Possible to customize R&R discs?

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TJMacGyver · #1 Post by **TJMacGyver** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:18 am

I have searched, but didn't find.

I have just ordered a new Hitachi 7K100.
And I have also just recieved a set of R&R-discs from lenovo, which I got for free just told them the truth. That I had just bought my T43 used and the partition was gone.

And so I'm wondering what software is included on the discs, if any? but there are 5 discs, so it can't just be windows...

And if it is possible to customize it on installation, or before byy editing some files.

Last, would you guys recommend installing windows, using the R&R-discs or just a plain install?
I would like to have the feature of backing up my configuration to the R&R'partition.(HPA)
But since it's not there (new drive) how do I create it ?

The discs are danish XP-Pro SP2 from 3. august 2005.

If any of my above qestions have been answered before, I appologize. but I have searched, and also read A LOT of old topics, just to get into the game
Thanks in advance from a new and happy t43 owner.

on a side note, anyone from denmark (copenhagen) have som spare memory they wan't to sell? 512 or 1024 sticks. I only have 512MB. have to be cheap.

Danny Manabat · #2 Post by **Danny Manabat** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:24 am

you're lucky to receive the cd's for free, assuming that's the complete set.

i have a T42 and a set of 8 disks consisting of :
1 cd - rescue and recovery with rapid restore, and
7 cd's - product recovery cd

so i can only share you my experience with the T42 recovery disk installation. it would not differ much as i had a T40 before, complete with recovery cd's also.

since you have a blank (new) hdd and a set of recovery cd's - go and start the installation. you have nothing to loose but something to gain and learn. you may enjoy it too.

on customization, i think you can only customize after completion of winxp installation, together with ibm drivers and utilities. i read somewhere here, customization was attempted before start of winxp installation. but i have not done that. i customized after full installation.

if you have a full set of the recovery cd's - you cannot do a clean install since the recovery cd's make a factory restore. you will need another winxp installation disk to do a clean install.

or, this takes a bit longer -
1. you may do factory install first,
2. copy the c:\i386 and c:\ibmtools to another set of cd's or backup to usb hdd.
3. then do a clean install using the cd's in (2) as your source.

i do recommend that you do a full factory restore and get to know the ibm utilities. later, you can delete what you do not want. then you can customize. it's hard to customize when you do not know the utilities and drivers that go with your system. that is what i did.

for backing up, i did not use the rapid restore that came with my T42. i downloaded rnr 3.01.0042 and successfully made a base backup of my customized installation.

'hope this helps.

TJMacGyver · #3 Post by **TJMacGyver** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 12:06 pm

I got all the discs although it's only 7
1 boot disk
and 5 productrecovery cd's
and 1 supplemental recovery cd.

I also have another winxp cd, so I would be doing the clean install from that.
But I think I will try the R&R discs

Does the cds include any third-party software? (I hate that)

THe backup software You used, is that IBM software?

Cloud! · #4 Post by **Cloud!** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:18 pm

TJMacGyver wrote:I got all the discs although it's only 7
1 boot disk
and 5 productrecovery cd's
and 1 supplemental recovery cd.

Does the cds include any third-party software? (I hate that)

To start with the last question, yes it does include third-party software. I can't remember all of it, but Norton Antivirus is one of them.

I have the exact same set of discs (danish XPSP2, 3. August 2005), except I only received 6 discs. 1 Rescue and Recovery and 5 Product Recovery cds. What is the last disc??

#Danny
When I phoned IBM Denmark, I was told, everyone was able to get 1 set of free discs, but only one(you have to give them the serial number). I dont know the IBM rules in other countries, but I hope it's the same as here in Denmark.

TJMacGyver · #5 Post by **TJMacGyver** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:25 pm

Of course there is Norton Antivirus, I realy hate hate program!!!
Even though you uninstall it, it's never completely gone.

The last cd "Supplemental PRoduct recovery cd" is just windowss update, I think. because theres only one file about 5MB in a lot of different languages.

Do you get a choice about some of the third-party programs, or are they just installed?

Cloud! · #6 Post by **Cloud!** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:57 pm

TJMacGyver wrote:Do you get a choice about some of the third-party programs, or are they just installed?

To my recollection you don't. It's installed after the recovery. But I read somewhere, that if you boot to recovery partition, you can restore Windows without the elements you don't want. However I can't remember where I read it, and I haven't tried it myself. Ill try and find it.

EDIT: Found it here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=33009

But I don't know if it only applies to T60s.

TJMacGyver · #7 Post by **TJMacGyver** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:31 pm

Thanks for searching.

Since I will be doing it on a brand new harddrive, I will definitely try to see if it is possible.

Cloud! · #8 Post by **Cloud!** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:31 am

You're welcome. Would you please write you're experiences with it. But I just rememered, that I don't think the recovery discs, contains the latest version of Rescue and Recovery. So you may have to update it, after the process, or else you won't have the possibility to do a custom restore.

pksw · #9 Post by **pksw** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:25 am

Cloud! wrote:
TJMacGyver wrote:But I read somewhere, that if you boot to recovery partition, you can restore Windows without the elements you don't want. However I can't remember where I read it, and I haven't tried it myself. Ill try and find it.

EDIT: Found it here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=33009

But I don't know if it only applies to T60s.

I have found an easy way to stop rubbish like Norton Antivirus being installed during the factory restore. When I recover from the hidden partition, the hard disk is formatted as a FAT32 partition, and a heap of password protected ZIP files are extracted to the hard disk. The system will then reboot.

There will be a directory called IBMWORK (or similar), which containst the setup files for all the programs. If you have a bootable CDROM, you can simply boot off the CD after the system reboots.

Then use DOS to go to the hard disk. You can delete the norton subdirectory. The scripts to install them won't find the setup files. I used this method to stop all the other rubbish like the CD Burning software, Drive Letter Access, Adobe Reader 5.0 etc from installing.

I ended up with just WinXP-SP2 installed with all the IBM drivers, and the tools like the hard drive protection installed.

I posted more details here
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... ht=#220487

TJMacGyver · #10 Post by **TJMacGyver** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:01 am

Thanks very much I will do that.

BTW the password for the compressed files on one of my cd's is "HURRICANE" or "HURRICANES" I can't remember, it's in one of the script-files.

Danny Manabat · #11 Post by **Danny Manabat** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:51 am

#Cloud! -

here in kuala lumpur, you have to pay for your recoveryd disks. and they are expensive. you may find mixed results in the discussions here. some were able to get the cd's at no cost while some have to pay.

i have a T40, a T42 and an R40. i have the recovery cd's of the T-seris but i don't have for the R40.

the T40 cd's i bought in indonesia for USD20.00 while the T42 i bought from the philippines at almost the same cost USD20.00.

3 months back i called ibm in malaysia and ask how much if i buy the R40 cd's. i was surprised that they charge USD90.00!!!

thinking that the reason could be that my R40 was almost 3 years old, i also inquired how much for the T42. they gave me the same figure.

so you in denmark you are lucky. cheers.

pksw · #12 Post by **pksw** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:38 am

TJMacGyver wrote:Thanks very much I will do that.

BTW the password for the compressed files on one of my cd's is "HURRICANE" or "HURRICANES" I can't remember, it's in one of the script-files.

IBM are using updated passwords on those compressed files now. I found some of the newer ones using Google, but could not work out some of the others.

It didn't matter, as I made an image of the hard disk AFTER all the unzipping had completed (ie when the system rebooted, I booted off a CD, and imaged the HDD).