with it.

What is EFI System Partition?

EFI or Extensible Firmware Interface System partition is a hidden storage space on Windows PC that is usually spotted on the computer of which the BIOS is UEFI. When the PC is booted, the UEFI loads the file stored in the EFI partition to start the Operating System and any other utilities required.

The partition is created when installing Windows on the UEFI system. It contains the following folders—Boot and System Volume Information. The latter contains the bootmgr and Bootsect.back file. It also includes System Utilities, Device Drivers, Boot Loaders, and Data Files.

These files contain the exact information to load Windows using the Boot Manager code and Boot manager database.

Apart from this, OEMs also use EFI System Partition for other crucial components like drivers, utilities, etc. When performing a fresh install or resetting the PC, it uses a script available there to refresh the PC.

Does Windows 10 need an EFI partition?

Yes, it does. There are multiple reasons why it should not be disturbed. Not only the EFI partition is required to boot into the OS, but it also contains several other tools that are required when your PC is in trouble.

If somehow you manage to set the boot path properly, you will lose access to the tools such as the ability to boot into Safe mode, Automatic Recovery, and the ability to boot into advanced startup options. On top of this, if you are using encryption, Bitlocker also needs this.

Edited September 11, 2022 by Porthos

[GANI482]

Ok.

Is it possible for it to be used maliciously by changing whatever is there to load 'bad' things or settings? Why do I need it on the storage HDDs as well?

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, GANI482 said:

Why do I need it on the storage HDDs as well?

Any drive that is formatted GPT will have one when formatted.

My external was not formatted GPT and does not have one.

Why worry about 16mb??

[AdvancedSetup]

I have a 20 TB disk formatted as GPT and it has it. It is normal. Leave it alone and think nothing more of it.

DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Reserved            15 MB    17 KB
  Partition 2    Primary             18 TB    16 MB

 

[GANI482]

On 9/12/2022 at 4:15 AM, Porthos said:

Why worry about 16mb??

I worry about things I am not sure even sure I should worry about. 

Yesterday my power went out.  Upon restarting my computer, I noticed the lights scheme for the fans was different, and that the monitor had no signal during the bios startup screen.  Now try to follow me on this.  The light scheme was very specific custom, and the one I used on old Windows 10 install during the time my pc was hacked.  These fan light colors reverted to normal current settings once bios hand over to current Windows install.  Now also I suspect the reason the monitor had no signal was because it was trying to use HDMI, which I used to use during that time as well.  I now use displayport.  Something remembers that old light set up and that I used HDMI.  I feel like during cold boot restore situations it could be loading something from an old bad restore time, which I suspect may also be connected to old files showing up on new installs of Windows every time.  There is some sort of 'guest network' shows up on all of my Windows installs, but ISP says it not normal behavior and that it is caused by some settings in my Windows.  It was not there before I was hacked back in June of last year.  I suspect somehow they access that network and it allows them access to my things. 

Edited September 27, 2022 by GANI482
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