How to check my IBM R&R environment if it has a PATIES a

[shirayanagi]

My PCs has a IBM’s Rescue and Recovery tool being installed.
I want to install a third-party application into them which requests there must not be a PARTIES area on HDD. The Factory Recovery and Diagnostics are being stored in PARTIES area and it is
protected by BIOS, so I am unable to check if its existing in my PC.

Could you tell me how to check if the PARTIES area exists in my PCs?

[Ground Loop]

I'm very curious to know what third-party application won't install if PARTIES is present. That's bizzare, and more than a little offensive. I'd send it back if they are telling you how to configure your own partitions.

That software won't install on many out-of-box laptops, of course.

To answer your question, the easiest way to check for PARTIES is to boot a Linux LiveCD or similar rescue disc with partition editing tools. I don't know how the BIOS "hide HPA" feature works, but it is supposed to hide the partition from some tools.

Linux sfdisk, fdisk, cfdisk, parted, etc don't seem fooled and show all the partitions.

Your BIOS has an option to set the protection as well -- Disabled, Normal, or Secure. If you set it to Disabled and dont' see any extra/unused partitions or dead space, then you probably don't have the PARTIES area.