How can I check the backup partition

[marlinspike]

The first thing I did when I got my thinkpad was make CD's and then put in a 7200rpm drive and run the CD's. Is there a way to check if that backup partition is in proper order? Granted I have CD's now, but it'd be nice to have it on the partition as well. Also, is there a way to reinstall stuff? I got to thinking about asking this because the hardware diagnositc that can be run if you press the thinkvantage button at the start of boot up says it can't find the diagnostic files.