Question Is it safe to remove a System Reserved partition ?

[pcbuilder777]

I have an SSD that is causing slow shut downs. I don't want to use it anymore. Is it ok to physically remove it from my PC? I noticed it has a "System Reserved" partition on it so am unsure if removing the drive will mess up my Windows? I was able to log in to Windows and shut down no problem with that SSDs data cable nplugged. Do I need to move the System Reserved partition to my C drive?

Disk 0 is the SSD in question, it was from my old PC and I had Windows 10 installed on disk 1 which is an HDD. When building my PC I kept Windows 10 on the hard drive and I connected all three drives and I installed Windows 11 on disk 2, the M.2 drive. I then formatted the SSD and HDD. So maybe the System Reserved is from the old operating system?

 

[Rokinamerica]

The 100 MB System Reserved partition is for the drive to work with Windows. The drive needs it (not Windows), and since you are removing the drive, it is no longer needed.

 

[USAFRet]

Power OFF.
Physically disconnect Disk 0.
Power UP.

Does it boot properly?

 

[pcbuilder777]

Power OFF.
Physically disconnect Disk 0.
Power UP.

Does it boot properly?

Yes it is fine. I'm on it now with the ssd power and data disconnected from the drive.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes it is fine. I'm on it now with the ssd power and data disconnected from the drive.

Then all is fine.
Do what you will with that drive and partitions.

 

[pcbuilder777]

Thanks. I was told the ssd slow shut down issue may go away by swapping the SATA cable and changing the SATA port location and I was also told keeping the drive in could cause issues with my Windows so I'm not entirely sure what to do. It's only 80 GB so probably best not to take a chance with it. However, I ran a health check on the driver and it scored 99% good but it's also like 13 years old.

 

[CountMike]

Thanks. I was told the ssd slow shut down issue may go away by swapping the SATA cable and changing the SATA port location and I was also told keeping the drive in could cause issues with my Windows so I'm not entirely sure what to do. It's only 80 GB so probably best not to take a chance with it. However, I ran a health check on the driver and it scored 99% good but it's also like 13 years old.

None of those would help any, a slow HDD is slow everywhere. It's possible it's only SATA2 instead of 3. Even without being OS /BOOT disk it can slow down BOOT and shutdown anyway as BIOS and Windows need to check it too.