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How to hide a partition and access it on demand?


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#1 Uneitohr

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Posted 15 October 2016 - 04:04 PM

Hello all. I have an HDD which has 4 MBR partitions. I'd like to hide a partition but I'd also like to temporarily mount it on demand. I can hide the partition fine in BootICE but by doing so, I cannot access it unless I unhide it.

 

How to temporarily mount a hidden partition?

 

Thank you.



#2 agni

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Posted 15 October 2016 - 04:21 PM

You can use MountStorPe. I have used it with great success. The only problem is that you need to reboot to hide the partitions again.

 

http://www.kare-net....MountStorPe.zip

 

I had written a post on this in my blog some time back.

http://agnipulse.com...tions-unhiding/


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#3 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 15 October 2016 - 04:22 PM

Which OS?

 

You can map directly a disk extent in IMDISK to a IMDISK volume:

http://reboot.pro/to...image/?p=192170

 

But why (if you have a hidden partition entry) you cannot simply unhide it when needed (and then re-hide it after use)?

 

 

:duff:

Wonko

 

P.S.: About MountStorePE (and similar) do check:

http://reboot.pro/to...-line-possible/


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#4 Uneitohr

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Posted 15 October 2016 - 06:41 PM

@agni

It works! Thank you.

 

@Wonko the Sane

A quote from agni's tutorial above:

So if you want to view the contents of this Hidden OEM Partition, you will have to unhide it using a Partition Management tool like Bootice. However unhiding and hiding it maybe cumbersome 

Just cucumberson, not because it couldn't be done.

 

I'll also try IMDISK and see how it goes.

 

Thanks guys for your help.



#5 agni

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Posted 15 October 2016 - 07:40 PM

I wonder if its possible to unmount the volumes that were mounted by mountStorPe without having to restart.

 

In case you get any pointers from the threads that Wonko posted, let us know.



#6 sbaeder

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Posted 15 October 2016 - 07:40 PM

Just remove the drive letter, and for most practical purposes, it is "hidden" from Windows.  Then a simple "disk management" command to map the partition to a letter brings it back...

 

can also be done via cmd/shell using diskpart to assign letter (or not)...

 

I guess it all depends on how "hidden" you want it...



#7 Uneitohr

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Posted 15 October 2016 - 08:54 PM

@sbaeder

That's what I would usually do but I need this to be portable (ie. work of any machine).



#8 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 16 October 2016 - 10:33 AM

@agni

Sure you can,

Just READ the given thread, you can use dosdev to remove the drive letter without rebooting:
http://reboot.pro/to...-line-possible/

 

@sbaeder

MOUNTVOL is much more straighforward to use than diskpart for mapping and unmapping drive letters (of non-hidden partitions/volumes).

 

:duff:

Wonko



#9 agni

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Posted 27 December 2016 - 05:40 PM

I am only able to download the Dosdev version created by Olof.

And I tried using the /D option to remove the drive letter mounted by MountStorPe and it did not work

dosdev /D G

 

Where I can download the Microsoft version of dosdev ?

Or what is the correct working syntax of Olof's dosdev to remove the drive letter ?

The help syntax shows this 

Define devices syntax:
DOSDEV [/R] [/D] [/L] device targetpath ...

Query devices syntax (Windows NT only):
DOSDEV /Q [devices ...]

/R    Windows NT only: Don't convert the target path from an Win32 path (DOS-
      style path) to a native Windows NT path, but takes it as is.

/D    Windows 9x: Removes the specified drive alias.

      Windows NT: Removes the specified definition for the specified device. To
      determine which definition to remove, Windows NT walks the list of
      mappings for the device, looking for a match of specified target path
      against a prefix of each mapping associated with this device. The first
      mapping that matches is the one removed. If target path is not specified,
      Windows NT will remove the first mapping associated with the device and
      pop the most recent one pushed. If there is nothing left to pop, the
      device name will be removed. If /D is NOT specified, the target path
      parameter will become the new mapping for this device.

/L    If this switch is given along with /D, Windows NT will use an exact match
      to determine which mapping to remove. Use this value to insure that you
      do not delete something that you did not define. In Windows 9x this
      switch is ignored.

/Q    Windows NT only: Displays target path(s) for the given devices. If no
      devices given, all currently defined MS-DOS devices are listed.



#10 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 27 December 2016 - 08:02 PM

Where I can download the Microsoft version of dosdev ?

 

Hmmm, I wonder if I can reveal this secret. :dubbio:

 

It is conveniently renamed inside an obscure set of tools not anymore available. :w00t: called "Microsoft Product Support Reports".

https://blogs.techne...f-oct-8th-2013/

 

 

Get it from here:

(should be latest available version :unsure:)
http://web.archive.o...s.aspx?id=24745

open the downloaded .exe with 7zip.

Check the setup.cmd file, search for dosdev in it should be File37.

 

Older version is inside:
http://web.archive.o...T_SETUPPerf.EXE

 

 

:duff:

Wonko



#11 Guest_AnonVendetta_*

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Posted 27 December 2016 - 11:31 PM

Simple.....just hide it in your mind on demand and act/think as if it really doesn't exist. When you want to access it again, just mentally unhide it.



#12 leona009

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Posted 28 December 2016 - 04:06 AM

I wonder if its possible to unmount the paris car service volumes that were mounted by mountStorPe without having to restart.

 

In case you get any pointers from the threads that Wonko posted, let us know.

Hello,
Yes it is possible, you only asked the assistance of an expert or even a simple administrator in the forum to facilitate the task!
Good luck!



#13 agni

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Posted 28 December 2016 - 07:15 PM

Hmmm, I wonder if I can reveal this secret. :dubbio:

 

It is conveniently renamed inside an obscure set of tools not anymore available. :w00t: called "Microsoft Product Support Reports".

https://blogs.techne...f-oct-8th-2013/

 

 

Get it from here:

(should be latest available version :unsure:)
http://web.archive.o...s.aspx?id=24745

open the downloaded .exe with 7zip.

Check the setup.cmd file, search for dosdev in it should be File37.

 

Older version is inside:
http://web.archive.o...T_SETUPPerf.EXE

 

 

:duff:

Wonko

 

Thanks , I was able to get the file and it works very well.

 

I wonder if its possible to do the same using Olof's tool as well.



#14 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 28 December 2016 - 07:35 PM

I think it should.

 

Try mounting the partiton.

 

Then run Olof's dosdev /q <drive letter:>

 

What do you get as output?

Something *like*:

<drive letter:>=> \Device\HarddiskVolume1

or

<drive letter:>=> \Device\Harddisk2\DP(1)0-0+a

 

Running:

dosdev /d <drive letter:>

should work as well.

 

Which OS are you running?

 

:duff:
Wonko



#15 agni

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Posted 28 December 2016 - 07:42 PM

Olof's tool is working now. I think the mistake I made was that I did not include the colon after the driver letter.

 

 

dosdev /D G

 

This works

dosdev /D G:

 

Thanks






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