Recovery Set Repository for Community Members

[eggi36]

I just recieved a truckload of Thinkpad recovery discs. Mostly stuff from 2005-2013 for all different kinds of models (X31 to X1 Carbon Touch) and operating systems (XP to 8 ).
I would say about 60% is in German, 38% in English or multi-language (including English) and 2% is in French.

I will catalog and archive all of them.

theterminator93: if you're interested in the English ones , or even the other languages let me know!

[theterminator93]

Nice haul!

If any of the English ones I'm missing I'll happily archive them with the rest. If you have any "rare" ones that I don't have (in any language) I'm interested in those too. Thanks for thinking of the repository!

[Carancha]

PM sent; thanks in advance!

Edit: Unexpectedly-quick response! Excellent, excellent service/thread.

[mtgal]

Hello, Bill!

Are these sets still available from you? Or is someone else handling this now?

I am in need of :

X200, Windows 7 Pro x64 - English

I have recovery disks for this machine and the 600x which I am happy to contribute to the library, if that would be useful.

Let me know if a PM is appropriate to you or someone else.

Many thanks!!!

[theterminator93]

I can upload and PM you a link to ISOs in a day or so. If you have anything I don't already I'd be happy to archive them!

[legnoguado]

Many thanks for theterminator93 for providing images for T60 discs. They worked perfectly!

Recovery did ask for a "supplemental" disc. I'm guessing T60 didn't have one? I just skipped it.

[theterminator93]

Not that I know of. A few sets I have, have one but most do not - they're usually last-minute additions or patches that didn't make it into the main disk set. Rather than re-release the entire set the supplemental disk allows for those changes/updates to be incorporated into the recovery.

[tottoroo]

PM sent. Thank you very much in advance. edit: Amazing, very fast!

[tpwman]

PM Sent, thanks for your time.

[mxt3]

I'm a bit in a funny situation. While I seem to meet the 2-month requirement of the rule, I'm not yet allowed to send PMs.

[dr_st]

I'm a bit in a funny situation. While I seem to meet the 2-month requirement of the rule, I'm not yet allowed to send PMs.

The PM situation is a forum-wide setting for new users, separate from theterminator93's established rule set for this thread.

Anyhow, I've made the adjustment and you should be able to send PMs now.

[mxt3]

Anyhow, I've made the adjustment and you should be able to send PMs now.

Thanks a lot for enabling this.

And many thanks to OP for the swift response and excellent service! It is a great convenience to have my ThinkPad back into service with all the original software and drivers, all this by simply burning 1 recovery disk.

[Chuterix2]

any t430 windows 7 x64 english original restore discs? all the ones i found are only in different languages (german or simplifie chinese; simplified chinese untested), for windows 8, or "create recovery disc" media. i don't meet all the requirements (if any) but my original account "chuterix" made in december 2022 got deactivated and i have to wait to get every post approved. at least i am requesting to be added to the repository.

[BillMorrow]

you did not reply to my PM to you..
nevertheless, i think i fixed it so your posts do not require me or another admin to approve each post..
keep looking for that recover disc or image.. try ebay..

[Chuterix2]

sorry; prior to your enabling of immediate post i could not reply to you

[Chuterix2]

keep looking for that recover disc or image.. try ebay..

doesn't appear to be available there for now

[BillMorrow]

i thought someone hereabouts had accumulated all the available recovery CD sets.. i sent a big box of them to him some years ago.. i forget the name and i don't see a link in the banner above.. maybe MTM..?

[theterminator93]

That was me... all the recovery sets I have (including everything you sent me) is listed in post 1.

[Chuterix2]

like i said the only t430 discs i could find have one of these problems:

• 'create restore media' discs (improper recovery due to abnormal features e.g. missing drivers)

• not in english (despite i can integrate an english lp but i think the non-english recovery discs have different features than english)

• windows 8 recovery media (not my os; also t430 has win7 coa)

i've done a test boot of the first disc of x230 german recovery (from ia by @eggi36) and the r&r program launched and didn't reboot, so perhaps i can use x230 recovery iso by @theterminator93?

[theterminator93]

It's possible. X230 or T530 are both worth a shot IMO.

FWIW, Windows 8 will probably still install and activate despite the 7 COA, especially if it was a downgrade license.

[Chuterix2]

It's possible. X230 or T530 are both worth a shot IMO.

FWIW, Windows 8 will probably still install and activate despite the 7 COA, especially if it was a downgrade license.

The T530 recovery media listed here is a "Create recovery media" disc, something I do not want due to the reason mentioned above (improper recovery).

