Why can't I hold all these partitions? (question)

So here's the situation...

I have an Asus laptop(N56DP specifically) and it came with Windows 8 by default... which I want to kill with fire. So I'm on the Windows 7 installation menu and I have a total of 7 partitions... yes 7... with only a few of them being one's I'm familiar with.

Partition 1: SYSTEM 300.0 MB

Partition 2: Recovery 600.0 MB OEM (Reserved)

Partition 3: 128.0 MB MSR Reserved)

Partition 4: OS 372.2 GB Primary

Partition 5: 450.0 MB OEM Reserved

Partition 6: Data 537.9 GB Primary

Partition 7: Restore 20.0 GB OEM(Reserved)

I get the System, OS and Data partition, and I'm assuming at least one of these is to restore to factory OEM Windows 8... My question is do you guys think I'm okay just getting rid of all of these OEM(and MSR) partitions? I don't plan on going back to Windows 8 anytime soon and I am more than capable getting all the drivers and bloatware I need from Asus' website again should I want it.

I feel like a noob asking this kind of thing but this is the first time I've ran into something like this personally.

Honestly I would just delete them all and unallocated all the partitions.

EDIT:

[Disregard this, my mistake for not reading all the way down]

Did you look up on the Asus website to download the drivers beforehand. In my experience windows 7 does not automatically install drivers the way windows 8 does. Just go ahead and get those downloaded to a USB later and prepare for a day or two of updates 

You can get rid of them all and install Windows 7. None of them are needed to re install windows 8. If you ever wish to go back you will just need the Windows 8 key on the unit.

Hi,

I thought I would be okay just deleting everything but I don't usually run into all of these so just wanted to double check. Thanks :)

Thanks. :) I have the key just in case.

yes you can delete all of the partitions but I recommend looking in those partitions for files you might need. some laptop sites may offer only the latest driver on their site so it might be a good idea to back that stuff up to a dvd or something just in case.

sometimes newer divers can cause more problems then they fix. especially in the case of amd's drivers. hell it took them 2 years just to get the amd avivo codecs to correctly install.

Frankly, it looks like someone tried to install Windows a few too many times without repartitioning between installations.

If you already have your (re)installation media (Windows, Linux, whatever) burned to an optical disk (CD/DVD/BR) then go ahead and blow out all those partitions. (I like the Linux GParted utility, personally.)

If not, then you'd be well advised to at least make your recovery/installation disks within Windows 8 NOW! That way, if you don't like your Linux/Windows 7/(???) system, you can restore it to factory conditions and maybe sell it to the next person for a little more money.

... Either that or stick in a replacement HDD/SSD.

 

I'm not sure what was up with all the extra partitions, this is the first time I've done anything as far as recovery/clean install on this laptop. But yeah I got rid of everything, installed Windows 7 and it's working wonderfully, so... yeah now time for a SSD haha, I have a few of them in my desktop and it feels just a little sad having to switch to the laptop when I'm out or whatever.

What a mess, f*ck em all off and start again. Win 8.1 is good as gold btw with a few settings changed.