Old HD's with Hidden Partitions

[frums]

I re-build and upgrade old PC's for the handicapped and disabled. I obtain these for free from people who don't want them anymore, and fix them and give them away for free also. I have an IBM Aptiva. Ali mb, and an HP Pavillion - Sis mb, that both have identical Quantum Bigfoot TX hd's running Win98 not SE. These have been formatted to 4 gig, but are capable of 12 gig according to Quantum site. When I looked up more info on the mb's- they both have onboard sound/video/usb/ps2 etc. - I found info that stated all the chipset drivers etc., for each of these was stored on a hidden partition on the HD. If I format these drives to get rid of junk/spyware/personal data that was left on them, will it wipe out the hidden partitions? Also, how do I go about accessing the hidden partitions? It has been a long time since I have used DOS, but was also thinking Ranish may be able to do this too. I could use a spare hd to backup the hidden partitions and then re-load them after on the re-formatted hd's. Is this feasible or it is best to try to get all the chipsets drivers from the mfr's and just do a new install totally? I know these hd's are only 4000 rpm, but they will more than suffice for teaching alphabet/ numbers and reading / recognition programs.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or information

frums

[beanman2k]

I know that Partition Magic will do exactly what you want and will display the hidden partitions. You could then just format the partitions you want using Partition Magic and not disturb those hidden ones.

This may be a usable trial version:
http://www.soft32.com/download_151.html

Good luck

[104456]

TRy running FDSIK to view the drives [option 4] and see if there is actually a hidden partition or if it is just badly patitioned.
Can you not download the drivers or at least retrieve them if they are there before you work on the systems?

[beanman2k]

Forgot to mention, I have a 8100 I use for church projects. All the drivers are still available for Win95 on the Toshiba website.

By the way, how did you load 95 to your hard drive and what version is it? Did you actually install it or did it fail during the installation?

[frums]

Here is what I have done: Tried fdisk as suggested - partition not shown; dl'd PartMgr and ran it - shows Primary C: no hidden or way to show hidden as the prompts are shadowed out; ran Scandisk - no problems on drive, but there are 21,258,240 Bytes in 253 Hidden Files; ran Maxtor/Quantum HDD from Utimate Boot Disk - says drive is ok (C; ran Ranish - shows MBR-sect1-0kb, Pri - unused - sect 2-63 31kb; >Pri1 - WinFat32LBA -start hd1sect1, endcyl518hd239sect63 3,923,607kb; Pri - unused - start cyl519hd0sect1 ends cyl519hd29sect63 945kb. Total for drive is 519cyl/240hds/63sect. Actual HD parameters are 8306/15/63 as per HD Label. Are the unused sections maybe part of a hidden partition? Or just bad formatting / partitioning when this drive was set up in 1998?

There is a restore file on the C: that states Click on Restore.exe, insert your HP restore disk, select M:\install\WinCabs\98fe. There is only one CDrom and it is D:. I have selected Options / show Hidden files etc., which doesn't help.

For beanman2k, this is Windows 98 FE not SE or Win95. It was already loaded on the drive, but do have disks to reload if necessary for all the listed OS's (legitimate too.. )

So, how do I get the hidden partition / files / ?? to show so I can copy them/ look at them / whatever? Can't remember all the attrib codes, but will have to look and see what I can find.

Any other sugestions or knowledge gratefully appreciated. Sorry it took longer to answer back, but had to run thru the suggestions first.

Thanks,

frums

[beanman2k]

Here is DOS help

http://www.computerhope.com/attribhl.htm

[DrMDJ]

Dos commands won't enable you to unhide a partition (a file yes). To unhide a partition you need to use something like Partition Magic (as mentioned) or Ranish Partition Manager (a free tool).

[SuperSparks]

I think, though I'm not 100% certain, that Delpart will zap all partitions hidden or not:

Delpart

[Train]

The hdd manufactor, might have a Zero write program, that will get everything.

Delpart should get them all also.

[frums]

Hello, and thanks to everyone for your replies. As the good DR stated, dos wouldn't unhide the partitions, and nothing else seemed to work either - as stated in my previous post. Soooo, did the next best thing, full format etc., and fresh install of W98SE not the FE it originally had. Have installed NIC, USB2.0 support for removable CD burner, onboard sound etc. The only problem I am having is finding the right/correct driver for the onboard video. Have tried dozens, and nothing seems to get me beyond 16bit, 480x640. Everest says the mb is an Asus SPAX v. 1.01, chipset is SIS 5597/5598, Phoenix bios, AMD-K6-300 3d, 128meg ram, SIS 7001 pci-usb contr., SIS 5513 dual pci ide contr., and onboard Crystal PNP sound. I read somewhere that this MB/chipset combo was also called the M9100?? or such, but can't remember the site. Will be looking for it shortly. Anyone know a "good" driver or copy of a driver that will work?

Thanks again to all. Will post back with further results.

frums

PS. I did go into Safe Mode and removed all vid adapter refs between installs, and yes Delpart etc would do the part/format, but I was trying to save the info from the hidden partition.

[104456]

From a cached google page here

Spax is an OEM Asus board for HP. HP is your ONLY source of reliable info
This is the motherboard from a HP Pavillion 6350. Get latest BIOS from www.hp.com... Use jumper settings for Asus SP-97XV(minor differences)

Unfortunatly whilst HP lists the board they dont seem to have video drivers available for download so it looks like your going to have to install another video card.

[gmcbreadtrk]

I do the same thing with old PC's. Members of the church drop off their old stuff, I clean it and then give them to an inner city minister who then gifts them to children that may not otherwise get to use one.

I like Ranish partition manager to wipe the disks. I then use Clean Disk Security by Kevin Solway to do a 7 pass wipe.

[frums]

Hi All. Made two mistakes in my previous posting - colors should have be 16, not 16 bit, AND, edited my post, but ending up sending it again so double-posted. Sorry about that.
And yes, I do a complete wipe of the drives - there is always some personal info left on them. I use Eraser for this.
Thanks 104456 for the info - had checked the HP site and finally dug up the MB specs, so found the switch to shut off the ob vid, and installed an old Trident 6800D, drivers loaded and all is running well at <1028x7??> at 256 colors, which is great for the programs and use it will get. Puter will be delivered this pm to a pre-teen re-learning abc's and #'s after car accident.

Thanks again to all for your help and suggestions. That is what makes this such a great site.

All my best,

frums