Preserving Thinkpad ISO

[fatkatsupra1]

Got to thinking, if theterminator93 decides to stop providing his invaluable service of maintaining and providing recovery iso/images, does the community have any suggestions on how to move forward. We are not getting any younger and future generations hopefully will want to tinker and get the fresh out of the box software feel. Maybe this has already been addressed and I missed it...

And to all who have carried the torch thus far - your efforts have been priceless and we all appreciate your dedication.

[theterminator93]

My archive of ThinkPad recovery sets is currently 542 GB and spans no less than 107 distinct sets - many dozens more when considering the individual OS/model combinations each is designed for/compatible with. As new models are released and my clients purchase newer iterations/generations of ThinkPads, I grab the recovery for them as well. This is, of course, in addition to archiving most of what I don't have, that I can find or am provided.

This whole thing started when Bill Morrow asked me to write a WordPress article for the home page. I elected to do so regarding ThinkPad recovery software - a very oft overlooked companion to the hardware. I stumbled across a T41 and the 5 disc recovery set in a closet at a client site a few years earlier, but couldn't restore it fully because one of the disks was damaged. I was intrigued and wanted to complete the set. A few years later I acquired a lot of a dozen or so recovery CD sets from another forum member who wanted to get rid of them, and it was around that time that I posted that article. After posting the article people started asking if I had recovery sets for their systems. After a few months of that, I simply set up the thread you now see in the marketplace.

My primary goal was (and to a large degree remains) a personal one - to find the factory recovery for my first ThinkPad - an A22m with Windows 98. I figured if I started collecting as many restore sets as people were willing to share, to be able to then share them with others, that someone might come forward with that A22m set. I once saw a Windows 98 restore CD on eBay for the A22p, but chose not to purchase it because I had given up eBay by that time and will no longer patronize that company. As of now the closest I have is Windows 98 for the A21e - though in Spanish. Maybe someday I'll come across it. Until that happens, I doubt I'll feel satisfied with my collection. There are also some rarer sets - like the G4* series, that I'd love to get my hands on...

While I am actively searching and expanding my collection I see no reason to think that I would cut the community off cold-turkey. However, one thing that does annoy me is when people with whom I've shared recovery sets re-post them for public use. While I understand the motivation to share with others in need, I feel I've made it quite easy indeed to obtain them from me on this forum. Posting them freely opens the software up to potentially malicious parties to hack/alter/etc. and re-post under the guise of being legitimate, when they could easily be embedded with malware. Not to say that this isn't possible coming straight from me, but I'd like to think it's less likely. Plus, if you get a set from me, you'll know I haven't tampered with it after I acquired it.

If I ever decide to sunset the service, I would probably give Bill and/or another admin the option to host the content here - assuming there's the hosting capability and other technical capability to do so. But as long as this is my "pet project" I'm likely to remain possessive over my hoard due to the the time, effort and money devoted to assembling it.

[RealBlackStuff]

I read somewhere that the A22p recovery sets are the same as those for T22 and T23.
Once you find those W98/W98SE sets, maybe follow this: viewtopic.php?t=132493

[olex126]

Theterminator93, I have the original W2K install disk for my A22m.

I'd be happy to forward an ISO if that would be of any use to you in lieu of W98.

Regards.

Dave

[fatkatsupra1]

So I have a working win98 a22m 2628-psu with win98 recovery partition intact. After reading about HPA I am less confident I can extract it. I can do a fresh recovery of the c drive and make an image of that for you but that is still a far cry from a recovery cd set.

[theterminator93]

Theterminator93, I have the original W2K install disk for my A22m.

I'd be happy to forward an ISO if that would be of any use to you in lieu of W98.

Regards.

Dave

Thanks Dave. I do have this one in my archive. Based on this I probably got it from you originally!

So I have a working win98 a22m 2628-psu with win98 recovery partition intact. After reading about HPA I am less confident I can extract it. I can do a fresh recovery of the c drive and make an image of that for you but that is still a far cry from a recovery cd set.

This certainly interests me!