METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURING A HARD DISK AND FOR PROVIDING SUPPORT FOR A COMPUTER SYSTEM

A method and an apparatus for configuring a hard disk drive accessible by computer system increase the robustness and reliability of the computer system, so as to reduce technical support requirements and costs for the computer system. A first partition is defined within the disk drive that supports a first operating environment of the computer system. The content of this first partition is protected from both user modification, software modification and corruption by various mechanisms. Specifically, the first partition is protected from user modification when the first partition is active, in that the user is prevented from modifying the content of the first partition when the partition is active. A second partition is also defined on the storage device that supports a second operating environment of the computer system. Unlike the first partition, the content of the second partition is modifiable by the user, and the user is accordingly able to store applications and data within the second partition. A technical support service may then ultimately provide technical support for the first partition at a reduced cost in view of the protections implemented with respect to this first partition.