Windows 7 installation creates 200MB partition

[kirti]

Seven creates a 200MB partition at the start of drive for the boot data. (If it's a fresh drive, with no other OS installed / connected)

I want to know about 200MB partition while installing windows 7 is this will affect how many "Primary Partition(s)" as opposed to "Extended Partition / Logical Drive(s)" are created in the normal course of creating partitions / drives. also is that limits the amount of drives that can host an OS on a HDD.
is there any way to avoid it or it is must ,please direct me , thank you .

[jesse]

This is for the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), which also shipped with Windows Vista only it was available from the Windows Vista installation disc only, although some OEMs made it available on a separate partition on their factory installations. In Windows 7, this feature is installed on all computers, and is stored in the 200MB partition if you install using a single partition scheme. However, if you install on a drive that has multiple partitions, the recovery environment is stored in a folder in the root of your installation drive, so if you install to a partition with a label of C:\ it will be located at C:\Recovery.

[Lillebror]

That is the boot partition. Technically speaking you can install Win7 without it, but you wouldn't want to. The separate boot partition offers improved recover ability options, is less likely to be accidentally deleted (like if you reformat one OS partition in a dual-boot scenario that contains the boot loader), and allows features like Bitlocker to be enabled after the initial installation.

[Calvin K]

For Windows 7 users who don’t want the 200MB partition to be created and existed, the best way is to stop Windows 7 installation process to create the partition when installing Windows 7. In Windows 7, the feature (200 MB partition to store WinRE files) is installed on all computers if the OS is installed on hard disk with single partition scheme, or unallocated space (space which not yet been partitioned) on the hard disk drive.

Thus in order to skip or avoid the 200M partition to be automatically created during installation, here’s a few rules to follow when choosing where to install Windows 7 to:

1) Do not install Windows 7 to a hard disk that not yet been partitioned or to unallocated space (When install Windows 7 to unallocated space, no warning pop-up or confirmation is asked, and setup will straight away and directly create partition 200 MB of disk space as special partition without notification).

2) If possible, try to create all the necessary partition(s) and format the partition(s) before attempting to install Windows 7.

3) If you’re installing Windows 7 into a new hard disk, or a blank hard disk with no partition defined yet, or if you must delete all existing partitions to start afresh, chose Drive options (advanced). Delete (if applicable) unwanted partitions. Then, click New to create the single partition or multiple partitions according to your own preference.

When prompted with dialog box saying “To ensure that all Windows features work correctly, Windows might create additional partitions for system files”, click on Cancel button. Optionally, to be double confirm, Format the partition before selecting it to install Windows 7.

When Windows 7 does not create the special 200MB partition, the WinRE recovery environment is stored in a folder in the root of Win7 installation drive. For example, if Windows7 is installed to a partition with a label of C:, the WinRE will be located located at C:Recovery.