Removing the hidden partition

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tokjdm · #1 Post by **tokjdm** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 11:42 pm

Thank you all for this forum. After reading it for many months, I purchased yesterday a T43p (14.1" screen). I created the recovery disks and then tried to delete the hidden partition. I did this with dfsee which has been recommended on this forum. I think I deleted the partition but when I tried to resize the main partition to expand it over the unused space, I just could not find how to do it. There was an "expand" command but it seemed inactive. I would appreciate some help from the forum.

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 11:49 pm

You just needed to look a little further down this page to see the answer.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 475d8ffe4d

tokjdm · #3 Post by **tokjdm** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:05 am

Thank you for this quick response.
This looks a bit overwhelming for me (I'm not an expert). I don't know how to disable the Preboot and have never ever used Linux. Wouldn't it be simpler to just make the hidden partition visible and then use it as a D: drive if I can't resize the main partition easily ?

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:21 am

You have to go into the BIOS by pressing F1 at the beginning of the boot sequence. Once you see the BIOS menu screen, go to Security, then find where it indicates you can disable the hidden partition. Save changes and exit. When the computer reboots, the hidden partition will be visible. You will probably see it as a D: drive in My Computer. I understand it has a Fat 32 filing system. That is the same thing as what Windows 98 has. Windows XP usually has a NTFS filing system, but can read and write to a Fat 32 filing system.

You don't have to use Linux. You can use Windows tools to reformat the partition. You can even use Windows tools to repartition the hard drive (if you boot from a CD). I have not used the Recovery CD's yet, so I am not exactly sure if or how you can use the Recovery CD's themselves to do this. Partition Magic or its equivalent will also work.

Ground Loop · #5 Post by **Ground Loop** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:10 am

If you don't want to combine the newly free space with the existing C: partition, it's very simple indeed.

Just Disable the PreBoot area in BIOS, run
Start->Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management-> Disk Manager

From there you can delete the second partition, create it again as NTFS, and format it. You would have something like a 4GB D: drive, then.

I think most people would prefer to fold it into C:, right?

tokjdm · #6 Post by **tokjdm** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:47 am

I can see the free space (4.39Gb) in Disk Management but I cannot extend the existing c: volume to include the free space. I am not sure if I understood well but it seems from Microsoft Support that a volume cannot be extended if it already contains system files.
I think I could add a second volume with disk management and use the free space as d: but I would prefer to fold it into c:. How can I do that ?
Thanks again for your patient explanations !

#7 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:27 am

You can do it with a program like Partition Magic. I believe there are several programs like this for sale, but I am not aware of any freeware or shareware that will do this. Perhaps there is, I really haven't looked into it. See link below for Partition Magic:

http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/

mgenin · #8 Post by **mgenin** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:34 am

Does deleting this service partition do anything, or cause your computer to loose any features? If I dont need the space, should I still delete it (just because i can?)

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:02 am

Well my T-42 has a 40 GB hard drive, of which approximately 35 GB is available (the remainder is the service partition). Of this 35 GB, I am currently using about 1/2. I don't see where I'll be needing the space in the service partition for quite a long time, as I don't anticipate installing a lot of additional software. The files I creat, and the web pages I store, really don't take up that much space.

I believe most people only run into hard drive 'space available' issues, when they store music, picture, and video files on their drives. If you're the kind of person who wants to store 1000's of songs, or 1000's of photos, or videos, then yes, you need all the hard drive space you can get. If you're the kind of person that stores a modicum of these types of files, you probably won't run out of space with current hard drive sizes.

I am not deleting my service partition, because who knows?, maybe it will come in handy some day. As long as it's not crowding me out, then why bother deleting it? As far as losing any features by deleting the service partition - you would only be losing one method of restoring or repairing your hard drive. There are other ways to do this, if you feel the need to recover the space.

GetAMac · #10 Post by **GetAMac** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:41 pm

mgenin wrote:Does deleting this service partition do anything, or cause your computer to loose any features? If I dont need the space, should I still delete it (just because i can?)

I haven't seen a reply to your question yet, and I'm wondering the same thing. What is the hidden partition actually used for?

Thanks again to everyone for helping me set up my ThinkPad - I'd be lost without this forum!

#11 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:39 pm

GetAMac wrote:
mgenin wrote:Does deleting this service partition do anything, or cause your computer to loose any features? If I dont need the space, should I still delete it (just because i can?)
I haven't seen a reply to your question yet, and I'm wondering the same thing. What is the hidden partition actually used for?

The service partition stores a copy of all the software that was factory installed by IBM/Lenovo. If you uninstall a program, and later decide you want it, you can get it back from the service partition. If you hose a program, you can restore it from the service partition. If Windows becomes Borked, you can repair it from the service partition, or if that doesn't work, you can install Windows and all the preinstalled software again from the service partition. I understand that the service partition can also store backups that you make with IBM's Rescue and Recovery, at least until you fill it up. I hope that clears things up a bit.

tokjdm · #12 Post by **tokjdm** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:06 pm

I managed to resize the main partition with Boot-It (the trial version) without losing any data or having to reformat/reinstall anything. Cool !

GetAMac · #13 Post by **GetAMac** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:22 pm

GomJabbar wrote:The service partition stores a copy of all the software that was factory installed by IBM/Lenovo. If you uninstall a program, and later decide you want it, you can get it back from the service partition. If you hose a program, you can restore it from the service partition. If Windows becomes Borked, you can repair it from the service partition, or if that doesn't work, you can install Windows and all the preinstalled software again from the service partition. I understand that the service partition can also store backups that you make with IBM's Rescue and Recovery, at least until you fill it up. I hope that clears things up a bit.

That helps clear things up, but is there anything on the service partition that I would not find on the backup rescue disks that I created? Thanks!

#14 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:37 pm

GetAMac wrote:That helps clear things up, but is there anything on the service partition that I would not find on the backup rescue disks that I created? Thanks!

Not to my knowledge. However, you may want to read my last posting in the following thread:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=13415

Removing the hidden partition

Removing the hidden partition

What does the partition actually do?

Re: What does the partition actually do?

Re: What does the partition actually do?

Re: What does the partition actually do?

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