a question about HD storage

[ThinkPadNewbie]

Hi there,

I am a new comer here. I have been reading posts for a bit and I really appreciate it that you guys would like to share your experiences regarding ThinkPad.

I actually just got my ThinkPad --- T42p 2373GVU. It is a great machine and I love it!! However, I noticed that although the designed HD storage is 60GB, the "real" storage is 51.5GB. I wonder how I can get more storage. Is it possible to reach the maximum storge by deleting everything and reinsall XP and other stuff? Could anyone please give me some details of what to do (one step at a time please)?

Thanks.

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IBM ThinkPad T42p 2373GVU: P745M 1.8GHz, 512MB, 60GB(7200RPM), 14" SXGA, ATi FireGL T2 128MB, DVD/CD-R, IBM a/b/g wireless, Bluetooth, 9-cell battery

[edelrc]

This is an issue well discussed here. The lower HDD capacity that you get it is due to the Rapid Restore feacture.
This feacture is using all that HDD that you see as missing in a hidden partition.
"IBM Rescue and Recovery™ with Rapid Restore™ is a suite of self-recovery tools to help you diagnose, get help, and recover your system.
IBM Rescue and Recovery helps you stay productive even if the operating system will not boot. Backup and recover your whole system, including operating system, applications, and data, access the Web through a browser, run diagnostics, and much more."

I would suggest you to research first if you really want to gain that extra space and not to have Rapid Restore at all, but I have the feeling that like it is it could be of a better value to you.
Go to the Search feacture on this site and search for Rapid Restore

[ThinkPadNewbie]

Hi edelrc,

Thank you very much for your help.

I did some "home-work" and found a few posts regarding the issue. I think maybe there are 2 ways: 1) Burn Recovery CDs and start from there; 2) Start with a WinXP CDs with copies of all the C:\IBMTOOLS, C:\DRIVERS, C:\SUPPORT, C:\VALUEADD, and C:\IBMTOOLS\APPS handy.

Since I will be able to get the Recovery CDs burned from the IBM access, I will follow the first option. Here is the procedures from my understanding:

1. Burn the Recovery CDs from IBM access.

2. Disable the hidden partition in the bios (I don't know how).

3. Boot from the Recovery CD and follow (I guess)

Is it right? Could anybody please give me some advice? I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

[pete0r]

i have a 3vu which has an 80gig hdd, and even though i'm rather experienced with computers and partitions and all that crap, i'm going to leave it there for the time being.. i think it's a better idea to have it all there on my brand new laptop then to screw up something and prehaps need it and not have it.. i don't really have enough time these days to even sit around for 2 hours and do a fresh install..

[edelrc]

I would always leave it there too unless you are in one of these two exceptions:
-If you have a <40GB HDD and you need HDD space (where I would recommend you so to get an Image software)
-If you are familiar with a Image software and you do full backups/image regulary