Ok, Toshiba A135-s4457.

Factory setup.

It has a 1.46GB "Eisa Partition" on the hard drive (no drive letter,
invisible).

What is it?

Google search turns up LOTS of people asking this question, lots of
speculation (most of it I believe wrong). Does anyone know?

It is NOT a "restore partition"; it's too small. The system has a 120GB
drive and with NO additional software installed, it's using 34GB. Ok,
there is a lot of "crapware", but even using compressed files, it takes
about 3GB to 5GB to setup a restore configuration for Vista Home
Premium, this is WAY too small to be a restore partition.

So, to repeat the question: Anyone know what it is? Apparently,
whatever it is, it is quite common (on other Toshiba models as well as
on other brands of laptops).

Barry Watzman wrote:
> Ok, Toshiba A135-s4457.
>
> Factory setup.
>
> It has a 1.46GB "Eisa Partition" on the hard drive (no drive letter,
> invisible).
>
> What is it?
>
> Google search turns up LOTS of people asking this question, lots of
> speculation (most of it I believe wrong). Does anyone know?
>
> It is NOT a "restore partition"; it's too small. The system has a 120GB
> drive and with NO additional software installed, it's using 34GB. Ok,
> there is a lot of "crapware", but even using compressed files, it takes
> about 3GB to 5GB to setup a restore configuration for Vista Home
> Premium, this is WAY too small to be a restore partition.
>
> So, to repeat the question: Anyone know what it is? Apparently,
> whatever it is, it is quite common (on other Toshiba models as well as
> on other brands of laptops).

All sorts of explanations here:
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...-notebook.html

The bottom line is it's not solved at all. As you note "all sorts of
explanations here", and most of them are definitely wrong, in fact most
of them discuss the issue without ever answering the question at all.


GG WILLIKERS wrote:
> Barry Watzman wrote:
>> Ok, Toshiba A135-s4457.
>>
>> Factory setup.
>>
>> It has a 1.46GB "Eisa Partition" on the hard drive (no drive letter,
>> invisible).
>>
>> What is it?
>>
>> Google search turns up LOTS of people asking this question, lots of
>> speculation (most of it I believe wrong). Does anyone know?
>>
>> It is NOT a "restore partition"; it's too small. The system has a
>> 120GB drive and with NO additional software installed, it's using
>> 34GB. Ok, there is a lot of "crapware", but even using compressed
>> files, it takes about 3GB to 5GB to setup a restore configuration for
>> Vista Home Premium, this is WAY too small to be a restore partition.
>>
>> So, to repeat the question: Anyone know what it is? Apparently,
>> whatever it is, it is quite common (on other Toshiba models as well as
>> on other brands of laptops).
>
> All sorts of explanations here:
> http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...-notebook.html
>

Barry Watzman wrote:
> The bottom line is it's not solved at all. As you note "all sorts of
> explanations here", and most of them are definitely wrong, in fact most
> of them discuss the issue without ever answering the question at all.

It's a diagnostic utilities partition. Plain and Simple. Dell uses them
as well.

Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:

>The bottom line is it's not solved at all.

How about this?

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/0...tion-in-vista/

AJL wrote:
> Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> The bottom line is it's not solved at all.
>
> How about this?
>
> http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/0...tion-in-vista/

The key is not to tamper with this partition until your warranty is up.
Dell makes you go through the diagnostic hoops when you call in.

I'm sure there is probably some warranty void clause attached to it.

On 6/20/2009 9:00 PM, Barry Watzman wrote:
> Ok, Toshiba A135-s4457.
>
> Factory setup.
>
> It has a 1.46GB "Eisa Partition" on the hard drive (no drive letter,
> invisible).
>
> What is it?
>
> Google search turns up LOTS of people asking this question, lots of
> speculation (most of it I believe wrong). Does anyone know?
>
> It is NOT a "restore partition"; it's too small. The system has a 120GB
> drive and with NO additional software installed, it's using 34GB. Ok,
> there is a lot of "crapware", but even using compressed files, it takes
> about 3GB to 5GB to setup a restore configuration for Vista Home
> Premium, this is WAY too small to be a restore partition.
>
> So, to repeat the question: Anyone know what it is? Apparently,
> whatever it is, it is quite common (on other Toshiba models as well as
> on other brands of laptops).

Hi Barry,

As I recall Compaq and a few other manufacturers about 8
years ago would hide extensions to the BIOS on an EISA
partition.

As I recall the laptop was a Presario 1800xl???. It was
strange and the only reason I figured out what they were
doing was because the machine had some additional hard disk
functions (mainly for testing) and when I wiped the
partition (by accident of course . . . <LOL>) some of the
BIOS functions wouldn't function.

I put the re-image disk in and ran it. No joy, I still
couldn't get the BIOS functions to work. I contacted Compaq,
and they sent me a CD I ran the CD, and the partition
re-appeared and my BIOS functions suddenly worked again.

Unfortuantely for years now both hardware and software
manufacturers have been placing things on our hard disk with
not even mentioning them. They claim to do this so that they
can automate processes that the end-user might find
difficult. In doing so, it allows them to have far more
control over our systems then I would prefer.

