How to move IBM EISA (system) partition to another HDD

[radiator]

I've got T41 with 40 GB HDD. I want to change my 40 GB to al least 60 GB but there is one small problem. there is widnows system hidden onto HDD and don't know hove to deal with moving the whole system to e new HDD in order not to lost or demage it. Is' genuine one so I do care about having it back on my new HDD.
What steps to undertake?

[sjthinkpader]

It is basically another bootable partition that supports the ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery operation in case the HDD runs into a problem. Normally you want to copy it over to the new disk.

[radiator]

So you say it'senough to do a typical copy partition and that's it? Ok I'm on the look out of a new hdd and when I've found one that suites me I'll have a stab on your advice
thx

[sjthinkpader]

After you get the new HDD, use a cloning program such as Acronis TrueImage or Apricorn EZGig. It is a pretty easy process.

[radiator]

Sorry for bringing the topic up once again. I'm getting a new hdd this week and I'm wondering how to make that cloning job. My 'old' had is now working in my t41. What should I do to connect (and how to do this) my 'new' hdd? By usb using a special equimpent? Or mayby should I connect both of the hdds to my pc?

[sjthinkpader]

For a T4x series, best is to have an USB CD drive plus an Ultrabay drive tray. Place the old drive in the Ultrabay drive tray, new drive in the HDD slot then boot from the external CD with cloning software media in it. Acronis TrueImage or Apricorn EZ GigII are used by many here. If the old drive is large, it will take quite a while.

[radiator]

A new problem has come up to the daylight. My old hdd is now sold. I have cd recovery for my t41. The problem is that IDE channel responsible for the proper working of cdrom, is broken. But I have r51 availabe with working cdrom. Is it possible to place my new hdd to r51 and use my recovery cd's? And will those cd's recover the hidden partition on my new hdd???
thx

[sjthinkpader]

R51 and T41 are almost identical in hardware with only a few exceptions. If you make a new OS image on a R51 and move the HDD to T41, you should be able to pickup the missing drivers. You may need an USB Flash stick to load the ethernet driver.

[radiator]

I used r51 to have my hidden partition back to my hdd.
But the problem is that sb above clamed that I was so easy to move hidden partition only by using acronic. So I installed acronis partition on my t41 and attached to usb my old hdd. Acronis doesn't see tha partition even though I switched predesktop area in bios.

[richk]

T4x machines are not all the same in the way the partition is stored. T40 and T41 machines (also R50) use an HPA where the size of the disk is changed in the firmware and no conventional tools will move them. Some earlier T42 (and R51) machines used it also. I've tried the Phoenix tools to move it (the technology was developed by Phoenix) and the software doesn't really work. Later machines used more conventional partitions and they can be copied, but thinkpads use an unconventional master boot record so it isn't easy.

[radiator]

I found sth like this
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo- ... ogram.html
and thought that I could clone the pratition on the new one ane try to reanable the blue button function. Has anyone ever heard about the possibility?

[Neil]

Wow, radiator, two and a half years and you are still working on this!

I have tried...and failed...every time when trying to copy the R&R partition from one hard drive to another. One time with a A31P, I think, I was able to copy the partition, but it would not boot. However, I was able to use UBCD to boot R&R and re-install the OS, after which the F11 function worked again. But, I have never been able to repeat the process. Just a one time fluke, I guess.

[RealBlackStuff]

Forget about that stupid partition, its contents are old/outdated.
If you restore from there, it takes several hours to 1/2 day just to get the Windows updates...
Utter waste of time.