What are the uses of msr ​​and esp partitions?

The msr partition is used as Microsoft's "reserved partition" to prevent a GPT disk from being connected to an old system and being treated as an unformatted empty hard disk and continued operations (such as reformatting) resulting in data loss. lost. The esp partition is used as the boot hidden partition of the system. It is usually used to store boot management programs, drivers, system maintenance tools, etc.; computers that support EFI mode need to boot the system from ESP, and EFI firmware can load EFI boot programs and applications from ESP. program.

The operating environment of this tutorial: Windows 10 system, Lenovo Xiaoxin Air14 computer.

Hard disk ESP and MSR are used as the "system boot partition" and "hidden partition" of the hard disk respectively. These two partitions are normally hidden in the Windows system environment and can only be viewed under the "DISKGENIUS" disk tool. Got it, it is recommended not to delete it at will.

Only UEFI boot GPT (GUID Partiton Table) hard disk partition will have ESP partition and MSR partition, while traditional (Legacy) boot MBR (Master Boot Record) hard disk partition will not use ESP partition and MSR partition at all.

The role of computer ESP partition

The ESP partition stores boot management programs, drivers, System maintenance tools, etc. Computers that support EFI mode need to boot the system from the ESP, and EFI firmware can load EFI boot programs and applications from the ESP.

ESP is used as the hidden boot partition of the system. It is usually used to store the "system recovery boot" tool. The most common one is that Lenovo Computer has built the "system one-click recovery" function into the ESP partition.

When the operating system is damaged and cannot be started, you can use the "System One-Click Recovery Tool" to restore the operating system. The ESP partition is a "hidden partition" in Windows system mode and can only be used under DISKGENIUS disk partitioning. Only then can we see it.

It is recommended that you do not delete the ESP partition when adjusting the hard disk partition. After deletion, it will affect the use of the system's one-click recovery tool and the system recovery function will not be started.

The role of computer MSR partition

The MSR partition is used as Microsoft's "reserved partition" and is also hidden in the Windows system environment Yes, the so-called "reserved partition" I understand is actually the "substitute partition".

MSR partition is to prevent a GPT disk from being connected to an old system and being treated as an unformatted empty hard disk and continued operation (such as reformatting), resulting in data loss.

When adjusting or creating a new partition, system components can allocate parts of the MSR partition to the new partition for their use, so I say that the MSR partition is the "replacement partition" ".

In fact, the capacity of the MSR partition allocated by the system is not large. Taking my computer as an example, it has a capacity of 16M. Deleting the MSR partition will not have any impact on the current system.

The difference between MBR and GPT partition tables

Before using a new hard drive, it must be partitioned. These partitions contain where the partitions start. information, so that the operating system knows which partition that sector belongs to and which partition can be booted.

MBR is the master boot record, which was first proposed in 1983 by IBM PC DOS 2.0.

It is called the master boot record because it exists in a special boot sector at the beginning of the drive and contains the boot loader of the installed operating system and the logical partition information of the drive.

GPT is the globally unique identifier (GUID) partition table

As the name suggests, each partition on the drive has a globally unique identifier, a randomly generated string that guarantees a completely unique identifier for every GPT partition on the planet.

#GPT does not have as many restrictions as MBR. The capacity can reach a level that neither the operating system nor the file system can support. It also supports an unlimited number of partitions without the need to create extended partitions. Currently the limitation is only on the operating system, Windows supports up to 128 GPT partitions.

GPT and EFI complement each other

UEFI is used to replace the old BIOS, and GPT is used to replace the old MBR. Although UEFI can boot MBR, it seems to be more compatible with GPT. It is worth noting that traditional BIOS cannot boot the system in the GPT partition, and a black screen will prompt that the system disk cannot be booted.

In the GPT partition, ESP is a partition independent of the operating system

ESP is not visible under the Windows operating system. Computers that support UEFI boot need to boot the system from ESP, and the operating system is booted After that, it is never used again. Although ESP is a physical partition in FAT16 or FAT32 format, its partition identifier is EF (hexadecimal) instead of the regular 0E or 0C.

MSR partition is a partition reserved for adjusting the partition structure

The essence of MSR partition is written on the partition table The Windows system does not want to create a file system or write data to the MSR partition of the unallocated space. However, when the Windows 8 or above system is updated, the MSR partition will be detected, so the MSR partition must be retained for Windows and cannot be deleted. Linux and MacOS are not affected.

As for HD and RD, they are obviously used to distinguish the type of storage device, such as the following picture: HD means hard disk, while RD means U disk, followed by the Arabic numeral 0 , 1, 2... indicates the order in which the system hangs after self-test.

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