How do I create a complete replacement HDD for my T42?

[teepee]

Hi

My T42 is getting on a bit in years so I want to create a replacement HDD, one that would have on all of the software/backup stuff etc as if the T42 was factory fresh. The T42's HDD is 40Gb and I have a spare, barely used 40Gb that I want to create as the replacement for the day the current HDD dies or becomes too poorly. I don't need any additional capacity (got that in the Ultrabay), have no desire to change OS, and don't want anything other than the factory fresh software on the replacement.

I've searched the forums and the procedure seems to be to create an 'image' using Ghost or Acronis. Is this right? I've never done anything like this before, so am I correct in thinking I simply buy the software, load it on the C: drive, pop the replacement 40Gb in the Ultrabay and then let Ghost or Acronis do its thing please? If it is, is the process reliable?

Sorry if these questions seem a bit basic

[RealBlackStuff]

Using Ghost or Acronis just creates a copy of your current HD, with all your installed programs and personal data, not what you are after!
What you require is a set of Factory Recovery disks.
http://www.<promotion of site not allowed>.com/t42.html

[teepee]

many thanks RealBlackStuff. so, would i put my replacement 40Gb HDD in the Ultrabay, run the replacement CDs from an external optical drive and end up with the 'factory fresh' on the ultrabay?

i'm a bit confused re teh comment on ghost/acronis though. couldn't i get the same effect as buying and installing the recovery discs simply by resetting my current hdd to factory settings thru rescue & recovery, and then creating a copy of this?

[RealBlackStuff]

No, if you want to install from scratch, you need to put the new HD in the HD bay.
Then run the install from the Recovery CDs.
When done, put your old HD back in the HD bay.

If you do the Recovery on your old HD, you will lose all your personal stuff.
You could then do a Ghost/Acronis from old to new.

Press the blue IBM/Thinkpad button on boot up, and see if the Recovery partition is still there.
If this (on your old HD) is still intact, you could create a set of Recovery CDs, but only if this hasn't been done before.
You could then also do the recovery on your old HD from there (and you would also then not need to buy a new set).
Then do a Ghost/Acronis as above.

[rkawakami]

Yes that's possible too. Doing a Rescue & Recovery from the hidden partition will wipe out everything on your existing hard drive and should reset the system to when it was delivered from the factory. However I still would go with a complete re-install from recovery disks and use Ghost or Acronis to clone the drive. Here's why:

- in either case (restoring from the hidden partition or using recovery disks) and assuming that we are talking about Windows XP, you will be back at Service Pack 2 at best. On both the C: drive and in the hidden partition. You should really be at SP3 AND have all of the security patches downloaded from Microsoft before putting the system into service.
- relying on the hidden partition is great if the only problem you have in the future is with the software on the drive; if you have a hardware problem and there's actual physical damage to the drive (i.e., the drive won't boot), then it won't do you any good.
- the hidden partition is always taking up some room on the hard drive and it could be put to better use as part of your C: drive, especially since your drives are only 40GB.
- restoring from factory recovery disks gives you a chance to upgrade the size/speed of your hard drive.

This is what I would do (and have done and will be doing for a friend's system this weekend):

- decide on whether you want to get a bigger and/or faster hard drive and install it in the T42's HD bay
- if you wish to keep your existing drive, ERASE it first; this allows the recovery procedure to run correctly. There's several ways to erase the drive - ask if you need help on this.
- boot the system with the first recovery disk in the Ultrabay's optical drive; you may have to set the system's BIOS to boot from the CD/DVD drive or press the F12 key to get the boot menu.
- DON'T install the hidden partition and then complete the recovery process
- install all of the Microsoft Service Packs and download all of the system patches
- install all of the software that you normally would use: browser, antivirus, office productivity suites, etc.
- then "clone" the drive to your backup HD. This is different than an "image" in the respect that a cloned drive will be immediately usable when installed in the laptop. An "image" requires an additional step that needs to be performed by Ghost/Acronis to be restored back onto a hard drive.
- if the application supports it and assuming that you have a DVD burner, you can use Ghost/Acronis to write the disk image to DVDs. That gives you a second backup source and one which is generally cheaper than reserving an entire hard drive for that task.

I believe that this will put you in the best position of having a clean system and good backup coverage. Naturally, if you don't occasionally clone your working drive onto the backup HD and/or DVDs, then those backups will eventually age (Windows updates won't be there, any antivirus program will be out of date, etc.).

edit: Sorry for the long post and slow reply (have some "honey-do" tasks to perform in the middle of this response)

[madhu]

I recently upgraded my HDD to 320GB (WD3200BEVE). Thanks for this forums

The steps I followed


1. Downloaded and Installed Acronis TrueImage 2010 Trial Version
2. Connect the new Drive to Apricorn DriveWire (any other USB PATA enclosure would work probebly)
3. Initialized the Drive
4. Chose "Clone Drive" option in TrueImage.
5. TrueImage did its thing.
6. I swapped the old drive with the new one and it worked fine.

No issues till now


Thank you