Howto to copy factory default image to external harddisk?

[Mighty_Mauz]

Let me explain what I want:
A backup of the factory default image on an external USB drive, that I can access with the standard rescue & recovery startup disk. So that I can restore the service partition with the R&R startup disk and the external harddrive, so I can recover the factory default from there on.


I cannot find an option in R&R to backup a full system recovery to an external harddrive, so I’ve created the backup disks with R&R as Lenovo recommends. Now I got 5 disks:
- R&R startup disk
- 1 C
- Final C
- Final Q
- Final S
My next step was copying the contents of the disks to my external harddisk. So now I’ve a directory in the root of the drive called “RRbackups” with the backed up files in it.

When booting with the R&R startup disk, it couldn’t find the backup.


My questions are:
1. Is it possible what I want? And am I doing it right?
2. Is there a way to directly backup to an external harddrive with R&R?
3. Because I restored from the factory default, just before creating the backup disks, I would say I have the same backup twice now. Can I delete C?

[RealBlackStuff]

Life would be much easier if you would use a program like Acronis TrueImage 10 (or newer).
Put the HD from the laptop (with the OS you want) in a USB enclosure, then from your PC take an image of that external HD and store it on your PC.
Next time you want to "refresh" your laptop's HD (or any other HD for that matter), just do an Acronis Restore, using the same USB enclosure.