It depend model. as far I know. T40/T41 use HPA protected by BIOS. T42 IBM change the partition area called " TYPE 12" its also hidden but you can access via some software.
there has no recovery CD with machine in most case.
I recently got a set of 770Z recovery discs from Bill Morrow that I wanted to use to recover my 770X. Bill didn't have the 770X specific discs but I...