Bought used T42 Want to get rid of all the BLOAT!

[fefrie]

2373 8UU

Original description: P M 735, 256MB RAM, 40GB 5400rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, Wireless upgradeable(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 1Gb Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro


Not the greatest system, but does come with 1.25gb ram

There is what seems to be a lot of bloat and I want to get rid of it. Plus I can't stand the fact that all the settings are different from what I usually have.

There are two partitions on this 40gb drive. After partitioning, there is about 17gb on each drive. One drive has 4gb remaining on it and the other only has 7. So there has to be a lot of bloat somewhere.

The access IBM button works right now, and this is the first thinkpad that I've had where it actually activates something. It activates some data and recovery options, and I'd like to keep that going, but not at the expense of bloat and space on my hard drive.

Also, if i'm going to reformat, I'd like some sort of easy way to upload all the drivers I need at once. The ability to chose would be nice too.

I'm burning recovery disks right now, and I won't format yet, but any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thankyou.

[Tasurinchi]

The best thing to get rid off the bloat is to install any Linux variant or doing a clean windows install... Can you live without all the Lenovo software?

My 0.02 cents...

[dr_st]

I am also an advocate of a fresh install. Typically I install Windows from my own CD, then download System Update, and voila - all the drivers and Thinkvantage software is available to me, and I get to choose what to install and what to avoid.

[Paul Pennington]

The IBM Recovery does not take up anywhere near that much room on the hard disk. The previous owner must have left something on there. I'd go ahead and run the recovery and see what you end up with. Since it's a "new" system you don't have any data to worry about. Lenovo currently has an automatic updating feature to load all the current drivers.

[fefrie]

If I do the fresh install with generic XP OEM disc and use lenovo's system update, will I still have useability of lenovo's access ibm features for security, backup and restore?

If I wipe the drive and repartition it, do I destroy the 'hidden recovery partition' and is that something I should really worry about?

[Paul Pennington]

I would recommend you go ahead and press the "Access IBM" button, and run the recovery process to wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall Windows and the IBM drivers. I've not done it on a hard drive with multiple partitions, but I believe you will be given a choice to repartition as one drive. The IBM recovery will not overwrite itself -- it is indeed "hidden". If you end up with only a 17 GB partition, you can always repartition it manually and run the recovery again (but I don't think you'll have to).

[scr71822]

Try turning off system restore and hibernation.

[fefrie]

I think that I will use the access IBM button.

Before I do that though, could you take a look at these two files?

I'm thinking that the person who had it before me made a ghost image of the harddrive, so I'm thinking that these files are mostly just junk.

[dr_st]

These are the Ghost image files.

[fefrie]

Well I pressed the access ibm button, and looking through all the options I don't see a restore button. Mostly recovery options.

What should I press?