I can test the X230 recovery media, as it's the original factory recovery disc and similarities (and also in English). The problem is this account doesn't meet all of the requirements (unless you can grant an exception since I initially joined in December 2022 under a different account Chuterix).

quote from billmorrow pm:
"OK, i see that your original account, Chuterix, was declined for some reason by someone..
i could go through all the logs going back to december 2022 [...]"

[theterminator93]

Saying it won't work without being willing to try it doesn't make sense to me.. Sure there are some inherent possible differences between parts and such in the T530 but it'll get you a lot closer to factory than other (or from-scratch) installs. But at the end of the day it's your call on how you want to proceed. At least I don't charge a fee for hosting recovery disks...

[saperkus]

Let me clear some statements, as they are not correct.

The T530 recovery media listed here is a "Create recovery media" disc, something I do not want due to the reason mentioned above (improper recovery).

There's no such a thing as "improper recovery". Let me explain, how these recoveries are working. Back in Windows XP era, IBM introduced package-based recovery. At the beginning, recovery deploys OS image and then task sequence deploys drivers, applications and customizations. At that time, "Create recovery media" discs contained all packages and full task sequence from Recovery media. Things changed since late Windows Vista images, as Lenovo modified task sequence. They added the final step - create disk image and delete recovery all packages. I don't know the exact reasons for this change, but my guess is that some customers might complained about the time which recovery needs to complete the process (with a HDD this was over an hour, if not more), so Lenovo came with this solution. I tend to call these "Create recovery images" a "Factory images", as devices were delivered with them pre-installed. These images are meant for one particular hardware configuration on which they were created, but it doesn't mean they will not work on the other configurations/devices from the same generation.

I used to have T430 and due to lack of Factory image/Recovery Disc Set, I've used L430's Factory image. These two devices are similar to each other and L430 has less features than T430, so I had no need to remove anything, but to install missing drivers (which I had to update anyway). From my experience, it is safe to use Factory images from low-end configurations, but images form high-end configurations (with e.g. dGPU, RAID, WWAN modem) can cause issues - especially from Workstation devices.

T530's Windows 7 factory image may actually work fine, as T430/T430s/T530/W530 shared the same Recovey disc set, so OS, applications and customizations will be the same, but the difference will be in drivers. I would suggest to try it out.

Windows 7 recovery disc set for T430/T430s/T530/W530 is very rare, as Lenovo did not bundle it with the device. You had to make a separate order to get it. Windows 8/8.1 recoveries were usually bundled with devices and Windows 10/11 recoveries for newer devices can be downloaded directly from Lenovo.

[upnorthjim]

Hi,

I'm looking for the recovery discs for my A30 ThinkPad any help would be appreciated. I know I'm a new member and I'm looking forward to providing more to the community.

Thx

James

[BillMorrow]

i KNOW there were more than a few recovery sets for the A series in the very large bunch i sold or gave to a forum member whose name i do not now recall..

[Chuterix2]

Hi,

I'm looking for the recovery discs for my A30 ThinkPad any help would be appreciated. I know I'm a new member and I'm looking forward to providing more to the community.

Thx

James

They're here, but like you said, you'/re not quite there yet. Keep on going for a few days or wait a few months to get those discs.

i KNOW there were more than a few recovery sets for the A series in the very large bunch i sold or gave to a forum member whose name i do not now recall..

That was me... all the recovery sets I have (including everything you sent me) is listed in post 1.

Unrelated: All drivers were there (no missing devices and igpu driver is there) on restoring x230 disc to t430. preparation for reinstallation is underway...

[mtgal]

I am having trouble with the Win7 Pro install for an x200 ThinkPad 64-bit that I received here. It's possible I didn't get all the necessary files as when I was doing the install it asked for a fourth CD, and I only have 3. I sent a PM, but can't tell if it went through or not. So if you see this here, please resend me the Win7Pro x64 rescue and recovery discs again!

Also, do these files have a legit product key? If so, where would I find it?

Many thanks!

[theterminator93]

Let me test those ISOs on an X301 I have since they are compatible with this recovery set, just to be sure there's no issues with the images.

As far as activation, as long as the original model shipped with the OS as an option it should check the BIOS and activate automatically as soon as you boot to Windows for the first time. If it doesn't it would mean that the computer is older than the OS (e.g. installing Windows 7 on a system that was made in 2008 before Windows 7 was released). Updating to the latest BIOS may help. The most surefire way to know is to look at the sticker on the underside of the computer - some models have it under the battery.

[mtgal]

Windows 7 was not an option when I bought this x200. Thank you for your help!

[mtgal]

Oh and the sticker is there. But pretty much unreadable. If I can reconstruct what the product key is I will try using it. But there was no Windows 7 in 2008 I am pretty certain.