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Hidden partition / Cleared partition

Hidden partition / Cleared partition

There is a important difference between "hidden" and "cleared" partitions.

• Hidden Partition: Operating systems, backup solutions and so on can see them but they ignore them. I would say, this is a pseudo hidden partition.

• Cleared Partition: No program (except the boot manager) knows that there is/was a partition defined in the MBR. This is really hidden. It looks like unallocated space for every program. That means no other program can access the data on that partition (with some work and searching the hard disk there are still ways to access the data). There is a risk, if you repartition the hard disk, you will overwrite your invisible partition and all data on it if you do it wrong.

Example: Hide a partition

This is an example: A partition should be visible in one profile and hidden (and not cleared) in another profile

Let's say you want to have the second partition on HDA (HDA2) on one profile visible and on another hidden (and not cleared).

• Use an empty entry in partitions. Give it the label "hidden hda2".

• Select the device HDA.

• Go to "Edit MBR/Import data".

• Move the cursor to P2 and press "s". Now move up to "BP" and press "p".

• Press ESC and go to "Partition ID". Choose "Select from list". Choose the hidden version of your partition.

• Press ESC and save your changes.

• Go to "profiles".
  Now you can assign the "visible" version of your partition to one profile and the "hidden" to another profile.

© 2024 by Elmar Hanlhofer