About the T43 Predesktop Area

Message

KK · #1 Post by KK » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:18 am

Can anybody who has T43 ThinkPad see the Predesktop Area?

I am just wondered because one of my friends who has T41 can not see the Predesktop Area. For me, I can see my Predesktop Area. It is EISA configuration with around 4GB Fat32 file system.

Can I hide this partition from Partition magic? I try to change it in secure mode in the BIOS but it still appears.

Thanks

KK · #2 Post by KK » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:27 am

Is it the same as HPA in the former IBM T40?

dr_st · #3 Post by **dr_st** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:42 am

What do you mean "can see"? Can you see it in Windows? I mean, normally, in "My Computer" not by going to "Disk management". If so, that's a problem.

You can't hide it from PartitionMagic, and you're not supposed to. PartitionMagic should manage the partitions on a very low level - otherwise it's a pointless tool.

davidspalding · #4 Post by **davidspalding** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:06 pm

It's supposed to be hidden from Windows, as mentioned. My T43 has a BIOS setting for that, keeping it hidden, secure, or open, I think (I'm not on my TP at the moment).

KK · #5 Post by KK » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:13 pm

I mean when I can see this partition by going to Control Panel-->Administrative Tools-->Computer Management-->Disk Management
or I can see it by using Partition Magic.

However, when I reboot my notebook, the predesktop Area still works if I press the IBM Access button or F11 button. Is it a problem?

I just want to check from anybody to has T43 model and compare with T41. My friend has T41 and he told me that he can not see this partition either by Disk Management or by Partition Magic.

dr_st · #6 Post by **dr_st** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:28 pm

KK wrote:I mean when I can see this partition by going to Control Panel-->Administrative Tools-->Computer Management-->Disk Management
or I can see it by using Partition Magic.

That's the way it should be.

KK wrote:However, when I reboot my notebook, the predesktop Area still works if I press the IBM Access button or F11 button. Is it a problem?

Perhaps I'm not familiar with it, but I don't understand what you mean by "still works". What does it do?

KK wrote:I just want to check from anybody to has T43 model and compare with T41. My friend has T41 and he told me that he can not see this partition either by Disk Management or by Partition Magic.

Are you sure he even has it? Perhaps he formatted his entire hard disk and got rid of it?

davidspalding · #7 Post by **davidspalding** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:05 pm

Should NOT normally see it in DISKMGMT.MSC ... you may have to set it to "secure/hidden" in BIOS ... you SHOULD be able to see it in Partition Magic.

If by "work" you mean that F11 on boot will boot to the PreDesktop operating system, all is well. Frankly, after adding partitions to my HD, it wouldn't boot, so I just wiped it. The Rescue & Recovery disks I have perform the same thing. The HD partition is basically a speedy convenience. So far's I know.

nasa · #8 Post by **nasa** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:54 pm

Just wanted to share my experience...

I received my T43 yesterday, and out-of-the-box I was clearly able to see the Pre-Desktop partition when double-clicking on My Computer. It was clearly visible (showed up as the D: drive if I remember correctly), looked exactly like the other "real" C: partition, and was about 7GB (I think) in size with 500MB free. After customizing the computer to my preferences (e.g., uninstalling Norton, adding user accounts, creating restore disks, etc.) I am now no longer able to see this partition. Very odd in my opinion, as I don't know what I did exactly to make it disappear, but it's now hidden.

KK · #9 Post by KK » Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:14 pm

Thanks for every comment.

To nasa, I think you can see the hidden partition by the way I did.

To davidpalding, I set it to secure option already but I still see it. I ask my friend who has T41 about this. He told me that he can not see his predesktop area at all, but when he press the IBM Access button on start up, he can get into the predesktop area.

I think because of the different configuration on the Predesktop area in different Tseries that cause the different result.

I also ask Hanson to check his T43 if he can see it by Disk Management. He give me the result that he can also see it.

#10 Post by **Kyocera** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:39 pm

davidspalding

Should NOT normally see it in DISKMGMT.MSC ...

My machines must be messed up then because I can see the recovery partitions in disk mgmt on both my machines, wow, davidspalding how can I fix this! Or is there some documentation to say this is absolutely wrong.

christopher_wolf · #11 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:09 pm

I can't see the HPA either under DISKMGMT.MSC either.

smugiri · #12 Post by **smugiri** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:43 pm

@nasa

I received my T43 yesterday, and out-of-the-box I was clearly able to see the Pre-Desktop partition when double-clicking on My Computer. It was clearly visible (showed up as the D: drive if I remember correctly), looked exactly like the other "real" C: partition, and was about 7GB (I think) in size with 500MB free. After customizing the computer to my preferences (e.g., uninstalling Norton, adding user accounts, creating restore disks, etc.) I am now no longer able to see this partition. Very odd in my opinion, as I don't know what I did exactly to make it disappear, but it's now hidden.

Maybe sysprepmade it disappear? Most machines coming direct from OEM / dealers have sysprep running ready for the first user boot.

nasa · #13 Post by **nasa** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 9:38 pm

You're probably right - I'll take your word for it though, because honestly there was just too much to read in your link!

Anyway, I prefer the partition to be hidden anyway since I wouldn't want to damage accidentally.

smugiri wrote: Maybe sysprepmade it disappear? Most machines coming direct from OEM / dealers have sysprep running ready for the first user boot.

#14 Post by **jdhurst** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:16 pm

I have a T41 (first T with the PreDesktop Area) and I cannot see the PDA. I never bothered to set the BIOS so it was not hidden.

I have a client T43 in front on me. Straight out of the box, I can see an IBM Service Partition that I don't have on my T41. But is that the PreDesktop Area (which is not a partition at all)? Or is that a partition to do with the newer Rescue and Recovery which I do not have on my T41?
... JD Hurst

#15 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:30 pm

Soon after I received my T42, I disabled security for the predesktop area, just so I could take a peek at it from Windows. I did not see anything in My Computer. I set security back to normal and left it at that.

Since then I have upgraded Rescue and Recovery from version 2 to version 3 (don't know what difference it makes in the predesktop area). Reading this thread today I went to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management, and sure enough, the IBM predesktop partition is listed there - as a FAT32 partition (this is with the predesktop area security set to Normal). Well I learn something new every day. I hadn't looked at the Disk Management choice before (although I have been in Computer Management to manage user profiles).

dr_st · #16 Post by **dr_st** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:07 am

I never played with the BIOS settings, never did anything special to it and I always could and still can see the service partition in Disk Management, but not notmally in Windows (it doesn't get a drive letter assigned to it).

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