123c77ad16f7
tech



Hello Tom - 

RF>>> I have a Compaq Evo D10, which is a business class P4
RF>>> machine. It has no hidden partition, and it uses Phoenix
RF>>> Bios, accessible from the Del key on boot up. 

MK>> That is different from the way they used to do it. It is
MK>> about time. 

TW> My older Hewlett Packard Pavilion 4455 Computer has on
TW> booting Setup avaialble at a key press. I have wroked with
TW> several HP's, including a Vectra VL, from that time frame
TW> and NONE had the Hidden Partition. 

In my discussion of this there is a distinction between the
'setup partition' and the 'hidden partition'. 

Compaq had a 'setup partition' that had to be the first
partition on the hard drive (about 5 meg if I remember
correctly). This partition was 'hidden' in the sense that it
was not the "C" partition and did not show up using a standard
filemanager. 

HP had a 'hidden partition' where they copied the CAB files.
This was, I am told, in part to shorten the time required to
install the OS and other software and to aid the helpline
people who would then know _exactly_ where to find a particular
file when necessary. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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