Where "exactly" is the hidden partition?

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makai · #1 Post by **makai** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:26 am

Hi all,

I'm a bit confused about this hidden partition thing. Is there really a hidden partition, or is there some IBM foolery going on???

First off, my hard drive is being reported as 33.4 gigs by windows. Which means there appears to be a hidden partition on the hard drive not detectable by windows. OK, this is what I've read about in this forum.

Next, I went into bios and chose "disable" under security so the hidden partition could be seen. Rebooted the computer and ... No joy! Hidden partition is still hidden. Well at least windows can't see it. Does this hidden partition really exist? Is it really a separate partition with a separate drive letter assignment???

Let's digress a bit...

I happen to own CasperXP. It's a cloning program that works quite well, I might add. Anyways, prior to "disabling" the security setting in bios, CasperXP reported a hard drive of 33.4 gigs. This was in line with what windows reported. As with windows, Casper was not able to see the hidden partition.

When I "disabled" the setting in bios and re-ran Casper, it reported a hard drive size of 37.26 gig. BUT... all on volume C:\!!! Casper detected no other partitions on my hard drive. Windows, by the way, still reported only one partition... C:.

What does that mean?? Does it mean that the hidden recovery partition exists on the C: drive itself (?), and is not actually a separate partition?? I don't know... and I wish someone could clarify this for me.

Has anyone actually "seen" the hidden partition in windows with an assigned drive letter when they "diabled" the bios setting? This is on a T41, by the way.

Thanks
makai

GoEatFood · #2 Post by **GoEatFood** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:30 am

if someone told you it wouldn't be hidden anymore...and where is the fun in that?? I thought every one always liked a good game of hide and go seek...

makai · #3 Post by **makai** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:53 am

Very funny!

Well, actually, I just want to know how to back it up, or get rid of it. If I can't find it, I can't do either.

It's very strange that Casper reported a change in size of the C drive.

regards,
makai

combustion · #4 Post by **combustion** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:02 am

I'd also like to free up the space.. I prefer to back it up on cd's, call me old fashioned.

GoEatFood · #5 Post by **GoEatFood** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:04 am

there have been a few threads about this already...I'm sure if you seach IBM R & R (rescue and recovery) you'll find something on it...

makai · #6 Post by **makai** » Fri May 06, 2005 2:01 am

GoEatFood,

I've done a "ton" of searches on this forum, and googling, with no definitive answers. I normally never post unless my searches can't find an answer... that's why I decided to finally post..

I've searched for...

can't see hidden
Rapid recovery
hidden partition
unhide partition
etc, etc, etc...

Every post says the same thing... "disable in bios and the partition will show up". Well, it doesn't in my case, so I wanted more info from the experts in this community. I did read one post that sort of insinuated that maybe the partition resides on the root drive which means there really isn't a "separate" partition. Again, that poster was also just told to "disable in bios, blah, blah, blah".

I really want someone with other ideas about why the root size changed in Casper. Does it do the same thing in Ghost? Any more ideas?? I really want to be able to unhide the partition if possible... "if" it exists.

regards,
makai

GoEatFood · #7 Post by **GoEatFood** » Fri May 06, 2005 2:13 am

well, I can't give you any direct details as I don't know...but, from my understanding it's a totally different partition. my first thought it's not a valid windows partition so, it won't be picked up. i.e. the rescue and recovery is most likely some form of linux...which from my previous expericences of linux will not show up on windows. (but windows partitions will show up on linux) what I believe is the case I'm not sure what you'd be able to do other than a total sweep of the hard drive totally deleting every thing. as I doubt this is an option you might want to try finding a small version of linux (knoppix or some other form of a bootable linux distribution to see if that will find it.) I am sure if you wait till tomorrow some one will be able to give you a way better answer than mine though.

