How to Access Hidden Hard Drive Partition in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7?

Don’t know how to access hidden hard drive partition? Refer to this article to get what is hidden partition and how to access it in Windows 11/10/8/7.

Dervish

By Dervish / Updated on May 12, 2023

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Scenario

“I have a 320GB HDD, there is a partition with no name which is nearly 10GB which I know had data and programs from clean install. Is it a hidden partition? How can I access it? All your advice or suggestions will be much appreciated and welcomed.”

What is hidden partitions on hard drive?

Sometimes, hidden partition referred to as the recovery partition and restore partition around 100 to 200M capacity, EFI System partition (ESP), or OEM partition. The hidden partition holds information about the system boot file and the disk boot sector, which could not be visible in Explorer so that the user unable to modify these system files in case of system failure. In other words, it is the part of the hard disk that is not displayed or used directly under normal conditions. This space may not be partitioned, it may be a format partition that the current system does not recognize, or a backup partition that can be hidden.

Need to access hidden hard drive partition

Hidden partitions are accessed either through a pre-installed Windows application or by pressing a specific key combination as the computer boots up. Sometimes you can see it in the “Disk Management” of “Administrative Tools”, generally it can’t get in. Some brand opportunities to make backups in hidden partitions, through hotkeys, etc., into the restore tool interface, to achieve the role of system restoration. If your computer did not come with a hidden partition or you have deleted it, the only way to restore your computer is with a Windows CD. However, a boot disc only installs Windows and no additional software or drivers. So, you need to see hidden hard drive partition in advance to make sure whether your computer has hidden partition or not.

How to access hidden partition on hard drive?

You may be puzzled about how to show hidden partition in Windows 7/8/10? Don’t be worry, here provides you two methods to unhide hidden partition on hard drive.

Method 1. Access hidden partitions with Disk Management

1. Press “Windows” + “R” to open the Run box, type “diskmgmt.msc” and press “Enter” key to open the Disk Management. Select the partition which you’ve hidden previously and right-click it by selecting Change Drive Letter and Path…

2. In the pop-up window, click “Add” to give a letter for this partition.

3. And then click “OK” to complete this operation.

Method 2. Access hidden partitions with third party software

Besides access hidden partitions via Disk Management, you can also use a third party software to do this operation. Compare with other software, here I highly recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant – a powerful disk partition software for Windows users, and fully supports Windows 10/8/7, Vista, XP. The function of Unhide Partition can help you to access hidden partitions easily. Free download it and refer to the specific steps are as follows:

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 1. Lauch and run AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the hidden partition and select “Advanced” > “Unhide Partition”.

Advanced Unhide Partition

Step 2. In the pop-up Window, click “OK” to unhide the partition.

Unhinding Selected Partition

Step 3. After that, it will back to main interface, preview the changes and click “Apply” > “Proceed” to complete the operation.

Apply Unhide Partition

Thus, you can access your hidden hard drive partition easily.

Conclusion

Follow these simple steps, you can easily and effectively solve the problem about how to access/show hidden hard drive partition. AOMEI Partition Assistant can be the best disk partition software, you can hide and unhide partitions with it easily and effectively. Besides unhide partition, it also has many other functions like resize/move/delete/format partition, migrate OS to SSD, disk copy, partition copy, repair MBR and so on. You can get more advanced functions, such as quick partition, partition recovery, etc.,

Dervish
Dervish · Staff Editor
Dervish is an English editor of AOMEI Technology; He is delicated to offering users easy and effecitve solutions for issuses related to disks and partitoins. In his spare time, he enjoy wathcning films, playing footable, traveling and so on.