Dealing with Uninstallable Hidden Partition Files on T41

[ParatoOptimal]

I have a T41 with original HDD complete with hidden partition.

I attempted to install XP from the hidden partition. A long way through the installation, I get a blue screen with white text for a second before it reboots to XP.

XP is there and seems to be working but there are no IBM programs and the XP partition is still FAT32 instead of NTFS. The final stage of the installation process is supposed to convert the partition to NTFS.

I DL'd Hitachi's HDD ware and tested the HDD. It test OK.
I don't know if it tests the hidden partition area or not.

I DL'd MEMTest and tested the RAM. I let it run for over two hours. It tested OK.

So, I'm guessing either ...
1) The HDD is damaged in the hidden partition area.
or
2) The installation files on the hidden partition are corrupted.

I formatted the usable partition to NTFS and installed W7 Ultimate.
It works well even though there's a minuscule amount of RAM.

What should I do?
Is it worth backing up the hidden partition files and if so what software would it?
Are the hidden partition files toast? I should format the hidden partition to NTFS aned merge it to the usable partition? If, so, what software will see, format, make visible and merge the hidden partition?

Thank you

[billp117]

I would go into the BIOS and disable the security setting for the hidden partition...reboot and load Windows 7 again. I never looked back after doing that. You should have at least 1 GB of memory.

Others might point you to Unbuntu or other operating system...whatever meets your needs. I just don't have the patience to "wet nurse" XP any longer.

[GomJabbar]

I believe this is what you need: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 3&p=576998

EDIT: You might find this post helpful as well: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 10#p110810