hidden partition

[ivan]

I keep hearing about this partition and I am confused. I have a few questions:

1. what is the hidden partition for? Is it automatically there and occupying my HDD, or do I have to set it up (i.e. by instructing Rescue and Recover/Rapid Restore to backup onto my own HD)

2. is it the stuff that can go in Recovery discs? haven't made those yet, are they worth it? so if I do make one I can safely remove the partition?

3. How can I find out if I have that hidden partition ? How can I remove or 'uninstall' them safely?

Note: I just created a bootable recovery on my USB external drive using the Create Recovery Media. I also backed up my HD onto the external one using the new Rescue and Recovery.

[YukYukLee]

alright,
1.) Check My Computer and see if u have 2 HD drives. if so then u have a partitioned HD...
2.) ALWAYS make rescue discs because u never know when your HD will get corrupted.. for the hidden stuff in partition i have noidea.. heh sorry

[NihilDeNominibus]

alright,
1.) Check My Computer and see if u have 2 HD drives. if so then u have a partitioned HD...
2.) ALWAYS make rescue discs because u never know when your HD will get corrupted.. for the hidden stuff in partition i have noidea.. heh sorry

Most notebook manufacturers, including IBM, create a hidden partition that is used to recover the laptop to factory-original shape. That is, you can return it to the default install condition it originally came in. The BIOS will incorrectly report the hard drive size to virtually all programs (partition magic, fdisk, etc.) so that you actually will not see this partition if you examine the partition table on the laptop itself. This incorrect reporting allows programs and utilities to see the drive as smaller than it really is and prevents them from erasing the hidden partition.

[NihilDeNominibus]

I keep hearing about this partition and I am confused. I have a few questions:

1. what is the hidden partition for? Is it automatically there and occupying my HDD, or do I have to set it up (i.e. by instructing Rescue and Recover/Rapid Restore to backup onto my own HD)

2. is it the stuff that can go in Recovery discs? haven't made those yet, are they worth it? so if I do make one I can safely remove the partition?

3. How can I find out if I have that hidden partition ? How can I remove or 'uninstall' them safely?

Note: I just created a bootable recovery on my USB external drive using the Create Recovery Media. I also backed up my HD onto the external one using the new Rescue and Recovery.

If you actually wanted to remove the hidden partition completely, I woudl say that the safest and easiest way to do so would be to put the hard drive in another computer via a 2.5"-3.5" adapter and use partition magic or some other advanced partition-table-editing software.

[ivan]

when i go to MyComputer and right click my hard drive it shows as 33G capacity. Does this mean that my hidden partition is eating up 7G's?

Thanks for the wisdom!

[JHaislet]

No, it's actually eating up about 4GB. You loose the other 3GB due to how hard drive manufactures define a bit (it's different than how windows sees it).