#8 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:23 am

Search for PreDesktop Area. This is not a standard partition so that all the regular partition assignments are available to you and so that this hidden area does not require the use of a primary partition. This new method started in 2003. It is supposed to be better for Rapid Restore, but I don't use that function, so I don't know. ... JD Hurst

egibbs · #9 Post by **egibbs** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:56 am

Some of the confusion may be because there is both a hidden partiion AND a hidden folder.

The hidden PARTITION holds the Rescue and Recovery Pre-Desktop area software . The backups (if any) made with R&R are stored in a hidden FOLDER on the root (C: ) partition.

I'm not sure why you aren't seeing the partition if you chose to show it in BIOS. On my T42p I can see the hidden partition on my Windows drive from Linux (running on a separate disk) even if I don't unhide it - it shows up as type "Compaq Diagnostics" (I think Compaq invented this scheme).

Perhaps you are unhiding the folder and not the partition?

Ed Gibbs

Batuta · #10 Post by **Batuta** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:30 am

makai · #11 Post by **makai** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:23 am

egibbs,

The hidden PARTITION holds the Rescue and Recovery Pre-Desktop area software . The backups (if any) made with R&R are stored in a hidden FOLDER on the root (C partition.

This may explain the change in root size as seen by CasperXP. It's still funny that although Casper saw the increase in root size, windows did not.

I'm not sure why you aren't seeing the partition if you chose to show it in BIOS

I don't know either as every one on this board seems to agree that's how the partition gets shown.

batuta,

Actually, I no longer wish to back this partition up. My original thoughts were to back it up so just in case I sold the laptop, I could reload it back to factory settings for the new user. As it stands, it's turning out to be more troublesome than anything else.

I guess I'll just call IBM and clarify with them why the partition does not show up. I'll post back what I find out and maybe once and for all put this hidden partition stuff to rest.

Thanks to all who replied,
makai

dash7540 · #12 Post by **dash7540** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:08 pm

Windows (2000/XP at least) should be able to detect the "hidden" partition if you do this:

Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management

It should show the partition to be around 4.2GB in size.

#13 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:26 pm

dash7540 wrote:Windows (2000/XP at least) should be able to detect the "hidden" partition if you do this:

Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management

It should show the partition to be around 4.2GB in size.

The PreDesktop Area is not a partition and will not show up in Disk Management. I checked on my T41. I have not enabled this area in the BIOS and I don't know if it might show up when the BIOS setting is changed. ... JD Hurst

JonathanGennick · #14 Post by **JonathanGennick** » Wed May 11, 2005 12:22 pm

Is there no easy way from Windows to just delete that partition? I'd like to wipe my drive, the entire drive, and use it for something else. That hidden partition is just in my way.

tselling · #15 Post by **tselling** » Wed May 11, 2005 1:22 pm

I needed to get rid of the predesktop area of a drive in order to reinstall it from scratch from a set of restore CDs for a different Thinkpad. What I had to do was set the security of the predesktop to disabled. Then I created a 6gb Partion at the END of the drive since the predesktop area is somewhere around 4-6gb in size and is located at the end of the drive. Then I deleted the partition with the option to clear each sector. I had to do this, otherwise the restore CDs still detected the old predesktop area and wouldn't install the new one (probably since data was left intact with just a create/delete of a partiion). Formatting the last 6gb of the drive might work too but I didn't try this.

I used BootItNG to create/delete/clear the partion. It is free to try for 30 days and you can create a CD if you don't have a floppy drive. Don't install it to your HD (used for boot management)... just go into maintenance mode.

vliou · #16 Post by **vliou** » Wed May 11, 2005 2:07 pm

For once, I might be able to help.

I used Partition magic, deleted the partition, and then merged the freespace with c:\.

Worked for me like a charm. hehe

JonathanGennick · #17 Post by **JonathanGennick** » Wed May 11, 2005 3:11 pm

Thanks. I'd been hoping not to have to buy any additional software.

But no matter. I'll pick up a copy of Partition Magic one of these days. For now, I've decided to take a different approach to what I'm doing. The drive's gone back into my spare-parts drawer.

Where "exactly" is the hidden partition?

Where "exactly" is the hidden partition?

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