Recovery partition, gone for good?

Message

Andy M · #1 Post by **Andy M** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:16 am

Hi, I'm thinking of removing the recovery partition as its both a waste of disc space, also I'm upgrading to Vista and want a completely clean hard drive.
If i wipe the partition, is there any way to get it back in the future?

Also if I can't get it back, could I use any copy of XP SP2 and as long as I put my product key in it will work and activate?

Thanks
Andy

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:34 am

If you wipe out the recovery partition, you can only restore it with the recovery CD's.

If you later wish to install XP, and have a proper XP install CD with a proper key, then it should work.

The OEM key on the TP case is only for use with the pre-loaded OS.

... JDH

Andy M · #3 Post by **Andy M** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:46 am

Is there any way I can create these recovery CD's then, to make a way of restoring my partition?

Andy

PS I have no option of make CD's in the Access IBM folder

#4 Post by **carbon_unit** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:10 am

Have a look at this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=38864&

nejle · #5 Post by **nejle** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:30 am

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=52898
http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Unable_to_cre ... the_system

Andy M · #6 Post by **Andy M** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:57 pm

OK ive found out that when i go into ThinkVantage Technologies, the rescue and recovery option was greyed out. So ive now installed 240 MB worth of RnR version 3.1 for the T42 (4.1 is for the T43)
Ive now chosen to create recovery disks.

Will these discs restore my recovery partition? in the state it is now?

Any info welcome.

dcouzin · #7 Post by **dcouzin** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:26 pm

Yes, the disks will do exactly that. The disks will reinstall WinXP and repartition the drive with about 4.5 GB of recovery material (as on the disks). You can then use partition software to get rid of that partition. It is also possible to make a Windows XP install disk from your I386 folder, see: http://www.slideshare.net/robert99. It works! This eliminates all the "extras" in the factory supplied setup.
Why Vista on this old machine? Will the 4-year old hardware all work with Vista?

#8 Post by **richk** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:29 pm

Probably R&R 3.1 changed what was in your recovery partition. If you check the size, it will have shrunk. You will now be able to restore only from the backup you just created.

ulrich.von.lich · #9 Post by **ulrich.von.lich** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:34 pm

These discs will restore your machine to factory state. You can also use R&R to create a restore point to save your computer's present state to which you may want to roll back in the future.

The recovery process can be done without a working OS. Just press the Access IBM button at startup and you're almost done.

dcouzin · #10 Post by **dcouzin** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:49 pm

R&R 4.1 can mess up the T42's recovery partition, but R&R 3.1 doesn't. With R&R 3.1 installed Andy M can make 1 CD + 1 DVD with which to return the T42 to factory condition regardless of what's on its hard drive.

dcouzin · #11 Post by **dcouzin** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:08 pm

I agree with Andy M that the recovery partition is a waste of disk space. It offers two minor advantages over the 1CD+1DVD: the CD-ROM player can be dead; you save the time spent in disk reading. Even with the recovery partition you need the disks, because there are scenarios in which you've screwed things up so the recovery partition can't accomplish recovery.

Andy M · #12 Post by **Andy M** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:34 pm

Cheers guys you've been very helpful.
Unfortunately I don't have a DVD burner so its had to be 6 CD's in total.

Thanks

By the way, I would have downloaded 4.1 however on the supported model list, it started with the T43, so the next version down was 3.1, which supported the T42.

Recovery partition, gone for good?

Recovery partition, gone for good?

Who is online