Delete EISA Hidden Recovery or Diagnostic Partition? [solved]
Q. I have a hard drive from an IBM thinkpad and I can’t get one of the partitions deleted, can you help?
A. This is how I deleted one on Windows XP, this includes some steps showing different parameters and help for the diskpart utility:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\User>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565
Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: M4400
DISKPART> list
Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565
DISK - Prints out a list of disks.
PARTITION - Prints out a list of partitions on the current disk.
VOLUME - Print a list of volumes.
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 75 GB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 466 GB 0 B
Disk 3 Online 149 GB 145 GB
DISKPART> select disk 3
Disk 3 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 E DVD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C OS NTFS Partition 74 GB Healthy System
Volume 2 D DATA NTFS Partition 466 GB Healthy Pagefile
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 OEM 4393 MB 33 GB
DISKPART> select partition 1
Partition 1 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> list
Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565
DISK - Prints out a list of disks.
PARTITION - Prints out a list of partitions on the current disk.
VOLUME - Print a list of volumes.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
* Partition 1 OEM 4393 MB 33 GB
DISKPART> help
Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565
ADD - Add a mirror to a simple volume.
ACTIVE - Marks the current basic partition as an active boot partition.
ASSIGN - Assign a drive letter or mount point to the selected volume.
BREAK - Break a mirror set.
CLEAN - Clear the configuration information, or all information, off the
disk.
CONVERT - Converts between different disk formats.
CREATE - Create a volume or partition.
DELETE - Delete an object.
DETAIL - Provide details about an object.
EXIT - Exit DiskPart
EXTEND - Extend a volume.
HELP - Prints a list of commands.
IMPORT - Imports a disk group.
LIST - Prints out a list of objects.
INACTIVE - Marks the current basic partition as an inactive partition.
ONLINE - Online a disk that is currently marked as offline.
REM - Does nothing. Used to comment scripts.
REMOVE - Remove a drive letter or mount point assignment.
REPAIR - Repair a RAID-5 volume.
RESCAN - Rescan the computer looking for disks and volumes.
RETAIN - Place a retainer partition under a simple volume.
SELECT - Move the focus to an object.
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
* Partition 1 OEM 4393 MB 33 GB
DISKPART> delete partition 1
The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.
DISKPART> delete partition
The selected partition may be neccessary to the operation of your computer, and
may not be deleted.
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 E DVD-ROM 0 B
Volume 1 C OS NTFS Partition 74 GB Healthy System
Volume 2 D DATA NTFS Partition 466 GB Healthy Pagefile
DISKPART> list partition
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
* Partition 1 OEM 4393 MB 33 GB
DISKPART> delete partition override
DiskPart successfully deleted the selected partition.
DISKPART> exit
Leaving DiskPart...
C:\Documents and Settings\User>
I hope this helps!