Need assist creating recovery CD(s) for T41

[gbatch3]

We recently acquired 3 Thinkpad T41 2373 that are all in good to very good overall condition. Unfortunately, no CDs or anything came with them - only chargers and 1 desktop docking station. I want to restore the machines with a clean install of XP Pro ( which is on them now) along with the factory software and the original configuration. After reading quite a few posts here and searching for help, I am seeking assistance.

Only one of the T41s can be restored to factory through the hidden partition and by hitting "Access IBM" when booting. I cannot access the hidden partition on the other machines. I've read some posts that say after you do a recovery, you may be able to make a set of recovery CDs. I cannot find that option anywhere.

So, is there something I am not doing to be able to create a set of recovery CDs I can use on the remaining 2 machines OR is there a way to access / boot from the hidden partitions on the remaining 2 machines to do a recovery?

As a last resort, does anyone here have a set of recovery CDs For Sale?

Thx

[Johan]

Welcome to the forum!

You may (perhaps) find help in the threads Recovery disks for T41 or Need assist creating recovery CD(s) for T41. What would however be easier for you was to get a set of the recovery media for your T41 from someone else; that will save you from messing around with restoring one T41 and then making the CD's. Try post a "WTB" (Want To Buy) of "LF" (Looking For) in the Marketplace of this forum.

The issue of creating recovery CD's has been greatly discussed here on the forum (see e.g. these links) and likewise for the recovery process.

Johan

[gbatch3]

Thx Johan.

[Orclas]

I don't know if it will lead to Windows license number issues, but you could otherwise clone the one fresh install onto the other ones, particularly if they're exact same version.

[gbatch3]

Now, why didn't I think of that? Maybe a cloned image would work.
Thx

[cadillacmike68]

I was cloning almost nightly for a while. It works perfectly once you get the clone program's nuances figured out. I use Acronis TI v11 but many folks use the free clonezilla & others.

But you need to clone to a same series machine, i.e T41 to T41, at the very least the CPU generation, video system & sound HW in the original machine and intended target must be the same. So maybe T42 to T41 might work, but I wouldn't try T43 to T41.

Then of course you need a working source machine with its HDD.

As for the license, as long as you are cloning an original factory build and your target has the same COA (same machine type and model) 1; it will work fine and won't [censored] you out about windoze being non-genuine, and 2; you are windoze liscense issues legal as well, meaning the BSA storm troopers won't come breaking your door down.

My Original HDD has a recovery partition for a worst case recovery, but it's cloned several times and these are all with later updates, and the larger HDD clones do not have a recovery partition, because on over 128GB, i don't think it'll work on my machines. And of course i copied the recovery CDs and keep the copies separate from the originals. I SHOULD never have to use the original HDD or the CDs again.

[gbatch3]

Thx for all the suggestions. I actually found a set of 5 Recovery CDs on BitTorrent. I know downloading can be risky, but I did it and they work. They come as ISO files. Below is (1) a link to the files on BitTorrent and (2) the file designation once you download and install BitTorrent.

(1) http://extratorrent.com/torrent_downloa ... ds.torrent

(2) FA880C74FACA162155708AA52B9C61258EF01A39.torrent

The download can take a while, but once done, you will have 5 ISO files that can be decompressed onto a set of 5 CDs. I have used the Recovery CDs for all 3 ThinkPads we have at work. No issues so far.

Good Luck