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Hidden HP Partition

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6 replies

by andy

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I've just aquired a 80gb hard drive from an old HP machine that died. I want to use this HD in my PC as a slave, the problem is it's only showing up as a 76GB drive. Now, i'm fully aware that HP used to put the Windows XP installation files in a hidden partition... My question is how can I delete that hidden partition thus feeing up the extra space on the drive.

I've tried KILLDISK but that still only recogonises the drive as a 76GB drive and not a full 80GB drive.

6 replies

by archimeides

Is it an western digital hd? If so it could be that the class action suit currently being fought regarding the reporting method used by WD is not consistant with the advertised size of the drive -
http://www.wdc.com/settlement/docs/longform.htm
If it's not a WD drive - good question. Could be other makers are just as guilty.....
wk

by mr.wiz

There may not be a hidden partition. Many drive manufacturers report 1000MB to be 1GB, while your computer uses 1024MB=1GB. That could account for the size discrepancy. To see if there are any hidden partitions (using Win2000 or WinXP, use the disk management tool.

by andy

It's not a western digital. It's a..... I can't remember off hand as I've put into a caddy and it's all screwed together. But it's deffinitly not a WD.

by rayr

HP should have installed utilities (usually located on the start menu-all programs in a folder called HP or Hewlard Packerd) which enable you to make a CD of those tools. One of the tools that will be available is to remove the recovery partition.

by wlbowers

Capacity is before formatting. Formatting always eats up some of the drive.

To be sure. Two ways.

Partition Magic 8.0 or from dos:

Install the drive as a master, the only drive in the machine.
Boot to a win98 floppy.

At the dos prompt type
fdisk
Now hit enter.

If it ask you whether to enable large partitions select yes.

You can view and delete partitions at this level.

If you left other drives on the machine make sure you are dealing with the right drive.

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