Rescue and Recovery w/ Rapid Restore vs. Rapid Restore Ultra

[XCoalMiner]

Can someone summarize and clarify the differences between "IBM Rescue and Recovery", "Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore" and "Rapid Restore Ultra", please.

I just spent a good deal of time reading the description of IBM Rescue and Recovery™ v2.0, but I am still unclear on several things:

Background:
I have a T41 (2379DJU) with Win XP SP2. Rapid Restore Ultra was preinstalled, and I have a hidden protected partition. I think the hidden partition has some backup files to restore my system in there. I don’t know for sure.

From the Start > Programs > Access IBM, I also have Rapid Restore Ultra 4.0 available.

When I reboot, I press Access IBM and get a BIOS based (?) IBM Rescue & Recovery screen, with various option buttons. None of these options seem to know about the hidden protected partition.

I see on IBM’s Software and Device Drivers matrix for my model, a new version of IBM Rescue and Recovery (2.00.0170) is available, and they made it sound like you should remove and stop using previous versions of both Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore" and "Rapid Restore Ultra." It explicitly says Rapid Restore Ultra 3.0 and prior versions (I have 4.0) are not compatible with …

I want to be able to use some data in the hidden partition to restore my OS if I ever need to. That’s all I want to no, just restore the OS, not backup any data or settings.

Questions:
Should I use this new Rescue and Recovery (2.00.0170)? It seems to do a lot of different things, backup to USB, CD, DVDs, allow internet connectivity, etc.

Does it take up any space, or otherwise run in/from, the hidden partition?

If one does use the new Rescue and Recovery, and one backs up to CD (instead of the backing up to the hidden partition), can you than reclaim some space in the hidden partition?

Was Rapid Restore Ultra a more simpler way (no CDs, smaller footprint, fewer options) to backup and restore an OS?

How do I see determine much space the hidden partition is taking up (and is there a way to rezise it)?

I know this is long, thanks in advance!

[XCoalMiner]

Bump, in the hope somoen can shed some light on this.

[s0larian]

Can someone summarize and clarify the differences between "IBM Rescue and Recovery", "Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore" and "Rapid Restore Ultra", please.

IBM Rapid Restore 3 is the old version (uses extra SERVICE partitions), Rapid Restore 4 is included in R&R 1.0 (doesn't need additinal partitions for backup), in R&R 2.0 the backup tool doesn't have the name Rapid Restore anymore (but it is still included). R&R has an additional rescue environment where you can boot into to get access to your data if Windows is broken.

Questions:
Should I use this new Rescue and Recovery (2.00.0170)? It seems to do a lot of different things, backup to USB, CD, DVDs, allow internet connectivity, etc.

Just use it if you want to use the additional features. If you install R&R you are not able to use the restore functionality anymore from the bios unless you uninstall R&R again.

Does it take up any space, or otherwise run in/from, the hidden partition?

Yes, it takes space in an unvisible folder on the c: partition, not in the hidden area. The hidden area is not usable anymore unless you uninstall R&R again.

If one does use the new Rescue and Recovery, and one backs up to CD (instead of the backing up to the hidden partition), can you than reclaim some space in the hidden partition?

If you reclaim the hidden space you are not able to restore your OS to factory. Just reclaim the space if you know what you are doing and have a XP CD to do a clean install or have a backup or the IBM Recovery CD's.

Was Rapid Restore Ultra a more simpler way (no CDs, smaller footprint, fewer options) to backup and restore an OS?

No, it's the same. Rescue and Recovery has just an additional rescue boot environment. Backup is more or less the same as Rapid Restore 4 (except that R&R doesn't create and need additional partitions, backups are stored on c:\, USB and so on).

How do I see determine much space the hidden partition is taking up (and is there a way to rezise it)?

Use tools like PartitionMagic or Acronis and make the hidden HPA in the bios visible first. There is no way to resize it if you are speaking of the HPA (where you can do the bios recovery). If you speak of the partition Rapid Restore 3 has created and is used for the backups (SERVICE Partition), you could resize ist with one of the tools. This is the bad thing about Rapid Restore 3: the SERVICE partition is growing and growing. Rapid Restore 4 or R&R don't use anymore SERVICE partitions.

My personal advice: if you just want to be able to restore your system from the bios, don't install R&R! Because thats exactly what you cannot do anymore unless you uninstall R&R again.

[XCoalMiner]

Thanks, ... I have to mentally digest all those points now.