Windows 7: Partition Virus/Non-system Drive Virus

I don't think much about virii because I image my system, and can always put it back to before the virus hit. Always worked perfectly.
I use Win firewall and MSE.
But I've heard there are virii that partition the HD or SSD.
And virii that go to non-system drives.
Anybody actually run across one of these?
I want to be prepared.
Is there a recommended remedy - or precautionary measure - for recovering from a virus that creates a partition or infects a non-system drive?
I might already be doing it with my imaging and data backup strategy, but don't understand the partition virus. Would that partition be visible doing a restore, or is there a specific method to detect it?

The Alureon virus and some older variants of Sirefef will place a cloaked, boot partition at the end of the drive. These usually don't show up in the Disk management, but using a boot partition manager, like G Parted will reveal them. The hidden partition is generally 1 - 3 MB in size, although these can be as big as 10MB.

The recommended action for most boot viruses nowadays is to also wipe the drive before reinstalling to eliminate any such hidden partitions.

Thanks for the info, Borg 386. Looks like I should try out G Parted and perhaps make it part of my image restore process. I've been thinking I should have a partition tool handy in any case.