How to clone TP42 HDD with R&R prompt in MBR?

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Edward Mendelson · #1 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:40 am

I'm about to try to clone my TP42 30GB hard disk to a new 40GB disk, and want to retain the bootup prompt that says how to boot in the Rescue and Recovery partition. I know that I can clone all the partitions with PartitionMagic or Acronis DiskDirector (which I prefer). But what is the method of getting that bootup prompt restored (which I suppose is in the MBR)? Is there a tool at IBM/Lenovo's web site that restores the MBR after this kind of operation?

Many thanks for any advice on this.

Edward Mendelson · #2 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:38 pm

I think the answer to my own question is here - but it seems that I'm going to need a USB floppy drive in order to make use of it. (Time I got one anyway, I suppose...)

Edward Mendelson · #3 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 9:47 am

Sorry - here's the link that should have been in the preceding message:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-54483

highvista · #4 Post by **highvista** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:05 am

This might be helpful. I just upgraded my T42's original 40GB Fujitsu drive to a Hitachi 5k100 100GB drive. I also purchased a USB external drive enclosure from Buy.com that came with cloning software. I was able to use the software to do a clone of both my data and the hidden partition/recovery partition. It looks like it worked, because I can push the "Access IBM" button during boot and it boots into recovery mode, just as before the upgrade.

For reference, here's the drive enclosure that I used:

http://www.buy.com/retail/computers/pro ... 43781&wl=1

Edward Mendelson · #5 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:41 am

Very helpful - thank you! It turns out I've got a copy of the EZ-Gig software already - it came with the ThinkPad 2nd HDD adapter. One question:

How did you run the EZ-Gig software to do the cloning? Did you run a USB floppy in addition to the USB HDD enclosure? Or did you use the option mentioned in the user guide to transfer the software to the hard disk? Thanks for any advice on this.

EDIT: Ah, I see, the version you got came on a CD. Will try running my older verson from a USB floppy.

#6 Post by **BillMorrow** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:56 am

ed..

no reason not to use both a USB HDD and a USB floppy..

let me know if you need more help to clone your HDD..
i might have a more recent version of ez-gig around that i can email to you or let you download..

some of the retail versions of ez-gig are locked to the apricorn hardware USB case..

highvista · #7 Post by **highvista** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:58 am

Yeah, the bootable CD with the EZ-GigII software made things very easy--no floppies or extra drivers needed. I was even able to tweak the hidden partition size downward a bit to save some space. Pretty nice software!

Edward Mendelson · #8 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 7:16 pm

Thanks to all - and Bill, I'll respond by e-mail on your offer. Since I don't have the CD version, I'll rely on the floppy and hope it works...

#9 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:13 pm

I have used Norton Ghost with great success, as a rookie I had to read directions several times but after a couple of hours I had it done.

Edward Mendelson · #10 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:40 pm

I've got lots of experience cloning partitions - what I'm trying to do is get the Master Boot Record of the clone to have the same "Press F11 etc." functionality that's in the original ThinkPad. Simply cloning partitions with Ghost or Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Director won't do that, surely.

#11 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:57 pm

Yeah, it pretty much took out the pre-desktop area. This is what I did with a 10G HD I got out of an old Fiery. Used R&R to load the predesktop area, let it unload the files to start loading the OS. Used partition commander to delete the pre-desktop area and format it to fat 32. Merged the new fat32 partition (unused space) with the unloaded predesktop files which are fat32. When I rebooted the files start unloading just like normal. So I wound up with a little mini-OS. My first thought to accomplish this was to ghost the pre-desktop area to the HD and let it unload that way, that did not work out. It may be possible to add the predesktop area first and use the other space for you image. I remember when I first started messing with the predesktop area it is seriously hidden, if you forget and don't disable security, you can't do much with it. I am not sure if you would have to diable the predeskop area for cloning but, it might be worth a try. Maybe make a CD image first as a backup. This is just my experience maybe it will help in some way, I have four hard drives between two machines and always mess around trying different stuff. Good luck.

How to clone TP42 HDD with R&R prompt in MBR?

How to clone TP42 HDD with R&R prompt in MBR?

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