Healthy, active, online, but not there?

[Zao]

The partition is Hidden.
To hide partitions is a way for different OSes to live together on the same machine, because since a OS can't see hidden partitions, it can't mount it and mess with the data.

There are no way to unhide partitions with Windows XP, but Partition Magic and maybe Norton Utilities can do it.
7tools Partition Manager can hide/unhide partitions too.
It's shareware but the demo can do it too.

http://www.7tools.com/demo_pm.html

[mutz]

SystemWorks, nor anything else can see that partition because it has no drive letter, so it can't work on it either. That is certainly hidden where I wish it wasn't.

But what "Hidden" partition means that is something I'd like to know too. I'd like to know what Type: 44 is as well. Info shouldn't be blank either.

Pagefile.sys is normally a hidden file, but I don't know if there is any connection.

The plot thickens.

[mutz]

I don't know why it would be hiddden, Zao. This machine and particularly that drive have only had one OS on them, XP.

Are you saying that if I unhide it, it would be available for a drive letter and back on stream?

Any risk?

(Does Härnösand, have some kind of Summer festival? Do people have summer houses there?)

[Zao]

DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 1
Type  : 07
Hidden: No
Active: No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 11    D   WD120        NTFS   Partition    112 GB  Healthy

DISKPART>

My info is empty too.
There should be no risk in unhiding the partition.
That should get it up to speed.

I'll test with a small partition somewhere, but it should be without risk.

[Zao]

If I hide one of my partitions:

DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 1
Type  : 17
Hidden: Yes
Active: No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 12        WD160        NTFS   Partition    149 GB  Healthy

DISKPART>

As you can see, it's unmountable.

Upon unhiding, everything is as before.

(Härnösand is a small 50k pop city, no festivals but some summer homes, yes.)

[Zao]

Don't do anything!!! read this first!

http://www.embedded.com/story/OEG20020125S0097

As far as I can find, the partition being Type 44 is because of a Norton/Symantec program named GoBack. Does that ring a bell?

Apparently that program changes the type in the Partition Table, making Windows unable to recognise your NTFS drive.

Changing the type from 44 to 07 with PowerQuests ptedit (ftp://ftp.powerquest.com/pub/utilities/ptedit.zip) after unhiding it with 7tools PM, should make your system recognize it again.

[Wombat]

Not only is it shown as Hidden, but also Active !?! But it looks like Zao has you covered.

[Zao]

The active status should not interfere, since it does only tell the OS that that partition is bootable.
Feel free to disable the active state.

[mutz]

Zao, you are a genius!

Looks like GoBack is the culprit.

I'm digging around in Symantec knowledge base plus e-mail support because I want those creeps to reverse it all.

It's totally irresponsible to put such a product on the market. By trying to secure your data, you are potentially putting it in greater danger! Take a look at the "last resort" here!

(I've been to Härnösand to visit somebody at least once. Don't remember who or when. My ex is Swedish and my son Swedish/American.)

[The PIT]

Goback used to cause a load of problems looks like it still does. If you're using ghost theres no need for it anyway.

Gateway used to install goback. The problem then was that you couldn't see the hard drive from a floppy. Even better the bootable recover CD they supplied didn't have the startup files needed to do a recovery.

[mutz]

Yeah, GoBack. I wouldn't have bought it as a stand alone, but it was in the SystemWorks 2003 Pro packet so I just clicked and installed it without thinking. Don't remember any warning, but then again who reads anything?

With protection like that, better to buy a gun and shoot those SOBs.

Glad I resisted poking around in/on that partition. I could have gotten into deep shit quick.

BTW Zao, just about everything was grayed out in 7Tools, including Unhide/Hide, for that partition.

Now I'd better get my e-mail installed so I can pick up what Symantec/Gobackio have to say for themselves.

No celebration though 'til I get that drive back...

[az]

Norton and Symantec.. making windows unstable since 95 (at least).

I always thought I need norton because windows was so unstable when I ran '95. At one of the frequent reinstalls, I was too lazy to install Norton Utilities and AntiVirus, and lo and behold, windows was a lot more stable.

AZ

[mutz]

Great! Tirade Time!

TT mode=on

Norton is a love-hate thing. Antivirus saved my ass a couple of times, but generally I hate the way Norton elbows you out of the way and takes over everything. "Shut up son, Father knows better." Often suspected some of the utilities were nothing but a different interface to Windows "tools". With the old NU you could get into the real nitty-gritty, but NSW is more like a colorless parrot. I didn't buy anything Norton for the whole time the photo of Peter Norton stared like an arrogant jerk off the box.

McAffee, I threw out FirstAid, Antivirus and everything else. They made it soo difficult to get any definition, upgrade or anything. I still get spam from those ****oles 2-3 times a week and you can't shut them off.

TT mode=off

I can say good things about Trend Micro. Their House Call service has caught things NAV didn't a couple of times. Their weekly newletter is concise and worth reading, and little sales pitch.

TT mode=on

Just got an automated e-mail from Norton/GoBack:

"Dear Valued Symantec Customer,

Your request has been received and you should expect a response from our authorized Symantec support center within 3 to 4 business days."

What am I supposed to do, sit on my hands, go on vacation? I've been going out of my mind for four days and they are going to let me sit in the waiting room for another four?

FCSAHMFers!! (unpermitted launguage)

TT mode=off

[The PIT]

Originally posted by mutz

"Dear Valued Symantec Customer,

Your request has been received and you should expect a response from our authorized Symantec support center within 3 to 4 business days."

What am I supposed to do, sit on my hands, go on vacation? I've been going out of my mind for four days and they are going to let me sit in the waiting room for another four?

FCSAHMFers!! (unpermitted launguage)

TT mode=off

And whats the betting you get no response.

Is it me or is tech support getting worse across the globe. If the techie can't solve your problem with one or two emails they tend to loose interest.

[mutz]

...some of these oufits find Tech Soup profitable.

TT mode=on

They write software that amounts to "Excuse me sir, we're just going to surgically remove your dork here to protect you from yourself and things like AIDS."

And they've got another clinic around the corner that specializes in sewing it back on...

TT mode=off