What are the partitions on my Vaio HD used for?

[Keefy-Vaio]

Hi,

I am currently waiting for a set of Recovery Media to assist me with returning my new laptop back to factory settings - my system got corrupted while upgrading from Win 8 to Win 10. If the recovery medias proves less than helpful, I intend formatting the hard drive and reinstalling Win 8 with the help of Microsoft. All the drivers for my laptop are available online so I'm fairly optimistic I will have the system working again.  

However, when I looked at the hard drive i my 'not working' new laptop, I can see the following partitions:

                              Name                            Total Size           Free space        Type

Drive 0 Partition 1: SONYSYS                  260.0 Mb            235.0 Mb            OEM (Reserved)
Drive 0 Partition 2: Windoes RE tools           1.4 Gb            927.0 Mb            Recovery
Drive 0 Partition 3:                                    260.0 Mb            209.0 Mb            System
Drive 0 Partition 4:                                    128.0 Mb            128.0 Mb            MSR (Reserved)
Drive 0 Partition 5:                                    897.1 Gb            896.9 Gb             Primary
Drive 0 Partition 6: Recovery                      32.4 Gb                5.2 Gb             Recovery
Drive 0 Partition 7:                                      14.9 Gb              14.9 Gb             OEM (Reserved)

This gives rise to a few questions:

1. If I have to format the drive, must I create identical partitions? This might be important particularly if future updates make use of specific partitions.
2. Can anyone tell me what each partition is used for?
3. When it comes to reinstalling Win 8, which partition must be used for Operating System files?
4. If I can reinstall Win 8 without having to format the whole drive, will the Recovery partition be accessible and will the new installation conflict with what is already on the system?

Your help appreciated

[Blencogo · Accepted solution]

Hi Keefy-Vaio and welcome.

The Recovery Discs will format the drive and reinstate the correct partitions - including the Recovery Partition. Best to let this put your Vaio back to factory settings.

Many of the partitions you see were probably created by the corrupt Windows 10 update process, so don't try to replicate them. The system will create the necessary partitions.

Not all the preinstalled software is available for download, so the Recovery Discs are your best option.