x61t factory restore disks & repartitioned drive

[dwkor]

Hello!

Sorry, if this question has been discussed already.

Do you know, if factory restore disks (created via Restore & recovery utility) restores disk to factory stage in the case, if I repartition hard drive and delete system hidden partition?

Thank you!

[GomJabbar]

Yes. They delete all partitions, then create a C: Windows partition as well as the hidden Service Partition. Not much point to delete the hidden partition if you are going to use the Factory Restore Disks.

[dwkor]

Not much point to delete the hidden partition if you are going to use the Factory Restore Disks.

Thank you for response!

I was asking about service partition just for a case, if I decide to sell laptop later. I'm finally going to make clean install, so I would like to delete service partition, but I don't want to lose an ability to restore laptop to original factory stage, if I decide to sell it at the future.

[GomJabbar]

Go to the BIOS and under Security for the Predesktop Area, set to Disabled. Now you should be able to reclaim the space. When you are ready to use the Recovery Disc set, I suggest you delete all partitions using FDISK, then set the Security for the Predesktop Area in the BIOS back to normal. Now use the Recovery Discs.

[ryengineer]

You can leave the hidden Service Partition untouched while doing a clean install of any OS or since you already have Product Recovery Disks so you can format the whole hdd, do a clean install and make use of recovery disks when you decide on selling your machine. FYI and to be precise, this is what recovery disks contains and can do.

[GomJabbar]

ryengineer makes a very good point. I really don't see where recovering 5 GB of hard disk space makes all that much difference. If you want to keep the hidden partition, you do not need to change any security settings for the Predesktop Area (assuming you are only installing Windows and not some other OS such as Linux with a boot loader). For added insurance to protect your hidden partition, you can set the Security for the Predesktop Area to Secure.

[dwkor]

You can leave the hidden Service Partition untouched while doing a clean install of any OS or since you already have Product Recovery Disks so you can format the whole hdd, do a clean install and make use of recovery disks when you decide on selling your machine.

Yes, but I just don't want to lose 5Gb hdd space in fastest hdd area.

Anyway, thank you very much for your advices, guys!

[codek]

bump

[DAH]

My experience has been if you really want to return your computer to an out of box condition is to get the set of disk from Lenovo, and use them, not the set you create yourself. The set of disk from the factory allow you, or in your case the next owner to create their own set of disk. Restoring from a set you create doesn't give one this ability. This will also update the hidden service area to the newest version.