HPA Information

[Kyocera]

The HPA is also known as the Predesktop Area. References:
Access IBM - Customization Guide (AIBM-TOOLS)
Phoenix FirstWare White Paper
Hard Drive Compatibility

What these documents fail to make clear is that (a) HPA depends on certain hard disk functions defined in ATA-5, and that (b) not all drives are compatible with HPA, including some ATA-5 drives claimed to support the necessary functions (e.g., Seagate Momentus 5400.2 ST960822A). Worse, there apparently isn't any way to tell in advance which drives are compatible with HPA -- no HPA compatibility checker is publicly available. Thus when upgrading the hard drive, the only way to be ensure HPA capability isn't lost is to (presumably) buy a supported upgrade drive from Lenovo.

Preserving the HPA

To preserve and/or migrate the HPA when upgrading the hard drive (or creating a full hard drive backup), follow the procedure in the Appendix of the Predesktop Area White Paper. Notes:
When backing up the HPA, an easy and fast place to store HPA backup files is a FAT32 partition on the hard drive:
Resize the main partition with a partition manager (e.g.,Paragon Partition Manager) so as to leave 4 GB of free space behind it.
Create and format a FAT32 partition in the free space.
Run FWBACKUP from the Predesktop Area with output to the FAT32 partition.
Also copy the FWRESTOR utility to the FAT32 partition.
Boot back into the main partition to save HPA backup files and FWRESTOR from the FAT32 partition to CD-R, DVD-R, network drive, etc.
For ease of storage and migration, all HPA backup image files and the FWRESTOR utility can be stored on a single bootable DVD-R disc (or on multiple CD-R discs). A good way to do that is with Nero.
Although not mentioned in the White Paper, ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery is a good way to preserve and/or migrate the contents of the main partition.
When migrating the HPA to a compatible drive, restore the HPA before restoring the main partition.
When attempting to restore the HPA, if the hard drive isn't HPA capable, FWRESTOR will fail with the error message: The specified drive is not FirstWare capable
When disposing of a hard drive, for security be sure to completely erase it (not just delete). A good way to do that is with Darik's Boot and Nuke.

Thanks to JNavas for this info.