Patent ID: 7380140

Claim:
A method for providing a protected region of a data storage device associated with a computational device, the protected region being a region within which data cannot be accessed without proper authorization, operating system data representing the operating system of the computational device being stored on the data storage device, the method comprising the steps of: monitoring access to operating system data by the computational device after a reset of the computational device and until predetermined functionality of the operating system becomes available; recording an identification of the operating system data accessed during the step of monitoring; and establishing protected and unprotected regions of the data storage device, the step or establishing further comprising the steps of: storing a copy of operating system data accessed during the step of monitoring in the unprotected region of the data storage device; and storing protected data in the protected region of the data storage device, wherein the protected data comprises the operating system data, including a copy of operating system data accessed during the step of monitoring, and any other data to which it is desired to prevent access without proper authorization.