Yet another article that really doesn't tell what the partition is or
how to use it:

" ... special EISA partition either in FAT or NTFS file system that
contains system recovery utility to rollback to factory settings and/or
diagnostic tools"

Yes, well .... which is it? Oh, either this or that or possibly even
both? Do you want to try for "neither"? Well thank you for being so
specific.

And, also, this is just wrong or, really, BS:

"All OEM computers, desktop or notebook PCs from Dell, HP, Lenovo, IBM,
Acer, ASUS, Sony, Fujitsu, Toshiba and many more probably comes with
special EISA partition"

Oh, I love that .... "ALL of them PROBABLY come with ....."; such a
definitive statement. Well, most Toshiba laptops do NOT have a
partition like this, but this particular one does.

The article does give an approach (not the only one, by any means) for
getting rid of it (that is the least of my interest, however .... "ZAP"
will get rid of EVERYTHING). I think that partition magic could get rid
of it also (if the drive is installed on another machine running XP).

But my interest is in what it is, not how to get rid of it. And,
finding that out, how to use it.

[I SUSPECT that it may be a diagnostic partition; it is, as I mentioned
earlier, too small to be a factory restore partition.]


AJL wrote:
> Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> The bottom line is it's not solved at all.
>
> How about this?
>
> http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/0...tion-in-vista/

Compaq did use to do that: They put the BIOS on a hidden partition, and
the actual ROM [BIOS] in the machine loaded the "real" BIOS into RAM
from that hidden partition. It was elegant but impractical: If
anything happened to that partition, you could end up with a boat anchor
(aka "brick"), because the machine did not function without the full
BIOS (the one loaded from the hard drive).

I'm pretty sure that is not what is going on here. First, because in
this case the partition is to BIG for that (1.46 GB? The machine will
run with only 256MB of RAM), and, also, I THINK that the machine will
work if I take out the factory hard drive, install a brand new, blank
hard drive and install Windows (XP or Vista) from scratch using retail
media.

Again, my interest here is not at all practical, it's theoretical: I
want a clear, concise yet complete and accurate answer as to what this
partition is and how to use it for whatever purpose it fulfills.
Removing it isn't the issue, I know many ways to do that, but I have
little interest in doing so at this time.

One other question, what does EISA stand for? Back in the 1980's it
stood for "Extended Industry Standard Architecture", an architecture of
a new system bus designed by Compaq and Zenith and a few others to
compete with the "Micro-channel" architecture from IBM. It never was
commercially successful and it died more than 20 years ago. So why is
this partition called an EISA partition?


C.Joseph Drayton wrote:

>
> Hi Barry,
>
> As I recall Compaq and a few other manufacturers about 8 years ago would
> hide extensions to the BIOS on an EISA partition.
>
> As I recall the laptop was a Presario 1800xl???. It was strange and the
> only reason I figured out what they were doing was because the machine
> had some additional hard disk functions (mainly for testing) and when I
> wiped the partition (by accident of course . . . <LOL>) some of the BIOS
> functions wouldn't function.
>
> I put the re-image disk in and ran it. No joy, I still couldn't get the
> BIOS functions to work. I contacted Compaq, and they sent me a CD I ran
> the CD, and the partition re-appeared and my BIOS functions suddenly
> worked again.
>
> Unfortuantely for years now both hardware and software manufacturers
> have been placing things on our hard disk with not even mentioning them.
> They claim to do this so that they can automate processes that the
> end-user might find difficult. In doing so, it allows them to have far
> more control over our systems then I would prefer.
>

Barry Watzman wrote:
> Ok, of what use is it and how does one get into it?
>
> GG WILLIKERS wrote:
>>
>> It's a diagnostic utilities partition. Plain and Simple. Dell uses
>> them as well.
>>
>>
If you would have bothered to read the whole thread I linked to, you
would have your answer.

All that I see is a discussion of how to remove it; fine, but that's not
what I am looking for. I read the whole thread, including the comments,
but it all deals with how to remove it. I see nothing that discusses
what it is there for or how to use it for whatever it's intended purpose
was.


GG WILLIKERS wrote:
> Barry Watzman wrote:
>> Ok, of what use is it and how does one get into it?
>>
>> GG WILLIKERS wrote:
>>>
>>> It's a diagnostic utilities partition. Plain and Simple. Dell uses
>>> them as well.
>>>
>>>
> If you would have bothered to read the whole thread I linked to, you
> would have your answer.

Barry Watzman wrote:
>
> One other question, what does EISA stand for? Back in the 1980's it
> stood for "Extended Industry Standard Architecture", an architecture of
> a new system bus designed by Compaq and Zenith and a few others to
> compete with the "Micro-channel" architecture from IBM. It never was
> commercially successful and it died more than 20 years ago. So why is
> this partition called an EISA partition?

Because it's tagged with the same partition table identifier 12h (18
decimal) that was used when the disk space were originally used to hold
the then necessary configuration program for those early jumperless EISA
systems, accessible using a defined key sequence during boot. The tag
name stuck for a lot longer than the technology of EISA and MCA.

