Is my unallocated space the "hidden" partition?

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pipspeak · #1 Post by **pipspeak** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:04 pm

Having searched the forum I remain confused about this infamous hidden partition.

I have not yet used/installed Rapid Restore on my T40 but I still assume I have that hidden partition (long since "unhidden" in bios) on my hard drive. Partition Magic, however, says the space (about 3GB) is unallocated and empty. Is there really nothing there and can that unallocated disk space be redistributed? Or is it actually allocated to something unknown to PMagic?

I assumed it was related to Rapid Restore but since that is not yet installed I guess the space might be for more general system recovery.

I already have the recovery CDs so can I simply delete/distribute that 3GB of allegedly empty hard disk space? Are there any other factors I need to know about?

Thanks.

pipspeak · #2 Post by **pipspeak** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:20 am

let me clarify a little... when I "unhid" the service partition (or whatever it is) through the bios, this additional 3GB of space showed up on my hard drive when viewed with Partition Magic. However, PMagic said it was un-named, unallocated, and unused. So what is it?

pipspeak · #3 Post by **pipspeak** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 1:36 pm

Anyone?

Hostile · #4 Post by **Hostile** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:36 pm

I believe it is a proprietary format, meaning it's not Fat32 or NTFS. I actually managed to unhide mine and I reformatted it.

Now I'm doing a fresh install of WinXP and will just repartition the entire drive into one large one.

pipspeak · #5 Post by **pipspeak** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:47 pm

Did you ever find out if simply reformatting the unhidden partition made any difference to normal operation of your machine? I'd prefer not to reinstall windows, just use the partition space

egibbs · #6 Post by **egibbs** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:06 am

Just have PM create a partition in the unallocated space, and then have it merge it with your C: partition. You un-hid it but never to PM to do anything with it.

Of course, having a current complete (and known good) backup would be a really good idea before doing any partition work. To be extra safe run PM from the CD or recovery disks rather than from Windows.

Ed Gibbs

pipspeak · #7 Post by **pipspeak** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:10 pm

So I can safely assume that this space/partition is currently not used by anything?

egibbs · #8 Post by **egibbs** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:20 pm

If it's unallocated it's not in use.

pipspeak · #9 Post by **pipspeak** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 6:14 pm

OK, thanks... just checking there was no special formatting that PMagic was missing.

waterside · #10 Post by **waterside** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:49 pm

Actually the space does contain software for rebuilding your OS partition. If you have a set of Recovery CDs you don't need this partition. If you don't have a set of Recovery CDs you should either create a set first, or at least copy/burn the C:\DRIVERS and C:\IBMTOOLS directories to CD. You may also want to copy C:\I386 since this may be used to create a bootable installation CD (Search the forums for more details - there are several links and references to this).

The majority of C:\IBMTOOLS (and C:\DRIVERS) may be found at http://www.tpdrivers.com, though some software such as WinDVD may only be found in C:\IBMTOOLS and is not downloadable via the web.

The hidden partition is shipped from the factory already populated to be able to rebuild your TP. IBM Rescue and Recovery modifies this partition (if existing) but is not the only software that makes use of it.

Both PARTIES and HPA types (older and newer) are standards used by several manufacturers. Your hidden partition may be either, but is most likely HPA. This doesn't concern you except for the fact that they are both intended to appear as unallocated/unused since they are designed to be hidden by the BIOS and inaccessible via typical methods. You generally only unhide the hidden partition area when you want to recover the space. PM is correct in its reporting since that is what it is supposed to show. There is in fact data in this area, though.

IBM uses PowerQuest tools for managing partitions and in its recovery partition and CDs, BTW.

pipspeak · #11 Post by **pipspeak** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 4:42 pm

Thanks for the detail... I figured there was a reason this partition/space existed.

Now I have the recovery CDs and can reclaim that space, are there any IBM programs/drivers that might still try to access it and need uninstalling?

Is my unallocated space the "hidden" partition?

Is my unallocated space the "hidden" partition?

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