Hard drive ghosts?

[Guest]

I have two fujitsu 120GB d/drives. I can only access 100GB on each as they
both contain 11.72GB of what the system calls 'healthy (EISA Configuration)'

Looks a bit like this in computer management.

disc o 11.72.gb System C:

basic Healthy (EISA Configuration) 100.07GB NTFS
111.79GB
Healthy (System, Boot,Pa)
Online


Could anyone help me get rid of these 11.72 GB partitions? If they are
partitions. When you right click them it just says 'help'.
Driving me bonkers, have googled it, had no joy.
I know they can be got rid of as the laptop came with this ghost/ partition
on one disk from new but not both, I admit I messed up with the RAID feature
on the BIOS and am unable to undo using that utility.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Guest]

Smirn,

I did a google search and found the following explanation pertaining to your
situation. The information talks about Windows 2000, but I'll bet it applies
to Vista as well. Take a look:

"The EISA partition is usually the first partition on the physical disk.
Disk Management shows the EISA partition in the proper position when it
resides on a basic disk, allowing you to explore, delete, or reformat the
EISA partition.

The EISA partition is protected by Disk Management from being damaged in any
way when it resides on a dynamic disk. The EISA partition can be re-created
only by using an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) system EISA utility,
not by using Windows 2000 Disk Management. Deleting and re-creating any
partitions on dynamic disks outside of Windows 2000 could lead to data loss,
system startup problems, or an inability to boot.

The incorrectly display of an EISA partition when it resides on a dynamic
disk by Disk Management has no effect on the ability to boot from or use the
partition if system maintenance is required.

If you want to delete the EISA partition, Microsoft recommends that you back
up any existing volumes contained on the dynamic disk, and then use Windows
2000 Setup, the Recovery Console diskpart command, or other third-party
disk-partitioning software to delete it. You cannot use Windows 2000 disk
Management to delete the partition or revert the drive to a basic disk until
all partitions are removed."

This may or may not be helpful, but it's the best I can do. Perhaps someone
can provide more specific information. Post back on your thoughts and
someone may pick up on any remaining questions.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for that Freddy, I did indeed read this article. I tried that
method but it did not solve the problem.
The Vista install only found the 100 GB on each disk, there was no option to
remove the ghost/ partition.
I have however found a post on another forum from someone who has the same
problem. Unforunately it has one reply, a guy who said delete it, the
original poster asked how but there is no reply.

Still keen to sort this problem. . What occurs to me is that the 'back up'
section of these disks is the same size i.e. 11.26GB. However, when this
partition is created it does assign a drive letter to the 11.26 GB and lets
you expand or decrease its size.

 

[Wayne Wastier]

Thank you for that Freddy, I did indeed read this article. I tried that
method but it did not solve the problem.
The Vista install only found the 100 GB on each disk, there was no option
to
remove the ghost/ partition.
I have however found a post on another forum from someone who has the same
problem. Unforunately it has one reply, a guy who said delete it, the
original poster asked how but there is no reply.

Still keen to sort this problem. . What occurs to me is that the 'back up'
section of these disks is the same size i.e. 11.26GB. However, when this
partition is created it does assign a drive letter to the 11.26 GB and
lets
you expand or decrease its size.

Have you tried Ultimate Boot CD? http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/ It has
several HD utilities included and is FREE. :0)


Wayne

 

[Guest]

Smirn,

I have no knowledge apart from what I see in that reference article. To
quote one section: "use Windows 2000 Setup, the Recovery Console diskpart
command, or other third-party disk-partitioning software to delete it." Have
you tried the third-party disk-partitioning solution? Other than that, I'm
bare.

 

[JW]

This is a long shot but the ghost partitions may be same that is being
reserved for or has been used Restore points.

 

[Guest]

Have tried UBDC and the majority of the utilities do not even recognise that
the drives exist (including the Fujitsu one).
I got one to recognise the disks, but it had question marks next to these
partitions.
Scanned both, they contain no data. Then pressed delete. Nothing happened.
Apart from the ability to delete disappeared.
So I am back to square one.
Starting to wonder now if I am going to have to live with it. Problem being
if this re-occurs how long will it be until I have no usable disk space?

Thank you to all who have tried to help here. I am hoping someone else has
had a similar experience and managed to work it out.
I fear that a format will only give me 100GB too. Not using that idea as an
option at the present.