Disabling partition just for one OS on multi-boot system

Question

Regarding to the solution there: http://serverfault.com/questions/36385/how-can-i-mount-a-hard-drive-as-read-only-on-windows-xp

I have a system with three partitions. One runs windows 7, one runs windows XP and is for some experimental programming and testing. I don't want to mess up anything, so I am going to disable the windows 7 partition like described on the linked page above from windows XP to protect the operating system.

When I do this, is the windows 7 partition only disabled for the running XP os, or is the windows 7 partition rendered unbootable?

with best regards

Answer 1

If you use grub you can add hide/unhide entries to /boot/grub/menu.lst. It can temporally change partition type so OS can see it but it is unknown type so you cant access any files.