To keep the hidden partition on a clean install or not...

[tsservo]

Hi all,

I finally received my T60p this morning, 2623DDU. This took way, way too long to get here. But that's another story.

My question is that I'm at the point now where I am going to clean install XP (I always clean install when I get a new system). I've created the R&R discs, so I'm wondering if I want to keep that hidden partition.

It's taking up a few gigs, and on a 100gb drive, that get's substantial - especially when you're a photographer.

Is there any particularly good reason that I would want to keep the hidden partition?

Thanks

Tim

[NightStorm]

I have not received mine yet, so I don't know exactly what this hidden partition is. If it is anything like the old x20 that I have, then it is a restore partition. On the x20 there was no way to make replacement media, so that partition had to be there. Is this the same for the T60p?

I wonder if it might be possible to use Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage or g4l or something like that to take a snapshot of it, "just in case" as it were. One could then back it up as a file on an external USB drive should it be necessary to re-install it.

[serpico]

I did a clean install, but kept the hidden partition. Since then, I've implemented a backup scheme using Ghost. Given the backups of my operating system and data partitions, and the R&R disks I created when I first received the laptop, I am considering deleting the HPA by using Partition Magic to extend my second (data) partition.

The only rationale I can think of that justifies keeping the HPA is if the laptop has serious problems while you're travelling and don't have your backups or R&R disks with you. Any other reasons to keep the HPA?

[vital-analitix]

You have to be careful in the future with Ghost, PQDI and Acronis. Seems that the newer SATA interface has problems with these.

On my A31 I do not keep the hidden partition, I am using Acronis 9 & PQDI (both booted from CD) to back up onto a HD in the ultrabay slot. Do not rely on DVD, have heard too many horror stories of recovery from DVD not working. Am also using PQmagic - have been caught before with a recovery hiding a partition....

I believe the RR from IBM can back up onto a USB HD. This may be another alterntaive but whenever I tried the IBM recovery it seemed to take hours. Gave up on using USB HD a long time ago.

Marinus

[serpico]

Ghost boot cd and backup scheme appears to be working fine so far - but I haven't had to do a restore yet. I am backing up to USB hard drive.

My R&R set is on 1 cd + 1 dvd. Is there any way to put this onto the USB drive and have it be bootable? If not, then maybe I should make a second set of R&R data (just copy from original set)?

Any thoughts on my earlier question, which also goes to the OP's question:

<snip>The only rationale I can think of that justifies keeping the HPA is if the laptop has serious problems while you're travelling and don't have your backups or R&R disks with you. Any other reasons to keep the HPA?

[NightStorm]

You have to be careful in the future with Ghost, PQDI and Acronis. Seems that the newer SATA interface has problems with these.

My T60p just arrived this AM and the first thing I did was to attach a USB external drive and pop a bootable CD containing Acronis TrueImage vs 7 in to do a backup. Sure enough, it could not see the SATA HD.

About time I upgraded anyway, so I got on the web and updated to vs 9 after doing a "Live Chat" to ensure that SATA was supported.

Long story abbreviated: it worked and I've backed up the original out-of-the-box partitions to the external HD.

[vital-analitix]

Ghost boot cd and backup scheme appears to be working fine so far - but I haven't had to do a restore yet. I am backing up to USB hard drive.

My R&R set is on 1 cd + 1 dvd. Is there any way to put this onto the USB drive and have it be bootable? If not, then maybe I should make a second set of R&R data (just copy from original set)?

Any thoughts on my earlier question, which also goes to the OP's question:

<snip>The only rationale I can think of that justifies keeping the HPA is if the laptop has serious problems while you're travelling and don't have your backups or R&R disks with you. Any other reasons to keep the HPA?

If you have serious problems then you are likely to need more than the HPA. I always have a recovery DVD with me and within a reasonable distance (eg at my hotel in the safe) have my UltraBay HD. Actually what I have done is a 16 Gb "programs" paritition and the rest of the HD is an extended FAT32 partiton (40 Gb HD) which hold a backup in a TrueCrypt file the data of "My Documents" and images done of the C:\ partitition in both PQDI and in Acronis True Image. (Faster to restore from HD) When I need more space I delete some of the older backups.

