When you performed clean installation of Windows 7 on empty or new hard disk would noticed that Windows 7 creates around 100 MB reserved partition before start to run Windows 7 installation. This reserved partition used to store boot files and Windows Recovery Environment files which doesn’t allow you to delete this partition because doing so may cause you fail to boot into Windows.
By default, Windows 7 hides reserved partition in Windows Explorer. To check if there is a system reserved partition on your Windows 7 PC, type diskmgmt.msc in Start menu search box and hit enter key will open Windows Disk Management where you can see system reserved partition.
Open Hidden System Drive designed by the makers of Win 7 Boot Updater to lets you open and view files in this Reserved Partition which contains Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and crucial boot files.
Here is how to use Open Hidden System Drive:
Step 1: Visit Win 7 Boot Updater site and download Open Hidden System Drive tool.
OpenHiddenSystemDrive (32-bit) (26.5 KB, updated 2011-03-03)
OpenHiddenSystemDrive (64-bit) (30 KB, updated 2011-03-03)
OpenHiddenSystemDrive Source (9.17 KB, updated 2011-03-03)
Step 2: Double-click on OpenHiddenSystemDrive.exe file to open the hidden System Reserved partition in Windows Explorer but the drive may look empty because files with system and hidden are not viewable by default. You need to temporarily disable the hide protected operating system files option in Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab in order to view hidden files.
Note: This guide is applicable for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions only.