Many of the later PS/2 systems use a special hidden partition on the hard disk. This contains some or all of the following: reference and configuration utilities, diagnostics, and loadable BIOS. No access is provided (by IBM) for maintaining this partition, except via utilities such as the Netfinity client.

However, any diskette marked with the REFSTAMP utility will set up the hard disk configuration in such a way that the hidden partition will appear as drive C. SYSPART is a package that allows the easy creation of a bootable diskette which provides a 'point and click' interface for maintenance of the hidden partition. It isn't sophisticated; merely a bootable diskette with the special marking, and copies of useful DOS utilities together with a mouse driver and DOSSHELL. As with any such specially marked diskette, the marking can be corrupted by even looking at the diskette under Windows; however, REFSTAMP will always correct this.

The diskette is provided as an image file, SYSPART.ZIP. The image should be copied to the diskette using IBM's LOADDSKF utility, provided here in the file LOADDF.ZIP.

To create the diskette, first unzip both files into the same directory. With a blank diskette in drive A, just execute this command:

The diskette should now be ready for booting. Remember that drive C is the system/reference partition until the system is rebooted normally.

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