US Patent 10037286 Private partition with hardware unlocking

Systems and methods for controlling access to a private partition on a storage device are disclosed for. An example system includes a token reader that detects a hardware token storing a private key and obtains the private key stored on the hardware token. The system also includes a partition controller that determines whether the private key unlocks a private partition on a storage device. In response to determining that the private key unlocks the private partition, the partition controller unlocks the private partition on the storage device. The private partition is invisible to an operating system executing in the computer system when the private partition is locked.