Freeware to Mount a New Disk From Within Windows?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Howard Schwartz
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Howard Schwartz

In the Unix and Mac world, one could be already running your OS from
a disk, and within this OS, use a program that would ``mount'' another
disk that was hitherto hidden, or disabled. On a Mac, the other disk then
pops up on the desktop, with its files available for use.

Is there any, hopefully freeware thingie like this in the world of
PCs and windows?

I realize, usually, disks and partitions are usually disabled and/or
hidden for PCs, either in the BIOS setup screens, or in partition boot
managers before a windows OS even starts running.

I suppose, a Mounting program within windows would have to tell the
bios to start up an additional, primary or secondary disk.

I realize, it is possible to Mount some compressed drives in this way
in windows, because they are really big files, not physical disks.
 
Howard Schwartz wrote in
In the Unix and Mac world, one could be already running your OS from
a disk, and within this OS, use a program that would ``mount'' another
disk that was hitherto hidden, or disabled. On a Mac, the other disk then
pops up on the desktop, with its files available for use.

Is there any, hopefully freeware thingie like this in the world of
PCs and windows?
Click to expand...

Win version? Fwiw, in the NT family you can use Windows own
Diskmanager to assign/unassign (mount/unmount) drive letters
(right-click my computer -> manage -> Disk management... or make a
shortcut for the DM on your desktop or quick launch menu for quick
access if possible). I use this for some partitions/volumes I keep
hidden during day to day operation, unhide them when doing backups..
Also use it to mount my main OS partition from a second install of the
same OS (w2k) when I need to do repairs etc, otherwise keep the two OS
partitions hidden for each other.
I realize, usually, disks and partitions are usually disabled and/or
hidden for PCs, either in the BIOS setup screens, or in partition boot
managers before a windows OS even starts running.
Click to expand...

Not so for the NT family, where you can mount (and dismount) a
disk/part. even if initial hidden by a boot manager - assuming the
File System is FAT/FAT32/NTFS that is (tried that my self,
unsuccessfully tried to hide a partition from Win 2k and XP
via XOSL boot manager, only way to "hide" then is via Windows own
Diskmanager (and the Bios I guess).
I suppose, a Mounting program within windows would have to tell the
bios to start up an additional, primary or secondary disk.

I realize, it is possible to Mount some compressed drives in this way
in windows, because they are really big files, not physical disks.
Click to expand...

Same w/ some encrypted disks managers, data in a file, mounted as a
volume/partition. (I use a shareware program - Paragon Encrypted
Disk)...have a look at the programs listed here:
<http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_SECURITY.php#2.30EncryptionTool>
Maybe "Dekart Private Disk Light" will do?
<http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_SECURITY.php#1780>
(follow link from there, on the homepage see link for free downloads,
left hand - low)

Don't know, but maybe you could use a virtual-CD manager (with given
size limitation) in a similar way?

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
Howard said:
In the Unix and Mac world, one could be already running your OS from
a disk, and within this OS, use a program that would ``mount'' another
disk that was hitherto hidden, or disabled. On a Mac, the other disk then
pops up on the desktop, with its files available for use.

Is there any, hopefully freeware thingie like this in the world of
PCs and windows?
Click to expand...

Yes, but there's a catch.

The NT family have disk management software that can mount and unmount
IDE disks, it's part of the OS and you don't need any extra software.

The catch is that you have to have a drive connected at boot time and if
you unmount it and mount another disk it must have the same geometry. I
believe this is a hardware/firmware issue and so it can't be fixed in
software. I routinely swapped removable hard disks under Windows 2000
without any problems. I did have to buy a batch of identical disks
though.
 
Howard Schwartz wrote in
In the Unix and Mac world, one could be already running your OS from
a disk, and within this OS, use a program that would ``mount'' another
disk that was hitherto hidden, or disabled. On a Mac, the other disk then
pops up on the desktop, with its files available for use.

Is there any, hopefully freeware thingie like this in the world of
PCs and windows?
Click to expand...

Not tested:
HDHide <http://www.soft32.com/download_9167.html>
Download link there did not work, found a copy here:
<ftp://195.219.14.24:21/winsite/pc/win95/dskutil/HDHide.exe>

Text from
<http://www.soft32.com/download_9167.html>

"HDHide -- Hide Drives

Hide Drives Hide (HDHide) can be use to hide or unhide drive
letters A: - Z: on any computer using Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
operating systems - whether they are actual physical drives on a
local machine or logical drives (partitions, server volumes,
mapped drives, etc.). Any of these drives can be hidden or
unhidden.

The hidden drive letters will not be visible in Explorer or any
other application that use the common Windows dialog boxes

Notice when text say "the uses the common windows dialog boxes"...I
assume this means if you use a any general filemanager, a
drive/partition will not be hidden(?) ..so maybe this app just sets a
known registry tweak(?), say like

"Hide Drives in My Computer (All Windows) Popular
<http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/148>?
"This setting allows you to control which drives are visible in
My Computer and Explorer. It is possible to hide all drives or
just selected ones."

