Large hard drives can be divided into partitions, which is basically segmenting part of the drive for individual use. This allows you to use a single, large drive, sort of like multiple drives, to, for example, include an operating system on one partition and extra storage on another. You can also isolate different types of data, such as backups of your most important files, on one partition that’s only used for that purpose. Which brings us to the idea of hidden partitions. They are like any other partition, with the exception that they’re usually excluded from showing up in standard system apps like a file explorer. Why? Mostly for security and safety.
A great example of this is a system recovery partition. Usually, a recovery partition houses critical backup and recovery files for the main system OS, such as Windows. If and when the operating system experiences a critical failure, whether from normal use or malicious means, like malware, you can use the recovery partition content to restore a clean backup.
But in order to make sure that’s possible, the recovery partition is usually hidden and made inaccessible or unwriteable under normal means — so that you can’t erase or overwrite the data. This is also why a partition like the recovery sector is hidden, so that those who aren’t well-versed in its meaning or use cannot accidentally render it unusable. That’s why you should never alter or change a recovery partition unless you know what you’re doing. A great way to use old drives, including portable USB drives, is to repurpose them as a recovery disk. But if you don’t have extra drives, you can always partition an existing drive.
What else can hidden partitions be used for?
One of the earliest things you encounter when installing a clean version of Windows is the disc partition process. While the most common application for hidden partitions is to create and store a recovery image of an operating system, they might also contain secure, sensitive data, such as encrypted files. Some other reasons you might hide a partition are if it has been infected by malware and you want to seclude it from the rest of the system and make it inaccessible. You might also use the function to hide old files, like old backups, so they’re not accessed by other users or overwritten.
In Windows, you can actually create a hidden partition yourself using the standard Disk Management tool or the Windows Command Prompt. You can also use third-party tools like Partition Wizard or VeraCrypt. Once hidden, the content stored within will not be accessible through common apps like Windows Explorer. It cannot be accessed by most additional apps on the system either. There is known malware that can impersonate everyday Windows apps, so keeping a sensitive and hidden partition locked down from the rest of the system can help protect the data it contains. If you’re storing data for a long time and want to ensure it’s secure, you can also encrypt, hide the partition and stow the hard drives safely in a static bag. Even if someone were to discover the drive and connect it to a computer, they wouldn’t be able to find or access the hidden partition without specialized software.