--
Adrian C

Adrian C <email@here.invalid> wrote in
news:7aagbtF1un4qhU1@mid.individual.net:

> Barry Watzman wrote:
>>
>> One other question, what does EISA stand for? Back in the 1980's it
>> stood for "Extended Industry Standard Architecture", an architecture
>> of a new system bus designed by Compaq and Zenith and a few others to
>> compete with the "Micro-channel" architecture from IBM. It never was
>> commercially successful and it died more than 20 years ago. So why
>> is this partition called an EISA partition?
>
> Because it's tagged with the same partition table identifier 12h (18
> decimal) that was used when the disk space were originally used to
> hold the then necessary configuration program for those early
> jumperless EISA systems, accessible using a defined key sequence
> during boot. The tag name stuck for a lot longer than the technology
> of EISA and MCA.
>

Barry,

The gist of Adrian's answer is don't get sidetracked by focusing on
"EISA"--it's probably just a masquerade to throw you off the scent.
It's not uncommon for computer makers to "hide" their own custom
utility, diagnostic, or recovery partition by simply changing the
"partition-type" code in the partition table, which causes operating
systems like Windows to think it's something foreign when it's really
not.

For instance, Dell's utility partition is a plain old FAT16 partition,
but Dell changes it to the EISA type-code in the partition table to keep
Windows from tampering with it. It's not an EISA partition, but Windows
thinks it is because that's what the partition table says. But when you
select the option to boot the utility partition, the bios changes the
partition table descriptor on the fly back to FAT16, and voila! An
ordinary FAT16 partition boots to a DOS environment.

There are tools around that will look into the partition's boot sector
to reveal what the partition type truly is, despite what the partition
table might have you believe. I use Mikkelsen's Findpart
(www.partitionsupport.com) for this purpose, but I'm sure there are
others as well.

If Findpart says it's really FAT32 or NTFS, I'd try temporarily
"correcting" the partition table descriptor manually, making it active,
rebooting, and seeing what it boots to. (Ptedit and ptedit32 is the
easiest way to fiddle with the partition table.) Given the size, my
guess is it may be a FAT32 or NTFS partition that boots to a WinPE-based
repair or recovery environment (although the actual recovery image or
content may reside on CD or DVD).

That might give you a clue as to what it is, but not how you're normally
expected to get to it. Manufacturers have used various methods of
unmasking the partition when they want to use it, such as a customized
bios option, or magic keystrokes at POST or boot time, or a customized
diagnostic/recovery CD that you boot from and when it boots it runs a
utility that unmasks the partition.

The name and partition type were never significant issues .... just
curiosities. You are more off on a tangent in that regard than I ever was.

However, the fundamental questions:

-what is it
-how do you use it

are still unanswered.


dg1261 wrote:
>
> Barry,
>
> The gist of Adrian's answer is don't get sidetracked by focusing on
> "EISA"--it's probably just a masquerade to throw you off the scent.
> It's not uncommon for computer makers to "hide" their own custom
> utility, diagnostic, or recovery partition by simply changing the
> "partition-type" code in the partition table, which causes operating
> systems like Windows to think it's something foreign when it's really
> not.
>
> For instance, Dell's utility partition is a plain old FAT16 partition,
> but Dell changes it to the EISA type-code in the partition table to keep
> Windows from tampering with it. It's not an EISA partition, but Windows
> thinks it is because that's what the partition table says. But when you
> select the option to boot the utility partition, the bios changes the
> partition table descriptor on the fly back to FAT16, and voila! An
> ordinary FAT16 partition boots to a DOS environment.
>
> There are tools around that will look into the partition's boot sector
> to reveal what the partition type truly is, despite what the partition
> table might have you believe. I use Mikkelsen's Findpart
> (www.partitionsupport.com) for this purpose, but I'm sure there are
> others as well.
>
> If Findpart says it's really FAT32 or NTFS, I'd try temporarily
> "correcting" the partition table descriptor manually, making it active,
> rebooting, and seeing what it boots to. (Ptedit and ptedit32 is the
> easiest way to fiddle with the partition table.) Given the size, my
> guess is it may be a FAT32 or NTFS partition that boots to a WinPE-based
> repair or recovery environment (although the actual recovery image or
> content may reside on CD or DVD).
>
> That might give you a clue as to what it is, but not how you're normally
> expected to get to it. Manufacturers have used various methods of
> unmasking the partition when they want to use it, such as a customized
> bios option, or magic keystrokes at POST or boot time, or a customized
> diagnostic/recovery CD that you boot from and when it boots it runs a
> utility that unmasks the partition.
>
>

Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in
news:h1skpg$r3s$1@news.eternal-september.org:

> The name and partition type were never significant issues .... just
> curiosities. You are more off on a tangent in that regard than I ever
> was.

Adrian and I both told you that the term "EISA" is irrelevant. It's a
disguise that different manufacturers use to hide different things.
There is no one answer.


> However, the fundamental questions:
>
> -what is it
> -how do you use it
>
> are still unanswered.
>

And I told you how you could explore that for yourself. If you're not
curious enough to explore for yourself, don't expect anyone else to help
you.