Not testet my self, but I downloaded and ran the (tiny) no-install
HdHide.exe program (without doing anything but have a look ). It has a
"Reboot Windows Explorer on apply" option, which makes me think it
simply sets the registry settings explained in the above Winguide
article (or similar settings), and for sure - as the HDHide
description above says - it only applies to Explorer and other apps
that use the common Windows dialog boxes. Useful? In some cases/for
some maybe....
 
Bernard Peek wrote in said:
Yes, but there's a catch.

The NT family have disk management software that can mount and unmount
IDE disks, it's part of the OS and you don't need any extra software.

The catch is that you have to have a drive connected at boot time and if
you unmount it and mount another disk it must have the same geometry.
Click to expand...

Do you mean if you disable/enable a disk in Device Manager, not in the
Disk manager?
I believe this is a hardware/firmware issue and so it can't be fixed in
software. I routinely swapped removable hard disks under Windows 2000
without any problems. I did have to buy a batch of identical disks
though.
Click to expand...

From my own experience, assign/un-assign drive letters for partitions
(aka volumes) and not whole disks, works fine on "on the fly" in Win2k
and XP. Geometry/size not involved then. But a reboot is sometimes
required, I think when/if a partition is seen as "in use" (locked) by
some process, then Windows can not release it (unless you force it
other ways) to assign/unassign drive letter(s). Thus a reboot is
sometimes - but not always required. Another issue I would explorer in
this case (but haven't), if we are talking about mounting/unmounting a
whole disk, not just partitions: See/search for a tweak, if exist, to
have windows recognize a fixed disk/drive as a removable one
(where you can use the "safe remove" option to dismount it).

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
Bernard Peek said:
The catch is that you have to have a drive connected at boot time and
if you unmount it and mount another disk it must have the same
geometry. I believe this is a hardware/firmware issue and so it can't
be fixed in software. I routinely swapped removable hard disks under
Windows 2000 without any problems. I did have to buy a batch of
identical disks though.
Click to expand...

Quite a catch. I recall the ancient Mac SEs, with an external SCSI disk
that was not even running! I could turn on the disk with its switch,
mount it on the main PC screen and be on my way. Geometry and size did
not matter.

This kind of thing is especially for those who like to keep their more
`secure' files and data on a disk that is absolutely not connected by
any live wire to a machine that accesses the internet. The mount it only
when they are off the internet and have run all the virus and adaware
scans then can think of, and synchronize files, etc.
 
Bjorn Simonsen said:
Not tested:
HDHide <http://www.soft32.com/download_9167.html>
Download link there did not work, found a copy here:
<ftp://195.219.14.24:21/winsite/pc/win95/dskutil/HDHide.exe>

Text from
<http://www.soft32.com/download_9167.html>

"HDHide -- Hide Drives

Hide Drives Hide (HDHide) can be use to hide or unhide drive
letters A: - Z: on any computer using Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
operating systems - whether they are actual physical drives on a
local machine or logical drives (partitions, server volumes,
mapped drives, etc.). Any of these drives can be hidden or
unhidden.
Click to expand...


Downloaded and tested this Bjorn. Your suspicion seems right, and it did
not work very well in windows 95, where its help says it works best:

Seems to act as a tray application or kind of TSR after you hide a drive.
In windows 95, the next time you look at My Computer or Windows Explorer
you do not see the drives you choose listed.

However, I tried just one Explorer clone: Xplorer2 and, this program had
not effect on Xplorer2: it did not hide the chosen drives from it. Nor,
did it prevent me from changing to a ``hidden'' drive in a Dos box.
Worse: it terminated my internet connection when it started its
``hiding''
and was a bit hard to terminate itself.

Its help tells you for windows 9x higher than 95 you must restart windows
or relogin for it to hide things. For the NT family a full reboot is
needed.

Not much use for much at all, and a little buggie.

p.s.,

In my original post I should have specified interest in win 9x, since
I know of the NT families (limited ) mounting capabilities.
 
Bjorn Simonsen said:
Do you mean if you disable/enable a disk in Device Manager, not in the
Disk manager?
Click to expand...

No, using Disk Manager.
From my own experience, assign/un-assign drive letters for partitions
(aka volumes) and not whole disks, works fine on "on the fly" in Win2k
and XP. Geometry/size not involved then.
Click to expand...

That's true, but I don't see the point of doing that. The only reason
why I might want to unmount a drive is to remove it so that I could
replace it with another one.
But a reboot is sometimes
required, I think when/if a partition is seen as "in use" (locked) by
some process, then Windows can not release it (unless you force it
other ways) to assign/unassign drive letter(s). Thus a reboot is
sometimes - but not always required. Another issue I would explorer in
this case (but haven't), if we are talking about mounting/unmounting a
whole disk, not just partitions: See/search for a tweak, if exist, to
have windows recognize a fixed disk/drive as a removable one
(where you can use the "safe remove" option to dismount it).
Click to expand...

I have looked for something like that in the past, and never found
anything. Perhaps XP has that option. There might be an obscure registry
hack to do that.
 
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