Can I put the HP recovery (D:) partition in an extended partition?

Question

I recently had to replace my HDD and HP sent a recovery disk set with my OEM replacement HDD which I used to returm my laptop to "factory original" condition. My problem is that it created 4 primary partitions on the HDD, and now I'm looking for a way to non-distructivly increase the number of partitions on the HDD so I can dual boot Windows 7 64-bit and one or more distros of linux. My computer is a Pavilion dv7-3165dx Entertainment Notebook. I would like to preserve all 4 of the partitions that the recovery disks installed. I had an extended partition with logical drives in it on the drive that failed, and while I don't recall the exact configuration of the partitions I'm sure that I didn't delete any of the factory original partitions to make room for the extended partition, I only had to resize the (C: ) partition to make space for my additional partitions.
So, can the HP recovery (D: ) partition be placed inside an extended partition and still function as intended?
I asked the same question about the (C: ) partition on the Microsoft support forums, and ended up with opposing answers, 1 from a "Support Engineer" saying no, and another ftom a Microsoft tech page showing a diagram of partitions in a configuration that would imply that the answer is yes. Since it's a diagram and not a screenshot I can't decide if I want to risk the attempt on it. To tell the truth I would rather have the (C: ) in the extended partition, but i'm ready to do the job by converting the recovery (D: )  partition if the functionality will still be there.
The configuration of the partitions that the recovery disks created is as follows:
As you can see there is plenty of empty space in the (C: ) partition that I can use for my other plans.
BTW, I'm posting this question here because I couldn't find a partitioning section of these forums, and it is about the recovery partition, If there is a more appropriate section maybe a mod will move it, and inform me of where it is.
IF what I post solves your problem please click the "Problem solved" button on my post.
Oh, and if I have helped you, clicking the 'Kudos' star on my post would not hurt my feelings ether.

Answer 1

Those are the standard partitions.  All systems should have the system partition as this is necessary for Windows to boot.  The large partition is of course the main partition. 
In my experiencing, modifying the recovery partition has not had a happy ending.  Others may have a different experience, but I have seen the recovery partition fail to function properly after it is modified.
Furthermore, you can run into issues down the road if a dive has more than 4 partitions.  Windows, by default, will convert a drive to dynamic if it has more than four partitions.  The recovery, either from the HDD or from the disks, is designed for a basic disk and will not recover a dynamic drive.  If a fifth partition is added, instead of removing one to make room for one more, then there will be issues with the recovery down the road.  There are ways around it, but I recommend avoiding that scenario if possible. 
As long as you have the recovery disks, which sound like you do, I would recommend removing the recovery partition so that there will be room for a partition of your choice.  The same can be said for HP_Tools.  If you really need the advanced diagnostics, a bootable media containing them can be made by downloading the UEFI support environment from the support and drivers page for your unit.  The installer will give you the choice to install to the HDD (make a partition) or to make a USB flash drive that is bootable with them.  The HP_Tools partition is small, but the purpose is to keep the number of partitions to four or less.  Removing the recovery partition (make sure to keep the recovery disks) and the HP_Tools would give the option to add two partitions and keep it under five to avoid the issue of a dynamic drive.  A third party tool can be used to resize the C partition to give you the space you need for the other partitions. 
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