[GomJabbar]

HPA is soooo old school. This is the T60 series forum after all. You guys/gals have a WinPE Service Partition (also called a type 12 partition in IBM speak).

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Hidden_Protected_Area

The HPA was introduced with the R/T/X 40 series of ThinkPads. It is refered to as the Predesktop Area in the BIOS Setup Utility. Recent ThinkPads can have a (hidden) partition that is also called Predesktop Area in the BIOS Setup Utility. That (hidden) partition is not an HPA.

IBM computers that have a PARTIES area were announced during 2003.
-----------------
IBM computers with the Rescue and Recovery application preinstalled in a type 12 partition
IBM computers that are announced in the first quarter 2004 and that come with the IBM Rescue and Recovery environment preinstalled will feature this configuration. The Rescue and Recovery environment resides entirely in a type 12 partition, not in the virtual partition as with the previous scenarios. In addition to the Rescue and Recovery environment, the factory recovery and system diagnostics will also reside in the type 12 partition. The Rapid Restore Ultra 4.0 backups, however do not reside in the type 12 partition.

More on WinPE

End of Service Partition 101.

[serpico]

Thanks for the clarification. Can we get back to the issue at hand?

[christopher_wolf]

There is no problem with clarifying things, especially when a large majority of Thinkpad users don't know how the "Partition" works. This comes more into play if you want to install something like Linux as a dual-boot.

Now, the only advantage to the Partition, OK..Fine, Type 12 Partition, being on the HDD is an on-board recovery system incase something really nasty happens to the OS. Another advantage, and I don't know how deeply these two are linked, is that you can make on-drive backups and do a full restore from them pretty quickly, although Windows XP has a similar feature.

Your call if you want to trade the the partition for extra space.

HTH

[grouch808]

You have to be careful in the future with Ghost, PQDI and Acronis. Seems that the newer SATA interface has problems with these.

Marinus

What version of PQDI are you using? I have several different versions and the latest version I have (2002), doesn't seem to support booting of the CD.

I think the other versions I have are 1.01 and 2.01. I think 2.01 boots from the CD, but I forgot how I did it because it doesn't automatically launch DI.

Does PQDI let you backup and restore the hidden partition? I don't have my thinkpad yet, but I remember reading somewhere that the hidden partition isn't accessable from programs like PQDI.

When I actually get my Thinkpad (hopefully shipping soon...), I plan on pulling out the drive, using PQDI to create images of the hidden partition and the C: partition, then using the computer (make the restore CD's/DVD's and uninstall everything I don't need). I may also use the restore cd's/dvd's to put a fresh install of winxp on there.

I just wanted to make sure I'd be able to restore the hidden partition and the C: partition.

Thanks!

[grouch808]

You have to be careful in the future with Ghost, PQDI and Acronis. Seems that the newer SATA interface has problems with these.

My T60p just arrived this AM and the first thing I did was to attach a USB external drive and pop a bootable CD containing Acronis TrueImage vs 7 in to do a backup. Sure enough, it could not see the SATA HD.

About time I upgraded anyway, so I got on the web and updated to vs 9 after doing a "Live Chat" to ensure that SATA was supported.

Long story abbreviated: it worked and I've backed up the original out-of-the-box partitions to the external HD.

Does Acronis TrueImage v9 allow you to create a CD that you can boot off of and backup/restore images without having to boot into windows?

Thanks!

[meditate2001]

<<Does Acronis TrueImage v9 allow you to create a CD that you can boot off of and backup/restore images without having to boot into windows?

No, you can backup an image on a running windows but you have to boot to restore it. (not possible otherwise)


Acronis truimage did a good job to me; first i backup the new partition from the t60(also for having the original driver), than formated the whole thing and put an old image on the disk. (switch to compatibilitymodus in bios first)
voila, had my old system on the t60.

[NightStorm]

Does Acronis TrueImage v9 allow you to create a CD that you can boot off of and backup/restore images without having to boot into windows?!

Yes, that is how I did the full backup in the first place. You create the bootable CD on some windows system, then you pop that into your system and boot from it. From there you can image your drive and/or partitions to some other drive (an external USB in my case) and (I presume) later restore from it. I've not yet had to do a restore operation so here is hoping that works just as smoothly.