Thinkpads Forum

RANT: IBM wants $ for the reinstall disks while Dell gives them for free. /END RANT

so I want to upgrade my laptop harddrive and need the IBM OEM reinstall disk. If you have one lying around and want to sell for cheap, please let me know. Thanks

Yeah, they stopped giving them out a few years ago, i think its cheap too.

Anyway, you need to say which lappy your wanting to restore. The disk(s) are not like dells, they are tailored to each model.

If you have a 2.5usb drive adapter, you could use Acronis to clone your drive, then swap them.

Good luck

Thank you for your reply.

It's for a T43 laptop

Unfortunately don't have Acronis or other imagining software.

If you have the original OS, or even if you don't, you can install and run Rescue and Recovery. This will allow you the ability to create restore disks. This is available for most Thinkpads, which is why IBM/Lenovo don't include these recovery disks....they provide you with the ability to create your own.

I think that this has a lot to do with the fact that in the past, there was nothing that pinned the disks directly to one system, and so many people used to share their OS disks, thus making Mr. Gates mad.

tfflivemb2 wrote:If you have the original OS, or even if you don't, you can install and run Rescue and Recovery. This will allow you the ability to create restore disks.

Perhaps.

Many corporate SOEs blow away the factory disk partitions (etc) entirely when they are installed, so there is no factory R&R capability. This is deliberate part of the strategy for maintaining an SOE.

Cheers,

Bill

bill bolton wrote:Many corporate SOEs blow away the factory disk partitions (etc) entirely when they are installed, so there is no factory R&R capability. This is deliberate part of the strategy for maintaining an SOE.

I'm not sure what SOE stands for (School of Engineering?).

Even without the partition, once should still be able to download Rescue and Recovery from the IBM/Lenovo site and use it. I have done so on a T23 with WinXP Pro (retail) installed, instead of the original OS (Win2K)...granted it has been a while since I did this, but from memory that everything went smooth.

if you are replacing a hard drive through an ibm warranty, discs will be provided to you. if not, i dont see why they would give them to you, or why you would expect it.

tfflivemb2 wrote:I'm not sure what SOE stands for (School of Engineering?).

SOE = Standard Operating Environment

Even without the partition, once should still be able to download Rescue and Recovery from the IBM/Lenovo site and use it.

Loading R&R will do noting useful if the "hidden" information on the hard disk has been erased, which is gnerally what happens when an SOE is installed.

The whole purpose of an SOE is to establish a common environment, with embedded corporate policies, for consistency in terms of operation and support. That last thing that corporate support wants is for a user being equipped to do their own OS installation on a corporate laptop and so potentially defeating the corporate security policies.

SOEs are generally acknowledged as best practice in terms of corporate PC system deployments.

Cheers,

Bill

the problem is nothing is wrong with the drive so I don't think IBM can help here. I admit that I was naive in not making a backup prior to using the laptop when I got it and have been having problem with either virus, adware, or spyware. Windows keeps crashing. Thus I do not want to do an image of this

Second, I want to upgrade to a 7200rpm drive so that is why I need the reinstall disk.

I have found a guy on Ebay who sells them for half the price of what IBM wants so I may go with that route.

I'm still kicking myself in the a$$ for not making a backup of freshly installed windows. I'm the type of guy who likes to fresh reinstall from scratch which I always do with my Dell laptops but IBM is a totally different story.

nartac- are you talking about rosmondy on ebay?

dsigma6 wrote:if you are replacing a hard drive through an ibm warranty, discs will be provided to you. if not, i dont see why they would give them to you, or why you would expect it.

I can understand what you said here. I don't expect to get them for free and I'm willing to pay a fee for it but not for almost the same amount as copy of WinXP from a local electronic store on sale. Not trying to compare here but Dell sells them for $10 when you buy the system and you may pay about $20 or so if you request them after the sale but most of the time they just give it to you for free. I think if I have already paid for a laptop with a Windows XP installed, I'm entitled to a copy of it if I want.

dsigma6 wrote:nartac- are you talking about rosmondy on ebay?

there is a seller by the name of rrani1983. Auction says it's for T43 and contains 7 disks

nartac wrote:I think if I have already paid for a laptop with a Windows XP installed, I'm entitled to a copy of it if I want.

Think what you will, but all you are "entitled" to under the Microsoft EULA for OEM versions of Windows is a Certificate of Autheticity, which in the case of a ThinkPad is on the bottom of the case.

Cheers,

Bill

Instead of looking to buy on eBay, hopefully someone here will be able to send you a copy for far less than that. I would do it, if I had them. The newest disks that I have are for a T41.